I am a Strength Coach not using Theories to Shape my Training!!!!
Recently I was having a look at some suggested Facebook pages that people wanted me to like. One of them I looked at and thought this sounds interesting so I looked into the page a little more.
What I found was very typical of today's fitness industry. Here is a young coach just finished their PT course and has completed two other courses since graduating. This is a young person on a mission.
The tag line was
No bullshit, Results based, Science based Strength and Composition Coaching.
Ok fair enough results based and science based good start but what got me concerned was the next section where this young person has then put down those with experience and who have tried and tested methodologies and theories that have generated results over decades.
Now before all of the naysayers come out and say well they are just trying to make their name known and how is a young person meant to start in the industry. Well I was a young person in the industry once starting when I was 16 years old and the keys to being around for so long in such a competitive industry is to be respectful and listen to and test the thoughts and theories of others.
27 years on and I still do that.
Anyway back to my story.
This person then goes on how they use science based training and nutrition systems with their clients not theories. Now correct me if I am wrong but science based information is someone else’s successful application of a theory. Everything that we know in the world is/was based on a theory so if we are not using theories how can we have systems based on science.
If someone who didn’t want to take into account known physiological and anatomical theories and concepts to train my body approached me then I would be a little bit concerned.
The next problem though with this no theory notion is that the body and the way in which each cell interacts with another cell is still a mystery. We do not know everything about how the body will respond to training, nutrition and lifestyle events. We have a theory or a concept of how it should respond but until we do it we have no idea how it will respond.
Yes there is "noise" in the fitness industry, there is noise in any industry, but until we have proof that one way of eating or one way of training surpasses all others and that is the only way to achieve the end goal then all we have are theories and concepts. It is these theories and concepts that we build on over time to become successful trainers.
Training people is an Art as much as it is a Science, A Theoretical Based Science.
So if you are starting out in the fitness industry just because you have completed a course or two or three in a couple of years you are not an expert you are still learning as am I after 27 years still learning and developing in the industry. As soon as you think you know it all and that your way is the only way then you may as well quit and find a new JOB.
