My client told me my coaching felt like homework and it wrecked my whole approach

So I've been training this guy for like 8 months and he's making progress fine but he kept missing sessions. Finally asked him straight up why and he said "dude your workouts feel like a chore, like I'm studying for a test I didn't sign up for." Hit me hard because I was all about spreadsheets and rep schemes. I changed to more of a feel-based approach where we pick 3 main moves per session and the rest is just whatever feels good that day. His attendance went from like 2 times a week to 5 almost overnight. Has anyone else gotten feedback that made you completely rethink your style?

2 comments

2 Comments

craig.parker1mo agoTop Commenter

So when you switched to the feel based stuff, did you have to fight the urge to jump back into spreadsheets and structure? Curious how long it took before that new approach actually felt natural to you. Because I bet your brain was screaming to add more rules back in, especially when a session felt like it was going nowhere. For me, the hardest part in any kind of coaching or even just helping people at work is trusting that less structure actually works better for some people.

ryan_carr591mo ago

Got a buddy who runs a small garage, been turning wrenches for 20 years. He tried switching his new kid from strict repair schedules to just letting him work through problems at his own pace. First two weeks were brutal, kid was spinning his wheels on a simple brake job. My buddy was standing there with his hands in his pockets, jaw clenched, wanting to grab the tools and just do it himself. But he stuck with it, let the kid make mistakes and figure it out. Took maybe a month before the kid started asking better questions instead of just standing there waiting for orders. Now that kid can diagnose a transmission whine by feel and sound, stuff my buddy still needs a scanner for.