Why Get a Coach?
A health and fitness journey is often an emotional one, and we can easily get inside our own heads, second guess ourselves and our efforts, which can result in doing things for the wrong reasons, premature changes or abandoning strategies altogether. Sudden changes to programs that are not based on data points inevitably puts us on a carousel—we seem to make a little progress, but we just end up circling back to where we started.
Having a coach removes the emotional element and allows someone with more experience to assess our situation from the outside. I, too, have worked with coaches and trainers. Everyone at any level can benefit from a coach. NFL quarterbacks have passing coaches. PGA champions have coaches to assess their swings. Olympians across every sport rely on their coaches.
Lifting weights is a great metaphor for a lot of things, especially fitness coaching.
You can do everything yourself, but the process will be more effective, streamlined, and simply better if someone’s in your corner who can guide you through the process, to give you feedback and support, someone who’s been there and can identify the little tweaks needed so that you’ll be in the best and safest position possible for success.
Take a deadlift, for example. (In 2020, I tore my left hip labrum on this same movement with a load of 225 lbs. Pictured is 315 lbs., a weight I currently have a 15-rep max with. My post-injury best is 400 lbs.)
Initial set-up: knowing the basics, the equipment, and how to arrange everything.
Pre-positioning: getting into the right frame of mind, preparing yourself for the work, centering your focus and attention, minimizing distractions, and checking the initial set-up.
Final positioning, bracing for liftoff.
Giving it a solid effort. It’s hard work, sometimes fun, sometimes overly challenging, but always rewarding.
Recovery: after you’ve given it a solid and consistent push (or pull in this case), it’s time to rest, recover, and assess how the process went before attempting it again.
