Powerlifting can be an extremely rewarding sport both physically and mentally. You have the opportunity to gain kilos on your lifts, transform your body and establish confidence within yourself. However, without the right guidance, you may not achieve these things as quickly or as profoundly as you would hope. Below are some of the reasons why hiring a powerlifting coach is the most important investment you’ll make.
The benefits you already know:
Learn Good TechniqueA powerlifting or strength coach will teach you how to lift correctly and safely. They can highlight where your form breaks down and advise you on how to alter in your movements.
Identify Issues and their Causes
On top of teaching you correct technique, a good coach will aim to uncover the underlying reasons why you might be doing something incorrectly (e.g. determine why your knees keep collapsing in a squat, instead of just telling you to keep them out). Perhaps you are overly tight in certain areas, favouring one muscle group over another, or have an imbalance or weakness on one side. A good powerlifting coach will identify these issues and give you a plan to combat them. This may include triggering/rolling, stretching and activating certain muscle groups.
Break through training plateaus with structured programming
Have you been training for a while now and feel like you made great gains to start with, but are now feeling stuck? Maybe you’ve been doing the same thing for a while and it’s just not giving you the results you’re after anymore. A good powerlifting coach will assess what you’ve been doing previously and use that knowledge moving forward to write a structured program that’s going to break through those barriers and get you results.
The benefits you may not have thought of:
Learn to Look After Yourself
Good coaches either have experience in the sport themselves, or they have worked with many successful clients. With this experience comes a certain knowledge and intuition (which many athletes fail to recognise) about managing your overall fatigue, stress levels and other external factors. All of which can have a huge impact on your performance. So many times when a 1-on-1 or online client hasn’t hit their programmed weights in training, and they begin to question their ability, I’ll ask them the following:
Have you been sleeping well?
Are you stressed about anything?
Have you been eating well?
Are you dehydrated?
9 times out of 10 they’ll answer negatively to at least one of the above, and it’s a good indication that we have found the reason for their results in the gym. It’s the coach’s job to reassure their client that they aren’t a failure and to provide advice for changing these external factors so that they can perform most optimally. Having a good coach, who can see what’s going on from a different perspective, will help you to get the best out of yourself and your training.
Avoid Burning Out
Aside from the external factors that I just mentioned, this point refers to managing fatigue brought about by your programmed training specifically. Motivated lifters who program themselves with the intention of getting stronger tend to push themselves hard. This is great, as it shows they have the right attitude for success (passion, determination and grit). Additionally for muscles to develop and grow, there needs to be an adequate level of stress put on them to create a change – therefore training “hard” is a necessity. However, there is also the capacity for too much stress and not enough recovery to have a negative effect on your end goal. When aiming to increase performance in powerlifting, its not necessarily about who’s the hardest worker in the room, but who’s the smartest. A good powerlifting coach will structure your program so that you are working hard when you need to, AND resting adequately to get the best results over time.
Gain a unique friendship
A coach is a friend! Powerlifting can be a lonely sport if you don’t have the privilege of training at a gym with like minded people (hit up Strength Sports Gym or The Strength Circle if you're on the Northside of Brisbane). Your coach may be the only person who understands why you’re doing what you’re doing and will share in your triumphs and successes. They’re happy when you’re happy. So talk to them, let them know how you’re feeling and most of all have fun! I have the privilege of calling so many of my clients my friends and I want to continue to expand my (Strength) circle.
Get cheap psychiatry, physio, chiro, nutrition, & life coaching all in one!
Just kidding ;) We will always refer on when things are out of our scope, however know that a good powerlifting coach has your best interests in mind, knows that there are many factors that influence performance and will seek to help you however they can.
Powerlifting can be a tough gig; so why make it tougher by tackling it alone? Invest in a coach today, to see your big goals turn into stepping-stones towards even greater success.
Here’s what my client Lora had to say about the impact my coaching has had on her:
Emma is the best! I used to spend so much money and time on physiotherapy, cupping, needling etc. because my lower back was always so sore. I’m so glad I started training with Emma. Since correcting my form, I have not had any back pain at all and my strength has increased so much! #WhatEvenWasLifeBeforeEmma?!
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