Lessons from #CoachesOnly - Day 1
A couple of weeks has now passed since I attended the very impressive and hugely useful Coaches Only conference hosted by the team at Weightlifting House. I knew as soon as it was advertised I’d be interested in the two evenings of seminars and the speakers did not disappoint.
On the Saturday I heard talks from Justin Holly (of Willpower Weightlifting), Dr Anna Swisher (USA Weightlifting) & Dr Shyam Chavda (Middlesex University & BWL), Kate Nye (USA International lifter) & Dr Mike Israetel (Renaissance Periodisation).
Here are my (abbreviated) take home points that I think we can all benefit from:
Justin Holly coaches from his own gym in Wales (@willpowerweightlifting) and has done so for a decade. His best known lifter is his Nephew Jordan Sakkas - who if you haven’t seen lift you should check out @jordansakkas105
Justin spoke about the formation of a weightlifting team and how as a coach it is our job and responsibility to create an environment whether online or in-person that allows our athletes to thrive. Justin’s passion and love for the sport beamed through the screen in a wild mix of eloquence and F-bombs.
His primary message centred around the importance in equal parts that the lifter AND coach hold themselves to an agreed standard. That standard should be based on the goals and drive of the lifter. It is my job to care and be present in every training session in the same way it is for the lifter to be present and tuned in to every lift and every bit of feedback.
Justin highlighted the multi-year nature of our sport and that it’s a huge commitment from us as a coach that may ultimately lead nowhere. Yet our drive and enthusiasm must remain the same, for if it doesn't , why the hell do we coach?
The final most resounding part of this talk for me was how Justin spoke of being in the gym hours and hours on end. Seeing and hearing and coaching lifters and PAYING ATTENTION. I’ve always believed this same thing was necessary but felt incredibly motivated by his highlighting it. It’s made me want to get back in the gym coaching people even more than before and that motivation hasn’t wained over the couple of weeks since the conference. Thank you Justin!
The next presentation was from a pair of research scientists who also apply their trade practically. Dr Anna Swisher works for USA Weightlifting as an educator and coaches lifters (@coachswisher) and Shyam Chavda who works for the London Institute of Sport at Middlesex University as well as coaching the lifters there (@coach_chavda).
The pair presented a model by which coaches could better understand and communicate the phases of a lift and the corresponding bio-mechanics. The proposition being that bar path alone tells us very little and that we must look also at joint position, bar position in relation to joint position, base of support, centre of mass in relation to BoS, and centre of pressure.
The resounding message from this talk was that there are certain truths - based on fundament laws of physics - and certain aspects of ‘uniqueness’ that can apply in weightlifting. Some things MUST happen in order for a lift to be successful (or indeed optimal) and some things CAN be individual to a lifter.
Although this sounds intuitive for some reason in the coaching world there are still arguments (I’d guess online in forums where people seem to spend their time) about the perfect lifting technique, the ideal bar path and the optimal degree of hip extension in the classic lifts.
Dr’s Anna and Shyam presented a good case for why we should really all get on board with the same terminology and definitions if the sport is going to keep making progress. Thank you! *
Third speaker of the day was International lifter from the USA Kate Nye (@katherineenye). As a professional weightlifter and student Kate gave her answers to questions on the coach/athlete relationship and the perspective of the lifter with regards to expectations and requirements of her coach.
It was great to hear the differences in set up that Kate and her coach have. Josh Galloway apparently isn’t a full time coach and actually works a tech job 9-5. He does run the weightlifting club Team Hercules but from all accounts wasn’t hugely experienced at the level Kate has reached in a very short space of time. This along with the fact that a lot of the coaching is remote and fairly hands off was a really interesting dynamic. It shows just how dedicated Kate is as an athlete as well as highlighting the need to just ‘do the work written’.
Kate has spoken openly in the past about her mental health and answered questions around how she copes and works training around good and bad days. It was very insightful to hear that actually her reliance on Josh (her coach) was relatively minimal and her personal support network is more significant in this regard. Training seems very much like a job and she appears to take it very professionally.
For those of us who aren’t professional or elite, the lessons from Kate can still apply. Weightlifting is a solo sport and you must take it seriously and apply yourself day in, day out to succeed and progress. That said, being part of a team and having healthy competition around is hugely beneficial.
The remote and very mature nature of her coach/athlete relationship also means she takes a lot of responsibility for her training and results, whilst still having guidance and support on programming and technical aspects. I liked that she said she stuck closely to the training plans but felt she could feel when something wasn’t technically correct or was simply too heavy. Something only lots of training helps.
The fourth and final speaker of the Saturday was Dr Mike Israetel from Renaissance Periodisation (@rpdmike). Anyone who has thought about cutting weight or changing their diet whilst training has likely heard of or seen them online. RP is now one of the better known brands in diet tracking and planning. What you may not know is that Dr Mike is big on muscle mass and he’s pretty funny too.
The presentation focused on nutrient timing and how that in reality it’s only a very small piece of the much larger puzzle. In essence the message was unless you’re already doing the big stuff (calorie balance, protein targets, sleeping well/enough, hydrating properly etc) then this doesn’t really make much difference. He called it the extra 10%.
Splitting this down further was that people often get too caught up on the very minor details. “Can I have turkey instead of chicken?” or “I was supposed to get 38g but I’ve had 40g…”
The primary message was that if you’re aiming for good performance and body composition you should focus on getting regular meals all featuring protein. Once this is normal for you, you can focus on timing meals to effect performance. I’ve written specifically about intra-workout nutrition here>>>
Aside from being very funny Dr Mike made some great points about how the smaller less important things about how we eat can be the things that end up overwhelming us and making it all seem to complicated. Simple works best, KISS.
The evening of talks went by really fast - Seb and the team at Weightlifting House did a great job of organising and running the event. I’m very much looking forward to the next one!
*I asked a poorly worded question in the discussion of this talk about how whether the knee joint always flexes again during the transition period of the lift and whether it was simply a technique error. What I should have asked is: “Do you ever see the knee angle remain the same after the first pull and simply change orientation due to increased dorsi-flexion at the ankle? If this happens the centre of pressure moves forwards in the foot and hips come forwards to meet the bar too early… If this were the case what should be done about it?” Something I still hope to have answered…