Educational Pipeline for Coaches

[Brian Sloan]

Hey Coaches! I heard Rip say he wanted to develop a training pipeline to develop SS coaches in one of the seminar videos. I was wondering if any developments have been made with that. I would love to be involved in this community in the future. Right now, I'm stationed in Spain and can't find anybody who trains (lots of bodybuilding and techno).

[Nick Delgadillo]

We're working on it. It's a long-term and complicated project, but it's a priority. Remember that no matter what educational materials we develop for prospective coaches, there is no way to become a Starting Strength Coach without experience actually coaching people. A motivated individual can learn all the material, know the teaching method front and back, and learn to speak "the language" in anywhere from 3-9 months - these are the folks who answer forum posts reasonably well and come to the seminar feeling prepared and confident but still fail the evaluation. Coaching experience can't be gained without LOTS AND LOTS of time on the platform fixing problems with LOTS AND LOTS of lifters. This takes time actually doing the thing and that's why so few people pass the platform at the seminar.

[Dlk93]

Hm, I must've missed the "pipeline comment," because I was just thinking last night how cool it would be to have versions of SS and PP geared more toward aspiring SSC's. They could resemble textbooks w/ questions at the end of each chapter. I just wasn't sure if there were some philosophical/principled/existential/Rippitoian reason for not doing so.

[BareSteel]

It's funny that you make that recommendation, Dlk, because the first edition of SS was basically written for the intended reader to be a coach. It was a book for instructing coaches how to cue lifters. It happened to be a really good resource for lifters trying to teach themselves too.

[Brian Sloan]

Thank you for the response Nick. I will continue my quest through Brooks and Fahey and train anyone who shows any interest.

[LimieJosh]

Hm, I must've missed the "pipeline comment," because I was just thinking last night how cool it would be to have versions of SS and PP geared more toward aspiring SSC's. They could resemble textbooks w/ questions at the end of each chapter. I just wasn't sure if there were some philosophical/principled/existential/Rippitoian reason for not doing so.

No additional reference material is needed. As Nick said, the difference between people who conceptually understand the material and those who can be SSCs is time spent applying with trainees.

The seminar I went to years ago Rip allowed all of us to take the written exam. I dont know if the policy wasn't yet set that only those who pass the platform get to take thee written, or whether there were few enough of us at the seminar that they didn't mind grading them all. Regardless, I aced the written and did not pass the platform portion. The less experience you have, the more narrow your scope for the things you are effective at identifying and correcting. You might be lucky enough that the person you are working with on the squat presents these specific problems and you are able to effectively coach them through it. The chances of one of the remaining four lifts not exposing your limitations is almost zero though. Developing an understanding of the material in the book is the vital first step, but it wont help you coach your eye, or enable you to be effective and delivering the right cues in the right way.

[Randy Scheingold]

This is a guess only...from a Non SSC. But I would think that the books already contain all the hard technique & programming knowledge a coach needs (aside from the suggested supplemental reading on anatomy, physiology, etc). This is not to suggest that actual coaching experience is not needed.

Plus Rip is not looking to certify coaches that can answer multiple choice questions at the end of a chapter. My sense is that the knowledge criteria is much higher...like one example in one of the recent articles: I think it was..explain how moving the feet in or out a few inches impacts the mechanics of the squat.

Now that being said, you could probably informally start something in one of the unsanctioned forums. Where you post a question (like the one above) and then document your explanation. I bet there are enough SS geeks around here (meant as a compliment) that you would generate good discussion and learn form it \ validate your knowledge.

[Dlk93]

I never said the extra material was necessary. And I sure as hell didn't say they would be multiple choice questions. It would obviously resemble discussion questions that resemble whatever is on the written exams. Agreed. Totally unnecessary. But if we're talking bare necessities, the whole pipeline idea goes out the window. I thought we were trying to get a higher pass to fail ratio while keeping the quality of those who pass constant. I don't see how including study material at the end of each chapter wouldn't accomplish that, but I could be persuaded otherwise.

[tigers16435]

Would it be inappropriate to ask what kind of income a full time SS coach can make?

[Tom Campitelli]

Would it be inappropriate to ask what kind of income a full time SS coach can make?

It would not be inappropriate, but it would probably be unanswerable. Somewhere between $0 and $300,000 per annum would probably cover the range. Where you live, how much you charge, how good you are at coaching, how good you are with people, how devoted you are to growing your business, whether you own your own gym, how long you have been in business, coupled with a host of other variables will impact this.