"So you must be pretty fit then?" - Tips

TAKE HOME MESSAGE

physical health is important for performance of coaches too.

For Coaches

There will always be more work to do. Make sure you make time for your physical and mental health to better serve others.

For Athletes

Ask your coach how their training is going. I am sure they ask you. Your help could be the motivation and understanding they need.

Part of having these articles is to provide “content” to readers. Which is important. You are giving your time to read, you want something out of it. Problem is, I have trouble “telling” you what to do and my writing is about sharing ideas and my experiences, not telling. So here are a few options I will be trying to incorporate that you might want to use to improve or maintain physicality whilst spreading yourself thin as an S&C coach.

Having thought about what worked and what didn’t, I’ve come up with a list to implement this year:

1- Enlist help. It’s funny how I do it for the athletes I work with, and even my family, but not me. Reflecting on part one of this article, the best results I had in the past two years was when I placed my goals (and they were specific, measurable, etc) on the pin-up board in front of my fellow S&C coach. This public declaration provided a measure of accountability and help.

2- Small bites. It’s the old saying, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time”. There must be a subconscious part of me, having written S&C programs for so long, to know that a 15-20min program (10-12 sets of strength training) is not really a program. But if I can sneak in two of those a day, that’s got to add up to something better than nothing. So, I am going to try and do a little after each training session. It will work in two ways: 1 - every little bit counts, and 2 - it won’t keep me too long from work that needs to be done right after a training session (tidying up, processing data, reporting to coaches and athletes), and since I am on my feet at the pitch or gym, in training gear, it seems like an efficient use of time.

3- A “do anywhere-anytime” list of options for when I do not have a routine. With an irregular schedule, it is very easy to get out of routine. I need to develop a variety of options (like I would have for my athletes) that I can do home or away.

4- A training buddy. Again, my athletes do it, they have a support network (they’re called teammates). I’m going to find a few friends that would like to train once a week/fortnight when our schedules align. That little bit of camaraderie will be excellent physically and socially.

Not an exhaustive list and I am sure you have others, but these are the ones I am going to implement throughout the year.