Coaching at the SS seminar

[BareSteel]

I read on these boards that in order to take the written exam for the cert, first you have to demonstrate the ability to both execute and coach the lifts. Makes sense.

How exactly are one's coaching abilities assessed? I mean, say there are multiple guys surrounding a lifter who's squatting a five rep set. If they are all capable of identifying a form flaw (say lack of hip drive, poor depth..whatever it is), doesn't it just become a matter of who shouts commands the loudest?

Since I've never been to a seminar at which the attendees are going to be part of the coaching team, I'm interested in how it is formatted.

Thanks.

[Steve Hill]

Well, we can't have a lifter having multiple people shout multiple commands, so first we have to deal with the people shouting the wrong commands. Those people are beaten by the platform staff. This falls under the category of "job satisfaction," for the staff members. Once we winnow it down to the people who are right, we stop the lift (because we can't have an uncoached lift), and then we have a cage match for all of the people who shouted the right command. Last man standing wins, and he gets to coach THAT REP. Because there CAN BE ONLY ONE. Starts all over on the next rep. This is why the seminar takes so long, and why were so picky about which gyms we have the seminars at - there are very few that have baseball bats (for the staff beatings) and a full-on ring with a cage.

[Steve Hill]

But in all seriousness, each trainee coaches ONE OTHER trainee for a given lift (groups change each lift so you don't coach the same person or each lift).

[stef]

I mean, say there are multiple guys surrounding a lifter who's squatting a five rep set. If they are all capable of identifying a form flaw (say lack of hip drive, poor depth..whatever it is), doesn't it just become a matter of who shouts commands the loudest?

That would be a clusterfuck. A group of people yelling at someone is not an effective way to coach for a number of reasons. You will be relieved to know that this is not how the seminars are conducted.

The attendees are not part of the coaching team, rather they practice both coaching and lifting while there to assimilate the information more fully. However, you could consider the seminar to have three levels of coaching input: the attendee, the staff coaches, and Rip. All of these people interact with the lifter at different levels depending on what actually takes place.

It is set up so that one person coaches another lifter over the course of each lifting session (you coach one guy through the squat, a different guy through the press and so forth). The process starts with the teaching method on the first set. Everyone can work through this, though those who haven't done foundational work with the material (you would be surprised at how many people show up without having even glanced through SSBBT3) need significant prompting. The real coaching starts after the basic instruction, and requires the ability to assess and give real-time feedback. Those who haven't coached or have limited experience coaching or just aren't very good for whatever reason get a lot of prompting there to help them along -- the coaching staff feeds them cues, points out movement errors, anthropometry and asymmetry issues and etc. This means that the staff coaches give feedback to both lifter and coach over those sessions -- feedback is continual, with additional explanations and instructions between sets. We step in to coach the lifter directly where the attendee is missing the necessary skills and is not able to step in adequately for their lifter's performance.

The active processing of the material as both lifter and a coach - at whatever level the person is capable - means much greater and persistent learning. The cost is that it increases the work that goes into the seminar for the attendees as well as the staff coaches. It would be far easier for us to directly coach the lifters, and far easier for the attendees to just get under the bar. But more work, more effort, more results and that's why we do it that way.

[stef]

Nevermind. Let's go with Steve's first answer.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

At Platform 1 we have: John, Mike, Adam, Steve, Jill, and Tony.

John will be coached by Mike
Mike will be coached by Adam
Adam coached by Steve
Steve coached by Jill
Tony coached by John

So when Tony is squatting, John is giving instruction and cues, everybody else shuts up.....so no, we don't have a room full of people all yelling out cues to one guy. That would be retarded, and we pride ourselves on not being retarded.

That group of 6 is supervised by a platform coach and each attendee gets a chance to perform and coach the lifts. When we rotate say from the squat to the press then we will typically re-arrange the groups. Who ever you get matched up with is random. So you might get someone with totally flawless form on the squat, and then get a motor moron on the press. This is why its important to have coaching experience before you get there. The seminars I have attended have been a fairly broad cross section of people. Young, old, experienced, novice, skinny, fat, aggressive, timid, smart, stubborn, etc. Each type can require a little bit of something different.

[BareSteel]

Thanks for putting my concerns to rest everyone. I was picturing a scenario in which yelling ability trumped coaching ability and I'm glad that won't be the case in a few weeks.

In the absence of having anyone around to coach on the squat (my mom refuses to squat, but will press and pull), I'll just watch the squats that Rip has critiqued and see if I find the same technique problems.

[stef]

a scenario in which yelling ability trumped coaching ability

Interestingly, a common deficit, even with those who provide the right cues is the delivery. Commands work, ones you can hear. Comments don't. If the lifter doesn't respond, very often it is simply an inability to hear someone who is being a bit hesitant -- it would be good to have more "yelling" (not so much volume, but PROJECTION) occur.

[BareSteel]

I can see how that makes sense. With a heavy bar on their back, a trainee needs clear, concise cueing.

[Tamara Reynolds]

In the absence of having anyone around to coach on the squat (my mom refuses to squat, but will press and pull), I'll just watch the squats that Rip has critiqued and see if I find the same technique problems.

It's more than that. You need to be familiar with the model presented for each lift in SS:BBT and have experience coaching lifters using that particular model. I mean, you seriously should be able to coach someone who has never touched a barbell through each lift from the begininng. The teaching progression will be reviewed at the seminar, and you need to know how to use it. It is not simply identifying a form flaw during a particular rep or set.