Respect Due

Speed is very veyy important…and that why i think there is two type of performance coaches a speed coach charlie francis for example and a strength coach louie simmons…louie simmons work will only help out charlie francis work…but in my opinion a strength coach is there to make the athlete stronger…a speed coach will make him faster…a speed coach cant do what a strength coach does and a strength coach cant do what a speed coach can do…when the s&c world begins to understand this and quits trying to get strength coaches to be speed coaches ect…then athletes will be much much better off in my opinion…big m

Exactly Big Martin.

I’d take brains over brawn anyday when choosing a coach. Just because someone has gotten themselves to an elite level in competition doesn’t mean they would make a good coach. Some people come across things easier than others because of genetics, drugs, what have you…If a person has brains and brawn…Great! But I surely don’t feel the brawn part is that important. Let’s take speed for example: Charlie Francis, though a sprinter in his day, could never run 100 under 10sec. and he certainly could not in 1988, yet he was able to take some young kid up the ranks and have him run a 9.79. That took brains. I would rather have Charlie Francis be my speed coach than Maurice Green even though Maurice Green would leave Charlie in the dust in a footrace. Likewise, there are guys where I train that are stronger than I yet their knowledge of training is pathetic compared with mine. If they would consult with me, I could take them even further on the strength platform but they wouldn’t dare ask me because I have a bodybuilder’s body and I am not concerned with breaking any strength records. It is their loss because they are using the same thinking that Big Martin is. BM is an intelligent person and I have read many of your posts, so don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that you don’t know what you are talking about but I think it is too cut and dry to state that one must earn the respect of others by his own performance. Being a coach myself, I can summarize my philosophy in one sentence: I think a coach shouldn’t be judged by what he’s done for himself but rather by what he has done for others.