thamer645, whether being motivational, intelligence, comunication skills, scientist, etc… are all important elements of a physical prep coach, their should not be a heirarchy of qualities. More like a pie chart.
For example, if you don’t have the knowledge what are motavating your athletes to do? If you have the knowledge, how are you teaching without good communication skills.
Every good str coach I ever met trained hard.
Do you mean presently or in the past? Having knowledge and past personal experiences, an understanding of the level of intensity and demands an athlete must place themselves through is valuable.
However, as a person ages, they cannot train the same way. Cannot demonstrate the same way. Also, a physical prep coach must be able to communicate what they want an athlete to do without demonstrating. If you can’t communicate what you want your athlete to do and rely on your own demonstrative abilities, the athlete cannot progress because of your limitations of your level of athletic ability. Personally, I could care less if my physical prep coach trains hard or not. He/she should look fit, but thats about it.
I know a strength coach at a Div III program that puts himself and his players through tortuous workouts. They haven’t had a winning record in years, despite having numerous Div I transfers on the squad. There are other factors involved in winning and losing however.
I must repeat the definition of the coach vs the personal trainer:
The personal trainer is the really fit guy working with the slob, while the coach is the slob working with the really fit guy.
What kind of job could I be doing if I could stay up with the athletes I was training?
Are you watching or are you a workout partner?
What kind of job could I be doing if I could stay up with the athletes I was training?
I could maybe be on a poor elementary school track team. If my athletes could only perform what I could only demonstrate or what I could handle in a training session they would only be as good as I am.
Are you watching or are you a workout partner?
Yes, if I’m training alongside the person I’m coaching, how am I coaching them?
Right, but you did compete at a high level so you have a better idea of what the athletes go through than someone who hasn’t “been there and done that”.
My .02 is that it’s hard to tell, since you don’t know in many cases the caliber of athletes a coach has had available, and what the other athletes have done, namely has he had a few success stories and bunch of also-rans, or worse, a bunch of injuries?
Based on my limited knowledge, I’d say Louie Simmons is the best S.C. since he takes lifters who are already good(some great) and makes them better. Much much harder than improving stiffs or “inheriting” elite athletes.
It’s tough for me to be a role model…since I would have to give up coaching to live the utopian athlete life!
Charlie is right…but what about energy levels…after a hard workout I want to rest…not read about training or exchaning ideas on this forum! I also think we must look at environment and effectiveness of training. Some coaches do great with super facilities and a large staff but could never get the job done in lesser situations.
My own health and lifestyle has been comprimised to help my athletes dominate…
Charlie, I think you have touched on an interesting paradox.
Consider an up and coming strength coach. His physical appearance/abilities are of more worth at this point in his career, as these qualities are a testament to his theoretical/acedemic concepts. Thus, at the early stages of his career, much mileage may be had from his physical appearance/abilites. This is a factor which especially rings true with respect to a young athlete’s perception of his strength coach and how much respect is given. A very primal behavoir-submitting to/respecting physical dominance.
Now, in contrast to this is the strength coach who is already well established, such as yourself, and your repetoire of successful athletes speaks for itself. Thus, for someone of your professional status, physical appearance/abilities are incidental. You will always have a line of athletes around the corner, not because you walk the talk, but because you have and continue to produce a high end product.
Buddy Morris still trains hard. I agree that one does not have to be a great athlete or in perfect shape to be a great strength coach. I do believe that one must train hard. Joe Kenn trains hard. Dave Tate wrote about this issue in one of his articles. Just my two cents I am probably wrong (like usual).
On the topic of strength coaches, I always see Poliquin’s name brought up however I don’t know of hardly anyone who uses his training template with the “arms day” etc. I own his Modern Trends book and it has all sorts of useful info on manipulating sets, reps, etc. I found all of this info useless because there is no mention of how to apply accept with the regular bodybuilding split he always throws up.
I agree with all of the people that have been mentioned in this discussion, but because of the massive constraints placed on him by the ncaa, and the success of the football team, I think Chris Carlisle at USC has done an excellent job. I am a westside follower, and he uses no westside (they do have reverse hypers and glute/hams in their facility but who doesn’t?), even though he is familiar with Louie. I am lucky to see him and see him first hand. Very hard working man, and a good administrator. Unfortunately, I think he will occasionally lose good assistant strength coaches because of the success of the program. He recently lost one to Idaho I think? Remember the importance of all those anynomous assisstant strength coaches at Universities who work to maintain good programs, and all their individual specialities(shoulder rehab, diet, etc). I am a local high school coach in the area and probably don’t visit enough. acudave
P.S. Back in the Day, I think Jim Schmitz was a good olympic based strength coach. 1980 & 1988 US team coach.
I agree with Charlie’s point. It is important to clarify between a personal trainer and a strength coach. A personal trainer typically works with athletes on a one to one basis, whereas a strength coach is hired by a team or a college and can have anywhere from 10 to 100 athletes training at once. The dynamics of the workout are completely different. A strength coach also has to consider space and flow of the weightroom. There’s nothing worse than a large group training with congestion. In my opinion the characteristics that make up a good strength coach include the following: ability to motivate athletes, ability to demonstrate the techniques (I don’t think it matters if the strength coach is stronger than the entire team, as long as he/she can demonstrate the exercises they are teaching), scientific knowledge, creativity, and the ability to coach. With these characteristics you earn the trust of the athlete. If the athlete trusts you and believes what your having them do is correct, then they’ll work hard for you. With that in mind, some of the top strength coaches that I’ve come across include Jerry Attaway (SF 49er’s), Mike Burgener (Rancho Buena Vista High School), Robb Rogers (Middle Tennesse State), Robert Weir (Stanford, he’s no longer a strength coach there, just track, but I worked with him when he was a strength coach and he’s excellent) and Fred Stephens (San Jose Sabercats).
Robert Weir (Stanfordhe’s no longer a strength coach there, just track, but I worked with him when he was a strength coach and he’s excellent)
Hey Mac,
I also worked with Robert Weir and he definitally is a great strength coach and just a super all around guy. Although he is a track coach, he still coaches his athletes in the weightroom and they are all very very strong. His aproach is much different than all the rah rah,bang your head against the wall, in your face type of coaches that i have seen and he still gets the job done. I learned so much from him…
I agree with you Robert certainly isn’t a get in your face type coach, but is very effective. So often it’s thought that strength coaches need to be drill sargeants. There are lots of very good strength coaches that aren’t drill sargeants, Robert is an excellent example.