Many coaches get off by telling the world how many hours they've worked that day or how they haven't had a vacation in years. While there is some inherent sacrifice in being a coach, that doesn't mean you have to run yourself into the ground for the sake of your athletes. Burning the candle at both ends will not only have a detrimental effect on you personally and professionally, but it will also hinder your athlete's progress and performance.  To help you save your career and your reputation, I've put together some warning signs of burnout and what you can do to prevent them from turning your coaching life upside down.

Burnout Warning Signs

Burnout isn’t a cliché or something “weak people” use as an excuse to quit. It’s very real, especially among coaches. Why? Typically coaches never know how to say no to helping an athlete, coaching a meet, hosting an event, or finding a way to hustle for exposure for their team. That competitive edge fuels us but it can also wear us into the ground if we don’t balance it out. Signs of burnout may include:

• Chronic fatigue
• Restlessness
• Lack of sleep
• Extreme irritability
• Cancelling training sessions
• Lying to get out of tasks or sessions
• Failing to get work done on time
• Weight loss or weight gain without interruption to your regular scheduled routine
• Resentment towards your athletes, staff, or the head organization
• Overwhelming sense of discouragement
• Constant anxiety

Of course, every coach will have some of these signs at some point in her career. I mean, aren’t we all tired? Especially on those three-day meet weekends? But all jokes aside, if you’ve noticed you’ve had any of these symptoms for longer than a training cycle, then it may be time to reevaluate your work/life balance.

Preventive Measures to Avoid Burnout

Assess Your Priorities

Do you even know why you’re coaching? If not, save yourself a lot of headache, heartbreak, and hemorrhaging of your bank account. Go ahead and just get out now.

In all candor, knowing why you’re spending your waking hours with a barbell and a room full of weightlifting dweebs will help you figure out how much time, effort, and money you’re willing to sacrifice in the sport. Are you here for fame and fortune? Maybe you can work hard at all hours of the day for a short span of time (in the grand scheme of things), get a few athletes, roll around in dirty money and be done with the sport forever. But if you’re here to (positively) further the sport and foster athlete growth, then you need to structure your activities to make sure that stays on the forefront. You having a long career will do more for athletes and the sport than you having a meltdown from burnout and never coming back.

Get Some Beauty Rest

Some of y’all need this more than others; I’ve seen your busted mugs. Hey oh!

But seriously, do make sure you’re getting quality sleep. Trust me, I know sleep is hard to come by. If I get seven hours, then it calls for a parade. So, turn your phone off before bed, invest in those blackout curtains, and take a cat nap if you can find time during the day. Your body and your brain need time to rest, recover, and rejuvenate.

Train Outside of Coaching

If only we could improve our own sports performance by watching others train. I’m pretty sure if that were the case, every coach reading this would be a world-class athlete.

Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen, so you’ll need to carve out time for your own training. Your athletes love to see the old coach in the trenches (or at least know they’ve been there, maybe done that, and if nothing else, they at least try to stay in shape). You’ll be a better coach for it.

I’m not saying you have to go hammer out three-hour sessions of your own if you aren’t competitive these days. I don’t care if you weightlift, do Zumba, speed walk, or squeeze in a 30-minute HIIT workout: just do something. Anything. Otherwise your health, both physical and mental, is going to go straight into the toilet.
To paraphrase Elle Woods in “Legally Blonde,” “Exercise gives people endorphins. Endorphins make people happy. And happy (coaches) don’t kill (athletes).”

Limit Your Schedule

This was (is? forever will be?) my biggest issue as a coach…and human being. I will say yes to everything that comes my way, and then wonder why I’m having a breakdown. Don’t be like me. Learn to just say no.
It sounds pedantic, but learn to look at your calendar before you say yes to any coaching assignment, meet, or event. I can’t tell you how many coaches I’ve talked to who have double or triple-booked on the same day. Eating crow does not taste good. Don’t stress yourself out more than you have to.

Plan out your meet calendar in advance. Know which events you will or will not be able to attend with your athletes. Let them know ahead of time. Traveling expenses and jetlag can wreak havoc on you, so pick and choose the most important events and stick to that calendar.
 
Keep A Social Life

Have a social life outside weightlifting. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate one. My social life consists of attending WWE events in costume and teaching my cat to act like a dog but hey, it’s something. We know you love weightlifting, but just know there’s a whole world of stuff out there aside from snatch and clean and jerk. Make sure you stick your head out the gym door every now and then and experience it. You can always return to your cave, Gollum. Don’t worry.

Delegate Tasks

If you have a coaching staff or administrative staff then lean on them from time to time. That’s what they are there for. Leave the scheduling or cleaning of the facility to someone else if you can so you can focus on what matters: programming and your athletes.

If you can’t relinquish control of certain tasks, then evaluate why that is. Do you not have a staff? Start a long-term plan to add on other coaches or administrative staff. Internships or an exchange for free membership are a nice segue into that paid position. Do you not trust your staff? You may need a new team, or you may need to reevaluate your leadership dynamic and training policies.

At the end of the day, you’re in charge of your team. The best leaders learn to replicate themselves (within reason), so let go of tasks that someone else can do just as well.

Set Boundaries

Boundaries in all aspects of your life are important. They are even more important as a coach. As a coach, you become a parental figure/friend/therapist all wrapped into one. Your athletes are going to want to ask you a million and one questions, at all hours of the day.

Set your boundaries early on in your coaching relationships and work to maintain them. How many questions is an athlete allowed during a training session*? Can they call you whenever they like? Do you prefer email or text? How many videos can they send you? Are certain times off limits (early morning, late evening)? Think about what is important to you and make a plan addressing concerns that would interfere with your personal life.

And it goes without saying: don’t sleep with your athletes or coaching staff. Keep that personal/professional boundary set in stone. Things get way too messy, and it’s not worth it. There are exceptions to the rule in the community but they are very few and far between, and typically the relationship existed before the coaching/employer relationship.
 
Bottom Line

Ensure you are taking time out of your coaching schedule to work on yourself. While it may seem noble to burn the candle at both ends in the sport, it isn’t. Don’t be a martyr. Prevent burnout so your athletes can keep you around for their entire career rather than just a few meets.

* I learned this from one of my first weightlifting mentors, Justin Thacker of The Lab Gym in St. Louis, Missouri.