A new year and a new direction for my blog, exciting times indeed!
This is my first blog of 2016 and in it I will outline the new direction and aim of this blog.
First though I must wish you all the very best for 2016!
This blog will still hold relevant content for Figure Skaters and their coaches. However, it will also cover topics relevant to Strength & Conditioning (S&C) coaches, Personal Trainers (PT's), as well as their athletes and clients. For the sake of clarity I will refer to both Personal Training clients and athletes as athletes, and both Personal Trainers and Strength & Conditioning coaches as coaches.
The aim of this series of blogs is to inform and to educate so that everyone involved will get the most from their training sessions, gym programmes and from each other. This will often be based on my own experiences and opinions from over 20 years as a Gym Instructor, Strength & Conditioning Coach and Personal Trainer. I will also include any relevant and appropriate information and material from external sources such as other blogs and peer reviewed articles.
As a PT and S&C coach I believe it is essential to keep learning, to keep increasing my knowledge base and grow my experience. This is the only way to keep moving forward, not only to keep up with the latest trends and fads (and to know how to avoid them) but to also ensure that my knowledge is current and correct. If you think you know it all then you are no longer a coach! That is a strong statement but one that I firmly believe.
With this in mind I aim to use this blog to provide coaches with the opportunity to learn and to develop themselves further within their chosen field, whether that is just one small nugget or many things from each publication. I certainly don't profess to know it all but I do believe that I can share some of my experiences and knowledge to help others as others have helped me over the years.
I also want to give athletes the knowledge and courage to question their coaches and demand the level of service that should be expected. Like I said earlier, we coaches do not know it all and and if an athlete has a question we should be able to answer it fully and accurately. This may involve a little homework; doing a little research or referring to another who knows, and then we have learned something too.
"Strive for continuous self improvement."
With this in mind I aim to use this blog to provide coaches with the opportunity to learn and to develop themselves further within their chosen field, whether that is just one small nugget or many things from each publication. I certainly don't profess to know it all but I do believe that I can share some of my experiences and knowledge to help others as others have helped me over the years.
I also want to give athletes the knowledge and courage to question their coaches and demand the level of service that should be expected. Like I said earlier, we coaches do not know it all and and if an athlete has a question we should be able to answer it fully and accurately. This may involve a little homework; doing a little research or referring to another who knows, and then we have learned something too.
"Knowledge and the ability to transfer that knowledge to our athletes makes us both coaches and educators."
Athletes should not just expect but demand the best of their coaches, get the most from them and challenge them regularly. Just because your coach tells you to do a particular exercise, train a certain way or eat a certain food it doesn't mean that this is necessarily the best option or even the right option. Athletes should have the courage to question their coaches to ensure they are not only getting the best answers from their coach but that those answers are also the best for themselves. By the same token coaches should encourage their athletes to ask questions and to challenge their coaches for the best outcome.
This blog can be followed here on Blogger or on either my Get Coached Facebook or Google+ pages. Your feedback back is welcomed and any suggestions for future topics will be considered. Thank you for reading and I look forward to your return.
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Your comments on all things S&C for Figure Skating are appreciated - thanks