How do I become a successful strength and conditioning coach?

Public opinion on the success or failure of a head sport coach is based almost entirely on won/loss records. Too many times, the strength and conditioning coach can be part of the “too much credit” and “too much blame” syndrome that is pervasive in coaching. Every coach understands this dilemma when they pursue coaching as their chosen profession. However, there are many behind the scenes responsibilities that are important in building and maintaining a successful program. It truly takes the efforts of an entire athletic department to give a team and coaching staff the opportunity to be successful. I believe that individual coaches seen as successful exhibit certain characteristics that are similar to other successful professionals.

My working definition of the successful strength and conditioning coach is a person who:

1. Ignores traditional job descriptions

These coaches are willing to take on jobs and tasks when help is needed, even if it outside of normal responsibilities. They go above and beyond the call of the normally accepted job description. Successful strength and conditioning coaches find opportunities to help their athletes, teams, or athletic departments by giving that extra little bit. Some do this without being asked and will never seek recognition for their efforts. Examples of this would be speaking at booster club functions or helping prepare a facility for a competition.

2. Exhibits great energy, passion, and enthusiasm for the job

These coaches are always bringing an aura of positive energy when working with their athletes and teams. When you walk into these coaches' training session or practice, there is a coaching style and energy that makes you want to work out with that group of athletes. These coaches are not necessarily loud or outgoing, but the athletes can sense that the coach cares about them and their team and desires to provide them quality coaching. These coaches carefully watch their athletes during training and provide them effective feedback and instruction whenever possible.

3. Exhibits a professional attitude and demeanor

When you visit these coaches, you recognize their knowledge and skills rather quickly based both on the quality of the training program and the instruction to support that program they provide. They publicly praise both their athletes and staff for the hard work and dedicated effort they provide. They show respect for their coworkers in the athletic department and throughout the university by how they interact with them.

4. Always learns and evolves

Rarely satisfied with success, the best strength and conditioning coaches I know evaluate every phase of their program. When any phase of a program looks like it needs some repair, these coaches seek advice and opinions from staff and other professionals, even when it may run counter to their current thinking. Successful coaches follow proven processes but work to find ways to improve the process. Coaches who stubbornly rely on what has worked in the past may be the last to realize that athletes, teams, and coaching staffs have changed and new approaches are needed. A successful strength and conditioning coach is willing to give up the good and reach for the great by trying, failing, and reevaluating.

5. Always pays attention to detail while never losing sight of the big picture

Successful coaches are aware of how small issues affect their athletes and, eventually, can affect even their best-laid plans. The smallest details regarding discipline, training, and recovery are always examined. However, there is no shortage of information, training philosophies, and ideas that strength and conditioning coaches must wade through and decide which, if any, fits into their program. With all of this available information, it is easy to get lost in all the noise. Borrowing and applying a quote from the founding father of Delta Force, Charlie Beckwith, successful strength and conditioning coaches remember that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing (Delta Force: The Army's Elite Counterterrorist Unit, HarperCollins, 2000).

When I reflect over the last 20+ years that I have been fortunate enough to spend in the strength and conditioning field, the first thing that comes to mind are the many outstanding individuals who have taken the time to help and mentor me during my career. There are several qualities that all of these individuals have; I will use these qualities as an example of what I think makes a successful strength and conditioning coach.

First and foremost, as cliché as it sounds, a good coach must possess a tireless work ethic. One thing that you learn right away as a student or graduate assistant is that this is not a Monday through Friday 9–5 job. My observation has been that not many strength and conditioning coaches were talented, elite, natural athletes during their playing days. Most were blue-collar hardworking over-achievers who had to outwork their competition to be competitive. Many of these individuals discovered early on during their athletic careers that the weight room was a way to compensate for a lack of natural abilities, that by outworking your peers in the off-season, you had a chance to level the playing field. Usually, the quest for physical excellence leads to an equal desire to understand the scientific principles behind the technical mechanics and application of strength and conditioning. In the truest sense, you become a lifetime student of the field, your development and evolution as a practitioner never stops.

As important as work ethic and desire is in the process, developing a sense of humility keeps you grounded. If you are around the field long enough, there is going to be a time when you as the strength coach get way too much of the credit when things are good and way too much of the blame when things are bad. Having humility allows you to deal with both situations. It is important to realize that what we do as strength and conditioning professionals is just part of the process, a very important part, but still just a part. Humility also means constantly striving to make your program better by learning from others in the field, and then giving them the credit. In many ways, the field has become very specialized and segregated and, in some ways, the core never changes. It is impossible to be an expert in everything from Olympic lifting to functional movement training, so learn from those who are the experts and determine how you can integrate this information into your training program.

A few other characteristics or traits that come to mind when thinking about good coaches whom I know are things like patience and compassion. We are after all, working with other people's sons and daughters! Treating athletes how we would want to be treated, or how we would want our son or daughter to be treated, is a standard we should strive for.

The first and foremost characteristic I believe a good strength and conditioning coach should have is a balance between his/her personal and professional life. Having a career in strength and conditioning demands a lot of hours during a workday and weekend/holiday sacrifices. Finding the balance by communicating and setting up appropriate boundaries and priorities with the sport coach is paramount in being successful in life—both personally and professionally.

The next characteristic or trait in my hierarchy of what makes a good strength and conditioning coach is care for the athlete's development. I firmly believe the athlete you are working with wants to know how much you care before they care how much you know. Honestly, listening to the concerns and opinions of the athlete helps build a trusting relationship. With this trusting relationship, you will trust the athlete to provide a quality effort. Conversely, the athlete will trust that you have taken their needs into consideration. Being able to relate to the athlete gives the coach credibility.

