It is lucrative, satisfying, and challenging to become a Starting Strength Coach (SSC). SSCs are in high demand, but there are too few to meet demand for coaching as of this writing. Unfortunately, coaches cannot be made in a weekend seminar. It takes time lifting, time studying, and experience coaching. Although testing to become an SSC is not going to get easier, this guide will provide an efficient and effective way to prepare for the SSC credential testing. The entire process takes roughly two years and costs less than $7,000, in contrast to the four to six years and $40,000+ cost of a traditional university education (a cost comparison article will follow). Like most endeavors, the process is faster and more effective if you work harder and smarter.

Linear Progression and Textbooks

Reading the primary texts and doing linear progression are mandatory to become a good coach. Start by reading Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training and doing your first workout. Reading the book will take time. It is dense, but concise, and a single sentence may need to be reread three, four, or fifteen times to fully understand it. Spend the next six months reading both Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training and Practical Programming for Strength Training ;twice each and completing your own linear progression.

You need equipment to start this process (Table 1). The price varies as a function of the quality of the equipment. Notice that the bar has the same price – the barbell is the most important piece of equipment and is not the place to save money. An itemized cost list of this entire guide is provided in table 2 at the end of the article.

	Cost
Item	Used/Cheaper	New/Expensive
Book: Starting Strength	$9.99	$29.95
Book: Practical Programming	$9.99	$24.95
Book: Barbell Prescription	$9.99	$26.95
Lifting belt	$90.00	$175.00
Lifting shoes	$60.00	$125.00
20 kg barbell	$314.00	$314.00
10 kg barbell		$224.00
Power rack/squat stands	$200.00	$1,335.00
Plates for 367.5 lb load	$183.75	$551.25
Chalk	$5.00	$11.99
Flat bench	$175.00	$240.00
Total	$1,057.72	$3,058.09

Table 1. Initial equipment required to start a coaching education.

Coaching education starts with your experience: you learn about the lifts by working through technique problems, understanding and executing the model for each lift, and finishing the last rep of a heavy set of five while your brain is telling you to give up. Being a good coach starts by becoming a good and strong lifter – or at least trying very hard and becoming a mediocre lifter. Any concept you don't understand has to be investigated. This might mean research on Google and Wikipedia until you have a full book of notes of physics concepts. This might mean buying a basic physics or anatomy textbook and studying it - here is a short list of recommended textbooks. You'll become a better lifter and coach the harder you work to understand these concepts.

Get coaching from an SSC, either in-person or online. The technique, feedback, and mentoring will allow you to understand what is important and what misunderstandings need to be corrected. Your coach has been through the process of lifting, struggling as a coach, getting better, and testing for the Starting Strength Coach credential. They understand and can help you prepare better than anyone.

Starting Strength Seminar, Coaching, and the Prep Course

You learn a lot of theoretical and practical information during your linear progression. You gain quite a bit of strength, mass, and determination. Continue your own training, learn the basics of programming for intermediate lifters firsthand, and attend a Starting Strength Seminar just to learn. Your understanding of the method is both developed and corrected at the seminar – there are aspects of the material you think you understand, but don't. You see professional coaching in real life and know what will be expected of you when the time comes to take the platform test. Third, you learn the teaching progression of the lifts which gives you the methods you need to efficiently and effectively teach others the movements. Finally, attending the seminar allows you to purchase personal training insurance in the unlikely event someone you coach gets hurt, and the trainee's insurance or the trainee decides to sue you.

Coach as many people as you can and accrue trainees to develop your coaching eye, teaching skill, and coaching ability. Coach anyone you can - your brother, mom, cousins, friends, people you meet on the forums, just anyone. Teach the movements to many, many people – more is better. You need experience coaching all kinds of trainees: fat, thin, weak, strong, old, young, long-torsoed, long-legged, men, women. You also need a few consistent trainees whom you coach through linear progression. These might be paying clients or friends and family. At least one of these trainees needs to be able to power clean.

Once you get a group of consistent trainees, sign up for the prep course which will prepare you to take the SSC platform and oral tests. It may take a month or six months or a year to acquire the trainees, but real coaching is an essential part of the prep course. One of the advantages of apprenticeship at a Starting Strength gym is the clients – you'll have immediate access to trainees who want Starting Strength. There's no searching for clients or convincing prospects that Starting Strength is how they're going to achieve their goals.

