Preparing to take the certification test

[Corrie]

Hi everyone,
I'm signed up to attend the July seminar in Toronto and just had a couple questions about getting a chance at taking the certification test.

I understand that it's a pretty rigorous process and that you need to dislpay excellent understanding in both coaching and under the bar.

What is the typical experience level of a person who qualifies for the test? I've only been into barbell training for less than a year, but as you can see from my post count I have become pretty passionate about it.

Is there anything specific I can do to prepare? Reading SS and PPST is a given but is there anything specific I would really benefit from re-reading or spending some more time on?

I'm not sure I can qualify but I feel like going into it with the intent will result in me learning and retaining a lot more.
Thank you.

[jep6095]

We'll let people chime in on what helped them have a successful weekend. Remember, a successful weekend for one may be different than your intentions but at least you'll get a feel of how others had planned on going through the weekend and what actually happened.

jp

[Tom Campitelli]

It's funny you should mention this because I am preparing a post on just this topic.

[Mark E. Hurling]

When I went to the Costa Mesa Seminar I completely forgot about the cert until first Rip and later stef described the level of effort it would take to come up to scratch. So, I thought, cool. I may have to take a day or so off work to do this justice but good.

As it turned out, I had so many form corrections to get straight on I had to concentrate really hard to get the lifts up to standard. As a result my attention to coaching took a far back place. I had some of the teaching and coaching skills having helped teach martial arts as a lower rank for 7 of the 8 years I started up with them again, but I was transfixed with getting my own technique straight.

So one of the things to concentrate on is coming in with the best form you can. The next thing to bear in mind is to keep an external focus on the person you are charged with coaching on that particular lift. The mix of people will change on each lift so you will be coaching different people on each lift.

[Jimmy Tereyla]

What helped me the most:
1. Being familiar and comfortable with lifts as described in SS.
2. Having some experience training others.
3. Keeping my head out of my ass and listening to the coaches.

As with anything, some people are cut out for it, some aren't. Being passionate about it is one thing that we all share though, so you're on the right track.

Good luck!

[Jimmy Tereyla]

I forgot to add: take good notes... The lecture portions contain so much information. For example.. I have an engineering degree, but in all my years of schooling, I never had such a clear lecture on moment arms/levers/rotation, etc, as I had on Friday night with Rip. Would've made school much easier if lectures were always that clear!

[mwhities]

I forgot to add: take good notes... The lecture portions contain so much information. For example.. I have an engineering degree, but in all my years of schooling, I never had such a clear lecture on moment arms/levers/rotation, etc, as I had on Friday night with Rip. Would've made school much easier if lectures were always that clear!

I heard about 800 words I never heard before and I've retained about 20 of them! (including definitions) I'll be ready for next year.

Take notes. LISTEN to the coaches and take notes galore.

[Corrie]

Thanks for all of the advice so far everyone. I actually have a few coaching certs for gymnastics and worked as a gymnastics/trampoline coach for a little while so that gives me a bit more confidence going into it. I'll make sure I take lots of notes too.

It's funny you should mention this because I am preparing a post on just this topic.

Great. I'm looking forwards to it.