Looking the Part
April 14, 2023
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There is a picture of me training from before my injury on my Facebook page that for some reason started to get some attention today and it made me stop and think about the importance of "looking the part" of a Strength and Power Development Coach. I've always believed that it helps me "sell my training" when I look like my training works. Maybe it's not right but it's a simple fact that before I ever talk to an athlete about my training philosophy, education, or certifications they are looking at me thinking if my training is right for them or not and whether I look like it's working or not.... the way you look says a lot!!
A couple of years ago at a NSCA Conference Coach Boyd Epley, the Founder of the NSCA, stopped in front of me and told me "way to look the part Coach"!! Ben Franks tells me that it is how he saw me as well when I visited the Crusaders training camp in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2006. When we talk training and sometimes get to train together and he mentions how important it is to him and others that I don't just "talk the talk" but I "walk the walk"!! However with that said during a Sports Management class at UTSA we had a speaker that was a "higher up manager" at a chain of fitness centers and when I was introduced to her the first thing she remarked was calling me a "meathead". Now that term doesn't bother me as it's been said so many times to describe me but it did bother my professor Dr. Taylor who explained to her that I was not in any way a meathead!! (Thanks Dr. Taylor) At that point I realized that while my physical presence is a selling point to my training philosophy I will also have to constantly battle the image that if you're big, strong and muscular then you must not be smart!! That is the further thing from the truth.
Bottom line...if you want your athletes to believe in your training then you better be banging out some training and looking the part!!!
Play Hard...Train Harder...NO EXCUSES
picture is 170 kg snatch grip high pulls at Olympic Gym in San Antonio, TX
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A couple of years ago at a NSCA Conference Coach Boyd Epley, the Founder of the NSCA, stopped in front of me and told me "way to look the part Coach"!! Ben Franks tells me that it is how he saw me as well when I visited the Crusaders training camp in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2006. When we talk training and sometimes get to train together and he mentions how important it is to him and others that I don't just "talk the talk" but I "walk the walk"!! However with that said during a Sports Management class at UTSA we had a speaker that was a "higher up manager" at a chain of fitness centers and when I was introduced to her the first thing she remarked was calling me a "meathead". Now that term doesn't bother me as it's been said so many times to describe me but it did bother my professor Dr. Taylor who explained to her that I was not in any way a meathead!! (Thanks Dr. Taylor) At that point I realized that while my physical presence is a selling point to my training philosophy I will also have to constantly battle the image that if you're big, strong and muscular then you must not be smart!! That is the further thing from the truth.
Bottom line...if you want your athletes to believe in your training then you better be banging out some training and looking the part!!!
Play Hard...Train Harder...NO EXCUSES
picture is 170 kg snatch grip high pulls at Olympic Gym in San Antonio, TX
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Play Hard...Train Harder...NO EXCUSES
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