Is it the program? Or the coaching?

In my estimation, it’s a 50-50 split. But let’s flesh this out a little bit.

A little over a year ago, I ran this piece depicting the success of one of my online training clients.

Needless to say, I think Eric has a tendency to overstate my skills and abilities. I’m always quick to throw credit back to the trainee or athlete, as they’re the one doing the heavy lifting.

Fast forward a year, and Eric is now an intern at our facility. Yesterday, he thanked me for the new program that I had written, as he felt like this was the most dialed-in program I had ever written for him.

And that got me thinking – I don’t think this particular program is any more special or different than any of the others.

Does it address his specific needs? Sure.

Does it take into account some of the specific limitations that he’s struggled with in the past? Of course.

But the program isn’t all that much different.

Instead, what has truly changed is Eric himself.

Now before I get all Zen Master on you, think about that for a second.

Before, Eric was training by himself in a commercial gym setting. While he was probably executing and performing the exercises to the best of his ability (and far superior to the other broskis performing 21’s every day of the week), he still wasn’t doing them at a level that myself, Bill, or someone else who worked for us at IFAST would be ok with.

Eric is now training with us at IFAST, and I feel that is what’s truly responsible for his fast-tracked progress.

He’s 100% dialed in to what proper technique should look and feel like.

Instead of moving around his limitations and allowing compensations to manifest, now he’s breaking his flawed foundation down to reveal a stronger and more resilient foundation that he’ll be able to build off of for years to come.

So that’s the bottom line – we can get fantastic results with even semi-smart (aka not stupid) training. Instead of focusing on the mirror muscles like the pecs, delts, ABZ and quads, we dedicate every bit (if not more) time to bringing up the glutes, hamstrings, upper back, etc. I firmly believe that program design is 50% of the battle.

But, if we take intelligent programming, AND THEN pair that with quality coaching and an understanding of clean and efficient movement, the results can be truly amazing.

Have a great week of training!

All the best