The Importance of Hiring A Coach

“Previously posted on machinemuscle.com”

Whether you are a bodybuilder, power lifter, or just an athlete training for a specific sport, your sights should always be focused on a larger goal. The fact is when it comes to training most people read a few articles on a bodybuilding website and considers themselves experts. They jump on a popular training plan such as 531, Starting Strength or 5×5 and attempt to shovel in as much quality food as possible to make the gains last. These programs work but as you advance in your training you need a program that will advance with you!  The body goes through an initial adaption phase that provides quick results, and these “newbie gains” come much quicker and tend to be greater than what an advanced level athlete will experience. Unfortunately, what goes up must come down, and people are left mentally distraught when their muscular development comes to a slow crawl.  Picking a program off the internet will provide results if followed to the “T,” but it is important to understand that everybody is unique, and degrees of positive response will vary immensely.  Dr. Mike Zourdos, PhD, a professor at Florida Atlantic University, asks the perfect question, “Is it OPTIMAL?”  What is optimal for one person is not going to be optimal for another, and that is why hiring a training and nutrition coach is so beneficial.  They take into account a client’s current level of fitness, body type, age, injuries, etc. and use that information to design a plan strategically formulated to provide the client the best results possible.  The areas in which the coaches can make the greatest impact are in training, nutrition, and also education.

The body resists change like a child resists broccoli and must experience progressive overload in order to grow.  Performing the same exercises with the same weights day in and day out will not do the trick.  That is where periodization comes into the equation.  The term “periodization” refers to the systematic manipulation of the acute variables of training over a period that may range from days to years (Stoppani N.P.).  A coach has the education and experience, as well as the objective and unemotional insight that allow them to construct a plan providing maximum results.  Anyone can read a book on how to change volume, intensity, tempo, and rest in a training program.  However, a coach will be able to manipulate the variables in a way that provides a much larger training stimulus.  Most coaches also implement intensity principles such as rest pause, half reps, drop sets, and forced negatives just to name a few. It’s important to understand programing when implementing intensity principles because it is easy to over use them which would lead to less than optimal results.

I myself spent two years in the gym without a plan, making sub-par gains with lagging body parts that never seemed to catch up. Finally I decided to purchase a 4 week meso-cycle from Kyle Hunt at KyleHuntFitness.com. What I found was I ended up making more progress in only those four weeks than I had in two years! Plus many of my nagging injuries resulting from muscle imbalances disappeared. The benefit of a properly structured program is more that you would initially think. For that reason I continue to work with him today, and not a day goes by that I do not experience some form of progression.

In regard to nutrition, a coach can make a big difference in how you look, feel and perform.  Bulking is fairly simple.  Eat more calories than what are burned in a day with enough protein and a balance of carbohydrates and quality fats. Now these are the simplest recommendations, and as long as a person is not scared to gain a few centimeters of fat they should be pretty successful. However, when the goal is to get shredded there is little room for error.  If a person goes over his/her calories or macro nutrients during a bulk…well, it’s a bulk and they could probably use the extra calories anyway.  Miscalculating the caloric total during contest prep can result in a competitor coming on stage “out of shape,” and ultimately ruin a chance to bring home some hardware.  If macronutrient targets are not strategically formulated and CONSTANTLY altered, fat loss will come to a halt and/or a competitor will lose unnecessary amounts of muscle mass. It’s those timely macro adjustments at just the right time that earn most coaches their money.

There is a big difference between being “lean” and being in “contest shape.” The path to striated glutes can break the best of us, and many marines have admitted that a bodybuilding competition is tougher than even marine training.  The mind breaks down before the body does. During prep a competitor not only has the physical work to do but there is also a huge mental aspect as well. At times there could be nothing stopping them from throwing in the towel and giving up.  A prep coach adds a sense of accountability, ensuring that a competitor does not quit themselves when the diet gets tough.  They will look at a competitor through eyes that are not clouded by the desire for pizza and ice cream (when macros are too low to fit them in), and make sure they reach their stage condition on time.  Most importantly, a prep coach will adjust the macronutrients and calories in a SAFE and effective way, allowing the competitor to reach the desired condition without compromising muscle mass, health, and sanity.

I performed my first prep all on my own.  It was not the smartest idea as I did not have the necessary muscle mass and looked like someone out of Schindler’s list.  I reached my desired body fat but at the cost of my social life, energy, and all of my strength gains.  After going through a very successful bulk, I again hired Kyle Hunt to help me diet down.  I did not experience the constant hunger pains of starving myself and maintained my strength and mass throughout the entire prep.

When a person feels that none can teach them anything, they are selling themselves short of their full potential.  There is NO SUCH THING as too much knowledge.  Research is constantly providing new information, and there is always someone with more experience, muscle mass, education, etc.  The more people that are networked together, the stronger they become.  Coaches have stood in the shoes of their clients, have made the mistakes, and a good coach will help their clients avoids those same mistakes.  There are too many training principles for one person to use them all.  Everyone has a different road they take to reach their desired goal, and ninety nine percent of the time a coach will alter your path.  There is a saying that “there is no piece of paper for experience.”  Working with a coach provides an educational experience that cannot be compared to reading a book in a classroom.   I have learned more about periodization, manipulation of training principles, and macro nutrient intake working with Kyle than any book or article has ever taught me.

Too many people sacrifice the opportunity to learn and grow because of the unwillingness to spend money.  Hiring a coach is one of the best investments a competitor can make.  Uniqueness among individuals is what makes the world go around.  General programs are created to provide decent results for a large group of people; a coach designs a program that provides incredible results for one person.  It makes me sick to know that I have sacrificed two years of results because of an inability to ask for help and a hire a coach. No matter how much education I receive I truly believe that someone else will always be able to take me further than I can myself.  One of my favorite quotes is “when you train yourself, you have an idiot as a client.”  Do not make the mistake that I and so many others have as well.  Work with a coach to find the formula that takes you to the height of your potential.  In the future, you will be able to do the same for someone else and the cycle will continue to repeat.

References

Stoppani, Jim, and PhD. “Defining Periodization.” IDEA Health & Fitness Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/defining-periodization-1.