Another characteristic of successful coaches is to communicate what the expectations are before starting training. I tell each team in the beginning of the academic year “I understand you all like to play the sport you are involved in, and you may not all like to lift weights and that's ok. However, if you are willing to let me teach you how it can help your success as an athlete, it will. If you won't, it won't.” Demonstrating to the athlete that as a strength and conditioning coach you understand not every athlete loves strength and conditioning will take some pressure off of them to fake it, and it has been my experience that they work harder within their own abilities instead of trying to match the athletes in the room who really enjoy training and have been doing it longer. Approaching the athlete in a realistic way has created the buy-in that I need to run a successful strength and conditioning program with any of the teams I am responsible for.

After the athletes know you care about their individual and team development, establishing expectations and boundaries by being firm, fair, and consistent is imperative. What is a standard for one must be the standard for all or credibility is ruined. My 3 expectations for all of the athletes I work with are as follows:

1. Arrive on time and if you are going to be late communicate ahead of time.
2. Be willing to receive coaching to perform the lifts correctly.
3. Provide the effort required to be successful.

The consequence for not being willing to follow the expectations is the same for all; dismissal from the privilege of coaching and using the weight room for the day. I believe we are only as strong as the weakest link, and it is usually the weakest link that does not communicate or put in effort. I do not feel that the rest of the team who are making an effort to use the benefits of strength and conditioning should be subjected to the athlete who is not. In my experience, this approach has created athlete accountability and has placed the responsibility of the quality of the team workout on me and the quality of the individual workout on the athlete; which is where I feel the responsibilities of those respective categories should fall. When the athletes see they are going to get out of the workout what they put into it, they work harder and I as the coach can give credit where it's due. When that happens, they are fulfilling the expectation of showing up, being shown the work, and then doing the work to the best of their abilities. It is empowering to the athlete, when the ownership of their individual workouts is “on them” instead of me as the coach. This approach has created a competitive environment within the team where the workouts are intense, and we can get an incredible amount of work accomplished. We as the coach cannot perform the workouts for them!

I believe it is also good for the athletes to see the coaching staff workout from time to time if the coach's schedule allows. Being able to practice what you preach to an athlete adds to your credibility and makes the coach more “real” instead of them potentially thinking “she wants me to do what?” There is a great benefit to the athlete to see you struggle through heavy squats or miss a clean much like they do from time to time. To reiterate, I believe in being able to relate to the athletes so that they are more likely to buy in to what I am teaching. For me, it works especially well with my female teams when they can watch me workout. I feel working out in front of the athletes also shows them that athletic activity does not have to stop when they step off the field/court, for the last time. If they enjoy lifting, I encourage them to recreationally participate in weightlifting, powerlifting, marathons, and so on. Having been a collegiate athlete, I understand that when the college athletic career is over there is a sense of loss, but that loss can be turned into another direction as well. Although their collegiate athletic careers have ended, they can still find some other means to remain physically active.

Regarding administrative responsibilities, I believe that the strength and conditioning coach needs to keep a healthy working relationship with the athletic training staff and the sport coaches. Whenever I am in the process of writing the next workout progression for any of my teams, I ask the Athletic Trainer Certified (ATC) for their input and send them what I am thinking I would like to do. I can make a sport-specific training program that will make that team stronger and more powerful, however I want and place a tremendous value on the input from the ATC to keep us healthy and discuss ideas I may not have thought of. In my particular case, the ATC see the athletes more than I do and the trend of injuries or weaknesses for the teams. I feel that communicating with the ATC is much more to the benefit of the athlete than reading an injury report full of restrictions. My goal is to get that athlete back to playing as quickly as possible, so discussing the “why” of the injury and the “what I can do in the weight room,” as opposed to only seeing a written report, may help to mitigate that particular trend of injury and helps our team stay on the field/court, and the like.

The strength and sport coach relationship is also important. I acknowledge that when a sport coach gives input on the workouts of their team, there can be the adage of “a little strength and conditioning knowledge makes sport coaches think they are also strength coaches.” Unless, it is something that could lead to an injury for the athlete or does not make sense for that particular workout, I will find a way to incorporate the suggestion of the sport coach. Asking the “why” question and getting the explanation from the sport coach will help in developing the plan for the team and help you as the strength coach create a safer sensible alternative if the aforementioned circumstances occur.

Last on the list is continuing education and professional development. I say this with caution because I recognize there are all kinds of fads to try when it comes to strength and conditioning, and I do not advise that because it is important, whenever possible, to rely on scientifically based approaches to training. Attending conferences, networking with other strength coaches, watching other teams work out, and letting yourself be coached by another coach are all valuable tools that have served me well. There is more than one way to coach, so learning others' coaching cues or exercise modifications is just another tool to help the athletes you work with. I do suggest keeping up on the scientific research and trying or modifying what you read to suit the needs of your teams. The beauty of that is if you tried an exercise and it did not work as you had hoped, you have the power to change it. I enjoy doing yoga and have seen the benefits it has had on my own body and I have incorporated some of the simpler moves for my teams that help improve hip/back mobility.

Building on that statement, in whatever you choose to do with your team; even if you see another coach doing something and think you would like to try it—I suggest learning the science behind what you want to incorporate so you can give a reason to justify what you are doing in the event you get asked; and at some point you will. Answering, “because I said so” is not as credible as compared to “holding a static stretch for 20–30 doesn't result in microtears as does ballistic stretching, making an injury while using static stretching less likely as compared to ballistic stretching.”