Your Experiences With Coaches (Not Distant)

Who here has worked with a coach either to get leaner, build mass, powerlifting, prepare for a bb show, or strongman??

How did you find a reputable coach?

How often did you train with the coach actually there?

Does he/she meet with you a couple times a week/month and give you updates on what to do and eat via email/phone?

Coaches, feel free to chime in too with how you train people in person.

I do Olympic weightlifting if that counts, then again if you want to get anywhere as a competitive weightlifter that’s the only way to go…at least for the first couple years…whenever I do Olympic lifts and variations of them he is there…

the cool thing about Weightlifting coaches is that they don’t charge if you want to compete or in my case, paid him a very very very reasonable amount for a life time “membership” :D.

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
I do Olympic weightlifting if that counts, then again if you want to get anywhere as a competitive weightlifter that’s the only way to go…at least for the first couple years…

whenever I do Olympic lifts and variations of them he is there…the cool thing about Weightlifting coaches is that they don’t charge if you want to compete or in my case, paid him a very very very reasonable amount for a life time “membership” :D.[/quote]

Cool.
Do they guide you on what to eat or supplements to take?
Or just if you need advice on it (like if someone’s over weight when it’s getting close to a competition)?

[quote]SWR wrote:
ronaldo7 wrote:
I do Olympic weightlifting if that counts, then again if you want to get anywhere as a competitive weightlifter that’s the only way to go…at least for the first couple years…

whenever I do Olympic lifts and variations of them he is there…the cool thing about Weightlifting coaches is that they don’t charge if you want to compete or in my case, paid him a very very very reasonable amount for a life time “membership” :D.

Cool.
Do they guide you on what to eat or supplements to take?
Or just if you need advice on it (like if someone’s over weight when it’s getting close to a competition)?[/quote]

Well if you are over-weight for a weight class they tell you to eat less lol but remember that they are strength Coaches not the “I wantzz the abzzz 4 da ladizzz n b sezy” coach…they are considered successful when their athletes snatch and C&J high numbers not if they have cuts in their arms and gut.

I don’t know if you are looking for a coach for yourself, if you are then I guess you want to look better which means you should hire someone who trains people specifically for that.

I trained like for 12 weeks with the trainer of my school gym. He charges for those services, but I knew him since highschool (like 5 years ago) and we were like training partners so he didn’t bust my wallet and I learned a lot from him.

I train with an Olympic Weightlifting Coach.

Probably has helped me progress further than I ever had. On top of that a good coach will essentially force you to compete. The element of competition will help drive you to new levels as well. Having a coach structure your workouts and watch your form takes all the guess work out and you can focus on going full bore in terms of intensity.

The reputation of a coach varies. It is likely a Competitive Olympic Weightlifting Coach will be good, since the sport is fairly fringe and only people who love the sport and have done the sport would do it.

6 days a week during the Summer. Once a week during University

During summer I train at the training hall, so my coach is there all the time. During University, I train at the school gym and go to the training hall on the weekend. He has competition training cycles set up, so he gives it to me and I just follow the workouts. I can contact my coach if I have any concerns

I have not paid anything, and have 2 local meets under my belt.

Depending on the situation, a coach can be very helpful. Strength Sports is one such situation.

I would rank prepping for a BB Show high up on the list as well.

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:

Well if you are over-weight for a weight class they tell you to eat less lol but remember that they are strength Coaches not the “I wantzz the abzzz 4 da ladizzz n b sezy” coach…they are considered successful when their athletes snatch and C&J high numbers not if they have cuts in their arms and gut.

I don’t know if you are looking for a coach for yourself, if you are then I guess you want to look better which means you should hire someone who trains people specifically for that.

[/quote]

Yea, I’m mostly just curious about different coaches from all kinds of weight-training-related goals. More so with bodybuilding related goals, and how much they are actually there.

I would imagine it would get boring walking around with someone as they complete their workout, but it could be good to see the person’s form with many different exercises, plus accountability that they’re doing what they’re reporting they’re doing.

I’ve had great distance coaching from Christian Thibaudeau (holy crap I spelled that correctly on the first try!) and wondered how much different a live coach would be, and for different training goals.

I think this thread is actually really good and can take off. I have only done things online with Kelly Bagget and man that guy is just a great guy. Tremendous amount of help all the time no matter what. I’ve paid him before to make me programs, but the guy has been giving me templates, gave me his e-book for 40 bucks for free.

Just a great guy, been emailing n talkin to him for years now. Always helps me get shit straight if I’m all confused about training and puts me on the right track. Just read his artciles…very simple and to the point.

Of course this is more directed towards athletes and such, he has some bodybuilding articles if you go to his website.

All in all, he’s the man.

I had a free month once at a Bally’s when I lived in Virginia. It came with the membership sign up so I went with it to see how it was.
The guy walked with me and said what exercises to do, watched me, critiqued my form and gave me an outline of what to do for the following…days or weeks, can’t remember really.

But it wasn’t anything like staying with the person each time, so I’m guessing that’s kinda how it goes when you hire a trainer for aesthetic goals. Not positive though, since different trainers might do things a lot differently (hence the thread). :wink:

Bump, for the Sunday night T-Nation crew.

I worked with these supposed awesome guys with a focus on strength, agility, and conditioning, and it was the biggest waste of money ever. I got weaker and smaller, they clearly had no idea what they were doing and it just really pissed me off. I stuck it out for like 6 weeks and then said PEACE!

My senior year of HS my school hired these guys from a company called D1, founded by Peyton Manning and one other guy I don’t remember. Their focus is to primarily get athletes to the physical level they need to be at to play D1 level sports. I befriended the guys pretty quickly and they saw I knew what I was doing, so they pretty much let me have free reign, with some guidance when they saw the need, but pushed me to my limits. It was a ton of fun and I made some of the best progress I ever have in my life.