Encouragement. Post workout sweat angels. Pre-workout instruction. Intra-workout cues. Pain reduction. Spot Checking. Cool down exercises. A balanced program to help you achieve goals.

Everything above is what a coach can provide you.

If they can’t, there are other classifications for them. Ben Bergeron broke them down for me in an Affiliate of Excellence seminar back in 2017. (His podcast Chasing Excellence is in our links tab)

1.) Cheerleader
Enthusiastic. Controls the music. Helps you achieve a sweat. No real coaching happens.
2.) Tactician
Points of performance are understood and taught. Cueing athletes from the general understanding of the movements.
3.) Trainer
Capable of short, direct and actionable cues. Has a broader understanding of the movements and complimentary/accessory work that will yield results when deficiencies present themselves.
4.) Coach
The coach understands the human side and where athletes are in their journey. They know it’s more how you respond to them than what they say.

Your effectiveness as a coach is measured at the listeners ear, not the tip of your tongue. Comprehension of cueing is important. “I told them to _______, they didn’t get it,” should be scrubbed from a coach’s vocabulary. We can do better as a gym, community, industry.

It’s common for coaches to switch from athlete to coach when we care about other people, have a competitive drive, or find we have an affinity to teach.

So if you care – Care deeply. Deeply enough to know that encouragement is good but it’s not great. People need help as they get tired to know they are in good position. You’re their lifeguard to stave off injury and combat disfunction.

If you’re competitive – be the best. Keep track of who you taught what. Keep your classes full and PR bell echoing. Be sure you are the coach everyone wants to go see about a new goal. Become the coach you would trust.

If you’re an educator – educate. Find ways to demonstrate and explain that connect personally to your athletes. Make the cues hard to forget. Educate them so well people will ask them where they learned that. Understand words might be enough if you only knew the correct ones to say.