15 Lessons from 15 Years of Coaching

I still remember walking into the Denison University varsity weight room for the first time to meet with Coach Mark Watts to lift logs, axles, and stones. This weight room was down a small hallway and had formerly been a racquetball court. That day, he extended an unpaid internship offer to coach beginning in the fall and I would meet many people that are still some of my closest friends. I was hooked on the dynamics of coaching immediately. The technical knowledge, logistics, soft skills, and the gift of seeing people do things they didn’t think they could do. As I wrapped up year 15 of coaching, it fills me with a feeling of debt to people like Coach Watts that I can never repay for guiding me with patience and endless amounts of time. This also has me excited for the following 15 years of coaching and what I’ll learn in that time. I hope to pass on as many people did for me and my career. These are 15 of the most impactful lessons I’ve gained from coaching. 

1. Our words matter more than our knowledge. Knowledge has to be your base, but I’ve had many more people thank me for caring about them and their well being than I ever had thank me for a new training idea, certification, or conference I attended. The words and tone you use can make a bigger impact on people than any training method. 
2. Context is key. Many training articles you read work in their specific environment. My first coaching job was at a high school with 60 kids who had never been in a structured weight room. Using bands, chains, and specialty equipment was the last thing on my mind. There are things that work 1 on 1 that don’t work in large groups and there are things that work for experienced athletes that would really hurt beginners. 
3. Listen more than you talk. Most people have images of a coach being loud and in charge. Great coaches listen much more than when they speak. When they speak, their words have more meaning behind them. 
4. Everything works..for a while. I first heard this from Dan John who said “Everything works for two weeks. Nothing works after about six weeks.” If you show up for the first time, you’ll make progress. If you keep showing up and repeating the same thing, progress will stop. Slight changes over time make a big difference. 
5. Push and Pull. There are seasons to push things like intensity and volume in training, but it’s also important to have seasons where you pull back. The times where you pull back allow for better long term progress. 
6. Consistency over Intensity. Always being the most consistent person will get you much further in the long run than being the most intense sometimes. Consistency builds the solid foundation. 
7. Comparison is the thief of joy. There is no quicker way to ruin your own progress with anything than envy others accomplishments and discredit your own progress. 
8. Set Daily Standards. This took me a long time to grasp in my own life, but once I did the compounding effects have unbelievable. Bow Hunter, Cameron Hanes has his personal “Lift. Run. Shoot”. This is his daily standard or lifting weights, running, and shooting his bow. The amount of reps this builds up is unbelievable and creates a density effect that can’t be matched any other way. 
9. Most problems stem from weakness. Pain, poor mobility, speed, balance, coordination etc. Being too strong isn’t a problem. Focusing strength in the wrong areas can lead to imbalances which create weak muscle groups and poor movement patterns. Simply recognizing and strengthening weaknesses will propel you much further than most specific exercise training. 
10. Learn from the Best. Find a way to learn directly from the best in the world at your goals. You will see things from a different perspective than reading their books and it’ll help you navigate information quicker. There’s a lot of bad information available so it’s best to get it directly from the best source you can. 
11. Down time is as important as peak performance time. I don’t enjoy time away from things I enjoy like coaching or training with intensity, but every time I step back for a period of time I perform at a much higher level. In training periodization, this is known as super compensation. Push really hard for a bit, pull back for a period of time, then that recovery allows for a better performance when it matters the most. 
12. Sleep, hydration, and eat like an adult. Cover these three basic things or nothing else really matters. If you complain about eating green vegetables then your goals don’t really matter to you. If you can’t go to bed early enough to be well rested because of video games or Netflix, then your goals don’t really matter to you. 
13. Your circle will elevate or bring you down. Your parents were right. Don’t hang around lazy people or you’ll become lazy. Don’t hang around people with poor lifestyle choices or you’ll soon make the same choices. We only have so much will power. It’s easier to change the environment. 
14. If everything is important, nothing is important. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by a task list sometimes. It’s helpful to simplify these list into doing the most important and urgent tasks first. Then simply work your way down to not urgent not important. I constantly remind myself the two tasks completed each day is much better than ten tasks started. 
15. Movement is medicine. If I feel stressed, I move to calm down. If I’m stuck on a problem and can’t figure it out, I go for a walk. If I want to clear my mind, I’ll ride my bike. The benefits of movement far exceed six pack abs. “Pray and Move your Feet” is a phrase I heard this year and I say it to myself every day. In an sedentary, over stressed ,and over medicated society, maybe the answer is movement

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