A Coach's Attitude of Gratitude

A Coach's Attitude of Gratitude

As I reflect back on the past few years, one of the things I have come to really appreciate is the relationships that I have with my clients. 

The coach-athlete relationship is a two-way street. For both of us to be successful, we need to have an open, honest communication and mutual respect for each other, and just like any other healthy, productive relationship, whether it’s personal or professional, we need to trust each other.

This requires an initial “leap of faith” for each of us.

They need to trust that I am going to provide them with a training program that will allow them to be successful—to get stronger and improve their performance. They also need to trust that I will help them improve by sharing my knowledge and experience and giving them timely and appropriate feedback, both proactively and reactively when needed.

I need to trust that they are going to put forth the effort required to be successful—to do the work. Anyone can write a program, but my athletes must execute it. As a coach, I’m not lifting the weights for them. I’m not doing the work. That’s on them. And, in most cases, if they are consistent and follow the program with the required effort, they get results.

I am extremely grateful for the clients I have who entrust me with the responsibility of their programming and who not only listen to my feedback, but take it to heart. They apply it. And, if they don’t understand something or if they want an explanation about why I’ve written something for them to do, they ask questions. And, if I don’t have an answer…I will either do the research or consult with others to find the answer.

These people all have a choice. There are a lot of strength and conditioning coaches out there…more and more every day thanks to social media. I appreciate that my clients have chosen me. Thank you all.

If you are a strength coach or personal trainer, I encourage you to take a moment to thank the people who have chosen you. Have an attitude of gratitude and show your appreciation for them. A study by Glassdoor showed that more than 80 percent of employees are motivated to work harder when their manager shows appreciation for their work.

This is no different, in my opinion, when applied to the coach-athlete relationship. I believe my athletes work harder because they know I appreciate them; at least, I hope they do because I do try to say it and show it on a regular basis. It’s not something that I want to go unspoken although I believe that actions speak louder than words.

Thank you to all the strong people who have chosen to call me “Coach.”

I appreciate you.

Mike Lohman, the author of this post, is a Creative Thinker, Problem Solver, Storyteller, Strength Coach, Motivator, Team Leader & Team Player.  Mike embodies the ideals of being a Strong Man and gives his time graciously to his community.  We are proud to partner with Mike.