A few days ago, a client of mine mentioned that she had been doing research and had read on a bodybuilding forum that it was a good idea to have two coaches. To be honest, I was a bit flabbergasted that some people would even entertain the idea of two coaches. However, as I have explained to her, every question is a valid question. And if you are new to training, new to the fitness world — who knows? Having two coaches might be a faster way to achieve their individual goals. But I don’t think so.
Firstly, I want to say that I myself have co-coached at least three competitors that I can recall, and I may well have co-coached five or six. Do I like co-coaching? No. Not at all. It’s not being precious; I simply feel that if I am working with a client I would rather full disclosure on their whole entire process and/or prep. I dislike coaching their nutrition and not their training, or their training and not their nutrition. It is just to difficult to make decisions when you don’t really have a good read of the facts, or, even if you, you are only coaching 50 per cent. However, I have done it because a) the client has asked nicely, and b) I do it out of respect I have for the client, and the fact that they really value the other coaches experience in the opposing area to mine.
But I don’t like it. And I will be really honest here: I can’t truthfully say that I have felt as invested in them as when I am handling them in full as their biggest cheerleader and guide.
So why not two coaches? Well, for starters you are never (well, extremely unlikely) to get two coaches who are on the same page when it comes to training, nutrition, supplementation and rest/recovery. I mean, it’s just as likely that pigs fly to the moon. Even if they agreed in some spheres they won’t in others. Who compromises? How do they reach an agreement? What’s in it for the client if it is a ‘compromise’?
See, my client who asked the question isn’t a bodybuilder (although she would quite like to look like a figure or fitness girl). So, she asked me in a puzzled manner — isn’t there ‘a way’ that all coaches train people to get them on stage.
I found this a very grounding question too — that when you’re new, you really don’t understand exercise prescription and dietary approaches fully. I explained to her that if you take one person who wants to compete and give them to 40 different coaches you would get 40 different ‘ways’ and approaches to get him or her to stage condition. She didn’t realise that.
One of the things that it takes to get a competitor to stage in a really winning condition is something called synergy! Synergy is when many ingredients act together to create a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. And this is what a great coach does. How do have synergy when there are two of you? I guess it’s akin to ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’.
And some coaches are really dogmatic. It’s one of the biggest reasons that information isolation persists (the attempt to treat body fat with a single, isolated strategy). The dogmatic coach has gotten emotionally attached (or sometimes financially invested) in their theories and methods. Beliefs are like favourite possessions and people don’t like to part with them. What if the client is not showing results and you can see the problem with the other coach’s approach but you are unable to respond to it and lead the client in a better or different direction?
As opposed to information isolation, we also have information overload. One of the best reasons to hire a coach is to take the confusion of fat loss out of your own head and give the guidance task to someone who you respect and value to do for you.
Goodness, even as a 30-year coach I get confused on things I see, read and hear on social media and Google. You need a bullshit detector. You need to get independent confirmation of the facts. You cannot think that science is the only authority. You have to avoid attachment to your own ideas and be flexible and open to change. You need to see if claims can be tested and through your coaching real world experience you begin to realise that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one!
Being a coach is tough, let alone being a client wading through information on the internet and YouTube. Where is the client going to be at when their two coaches are at loggerheads, differing entirely with their opinions on big issues that MATTER to the client? This is going to cause MORE confusion, and less trust. I see it as a mental nightmare.
And what about the prescription of training? Good lord, don’t even get me started. OK, for starters let’s take the millions of trainees who follow programs based on numbers. How would that even work with two coaches? LOL, it just wouldn’t. It would be impossible. Some coaches would even ascertain different one-rep (or sub rep) maximals and base their two programs on an entirely different set of numbers. It would be a totally unworkable solution. So that wouldn’t work.
For the record, I have a coach and I follow a numbers program. I have a certain weight to hit with certain sets and reps, and it changes each week, and I have different training blocks with different goals within each block. I use myself as my nutrition coach, but I would have to say, I would suggest that MOST coaches out there simply wouldn’t work with another coach. I would bet my life on it that my coach Dan, as professional and as a good a human being as he is (super nice), simply wouldn’t work with another coach on my program. He just wouldn’t do it — and I wouldn’t blame him.
You aren’t doing a numbers-based program? OK, it still won’t work. It would be a logistical nightmare. Say, just an example, so you know what I mean, Coach #1 has the client on a traditional pyramid system — four work sets, pyramiding up in weight, down in reps, 12,10, 8 and 6. Good solid approach, working each body part once a week.
But Coach #2 has legs three times a week, chest twice a week in the hypertrophy range only of 15-12 reps. Uh…. how is that going to work? Um, it just couldn’t. They both negate each other, and yet both are good approaches! I mean, it’s just an untenable situation.
Look, there are more, less important reasons why not to have two coaches (and I am not talking about a prep coach and then a posing coach; that is not what this blog is talking about) but I don’t have time to get into the nitty gritty reasons.
I would question why someone would even be thinking, “Maybe I should have two coaches?” Why? Do you feel you aren’t getting the results you are seeking? If not, why not? If you can honestly say that you are being 100 per cent compliant and STILL not getting any results, why have you not brought this up with your coach? If you deep down know that you are NOT being compliant, in fact, truthfully, not even close, can your coach coach you to improve your compliancy? Because if not — then perhaps you should be looking at changing coaches. And if you are being compliant and it’s still not working, why has your coach not adopted a different approach?
For the courtesy and diligence to both parties I would suggest that you take your time to choose the person that you choose to coach you. Ask all the questions, see if your values are in line with theirs. Maybe meet or talk with them, or have a bit of a conversation via email.
Do you feel they ‘get you’? Or is there a nagging feeling that they are just trying to get you on-board. Are you able to ask lots of questions and not be thought of as precious and ‘high maintenance’? Do you respect their answers and reasonings — does it make sense to you?
Choose wisely and then follow their advice, and to the letter if you can. Go down the rabbit burrow and do your work. If you do and you feel your best decision is to move on, that is fine. That is what people do. Especially if they don’t get results.
And then give your new coach the same 100 per cent commitment. Save yourself total confusion. Always end things professionally. If you have been working with a coach for a period of time, don’t send them a two-to-three sentence Facebook message, give them the courtesy of a face-to-face chat, because the coach has invested in you too.
In many ways, and although it’s part of life to move on, it’s still hard from the coach’s point of view. We sometimes feel a little disappointed, or a touch hurt, especially with no opportunity to chat about it. It’s just rude.
I must ask – have any of you readers ever had two coaches at the one time for one main goal? If so, how did it go? Would you do it again? I’d love to hear your thoughts.