I was born, raised, and currently live in paradise. Hawaii is the place I call home. Residing in a tropical location is wonderful. Outdoor activities can be done year-round, and while it is quite easy for pages of information to pop up when I Google search “Best Hawaii Surf School” or “Best Hawaii Hikes,” there are not as many finds for “Hawaii weightlifting coach” on the interwebs.
 
This is not to say that there aren’t a number of great weightlifting clubs and coaches out there in Honolulu. I can actually name a few right off the top of my head. And while I would love to join one of these great weightlifting groups, my schedule as a full-time teacher and mother is pretty demanding and packed. Trying to make early afternoon lifting times at these places is near impossible as I am just getting off work. Lifting at 7pm with the club is also not ideal as that is normally when I am getting the kids’ dinner made and then helping them with homework. Sadly, most of these weightlifting groups also do not meet before the sun rises (my only other option for getting in time on the platform). How, then, do I, a burgeoning, motivated athlete, find someone to help me refine my technique, program effective training cycles, and give other pearls of weightlifting wisdom?
 
Remote coaching.
 
If you are in a similar situation as me (you have a number of time or geographical constraints), remote coaching may be for you! I have worked with a variety of coaches/teams online and found the following points to be helpful when working with someone from afar.
 

1. Know what kind of athlete you are. Ask yourself this question: Will you become the best athlete you can be through remote coaching or would in-person coaching actually be a better option for you? First off, if you are the type of athlete who has to have someone (or a team) around you to hype you up and give you instantaneous cues, remote coaching may not suit your needs. I am a pretty motivated athlete and do not need another person next to me to hype me up when I am tired or performing a max lift, so it’s not vital that a coach always be by my side. Also, I know what my major technical issues were, so I used the wisdom of a remote coach to program exercises to help me with my posture and early hip rising. It’s always great to have a technical coach scrutinizing your lifts, and if you are just learning how to clean and jerk and snatch, having someone in person to show you the different parts of the lifts are vital--learning correct movement patterns prevents you from having to relearn faulty technique, and in this instance, remote coaching may not be the direction you should choose. 

 

2. If you know you can work well with a remote coach, then do your research! Specifically, do your research on your coach. What is his/her background? Who has he/she coached before? Is he/she quick to respond to your questions and comments? Is he/she open to what you have to say or is it “his way or the highway”? A coach’s style—the way he encourages or gives feedback—should mesh with your personality. For example, if you want a coach who is honest yet constructive, you would get very frustrated with a coach who merely sugarcoats comments or provides derisive feedback. The best way to do your research is to think of finding a remote coach like shopping for a new car. Would you buy the first one you see? No! You’d ask the dealer questions about the gas mileage and safety features of the vehicle. Most likely, you’d test drive the automobile too. The same can be said for a remote coach. Similar to how you would ask a dealer about the car’s ins and outs, don’t be afraid to question a coach on his/her expectations of you as a remote athlete. Inquire about his/her programming and ask if you could see what a sample day of training is like. If you can, talk to other athletes the coach works with and see how their experiences with him/her are.
3. Once you have decided on a coach to work with, be sure to share EVERYTHING. Bad film footage, injuries, sleep and nutrition questions--share everything!!! Poor bed habits, and overwhelming work-load and family stresses can all affect your training, so be transparent on how your life outside the platform is going. Furthermore, it is important that your coach knows what your expectations are of him/her as a remote coach. Do you expect communication twice a week via email? Do you expect text messages or random check-ins? How quickly do you expect feedback from a coach? If he/she is not meeting those needs, tell that individual in a professional manner. After all, you are paying for a service!
4. Finally, be realistic. Know that remote coaches have MANY, MANY, MANY other clients to work with, and while you may expect email and/or message communication within a certain time frame, there may be moments of miscommunication or missed emails. From my experience, there were a number of times when my remote coach sent me feedback or new programming, but since technology can be fickle, I never received the information. Also, texts from a remote coach can be interpreted very differently when not stated in person. A comment like, “Just do it!” could be seen as either positive (Keep on persevering!!!) or condescending (Come ON! Just do it already!). When you can’t hear the tone of voice or see the facial cues a coach is giving when he/she shares feedback or thoughts, you may not know exactly how to interpret what he/she is trying to share.

 
In the end, coaches are wonderful and can provide great technique cues, effective training cycles, and positive feedback on how to improve in the sport. Although they are vital for improvement in weightlifting, they will not be the ones snatching the barbell on stage or spending hours in the training hall. The work, dedication, and effort to be the best athlete you can be is up to YOU.