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Thread: Starting Strength Apprenticeships

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
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    Default Starting Strength Apprenticeships

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    Hi SSC's

    Great to meet some of you guys earlier this year at the Brooklyn seminar. From our conversations, it seems many of you journeyed from big box coaches to SSCs. This probably involved lots of learning, and unlearning.

    I'm at the point where I'd like to try to incorporate some coaching into my life (I have a job a I like, but lifting is my biggest hobby). However, I'm not sure where to begin. I'm not a SSC (obviously), but would like to be at some point. My feedback at the seminar was that I had good coaching potential- go find some kids to to coach to build that skill set. The question is how?

    Whats the best course of action here? Hang a shingle and pick a client up on the weekend at a local gym? Beg for an apprenticeship with a SSC, or a head trainer some where? Quit my job and join a big box gym chain? Provide cut rate training to build a client base?

    Thoughts and direction appreciated.

  2. #2
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    Jun 2011
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    Cedar Point, NC
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  3. #3
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    Mar 2008
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    This is actually an interesting question. What is your gym situation where you train now? How well do you know the other people working out there? Getting your first clients can be a little bit of a chicken and egg situation. I don't know that I have a great response for you. The more people you know, however, the better your chances of finding someone to train.

  4. #4
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    Just become a trainer at a regular gym. The disadvantage is that most of the 1,000-6,000 members won't be interested in productive training, the advantage is that you'll give some advice and coaching for at least 100 different people each year. Dealing with this great variety of bodies and temperaments will teach you a lot.

    I started training people out of my garage as soon as I finished PT school February 2010, and trained 15 different people before starting at a community gym that July. At the community gyms I've done personal training sessions with about 80 different people, small group training with another 80 or so, done initial consults and programme showthroughs with more than 400 people, and since my return from the Seattle seminar in Feb 2013, I made the decision to teach someone to squat, deadlift or clean every single day I was there - so that's probably another 200 people (I've worked much more than 200 days, but some people got coached on a few lifts). So that's several hundred people I've worked with for an hour or more than a year.

    One aspect of working at a gym is you'll be asked about programmes and exercises other trainers have given someone, as much as it hurts, you kind of have to respect their programmes, since, you know, I don't interfere with their bosus and they don't interfere with my barbells. Now, it will drive you a bit crazy having to show a 55yo obese woman how to do crunches on a swiss ball, but you will more clearly realise why this is a bad idea, and be better able to articulate the usefulness of our approach. This probably takes it up to 1,000 people I've dealt with in one way or another. Had I stuck to the garage it'd probably be less than 100.

    Now, I am far from a brilliant trainer or coach. But I am a better one having dealt with 1,000 people than I would have been with under 100. It gives you a breadth of experience in dealing with lots of people. Plus, if you can get a bunch of people doing productive lifting in a community or commercial gym, you can do it anywhere.

    I'm now transitioning back to the garage.

  5. #5
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    Nov 2013
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    Kyle - thanks for the response. You are a strong man for dealing with that level of bullshit to get what you want.

    Tom - I lift in a NYSC in Manhattan. I don't know many people there, other than a few select friends.

    As a SSC, would you be willing to let a well read, aspiring SSC shadow you? Even if the rules of the game were this apprentice is going to be seen and now heard and load my clients bars, it would seem to me that this could be a tremendous way to spread the good word. As Rip has said, good coaches are not made at the seminars.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    Wichita Falls, TX
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    I have experience with foreign languages. Mostly Spanish, but I'm pretty good at deciphering what people with heavy accents are saying. When Kyle says "programme", he means the English word program. In the future he may also say "colour". That means color. You're welcome Kyle and everyone else.

    Now that we've got that out of the way. If an SSC were willing to do an apprenticeship type deal, that would be awesome. I've offered to a few folks with decent potential to do just that - follow me around and help me out with classes/coaching, but it rarely works out. Mostly because people are full of shit. The first person I coached on the lifts was my wife, then friends that I convinced to come to the gym with me. I would be the slightly more knowledgeable gym buddy that coached friends. Eventually, when I got comfortable with things, I offered very cheap coaching with the intent of just getting practice. I did this for a while. You need to expose yourself to problems and be able to find solutions consistently. Immerse yourself in form checks on these boards. They're fairly limited in their usefulness, but you can learn quite a bit from reading other peoples' feedback and thinking critically about what's being said. I spent many, many hours reading form checks on the forums here and on the Crossfit boards. Comparing what's being said here with what's being said in other places and mentally arguing your point is a good exercise.

    Short of finding someone to take you under their wing or getting some kind of certification and working at a regular gym, you'll just have to practically beg folks to let you coach them. Take comfort in the fact that most of the trainers at your local gym learned their shit from youtube or livestrong articles.

  7. #7
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    Jan 2014
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    The People's Republic of Boulder, Colorado
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    OP, if you ever find yourself upstate in Saratoga Springs, you're welcome to come hang out at my gym (Feral CrossFit) and shadow myself and the other head coach/co-owner. We require every new member to learn the lifts as outlined in SSBBT3, and go through a linear progression prior to joining the group class, which runs on an intermediate template. The gym always has people at various stages in the novice progression who need troubleshooting. Our on-ramp course would be a particularly good venue to watch newbies learn, as people are learning for the first time. You're welcome to come, chat, and watch anytime.

  8. #8
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    Apr 2010
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    The final details are still being confirmed, but barring something unexpected coming up, I'll soon be working out of Crossfit Solace in NoMad. I'll be coaching their barbell club(s), and also running my own business out of their facility during the times I'm not coaching barbell club. One of the reasons I'm working on this arrangement is because it will allow me to take my business from 1-on-1 to semi-private, something I've thus far not been able to do due to lack of an adequate facility. With the expected growth, I anticipate needing to look for people to coach under my auspices before too long. I've spoken with a couple current SSCs about this already, but many of the local people's availability is limited.

    If you're really interested in an apprenticeship working towards coaching, get in touch with me. If I like what you have to say, your availability is reasonable, and I am convinced of your sincerity and potential, we might be able to work something out.

  9. #9
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    Nov 2013
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    Nick - glad you agree than a SSC apprenticeship is at least a good idea in theory! I'm probably occupying the space of the "slightly more knowledgable gym buddy right now". Thanks for your response.

  10. #10
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    Nov 2013
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    starting strength coach development program
    Hey Jayson, thanks for your kind offer. I actually think we attended the same seminar in BK this spring. If and when I'm upstate, I'll definitely get in touch!

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