Data. Numbers. Parameters. They rule the new age of information, and while they have their significant benefits in terms of predictive analysis, one thing they haven’t nailed down is the human condition.
这是教练的典型情况。您有很棒的客户，他们在编程的每个培训会议上都会向您提供反馈，并且您必须问自己：“这个人还活着吗？”从力量训练的角度与耐力运动员合作火车英雄, a Peaksware program and sister program to TrainingPeaks, I began having these opposing trends in my early stages of coaching.
Any tool is only as good as the person handling it, and when it comes to numbers and data, if we can’t pull reasoning from all of that information, what good is gathering it in the first place? Let’s discuss how to connect with these different types of clients you might have, how to serve them better and find context for the data while limiting additional work to do so.
Subjective vs. Objective — What Actually Matters?
Whether working with clients from an endurance coach perspective or a functional movement clinician, it’s ideal to have an initial sit down, face-to-face or virtually/over the phone. When I started my career, I would often rush through this portion because I wanted to ensure everyone knew how much I knew about all things movement, rehab, and pain.
直到我遇到一个说:
People don’t care how much
you know until they know
how much you care.
I think we are all guilty of the former when we first start, and as we get “reps,” we learn to relax. These days, I reiterate when speaking with clients to imagine we are sitting down, having a cup of coffee, talking openly.
这次参与会议是进入顶空的绝佳时机。要知道运动员要去哪里，我们必须了解他们现在的位置。这些信息来自提出的问题，这些问题将洋葱是客户的众所周知的层面剥离。我喜欢从三个领域（生物学，心理学和社会学）收集这些信息。你们中有些人可能知道生物心理社会的方法。这是一种以客户为中心的方式来查看该人的全部图片，以优化与他们合作的最佳方法。问题是普遍的，可能看起来像这样：
- What brings you this direction for coaching? What are you looking to gain from what I/we offer?
- What is the overall goal of working together? If we were able to achieve this goal, what impact would it have on your life?
- Have you worked with other coaches in the past? What did you enjoy or not enjoy about working with them?
- What have been some pitfalls in the past with your training? Whether that be injuries or life interrupting your progress.
- How does your social circle around you handle your training? Would you say your immediate family/friend circle is supportive?
- How does your work-life balance handle your training? Do you foresee any difficulties with this while we work together?
As you can see, things get real, really quick. You may think these questions get awkward or make you grit your teeth, but they are imperative for solid communication. I can assure you that prefacing the conversation by stating “how much you care” will not only help you maintain a client but maybe one that would run through a wall for you.
The overarching goal is to set as much clarity as we can on the subjective aspects of a client and establish that questions and comments are ideal for moving forward for the best relationship as coach and client. Plus, proving that you welcome them as a person, not just a client, provides more insight into the subjective and objective attributes.
From there, we can begin to glean context from the data as you work together in the training process.
Load vs. Capacity — Can We Predict Icebergs?
Data can get messy, fast. I often apply this to explaining pain to people. Jumping back to wide-eyed, wet behind the ears Dr. Jesse, I laugh at how much time I spent trying to explain mechanics, tissues involved in an injury, etc. You may have tried to do the same by explaining the training cycles, philosophy of your training methods, only to find out that the client typically has no idea what you’re talking about.
从我的放纵让事情更少的complex. I have since simplified how I explained pain to most clients, especially endurance athletes, by boiling it down to a balance between load and capacity. The idea is simple. It’s OK to have load slightly exceed capacity because that’s how we adapt in a training program (run further, bike faster, get less winded). However, if load heavily exceeds capacity, we risk overloading the tissues involved or the body in general and risk being shelved.
You may be familiar with training load jargon but if you’re not, let’s quickly break things down in how they apply to TrainingPeaks.
- Acute Training Load (Fatigue) – ATL is how much training stress the client has faced in the last seven days.
