What is one of the most frustrating aspects of being a powerlifting coach to me ?
Today new wannabee powerlifters join the gym - armed with "knowledge" obtained passively by watching slews of videos online - and training at a commercials gym for a few month - making enormous gains in those few month. They determine a few things due to that :
Since I am progressing that fast
I know everything - I am my best coach
I am a genetic monster
Extrapolating my progress - in 12 months from now I will crush all national and world records
This phenomena has a name "Dunning Kruger"
As a coach it is super difficult to get through to this athlete to tell him/her :
You success is based on beginners gains
If you keep training like you do know you will get hurt
Your progess will go slower as you get stronger
There are many aspects to start to develop NOW to create a solid platform for longevity and long enduring sports success.
All this - 99% of the time- falls on deaf ears ... during the first 2-3 years you might be lucky as a coach to make sure the athlete does not severely hurt himself and gets out of this phase still loving powerlifting and sticking to it -- as here usually phase 2 sets in "there is more to this" - "I will never make it" ...
If you are able to get through this phase with the athlete - and you get him into the "it is starting to make sense" phase --. life gets a bit easier as a coach - as a dialogue ensues and the athlete realises that it is worth listening to you as an experienced coach.
How do you manage getting though this with beginning athletes ?
I take an educative approach from the start - as it "takes a whole village to raise 1 child" we insist on a gym culture where proper form and proper loading is the only accepted way of training - ie clear boundaries (preventing injuries) and we are harsh on debriefing the effects of mistakes that the athlete is making (active feedback, allow him to make his own mistakes within a safe tolerance).
We assure to assign "1 - go to - coach" from our team to the athlete- to not create confusion about the required feedback - if it comes from many sources it would create a conflicting and confusing info setting for the athlete.
He/she will still not listen to you in this phase no matter what you do - but this feedback loop will accelerate the realisation that there is a lot more to learn - and after the initial phase - the athlete starts to put 1+1 together - and realises (faster) that "the coach was right". As it can hardly be avoided in my experience without having shouting matches- the goal is to shorten this phase and overcome it without physical or emotional damage (for both the athlete and coach)
To give it a final push - when the athlete enters the second phase - I enjoy giving this athlete a newby coachee - to create deep learning about how obnoxious a newby can be - and now have her/him try to talk sense into this newby.
It takes years to get into the 3rd phase "easy- no, complicated - yes" - and once in it you stay there forever. The best coaches I know are always humble and realise there is always new things to learn, try, absorb, experiment with.
I am now active in strength sports since 1981 - and still need to seek knowledge every day to be able to help my athletes to get ahead. I collaborate with national coaches, the LUNEX university, read a lot of books - and more over experiment everyday in my own laboratory which is called ATC Sport and the Silverbacks competition team.
There is no finish line.
Mark Notschaele
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