Hello everyone I recently found a gym that offers coaching and wanted to ask you all what to look for in a good coach. I’m not trying to sound disrespectful toward the coaches there I just want to make sure that I will be getting the right coaching I need to learn the proper technique for the lifts and a good program to help me progress. So what do you guys looks for in a good weightlifting coach? Thanks for the help
for olympic lifting, first thing i would ask them would be what their lifetime best lifts were for snatch, clean and jerk, back squat and front squat and at what bodyweight. If its at least 50% of the world records then they have at least something to teach you. if its say more than 75% then you better stick with them
in one word, EXPERIENCE
i don’t care how good of a lifter they were, if they haven’t been around the block as a coach (hopefully a lifter to) then good luck staying on track, injury free or organized in a competition.
You will find that some coaches are awesome motivators in training, but when it comes to a big competition they get lost. Obviously if your coach is lost and confused then you wont be able to focus on what you need to focus on.
That experience will also be very handy in training, again, some coaches are great motivators, and get their athletes to push it really hard, but a great coach knows when to back off and allow for recovery, or when to work on other facets of lifting.
How committed they are to helping you improve. But when it comes down to it, even bad coaching is probably better than none at all. And average coaching has got to be much better
[quote]claybear wrote:
Hello everyone I recently found a gym that offers coaching and wanted to ask you all what to look for in a good coach. I’m not trying to sound disrespectful toward the coaches there I just want to make sure that I will be getting the right coaching I need to learn the proper technique for the lifts and a good program to help me progress. So what do you guys looks for in a good weightlifting coach? Thanks for the help[/quote]
If technique is something important to you, then I would make sure that he/she teaches you to lift like the majority of elite lifters in elite competition (i.e. Euro, Worlds, Olympics, etc.). I would study those videos and compare them to his or her advanced lifters or your own lifting.
The short cut through all of this is if a coach ever tells you to shrug up, shrug the bar, pull the bar high and shrug, jump and shrug, or some variant of that, walk away. If the coach makes you start way over the bar with your hips so high that your torso is almost parallel to the floor, walk away.
As for programming, a coach should be able to explain why a movement is in the program. Nothing should be there ‘just because.’
[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
for olympic lifting, first thing i would ask them would be what their lifetime best lifts were for snatch, clean and jerk, back squat and front squat and at what bodyweight. If its at least 50% of the world records then they have at least something to teach you. if its say more than 75% then you better stick with them[/quote]
lol
My coach in his own words has said he was never that great a lifter, started to late and had life to deal with, family, career, a lot of travelling etc. He did about 90/115 or so @ 62-63kg. He had to do the press as well.
He’s coached me to the point where Uncle said my Sn and Clean technique was good. Enough done.
I do my own programming now though.
Look at his lifters and see how their technique is and what they can lift. It’s not important what a coach can lift. It’s how their lifters lift. Good lifters don’t always make great coaches also. It takes a certain person to motivate, retain and to keep lifters going. You ask anyone thats trained with me. If you get to the gym I’ll drag everything out of you to get in an immense performance out of you 
Koing
[quote]The Ox Man wrote:
How committed they are to helping you improve. But when it comes down to it, even bad coaching is probably better than none at all. And average coaching has got to be much better[/quote]
So your saying your coach is a b3ll end?! 
Koing
yeah, i agree that it doesn’t matter so much how the coach lifts, it matter more how the people the coach coaches lifts.
i got funny levers.
i think some people aren’t used to that (because they don’t have that or they haven’t coached someone with that).
that can result in a lot of frustration when my body simply cannot do whatever it is that they are trying to get me to do.
[quote]Koing wrote:
[quote]The Ox Man wrote:
How committed they are to helping you improve. But when it comes down to it, even bad coaching is probably better than none at all. And average coaching has got to be much better[/quote]
So your saying your coach is a b3ll end?!
Koing[/quote]
Haha! How good a coach they are wasn’t a reference to my coaching! But I definitely understand how good it is to have a coach who pushes you and is enthusiastic about your lifting!
[quote]The Ox Man wrote:
[quote]Koing wrote:
[quote]The Ox Man wrote:
How committed they are to helping you improve. But when it comes down to it, even bad coaching is probably better than none at all. And average coaching has got to be much better[/quote]
So your saying your coach is a b3ll end?!
Koing[/quote]
Haha! How good a coach they are wasn’t a reference to my coaching! But I definitely understand how good it is to have a coach who pushes you and is enthusiastic about your lifting![/quote]
I know 
Koing