My Principles

Lately, I have been reflecting on my work as as coach. Not just what I do, but why I do it, and how I came to do it. Introspection allows me an opportunity for self-assessment and provides a bit of a review of my work over the last few months. As many readers know, my work is a mixture of coaching clients online and at the gym. My roles and duties to my clients are always changing based on where we are in our training cycle, so it requires that I stay dynamic in my coaching. Stepping back and reviewing myself is an honest way to make sure that I provide the best service possible to my clients.

​While reflecting on my work, what I’m doing well and what I could improve on, I came to revisit my ethos. What are my principles? What foundation do I stand on in my coaching? I’d like to share my principles with you, but first I want to speak on why this is important to delineate values as a coach in order to avoid a major dilemma.


Within fitness coaching there are a million-and-one stances in which coaches will live and die by. Anytime you read an article about ketogenic diets, there is a coach that will insist that it is the best diet for everyone. When it comes to “strength training” thousands of voices of coaches that will only coach with the conjugate method, strong lifts, or whatever method is popular. For some coaches, pilates is the final answer to all things physicality (and if you don’t do that, it’s wrong). Yogis may insist there is no need to do anything other than yoga. For every idea that exists within exercise, fitness, wellness, and health, there are very strong voices that will sing it high from the mountain top and belittle any contrary ideas.


In my opinion, this is a major dilemma for coaches helping their clients and expanding their own abilities. Being so bound to one idea limits progression. There is no one best way. If there was, we probably would have found it by now and everyone would accept it. In fact, most of the ideas we think are best turn out to be less than ideal. We’ve seen this time and time again with fads- the Atkins diet, low fat diets, shake weights, sauna suits, 60-second abs, etc... Many coaches will not endorse these exact ideas, but they do represent a potential narrowness. A coach “stuck in their ways” will have less ability to serve their clients.


I pride myself in the amount of time and resources I invest my continuing education. I like to follow what’s new, what the science is leading toward, and what the clients are interested in. I have gone deep into systems that offer knowledge in hyper-specific coaching styles that promise the best results. I have “specialist”- “this and that” after my name. I’m very proud of this, but I do not sell my soul to one system, method, or ideology. While some coaches may route their entire set of principles within a system created by another coach, company, or culture, I choose to avoid such a state of constriction.


Instead, I have two principles that I always come back to in my coaching. No matter my clients. Period. If their goal is to lose weight, I keep my two principles. If they have performance goals, it’s only two principles. Lower their blood pressure, the same two principles.


Each of my clients receives my highest level of attention and coaching based on the two principles: SAID and Compassion. Let’s unpack these.
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Principle 1 - SAID

SAID is the only principle that concerns me when it comes to the physical side of training my clients.


SAID is an acronym that stands for Specific Adaptation of Imposed Demands. You’ll learn about SAID in just about every physiology or training text book on the shelf. I pulled out an old textbook from school- The Manual of Structural Kinesiology. The author wrote, “This principle [SAID], which states the body will gradually, over time, adapt to the various stresses and overloads to which it is subjected, is applicable in every form of muscle training, as well as the other systems of the body.”


In short and as the name implies, our bodies respond to the input we give it. If we want to train our muscles to be stronger, we need to challenge their strength through modalities such as weight training or isometrics. If we want to make the heart healthier, we need to exercise it through aerobic activity. The body is a beautiful, ever-reactive sensory machine that reads the stresses we put into it and elicits a response that will allow the body to better handle the stress next time. For example, in the case of someone who wants to become stronger, we will likely do some weight training. The act of weight training will “damage” the muscles (microscopically, and in a healthy way), the body senses that there was damage and it responds by healing the muscles and making them “grow back” stronger and better able to handle stress. This series of events happens again and again until we have muscles that are strong and resilient.
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It’s not just in conventional weight training, either. The body is incredible. In some cases when someone tears their ACL (a strong ligament of the knee), surgeons will take part of a hamstring tendon and put it in place where the ACL was. While these tissue are similar, they are different. With a good rehab program, the tendon that was used as a replacement ligament actually becomes a ligament. t can be observed under a microscope that the tissue will change to another type of tissue if provided the right signals (load monitored by a rehab professional).


So, the body will respond very specifically to the Imposed Demands.


