The best S&C Coaches have the best people skills.
“The best S&C Coaches don’t write the best programs.
The best S&C Coaches have the best people skills to teach, guide, and empower athletes to harness and express their own intrinsic motivations.
It’s not about Excel.
The game is about who can get the most out of people.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
When you first start out in the field of S&C, you have it all figured out.
You read the books. You watched the presentations. And you got the “certification(s)” everybody has told you to get.
You’re basically running around just like everybody else with the same information, the same knowledge, and the same certifications.
And then people wonder why they aren’t appreciated in the field, when they are undifferentiated in the eyes of admin (on the public side) and in the eyes of the consumer (on the private side). The difference in the private side, though, is that even when you are reputable, many consumers will still throw you in the same gimmick trainer box, anyway.
So how do you differentiate yourself as a S&C Coach?
Many people think it’s being able to write a better program or nuanced exercise selection. Neither of those things will make a damn bit of difference, when you’re dealing with a demographic of people who don’t know or care what you know.
Notice the keyword used above is people. PEOPLE.
That’s what this field is, a people field. It’s not a “work out” field, it’s a people field.
And the best coaches in the game know this.
The worst coaches in this game may have more skill in putting together excel spreadsheets and impressing other coaches on twitter, but you don’t get any additional points for that.
You only get points for positively impacting the life experiences of the people you’re working with.
The objective of a (great) S&C Coach is to use what you know and your platform, to teach, guide, and empower athletes to harness and express their own intrinsic motivations. It’s about them.
This takes a TREMENDOUS amount of self-awareness and people skills to accomplish.
And you’re not going to acquire these skills reading “The essentials of Strength & Conditioning” or getting that next certification everybody on twitter is talking about.
You’re going to get this by putting a tremendous amount of time in, giving a sh*t about people.
That’s how you do it.
Many think the game is checkers, but the game is chess.
It’s not about what you know, it’s about what they get because of what you know, and more importantly who you are and how you lead
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