How to know if someone is a bad strength coach

1. Promise Results With A Specific Timeline

As a strength coach you should have an idea where you would like a client to be but to promise results that are extremely difficult with an exact timeline attached is stupid and ignorant.
Example: The typical online jump program promising 9 inches on vertical in 3weeks.

A more appropriate thing to advertise would be as a coach my athletes average an inch gained a month; I can help you gain inches on your vertical too. The word average should be in there because even with a perfect training program each client will react differently to training.

2. Never Trained Seriously Themselves

If your hiring a coach they don’t have to have played your team sport or competed in the same lifting sport you do but they should have competed in something. Don’t even have to be the best many great coaches were not the best in their sport. Often time the less gifted athletes that had to overcome a lot just to be average make the best coaches.

How can someone who walked out of bed with a 40inch vertical understand how to take a person who is stuck at a 20inch vertical overcome it; overcoming adversity is the best teacher.

3. Revolving Door Of Clients

If a coach doesn’t have clients that stay with him/her for long than they are dropping the ball in some way. Sometimes this doesn’t have to even do with the knowledge of the coach but how personable they are. If that coach cannot adapt their training style to the person in front of them they will lose clients.

4. They Don’t Show Progression

There are many coaches with a million followers and train top level pro athletes/college athletes or even top highschool prospects but cannot show their progress underneath their teaching. If this is the case with a coach your looking into hiring this means they are what I call a “right place right time guy” meaning they have the clients they have because they get in with one already great athlete and because they are nice they get more clientele from referrals from that 1st big
client.

A coach should be able to present to people where a client was on day one and where they are currently. If not they are just writing random workouts to look cool for social media.

5. The Big Words And Fancy Toys Coach

If a coach uses words no one except a doctor can understand or another high level coach, they want to make it sound good and too hard for the average person to understand. This is so you’ll buy their online program that’s probably copy and pasted just cause it has fancy jargon behind it.

If you see a coach buy whatever new little toy comes out and use it on their clients its because they don’t actually have any rhyme or reason behind what they write its just whatever is for the most views on social media.

6. The Functional Coach

This term is spewed out of peoples mouths all the time and has been twisted to mean/ back some of the most ridiculous things out there. Doing animal flow/kettlebell swings/mace work/tubes with water in them/balancing on a bosu ball is not functional. If its closer to being a circus trick stop immediately.

The most functional thing you can be and strive to be is strong. If your an athlete and your weak compared to how much you weigh, chances are your always going to be hurt. You will always be slow and not able to jump; this will keep you on the bench for sure.

KALIL SHERROD
-Westside Barbell Personal Training and Athletic Coaching Certified
-Byrd Sports Performance Certified Coach