obviously! So you made some progress since you bneched 1 plate for one

Not sure if that's a knock on me or not, but I've never really cared that much about bench haha.

nah, i mean you really did something with it!

How does his lifting numbers have anything to do with his ability to coach an individual?

Some of the best personal trainers and strength coaches I've met/worked with (and here we're literally talking in the hundreds) don't have impressive lifts. Some of them just don't practice what they preach, or some have a different approach, and others had injuries or physiological impediments, while others are research-oriented. I think time under the bar is something you can't replace, but not everyone spends time under the bar to understand strength.

If you look at professional athletes, a lot of them have pretty weak lifts--basketball, my favourite sport, is a prime example. Yet these guys can do stuff that none of us can do. And they're functionally strong as fk.

By mid high school I ran into a serious training dilemma. I was physically just as capable as most professional athletes (it was the 90s, but hey), but I wasn't performing at their level. This bothered me because I was already competing with some of them, and I was semi-interested in going pro in sports. It turns out that I was spending way too much time training (lifting, sprints, playing games but not training specific skills) and way too little time on skill acquisition. Once I shifted toward that orientation, I got better performative athletic results.

The corollary is that if you're teaching strength, time under the bar is absolutely a MAJOR component of what you bring to the table. But knowledge and skill acquisition is, in part, a different animal. It's complicated in the str&fitness industry because a lot of guys get ahead on results via illegal drugs. I'm NOT moralizing about that, but I am saying that I've known guys who don't know sh*t about lifting who were repping 400+ on bench.

Just my 2 cents.

This post was edited by RewtheBrave on Oct 28 2017 07:15pm

there is minimal skill acquisition in powerlifting. most top level powerlifters have shitty squat and deadlift technique

Oxymoron alert

If they are top level, they are lifting in the best way their body moves, painfree, and that technique takes a lot of time to learn and master

Their technique isnt shitty, its as close to perfect for their body type

no, its pretty shitty.

I bet if they had you coaching them you could correct their shitty form and they would go from top level to world record holders

i bet ur right