What to expect when you’re expecting... to be a strength and conditioning coach.

Ha. See what I did there?

 

Many people enter the world of strength and conditioning without knowing what to expect and then find out they’re not cut out for the job the hard way. Knowing what to expect can help weed out the weaklings. Here are a few things to know before you try your hand in the s&c world. If you want to do it, it’s the best job in the world. If you don’t, you will probably hate your life.

1. Your time is not your own: This is true whether you work in a private facility or not. People and teams reschedule, you need to write programs, you need to fix things around the gym. You never know what’s going to pop up early mornings, late nights, in the middle of the day, last minute. Whatever is written on your schedule, don’t assume that the rest of the time is free time because it’s probably not. This is great for people like me because now I have an excuse to not socialize and I can sit at home and eat oreos instead.

2. People will yell at you. You’re an intern for a reason. It means you don’t know much. You have a lot to learn. People will constantly be correcting you. Accepting criticism means getting better at things. If you didn’t want to get better at coaching you can go to 24 Hour Fitness and enjoy your name tag and bosu ball squats.

3. Just because you like lifting weights, it doesn’t mean you like coaching. Pumping iron recreationally (or even obsessively) does not mean you’re a good coach or you want to be a coach. Coaching is about the interactions you have with people and your ability to effectively communicate information, not the circumference of your biceps.

4. You won’t make great money (or any, to begin with). The majority of people who work in strength and conditioning don’t do it for the paycheck, long vacations, ability to sleep in, or ability to make their own schedule. But loving what you do day in and day out outweighs any of the other stuff. If you want to do it, you’ll make it happen. You’ll take an unpaid internship, move to undesirable locations, forego buying new things to pursue what you want to do. If you don’t want to work in the field, you’ll always be bemoaning the fact that you don’t have time or money to do other things.

 

 

In summation, working in strength and conditioning is kind of like having a baby (I assume). It has it’s drawbacks but if you want to do it, it is the best job in the world. Now back to my oreos.

 

Coach Lily