Reaching the Lost Generation of “Strength Coaches”

This post
is the result of some very frustrating experiences over the past several weeks
as well as my observation of the evolution of the strength and conditioning
field in general over the past three decades.  I am tired of hearing words and catch phrases like activate, glute
firing, controlling the knee – don’t get past the toe, functional Movement
Screen, movement prep, symmetry in body structure, stabilization and corrective
exercise. All movement does not reduce to the double knee bend in clean
technique, there is much more to assessing movement than administering the
functional movement screen. Just making someone tired does not make them fit. The
lost generation of S&C coaches have plenty of theory, are well versed in
sports science, but they come up short on practice and coaching. The weight room
is part of a much bigger picture. It is as if they have been brainwashed into a
reductionist approach to training the body that looks at the body as a
machine with replaceable parts. Nothing could be further from the truth. They
have missed the forest for the trees.

I certainly
do not mean this as a blanket indictment all S&C coaches, certainly there
are many fine young coaches out there who have embraced learning, are looking
to find a better way, but lack guidance and mentoring to help them. My
generation grew up as coaches first who used strength training as another tool
in the tool box of developing the complete athlete, not an end unto itself.
Olympic lifting movements were a training method, not a religion. I think there
is some amazing talent out there that is being wasted because they have been
brainwashed. Stop sheep walking and following the party line, just coach movement!
Intellectual incest produces madness. Focus on the big picture. Seize the
moment become coaches and teachers, not weight room supervisors counting reps and chasing numbers,
trying to fit everyone into a nice convenient box. Focus on athletic
development, strength is part of that.

How should
you do this? Declare a two week moratorium on reading anything about training
on the internet including this blog. Get out and go for it! Look around; find
someone with some grey in his or her hair with multiple degrees from the school
of hard knocks. Pick their brain; learn from their successes and failures. This
is a trail that was blazed well before anyone was designated a strength coach.
Empower yourself, be a critical thinker. Forget the textbook and what everyone
else is doing and think for yourself. Use a heavy dose of common sense; stop
looking for dysfunction and train function. Just getting strong is not good
enough, it must be strength you can use, and it must be put in the context of
the sport. Read the classic literature of training. Find a mentor not a guru.
Coach, make mistakes and learn from them. Forge your own path

Recognize
that coaching is not a linear process, it is dynamic, challenging, there are not
many answers, there are many questions. Take the challenge. Start with a
clean slate. Remember training is about manipulating the three movement constants,
the body, gravity and the ground in the context of the sport you are preparing
the athlete for. There is a huge difference between training them and coaching
them. Coaching is a process that understands that each individual is unique in
many ways and similar in many ways. Coach both.

This is
not about the good old days; this is a new era filled with endless opportunity
for innovation and change. Take advantage of it. Create a future perspective that
taps into the wisdom of the past. Orient your compass to true north. Anchor
your knowledge in sound principles of pedagogy, expert practice and applied
sport science. Hone your observation skills. Coach the movements, not the minutiae
of movement. Don’t focus on the parts, connect and link the parts and enhance
the coordination of those connections.