You’re a crap trainer.
Sorry, but it’s true.
At least, that is, when it comes to coaching yourself.
You might be the hottest trainer in your gym, have your clients come in shredded for shows, and be able to train someone to peak performance prowess, but when you’re faced with planning your own training or casting an assertive eye over your own diet, you’re about as useful as a chocolate kettle.
Whether you’re a trainer yourself, or just lift iron for the love of it, I implore you, for the love of all that is holy, don’t try to write your own programs.
The Objective Eye
Objectivity is a skill that every coach needs to develop over a period of time, and through working with numerous clients from a wide background.
Book smarts are great, and everyone needs that practical knowledge when it comes to designing a training split, planning loads and volume, and altering cardio or macros to get a client over a plateau. But there’s also a degree of intuition involved.
The “knowledge” aspect of it is easy to apply to yourself.
You pick up “Supertraining” by Sif, or “Practical Programming for Strength Training” by Rippetoe and Kilgore, take a look through and decide how your going to cycle your training over the next four, six or twelve weeks.
You know your goals, what your weak points are, and your schedule, so setting everything up for yourself should be easy, right?
In Theory ….
But theory doesn’t always work in practice.
What happens on that day where you just bomb?
Your sets of triples at an RPE 8 on the squat feel like a 9.99999. You miss a conservative max on your deadlift, and everything feels like it’s falling apart.
Were this a client you were dealing with, you’d be able to easily cast aside your feelings, and come up with a solid plan of action for them to follow, be that changing exercises, taking a mini-deload, or just giving them a dose of reality, having a few firm words, and telling them it’s just an off day, and they’ll feel on top form again next session.
With yourself though, it’s a whole different ball game.
You start second guessing.
“Did I set my maxes too high?”
“Am I really on the right program?”
“Perhaps I’ve majorly screwed myself up and over-reached?”
All these scary thoughts begin flying through your head.
Objectivity goes out of the window, you make drastic changes to the plan, and start all over again, with your confidence taking a real hit.
It’s Even Worse with Diet
Despite the fact many of us proclaim that we don’t care about what the scale says, that’s bullsh*t.
Planning your own diet in a bulking phase isn’t too bad, but when it comes to fat loss? Oh boy!
You set your macros up, work out your meal schedule and plan your food.
Things go well for a week or two, you drop a few pounds and look visibly leaner, then one of two things happen –
- Your Weight Loss Hits a Wall.
You hop on the scales one morning, and that dial reads exactly as it did last week. Hey, it may have even gone up.
Dealing with a client, you’d either plan a small drop in calories, by lowering their fats and carbs a little, or perhaps add some cardio into their plan.
You may also decide that based on pictures and measurements, they are still progressing, so you don’t make any changes for the time being.
Nothing drastic, nothing complicated, just basic, scientific, objective amendments.
When it’s yourself though, you freak out –
“ Why’s my progress stalled?”
“ I must have screwed up!”
“ I’m behind on my schedule, I need to ramp things up now.”
Pissed off with a lack of progress, you slash calories, and add an hour of cardio a week in the hope of breaking through your plateau.
- Your Strength Goes Down
You might miss a lift in the gym, or measure your quads and notice they’ve gone down half an inch.
Terrified with the fact you might be “losing your gains” you end you diet early, convinced you need more mass before leaning out.
Once again, with a client, you’d reassure them that the strength loss is likely in their head, that they’re not losing muscle and actually, things are on point.
What a Smart Trainer Does
Is hire another trainer.
Whether you hire one guy for programming and one guy for diet, or better still, someone capable of handling both, you need someone to keep an eye on your progress.
Just because you can coach others doesn’t mean you can coach yourself.
I myself have been working with Layne Norton for the past 3 years, and would never be without a coach again. Having someone you trust there to guide you in the right direction and offer support and guidance is invaluable.
Rules for Picking a Coach
- Make sure it’s someone you trust. They could come via recommendation from a friend, be someone you’ve followed on social media, or be someone you know personally.
- They should have a track record of getting results with other people like you.
- They should have two (if not three) of the following – a solid educational background; an impressive client portfolio; experience of competing themselves.
- Have a thorough exchange with them prior to committing to anything. If a coach asks you for money before they’ve even answered a few basic questions, or addressed all your queries, run a mile!
What To Do Now
Go and look up coaches!
You probably have a few in mind already – there are tons of great guys and girls out there, who are well worth their fees.
If, however, hiring someone is a bit beyond your budget, there are a few different tactics you can try –
Team up with a buddy
If you have a friend in a similar situation, who you know has a good idea of what they’re doing, you could coach each other.
The only downside to this is that sometimes, when you’re not paying for a service, you don’t see the full value in it.
Pick a program
Don’t just cobble together your own random set of exercises, sets and reps, get on a sound program. Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1, Brandon Lilly’s “The Cube” or even something powerlifting-based such as Smolov or Sheiko are all fantastic routines.
Buy an e-book
Diet books are notorious for being faddy, overly extreme, and generally crap, but there are some good ones out there!
Lyle McDonald’s “A Guide to Flexible Dieting” and “The Ultimate Diet 2.0” as well as my “Foolproof Guide to No-Fail Flexible Fat Loss” – http://www.healthylivingheavylifting.com/flexible-fat-loss/ will all see you right through a diet and help you make objective decisions when it comes to making progress.
It’s okay to admit it – lifters like us don’t want to ask for help, but sometimes, admitting you can’t do everything yourself could be the best decision you ever made.
This is a guest article written by Mike Samuels from healthylivingheavylifting.com. Mike has an awesome website so check him out! -Kyle
Mike Samuels works as a writer and online coach, based in Southampton, England. He is also a competing powerlifter. Mike loves lifting heavy stuff, helping people get shredded and drinking coffee.
Contact him at healthylivingheavylifting.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/HealthyLivingHeavyLifting
And check out his latest flexible dieting home study course – http://www.healthylivingheavylifting.com/flexible-fat-loss/