Paying for Powerlifting competition prep??

Hanley

As most of you know I was down at the GPC world powerlifting champs this weekend with a few boards.ie members, and from talking to people competing, it seems quite a few were paying personal trainers to get them ready for the comp.

Now this may just be me being old school, but I always considered PL a labour of love so was really surprised by this. But now that I think about it, I guess it kinda makes sense since you're essentially receiving personal training.

So my questions are these:
-have you paid for it?
-would you pay for it?
-do you think it makes sense paying for it?

Kinda hoping to keep this in the H&F forum cos I know most of the strength sport guys and know they don't....

podge57

-have you paid for it?
No

-would you pay for it?
Yes

-do you think it makes sense paying for it?
In some cases, yes. If you train with a group of experienced lifters, there's no need, they will be able to pick up on things you wouln't notice when training solo, and they should be able to help structure your comp preparation.

But if you train alone, the only feedback you can really get is online, and it can be hard to filter the good advice from the bad. But if there is someone that you know is an experienced competitor / coach, and they are able to help you plan something out, and monitor it, then I think it's definitely worth paying for.

It would also be a huge boost to have someone coaching you on the day of the comp. There are always people who will help you out, but it would be much better to have someone there who knows what your training has been like leading up to the comp, and can help you pick your attempts wisely.

People spend a lot of money getting ready for comps - membership / entry fees, travel, accomodation, and then maybe equipment on top of it. I think it makes sense to spend some money on coaching, as long as you get good value for it. I'll definitely be looking into it whenever I get round to competing again

Kev M

-have you paid for it?
No.

-would you pay for it?
Yes.

-do you think it makes sense paying for it?
Yes.

I think because so much info on how to get started in PL is out there on the internet it has become very accessible to everyone. Everyone can also generally make rapid gains when they start, so the thought of getting coaching never comes to mind. There's so many programs available online that a mentality of 'i've been doing program x for a while but it's not getting me results like it used to so now I'm gonna do program y instead' and so on can be seen everywhere. I would imagine that good coaching would beat this approach every time.

This makes me think of something I read in Jon North's blog:
North talking about Mark Rippetoe and SS: "Starting strength, ha! That book and that program is a joke, that book is by itself destroying peoples dreams of being a weightlifter and just weight training in general to become stronger. I call that book how not to work hard."
I think that was just his way of saying that cookie cutter programs aren't really very good in comparison to good coaching .


You also have guys who pay no attention to online programs and just go at it their own way or have learned from training partners, so they develop more of their own style. They have no interest in ever hearing what the hell a smolov is. Again I'd have to imagine good coaching would also beat this approach.

Stan Efferding trained by himself for 20+ years, setting the all time american total record, and then upon getting coaching from Mark Bell and Ed Coan he puts ~50lbs on his squat seemingly overnight. So even the top top guys can benefit from good coaching.

And as podge says, people spend so much money on every other little thing, when coaching is actually probably the best investment they could make.

kevpants

-have you paid for it?
No
-would you pay for it?
No
-do you think it makes sense paying for it?
I think there might be a market...put it that way.

You shouldn't have to but by christ some people could do with it. Probably for young lifters and the main role would calming them the hell down so they don't bust their ass in the weeks beforehand and go into the comp weak or do some crazy weight manipulation crap that leaves them drained. Spot if they haven't warmed up enough after a day on a chair waiting for their flight. A chapperone basically.

Nervous Wreck

I'm competing for the first time next Feb, I reckon, and I won't be paying for prep. Purely cos I'm lucky enough to be friends with a few ridiculously sound lads who advise me really well in my training and programming. Labour of love, as you say! Tbh though, if it wasn't for their help, I wouldn't be powerlifting at all so paying for it wouldn't even come up, probably.

Hanley

This thread is making for pretty interesting reading so far and confirms a lot of what I was thinking. I'll throw down my thoughts tomorrow.