Why I Fired A Famous Powerlifting Coach in the First Month

Why my first powerlifting coach was the worst powerlifting coach I’ve ever had.

Back in ~2010, I hired my first online powerlifting coach. He was apparently really smart.

Heck, he’d even published scientific papers, coached some pretty high level lifters, etc.

But man was hiring him a mistake.

We lived in the same time zone so there wasn’t even a disparity there. On paper, he should have been great!

Our first couple weeks of coaching basically involved me sending him my payment info and him sending over a full block of training with my maxes and no further information.

No assessment, no back and forth communication.

Upon reflection, I probably just ended up getting a really expensive generic training template.

Now, I’m all for starting with templates when appropriate but that’s a post for a later date.

The plan included a weekly check in where he was supposed to make adjustments to the plan where appropriate and so I checked in with him after the first week of training only to wait FOUR DAYS to get a response.

To me, it seemed like it might have just been a fluke. I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt. 

So, I proceeded on to week 2 of the plan and the coach eventually got back to me several days later with some pretty generic feedback on my technique videos that I’d send him basically saying “yep, looks good enough”.

Week 2 checkin rolls around a few days later and I have an alright training week. Check in on time, and then we basically get a repeat of the same nonsense from week 1.

Another 3 or 4 day turnaround and some pretty generic feedback.

At this point, I raised my concerns around lame/generic/very delayed feedback to the coach to which his reply was something to the tune of “I’m really busy and have a lot of lifters that I’m working with”

I went on and did this checkin process for another couple weeks and at the end of the first month of coaching, I asked for a refund on the remaining 12 weeks of coaching I had signed up for.

Without much hesitation, he issued a refund and we parted ways.

To this day, this is still something that makes my blood boil. Not because I am bitter about the lame ass month off training that I had, but because I know that there are “coaches” out there that have the time management skills of a toddler and probably prioritize lifters based on who’s going to make them look good on social media.

Is outward appearance important from a business standpoint? Yeah, sure.

You know what’s even more important? Being the GREAT coach that your lifters think you are.

Clearly set expectations, delivering on said expectations, open and clear communication, etc.

If you’re hiring a coach, I’d hope that your plan is customized to you. Otherwise, there’s plenty of cheap apps or even free programs out there that will get you the same results as paying someone to monkey with a template  with less money and time invested.

Have you had bad experiences with coaches before? 

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