The prep course is designed in a series of modules that will teach and test your knowledge of the relevant material. There are essentially three components. 1) The lecture and demonstration videos you watch, 2) the written and coaching assignments you submit to receive feedback from your SSC mentor, and 3) the Slack workspace where students and mentors work together to solidify understanding and foster discovery.

You may elect to take the platform test at a Starting Strength Seminar once you are ready, and if you pass, you will be scheduled for an oral board review. You will do well in the oral board if you perform well in the prep course, can articulate the material to a layman, and are able to deduce new conclusions from your understanding of the existing material.

Prepare by explaining the material to anyone who will listen and ask questions. Laymen and mentors are both good for this purpose. Laymen ask questions that are obvious to you until you try to explain it. Mentors will identify incorrect answers and gaps in logic. Use the books to assemble likely questions you think will be on the oral board and practice answering them. You will discover gaps in your understanding the first time you do this. You will struggle to find words to orally describe what you know and understand. Use the time when you drive in your car to verbally explain "What is tension?" "Why is the Valsalva safe?" "Why does the bench press not have a vertical bar path?" Literally talk at your dashboard about these topics.

The platform tests your ability to coach. The oral board tests both your understanding of the material and your ability to explain it in simple and clear language. You pass the oral board to become a Starting Strength Coach. Your coaching education is not over, however. Continue to better yourself as a coach with the added support of other SSCs and the Starting Strength team to further your education and abilities.

Apprenticeship

The path to the SSC credential doesn't have to be remote. Apprenticeship is a great way to get experience under the direct, in-person mentoring of a coach. The application process is competitive, and coaches further along in their education are taken more seriously. Apply any time after you complete linear progression, have read both books(Starting Strength and Practical Programming) twice, and have started the prep course.

The apprenticeship is done in conjunction with all previous recommendations, but it will expedite the process in a few ways. First, you get continuous in-person coaching from an SSC. This would normally cost between $315 and $450 per month. Second, your coaching is directly overseen by an SSC, so you get you immediate and accurate feedback. Finally, you don't have to find trainees - they're provided by the gym. These benefits cannot be overstated. Acquiring and retaining consistent trainees is a serious challenge for a new coach. Struggling through coaching and making mistakes is difficult alone. Having a coach give direct and immediate feedback on both your lifting and coaching will expedite the education.

After you get your SSC credential, continue to improve and train alongside other coaches. From a structured education standpoint, this is where the formal education timeline ends, but you should continue to learn and grow as a coach as long as you make it a priority. You can choose to work with an existing Starting Strength Gym, open your own independent gym, or open a Starting Strength Gym if you qualify as a potential franchise gym owner.

Working as an SSC is different from a typical personal trainer who got a degree in exercise science or only attended an online seminar to get a credential. Trainees search out SSCs to see the weight on the bar go up. They're not just paying a fitness tithe – they're hungry for strength gains and know Starting Strength will provide it. It makes for a satisfying and focused environment where progress is the key metric of success. The Starting Strength Coaching credential is in high demand. Starting Strength Gyms are in high demand. They are reaching capacity and more gyms are opening constantly. Being a strength coach is a viable full-time career path for the motivated.

	Cost
Item	Used/Cheaper	New/Expensive
Book: Starting Strength	$9.99	$29.95
Book: Practical Programming	$9.99	$24.95
Book: Barbell Prescription	$9.99	$26.95
Lifting belt	$90.00	$175.00
Lifting shoes	$60.00	$125.00
20 kg barbell	$314.00	$314.00
10 kg barbell		$224.00
Power rack/squat stands	$200.00	$1,335.00
Plates for 367.5 lb load	$183.75	$551.25
Chalk	$5.00	$11.99
Flat bench	$175.00	$240.00
Online coaching or in person with SS Coach	$300.00	$600.00
6 months of prep course at $150/month	$900.00	$900.00
SS Seminar (attend only)*	$845.00	$845.00
SS Seminar (platform test for SSC)*	$1,045.00	$1,045.00
Personal trainer insurance (2 years)	$320.00	$320.00
Total	$4,467.72	$6,768.09

Table 2. Complete cost and item list for education process.

*Seminar cost does not include travel.

---

Discuss in Forums