Giving Unsolicited Advice

[Jean-Paul]

I completely disagree that a coach should be bigger or stronger for credibility.

I can tell you this... At this point in my career I am confident that I am an excellent trainer. I am also in bad shape (relative to my norm). I am getting the best results with my clients that I have ever gotten.

If someone asks me how much I bench as some kind of litmus test, I laugh out loud and school them on how ignorant that statement is. I haven't bench pressed in years.

I train a PGA golfer, but I shoot around 100. Guess what? He is going to have a great tour season, and I don't have to be able to beat him at his sport to create effective programming and to have his respect.

BTW, I'm also a college dropout so I can't sit for the CSCS (although I am certified). There might be other criteria for rating the abilities of someone doling out advice.

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by mAtThEw

Good job Hunter.

Now just wait and see next week when he's with his dad again. Maybe give them a site to check out, so when they're arguing about proper form one of them can be all like "wait! let's go check out the site and see what it says to do". And all will be good in the kindgom of iron.

Thanks Matthew.

There was a recent thread about squats that linked to a good article (can't remember the author.) I'll have to find that and bring a copy to the gym - I'll put it behind my logs on the clipboard and hand it over if they ask any questions. Of course, I'll include the JP url as well!

[Matthew]

JP, I'm not sure who you're disagreeing with. I said that I don't think the coach should outperform the athlete. I haven't read back through the posts, but I don't recall anyone saying that a coach should be better than the athlete. We weren't even talking about coaches and athletes, that was just brought up to counter our argument. I thought we were talking about random people we see in the gym.

For instance, if I walk by two guys who are benching (or squatting, or deadlifting, it's not important), one guy is lifting <200 and is certified, the other is lifting >400 and isn't certified. Who will I strike up a conversation with?

At least that's what I thought the [second] original discussion was about.

[K-Court]

Good for you, Hunter for helping this kid out. I would bet it's got him thinking, which is of course an important first step. I look forward to hearing about the follow-up next week.

[RobLL]

I don't offer advice in the gym, although I do get in discussions in the locker room or sauna. On the other hand I don't mind people offering advice to me. I usually respond by mentioning why I am doing it like I do, but I figure if someone talks to me, it also means I can ask them for some help with getting weights in position from time to time.

[Snake_eyes]

I don't offer advice either, simply because most advice leads into arguments and really i don't have time for that when i'm lifting. I also believe that it is basic knowledge that will come out ahead, there are plently of big guys at my gym who don't know jack and all they did was juice to be that size and i see people hanging onto every word that comes out of their mouth. I actually had one them tell me that it was counter-productive to squat past parallel cause you wont be able to lift as much

[OldGuy]

Food for thought (from EC's article at T-Nation

Analogy #6: Coaches/trainers are like chefs.

Let's face it; we have a tremendously unregulated industry. People can get weekend certifications and then do nothing more in the rest of their careers to advance professionally. Unfortunately, to the uninformed consumer, with the exception of referrals from friends, there isn't much that differentiates Personal Trainer or Coach A from Personal Trainer or Coach B. When someone implies that one trainer is as good as the next, here's what you can say:

Why is a steak (fitness results) so much better at an actual steakhouse (good trainer/coach) than it is at local drive-through (bad trainer/coach)?

• The steakhouse chef probably uses better raw materials (better exercise selection).

• The steakhouse chef probably has a better recipe (better training program design).

• The steakhouse chef probably follows that recipe better than an Ordinary Joe just staring at a list of directions (better coaching experience and talent).

• The steakhouse chef has tasted the best steaks and holds himself to a higher standard (is in shape and has a frame of reference on how to get you in shape).

• The steakhouse chef has made thousands of steaks, gone to culinary school, and talked shop with other great chefs (experience, education, and internships).

• The steakhouse chef is always reading culinary magazines and attending tradeshows (continuing education).



If all chefs were created equal, we'd just be able to score recipes and magically create great steaks for ourselves all the time.