BE OPEN MINDED
You’ve approached a coach because you want to make some changes, whether it was because you hit a plateau, became injured, or wanted to improve your performance. Whatever the reason, you need to be open minded to what your coach is suggesting. If you want to achieve something you’ve never achieved before, you might just have to do something you’ve never done before. Remember, we are on your team and we want to do what we think is going to get you that extra boost in performance. There are also a number of different ways to achieve a similar result. One coach might have a different approach – not necessarily the wrong approach – just different! Give it a chance.
ASK QUESTIONS
Feel free to ask questions as any good coach will have a logical explanation and usually even some research to rely upon for why they operate the way they do. We don’t expect you to blindly follow our directions and this is an opportunity for you to understand why certain techniques/training methods might improve your performance over alternative ones. Just one thing: try not to overthink it and make something simple SUPER complex. It doesn’t need to be complex to work! But also understand that coaching is both an art and a science. We assemble your training based on our years of experience working with all kinds of athletes and these experiences inform our decision-making processes. At the bare minimum, there is some level of trust that is required between the athlete and the coach.
COMMUNICATE
You need to give your coach feedback so we know how things are going. Hate that sprint session? Can’t get up early in the morning? Let us know! We want you to enjoy your training but we also want to get the best out of you. If it isn’t sustainable, it won’t be effective long-term. If you’re feeling tired and run down, you need to let us know too. You won’t adapt to the training without rest. Feel like you can push it harder? Give us a heads up and we can try to work it in (safely). Without checking in with us, we only have the data to rely on and that can only tell us so much.
DO YOUR BEST
Life happens and nobody is perfect. You forgot some of the details of the session, you slept in, you had a bad day at work, the kids were up all night – we get it. All we want is your dedication to the program most of the time. Progress, not perfection, is what we are after. We care about you as a person first and an athlete second.