219 The Biggest Mistakes Coaches Make When Guiding Time-Starved Athletes

Does it sometimes feel like the training you’ve been prescribed doesn’t fit comfortably into your life?

Does your training volume have you feeling like a zombie rather than a finely tuned athlete?

Did your coach still schedule a bike workout even though you made clear notes that you had a work trip with no access to cycling?

Do you struggle to understand the big picture of your training?

Does your coach keep pushing for commitment and focus even though you’re already stretched too thin?

If so, you are experiencing some of the biggest mistakes coaches make when working with the time-starved athlete.

The challenge of every time-starved athlete is finding a balance between the demands of life’s competing non-negotiable priorities, and the pursuit of self-improvement, or peak performance, in sport or fitness.

Whether you're a triathlete, runner, cyclist, parent, or CEO, each role comes with its own unique challenges, making it difficult to stay on course with a training program designed to maximize performance outside the context of your life. 

While plenty of coaches are skilled at building training programs anchored in tried and true methodology geared towards high-performance athletes, the question is, do the same approaches and methodologies fit when someone is incredibly time-starved?

Today, Matt takes a closer look at the relationship between the coach and the time-starved athlete to identify the coaching mistakes that often lead to underperformance or an ineffective coaching relationship, along with the keys to fostering a healthy coaching relationship in the pursuit of balance and success in sport and life. 

You'll learn:

• Critical Benefits from Leveraging a Successful Coaching Relationship

(16:19) “It's beyond sporting results. The other thing a coach should be able to do, particularly for a time-starved athlete is, through their expertise and experience, help you improve your profile in health, your work performance, and how you show up in life.” 

(17:07) “Coaching isn't just about writing some magic good plan. It is enabling the athlete to appreciate and understand the plan, buy into it, and then be able to self manage.”

• The Biggest Coaching Mistakes When Guiding Time-Starved Athletes

(27:25) “If you just build your proverbial, this is the plan that is necessary to get ready for X - a marathon, an Ironman, a half Ironman - whatever it might be, it's always going to conflict with life. Because for a time-starved athlete, life is non-negotiable.”

(41:31) “Give them freedom. Allow much of the training to be a little bit of ME TIME. A freshener. A cognitive cleanse. So many coaches miss that as an opportunity and they overload.”

• Building a Framework of Coaching and Program to Get the Best Return for Your Hard Work

(46:54) “You can set high standards, you can have high expectations as a coach, but that is only going to be fostered to high performance if it is supported with great listening and empathy.”

 

We hope this episode will empower you, the athlete, to improve your own training and performance and raise the bar when it comes to finding the right coach.

Episode Timestamps

0:00-09:49 Introduction and Matt's Personal Picks

Purple Patch Blog - How to Train for Half IRONMAN and IRONMAN in a Time-Starved Life

Purple Patch Podcast - Episode 218: Conquer The Optimization Challenge - Getting the Most Out of the Time You Have

The Purple Patch Center is Open - Learn More and Schedule a Visit

Purple Patch Website and Newsletter

10:03-11:55 Word of the Week - Right Off - "Don't give up on yourself."

12:11- The Meat and Potatoes - The Biggest Coaching Mistakes for a Time-Starved Athlete

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This episode is sponsored by our collaboration with INSIDE TRACKER. Inside Tracker and Purple Patch - Receive 20% off their services with code: PURPLEPATCHPRO20

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