#31 - Hiring A Comp Prep Coach
Hey, hey ladies. Welcome to episode number 31. We are diving into comp prep for the next 10 episodes. I'm going to be talking about all things first time athletes need to know. So if you're a seasoned athlete, some of this stuff might be pretty common sense to you. It might be reviewed. May not be super interesting, but I promise there'll be some gold nuggets in here. There'll be some nuggets of wisdom in here, you don't want to miss. All right.
So this episode, we're going to talk about hiring a comp prep coach. This is step one in my three step guide to your first competition. Hiring a coach is a fantastic first step. A coach is going to be able to tell you where you're at, how far out you are and when you should start looking for a show. Coaches are also going to be able to look at your body and assess it from a neutral place and really give you honest feedback about what still needs work. The right comp prep coach can motivate you, encourage you, inspire you and help make this journey an amazing experience.
So in the three-step guide, I talk about determining your needs first. So the first step in finding a coach is figuring out what you need, ask yourself what do you want from your coach, what do you need from your coach, do you need someone with industry knowledge who can set you on a path to success, do you need a drill sergeant who will keep you accountable and on track, do you want an educator someone who will teach you and explain to you why they're having you do all these things in a certain way. Maybe you just need a posing coach or a stage prep coach, maybe, you know, the nutrition and you've got the training down. Once you figure out what kind of coach you desire. It will make finding the right person so much easier. Once you know who you are looking for, you can start asking around, go to local gyms, talk to other athletes, search online, find out who the competition trainers are in your area. From there, I would set up consultations with your top three picks. Most trainers offer a free consultation or mini session. I know, I do have a list of questions ready or use the checklist that I provided in the three step guide to interview your trainers. Pick the one that checks the most boxes and inspires you. Keep your expectations high. You are paying this person to help you achieve your goals. Ideally you want to work with a coach who has a background education in personal training and nutrition, preferably someone who has been working in the fitness industry for at least a half a dozen years, and has a confident knowledge of how to dial your body in without risking physical or mental health. Lastly, having a coach that has experience in the competition industry is huge. Without industry knowledge it's seriously like the blind leading the blind.
Okay, you guys, I'm going to take you through the list of interview questions that I put in the three-step guide. If you want to have this guide in your hands, you just need to go to lylasleona.com , my website, scroll down my home page and in the free stuff area, just opt in for the three-step competition prep guide. In that guide, you'll find this entire checklist. Okay. So what you want to talk to your coach about is the services that they offer, do they offer in person online or both. I know for me personally, I do 90% of my training online. I do my check-ins online. I do the nutrition consults online. I do monthly creation calls for creating new nutrition plans and new workouts online. But I love to offer in-person posing. So if my competition clients are within a certain radius, they can come to me. And work with me in person on their posing. And that's what I love to do the most. That's what works really well for me as a competition prep coach, but I have athletes all over North America. And I work with them posing online all of the time, that's fine too, but especially for your first competition, it's going to be about what makes you the most comfortable. Maybe it's really important to you to have an in-person coach and for your first competition, having that in-person coach can be huge. It can be a great support. Next, do you want to find out what their service knowledge is, are they certified as a personal trainer, are they a nutritional coach, do they have nutritional science background, do they know about the competition industry, are they opposing in stagecoach, have they competed, have they ever trained competitors, what organizations do they work with, do they have a competition network, do they know people within the organization, do they have a judging background. These are all really important questions to ask your coach. Also, I like to know if my coaches have any experience with mindset or life coaching, are they going to be able to help me get through my own motivational hurdles. And help get me out of my own way when I want to achieve my goal. Next, do you want to find out their availability. Is there a schedule compatible with yours, when are they available, does it work with when you're available, if you like to work out in the morning and you're hiring a coach for personal train. You want to make sure that they're available in the morning too, right. Specialization, do you require specialized attention, are you vegan or celiac? Do you have old injuries that still bother you, can the trainer you're interviewing work around your limitations? Compatibility, this is really important, you guys. Do you like them? Are they someone you want to hang out with, someone you want to learn from, someone who inspires you, someone who motivates you to become a better version of you. It's really important to have a coach you enjoy going to see. The next one is hard to know in advance, but it's definitely something you want to ask them about and then it might take a few sessions to really solidify how dependable they are. So the next one is dependability. Are they on time, are they organized, do they show up, are they prepared for your session? These are questions you can answer right off the hop during that first consultation, do they show up on time for that consultation, are they organized and prepared for that consultation with the answers to your questions. And last on my list is cost, how much do they charge, what's included in that, will there be extra costs, does that include posing dialing in and day of the show, what about post-show reverse training costs. These are questions you want to find out in advance. Some coaches offer an all-inclusive package and some coaches are more Allah cart and we'll charge depending on what you need. So that's my list of interview questions that you want to ask any comp prep coach that you are interviewing. And remember, it's you interviewing them, you're hiring them to help you achieve your goals. It's important that they tick off most of your boxes. Keep in mind when you're interviewing your coach too, and trying to pick a competition coach, if there's a coach in your area, that's only been coaching for a couple of years and you want someone in person, that's totally fine. Maybe you don't necessarily need someone who has six or 10 years of experience for your first show. Maybe it's more important for you for that first show that you have someone working with you in person making sure that your form is correct in the gym and really being able to help you with your posing and help manipulate your body and working with you more often. I find that the more seasoned an athlete is, the more comfortable they are working with a coach online, the less hand-holding they need, the less accountability they need, the more they become accountable to themselves.
Now, speaking as a coach, when I have a consultation call with a client, I'm also interviewing them. I have my own checklist. I want to make sure that they're dependable and they're accountable to their own goals and that there's somebody who wants it for themselves more than I want it for them. So it's really important to do that first step that I told you guys about, sit down and ask yourself what you want from a coach. Can't really clear on that and then from there, go about your hunt to finding a coach.
Before I end this podcast, I just want to talk quickly about switching coaches. So I recently actually had a few athletes reach out to me who want to switch coaches. And I will talk to them a little bit about this. So from a coach's perspective, I want you guys to know that once you've worked with a coach for a show, that coach understands your body that first show. There's a lot of research, a lot of watching how your body reacts, going into your second show with the same coach, there's a lot of questions that have already been answered. There's already a foundational game plan, and there's a really good chance that your next show, you're going to show better than not the first show. Making the decision to switch coaches, basically means that you're starting at that beginning stage again with that new coach. They're figuring out your body for the first time again. Now, there are good reasons to switch coaches, if maybe there's a personality clash, or maybe you felt like your coach dropped the ball and wasn't there for you as much as you thought they might be during your prep. Whenever you're thinking about switching coaches, I highly recommend sitting down with your old coach. And having a really candid conversation with them about how you feel. And I know this is uncomfortable. You guys, I know that you would rather not do this. But the competition world isn't that big and rather than jumping from coach to coach or burning a bridge or just going sting. Sit down and let them know that you felt deserte in that last little bit of competition prep or you really wish they would have personalized your planning more or whatever it is that you're feeling and give them a chance to make it up to you. Give them a chance to let you know, where they were coming from and why they did it the way they did it. And who knows, maybe you can mend that relationship. And move forward from that point. And if not, if you do decide to go to that new coach at least you've given that old coach something to work on for the next client, right. I know it's uncomfortable to you all, but me as a coach, I would much rather a client come to me and let me know that they're disappointed than just ghost me and move on to another coach, my personal preferences. All right. Next week, we'll be talking about how to pick your first show. Don't miss it.