- 慢性训练负荷（健身） - CTL是客户在过去42天内面临的训练压力。
- Training Stress Balance (Form) – TSB being the difference of CTL subtracted from ATL with 0 being homeostasis, positive numbers signaling recovery and negative numbers signaling declining form.
我会通过在那里停止课程来避免您的眼睛，因为我敢肯定你们大多数人都熟悉术语。您可以阅读更多信息the glossary of terms. And to see a walkthrough from a coach and friend, Coach Andrew Simmons, talking about the terms mentioned above as they apply to a training program,在这里观看视频。
We could sit and focus on only the numbers or the trends in how they apply to the client we are guiding, but that only displays part of the bigger picture. This is where the “How did you feel?” and Perceived Exertion buttons come into play. As you may know, some are good at clicking these, and some are not. Convincing your athletes to leverage these feedback options could make or break a training plan, race, or season.
Finding trends and open discussions are crucial month to month, especially from training block to training block. People have needy jobs, needy children, needy spouses (many of which have reasonable needs), and additional roles that are part of their makeup. Although we are “just their coach,” we must know how the load in their life affects their capacity as well. I routinely meet with clients once a month, either on a phone call or a Zoom meeting, and I rely on questions that aren’t much different from the initial ones already listed above.
Outside of questions you typically answer with each workout, how do you feel your training has gone this month? (This opens the floor to talk about why they may NOT be good at answering these questions but not in an accusatory way.)
- What barriers have you faced this month with your training? What barriers will you have next month?
- Do you foresee anything being added to your plate this coming month, either personally or professionally, that could cause you trouble?
- Outside of what we’ve done up to this point, what would you like to see next month, and can I help in any way from any standpoint revolving around nutrition or recovery?(Keep in mind that you don’t have to take on aspects outside of your realm as a coach, but you likely have people in your network who would be giddy to help.)
Using questions framed like these while looking at the trends within the data shows allows us to get a lens into the person’s consistency and resiliency upfront to keep working with them and going forward on a month-to-month basis. This process also makes managing multiple personalities easier as you have a blueprint to work from and tailor any methods to a specific person.
Personality Types — Catering to Your Audience
如前所述，我们有两个与客户合作的阵营：平台上的活跃的客户和那些没有的客户。我会说不要说不要过度扩张自己，只是寻求确认，这意味着有些人不擅长做出回应，无论您做什么。每个人都有那个朋友，您将短信发送给，甚至可能是下一个选举周期，他们会做出回应，如果您不这样做，则意味着您就是那个人。最初，最好设定“门总是打开”的先例。
从与许多面对面和在线格式的客户合作，重要的是要灵活地使用各种通信平台。像我一样，我敢肯定，您的客户自然而然地流向了特定的工具，并且有些遍布整个地方。诚然，我不是最有条理的人，因此我可以促进的更加清晰或绝对的操作，我运作越好。对于我的客户，我想从他们提出几个问题来知道他们最好使用哪个平台：
显然，我们有一些不同的沟通选择，我想确保我向您敞开大门。什么平台（give them the options you prefer first) works best for you to correspond?
I have clients with many different styles of corresponding with me. Some are consistent among each workout, while others may not leave feedback for a week or more. Everyone is different but historically, what works best with you?
(For the client who has been radio silent)
I’ve been looking into your training progression intermittently and want to make sure you’re getting the best experience. Is there an ideal way for us to keep correspondence? Say, a phone call to catch up or emails every other week to get updated on how you’re recovering?
另一个选择ion I use is an “Office Hour” once a month for many clients I work with online. I will pick a day and time (it’s usually the first Monday evening of the month), email everyone a Zoom meeting link to either present a topic or leave the floor open for Q&A. It frees up so much time for me while also improving my speaking to a group and creating content I can repurpose for later.
Again, don’t feel compelled to overextend yourself. For many of you, this is your job. For others, a side hustle. Coaching is not your life, which is my last lesson that, quite frankly, I’m still learning how to manage. You can’t be available to the masses 24/7 because it leaves you no availability to yourself.
Work smarter, not harder.