This is my guiding principle because it is the duty of the coach to understand the Imposed Demands necessary. What is the clients goal? What kind of demands does the body receive normally? What demands can the body recover from? What demands should we use to most effectively and efficiently get the clients to their goal? When do the current demands have diminishing returns? When do demands need to be adjusted? A good coach will be able to assess and make a specific and progressive plan to help their client reach their goals.
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Principle 2 - Compassion

​​The second principle isn’t about the physical side of coaching. Instead, it is about the human aspect of coaching; and that is compassion. While the SAID principle is important and always present in my training, what is more important is the relationship between the two people involved- myself and the client.

Working as a coach for years has taught my how different every person is. Not just physically, but also emotionally and mentally. I’ve worked with clients who want to know everything about their training because they are very experienced. I’ve had clients that haven’t stepped foot into a gym in six decades. Some of my clients are very brave, other very hesitant. Some want to discuss every minutiae of training, other appreciate training as the one-hour each day that they don’t have to make decisions. For some, exercise is stress reliever, for others it is a major source of anxiety. My high school athletes learn exercises very quickly, whereas some of the adults I coach are very new to all things physical and take a little more time. Most of my clients fall somewhere in between.


Regardless of background, each and every one of my clients past and present is unique. We all come to the training floor with our own attitudes, beliefs, fears, and experience. Therefore, the best way I have found to train is with compassion; meet each other where we are, have open and honest communication, allow for endless questions, and speak clearly and respectfully.


Compassion is a skill I learned in childhood. Maybe I learned to communicate with compassion early because I was someone who needed compassion. I was a shy kid- easily frazzled. Maybe I didn’t like the things my friends liked such as movie theaters, monster trucks, or football. I was comfortable around loved ones who would speak and act with compassion. Those who didn’t force the anxiety provoking activities, sports, or events on me are those whom I am closest with.

I think about this as I coach my clients. What do they need? How do they want to be spoken to? What may limit them? How open are they willing to be with me? Do they need more or less compassion to be their best self working toward their goals?


I believe that this principle is what makes me effective in my role in empowering my clients.


I haven’t always consciously coached with compassion forward. My training has always been well-intentioned, but compassion may have been overlooked by the new training protocol, time constraints, or pressure from others. Now that I have made this distinction, compassion is put over everything else- even the SAID principle. Since I have outwardly made that commitment to myself and my clients and made it one of my two guiding principles, I have had better relationships and results with everyone I have worked with.


When I work with the lens of compassion the experience for the client becomes much more valuable. There is undeniable respect as we see each other as humans rather than a transaction. Goals become more clear and attainable in this type of relationship because we both understand each other and we can recognize what is needed. Yes, scientific principles absolutely matter, but what matters most is creating an environment that is looked forward to, therefore reliable, and long-lasting. With that comes achievement of goals. A good coach will tune into this.
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How these principles create an effective coach

​Effectively helping a client toward their goals is task that I love. Many goals of my clients are probably not so dissimilar to yours. Fortunately, we are at a time in history where we know so many good practices to help clients reach their goals. If weight loss is a goal, coaches are no longer peddlers of the new fad diet. Instead, most of us are science based and pragmatic in the practice of long standing habits that lead to safe and healthy weight loss. Just the same if strength is your goal. It is no longer just guess work in the gym wandering from machine to machine or endless sit-ups. Exercise sciences have given us endless peer reviewed research on the most effective protocols to gain strength.


Now more than ever, coaches have confidence in the Imposed Demands that they need to offer for the Specific Adaptation.


Hard sciences are only half of the equation though.


A good coach must be able to communicate why things are being done and how they will help their client.


A great coach will be able to communicate these things, but also tune into how certain exercises, requests, or reasons will be understood by the client. Again, we all come to the table with past experiences and preferences.


Regarding the latter, compassion will make a good coach a great coach. A coach that knows the principles, can make a progressive plan, follow through, AND allow for appropriate individualization even if it isn’t justified by all the text books is the highest level coach.
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How to find a high level coach

​When it comes to finding a coach, I suggest you do look at their credentials.


Absolutely.


They matter. They confirm that the coach has invested in themselves so they can improve the ways in which they can help you.


However, what is even more important than credentials is how the coach treats you. Do you feel comfortable with the person? Do you feel as if you can trust them? Do they prioritize your health? Will they be a good companion for you as you reach your goals?


You will likely see this person multiples times a week. They will become deeply invested in your health. You’ll likely see them 100x more each year than you see your physician. A trainer is a positive part of your physical, mental, and emotional healthcare team.


Be sure you feel as if they will treat you with compassion. If they do, success will follow.