For whatever reason, you need to coach yourself. The good news is that strength & conditioning is the most straightforward type of coaching, so you can do it! The bad news is you still need a good eye on your sport skills and I can’t help you with that.
To coach yourself to superior fitness, you just need a dream, a mission as a coach, a vision as an athlete, a philosophy, a few principles, a handful of key metrics, and a menu of training options to select from. This series is how you build all of that for yourself so you can turn off your brain and get to work!
But rather than start at the beginning, as most series logically would, I’m going to start at the end: using myself as a case study in self-coaching.
Objective
Dream: Masters World Champion, 110 meter hurdles, age 35-39.
Mission: Be fast and technically beautiful in terrible conditions.
Vision: A centenarian decathlete.
Strategy
Philosophy (hey, you know this one so say it with me):
- Speed kills
- Strength saves
- Conditioning is overrated
- Recovery doesn’t just happen
Principles:
- ZERO training injuries
- Better undertrained than overtrained
- Speed first, beautiful technique second
- Make perfect a habit
- Nothing extra except playing
- Little things are bigger than big things
Metrics:
- 110m hurdle race time
- 60m hurdle race time
- 200m race time
- 40y dash time
- 10y fly time
- Standing triple jump
- Standing broad jump
- Overhead backward medicine ball throw (15 or 16lb) distance
- Bodyweight
- Waist measurement
Tactics
Training Menu:
Best session is…speed + hurdle + jump + throw.
Good session is…hurdle technique + weightlifting.
Okay session is…stairs + box jumps + KBs.
Bad session is…sloppy, tired, or pointless.
Backup session is…rest + food prep.
How Self-Coaching Really Works
I rest on Monday.
Ideally, Tuesday would be a “best” and Wednesday would be a “good” session.
If that works out, Thursday is going to be a “backup” session.
If I do everything right, Friday can be another “best” and Saturday can be a “good” session and Sunday I’ll go play.
But life rarely goes to plan. I travel for work. I have children. I have pets. It snows or burns or both here in CO.
So when things…happen…I don’t panic. I just look at my menu, grab the training meal that I can handle that day, and I keep my eyes on the vision.
Your Vision Is The Long-Term Approach
Since I want to see myself completing 9 explosive and 1 endurance event on the track at *100 years old* it doesn’t make sense to beat myself up over a day, a week, a month, or even a year of training that doesn’t go my way.
I just show up, do my work, and watch my metrics.
Your Philosophy Determines Your Workload
Now, a few things are missing here, not least of which is exactly what I do for each segment of a given session. I’ll attempt to summarize:
- Speed: 3-6 maximal accelerations, 4-10 seconds to a rep
- Hurdle: 3-5 race-like starts over 1-3 hurdles
- Jump: 6-20 maximal jumps
- Throw: 20-30 maximal throws
- Technique: 30-100 hurdles as drills
- Weightlifting: 3-5 exercises for 1-5 reps for 1-3 sets
- Stairs: a lot until I’m not explosive anymore
- Box jumps: 15-30 or until I’m not explosive anymore
- Kettlebells: 3-6 exercises until I’m not explosive anymore
- Food prep: planning, buying, chopping, portioning, storing, and maybe cooking my food for the next few days
Your Mental Health Needs Play and Principles
Play is everything I do that isn’t my goal. If we get a powder day in early spring, I’ll go snowboard. If I’m too tired for a speed day yet it’s warm, bright, and dry on a Saturday morning, I’ll go ride my bike. If I need to choose between a practice session and playing soccer with my kids, I’ll take soccer every time.
Play is just as important to achieving my vision as specific training. Play can also mean I do 100 hurdle drills because I’m obsessed with the Dayron Robles slow-motion video and feel compelled to hurdle that beautifully. Play is whatever my mind and body crave that day that is active, outside, and brings me joy.
And that’s it. That’s how I coach myself.
But Does Self-Coaching Actually Work?
Absolutely…if you manage to keep the goal the goal, as Dan John would say.
A key difference between me historically and you in the future is that I have always struggled to make up my mind about sports. I achieve above-average results in every sport I choose using of this approach, but my time horizons are rarely longer than a year. I hit my goals then move on. This time, my dream is an elite-level result, so I need to stay the course for much longer.
Your path may be similar. With a shorter time frame, you can make more compromises. With a vision of longevity and athleticism, you need to think seriously about rest, recovery, and sustainable training. But we’ll cover all of that soon.
In the next (previous?) part of this series, we’ll look at how and why you choose what’s on your own menu, from the perspective of the qualities your sport demands.
Stay tuned, dear player-coach!