I'd fire you.

I'd cry.

Seriously, considering the exchange of money, my expectations is that a coach be patient and committed.

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-Andrew

Really depends on where the athlete is in her stage of life. A 70% compliance rate is pretty good overall.

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

In my group, I expect the guys to hit 70-80% of workouts. If they hit 100% that is a bonus, but then I have to get them to dial back the next week to 70-80% LOL...can you tell that the 70-80% is the "real 100%" and the 100% is more like the 125% over reaching week...except, they only hit 100% when their work and family get out of the way and they have less outside stress to deal with and can do more training. It's just too hard to push the ideal scenario into the lives of most age groupers....just too many variables. Personally I hit around 60% of my the training that I could possibly hit on weekdays given the training slots that are theoretically available. Typically work commitments slide over my theoretically perfect training slots. .....then again, on weekends, I could train 10 hours per day and no one would bat an eyelid...in fact if I am home on Sunday morning and not training, people will look at me like the end of the world is near. In the end I hit around 80% most weeks. I only have a few weeks per year where I plan and always hit 100%. It's just too stressful to not have flex/play. Most of the guys in our local group feel much better about training when it is "OK" to miss workouts than feeling that they need to hit everything. That's just a ticket to burn out and not sustainable for most age groupers in the long term. I've seen lots of guys "come and go" who are too anal about hitting everything but then they start detesting their training doing workouts when they don't feel like it. Not a great formula to stay in the game for a long time. In my group, my goal is to create athletes for life and teach them how to manage life and being an athlete and race goals etc.

Dev

Good stuff. My inclination is to be anal, but after 6-7 years in the sport, I couldn't agree more that it's important to feel that it's okay to be flexible. Or risk burnout. My standard is 100% and it's taken me time to learn that I need to cut myself a break when I can't do it all.

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-Andrew

i'm not a coach, nor am i coached - well, self-coached which means that my plans are more tailored around the practicalities of my life than might otherwise be possible
i'd expect though that it be a bit of a 2-way thing - yeah a coach is going to get frustrated if you're not doing what you need to in order to progress, but if they're setting a plan that you can't get near then maybe they're failing you rather than you failing them?
it depends why you're missing sessions - if its genuine work/family etc got in the way and it just wasn't possible then a coach should understand that. if its often just too tired (as in more often than can be genuine), bad weather etc then thats a different story.
it comes down to the coach and athlete discussing practical training constraints and devising a way of working around that - this should include the coach saying what flexibility is built-in, which sessions are critical and what to do if you have to miss one - as dev said, the coach might be expecting you to miss some, or might not.
that said, one of the reasons i am self-coached is that i just can't see a coach being able to give me that flexibility (without a premium expensive service including lots of interaction)

I agree. Any coach that's giving you a plan without the interaction doesn't really deserve to be called a "coach". I wouldn't pay for a service that didn't prioritize a relationship between coach & athlete. Still, I'd think that even beyond the relationship with their athletes, a coach would have hopes and standards.

The two primary relationships I've had with coaches have been great from a flexibility and communication standpoint. I'm just aware of the pressure I put on myself to stick to the plan, so I'm curious about the expectations from a coaches viewpoint.

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-Andrew

Depends on the group and the goals of the group.

For example, in AG swimming, we were expected to make it to all of the scehduled practices, I forget how many that was but I think it was about 7-9 practices per week.

In university, there were 10-11 available practices, the general expectation was that you made it to 8-9 of them.

In masters swimming, we have 7 available practices. The expectation is that you come out to as many as you want to, as masters is as much about the social side of sports as it is about performance. You aren't trying to instil values of hard work, discipline, commitment, in adults the way you are with kids, so the expectation is that you come out, enjoy yourself and don't disrupt anyone else's enjoyment. And don't rag on the coaches if you don't improve, especially not if you aren't coming regularly. they aren't here to motivate you, they are simply a resource.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Master's swimming is great. I never felt pressure from my master's group. It was great when I made it and fine when I didn't. As a result, I always wanted to make it for the fun!

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-Andrew

I'm not a coach, but I am running into the same issues you are having. I work in corporate retail, so planning is in high gear now & I have told my coach this. He is very understanding & has told me that if I have to miss a workout, which ones to miss & which ones to substitute if I have to make one up. He is very understanding that this is not a full time job & I have a life outside of training. I talk with him at least once a week & text him throughout the week, so we have a good relationship.

Until about 3 weeks ago, I hit 100% of my workouts. Lately I am missing 1-2 a week because of work & family. I predict that will be the standard for the rest of the year until I can get the rough part of the work year behind me. Communicate with your coach. If that can't understand why you are missing workouts, maybe it's time for a new coach. Similarly, if you need a coach to be a motivator who stays on your ass, tell them because I bet they would be willing to apply that pressure.

When I was with my coach I did all of the workouts prescribed and then added a few easy runs and maybe an easy ride or two.

Before I added anything I made sure that all of the workouts prescribed were done exactly as they were written. I also gave him all of my data so he would know exactly what I'd been doing.

jaretj

Are you truly missing them because of no time? Or is it because you are tired or less motivated to make the time?
If it's the tired and motivated one,then a reevaluation of the program is needed. If it's time, then a reevaluation of the program is needed. That's what a coach is for in the first place.

But to defend said coach, he/she can lead the horse to the water but can't make him drink.

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Tim

I recommend everyone miss workouts anytime they can. As many as possible, and flake out on the intervals too.
The secret is doing less more often.

Imagine how hard "exceptional" would be if everyone did what it takes.

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@christopher_borden •
Spinning Spoke • Dimond Bikes • Flo Cycling • Castelli Cycling

Thank goodness most folks have a bit more perspective than this. I love to train and race, so I obviously want to fit in everything I can to build fitness. But this is a hobby. I'm doing it for entertainment purposes. When it comes to my profession I'm a perfectionist, but I've got my priorities straight in life. Sometimes that means missing a workout, and I'm okay with that.

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-Andrew

It's definitely a time issue for me. 10hrs of work & 2hrs of driving per day, wife and kids all make it challenging to fit everything in 100% of the time. So it goes...

I'm just curious about the perspective from coaches.

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-Andrew

Andrew, I think it s a important discussion with your coach. I personally work with a amazing group of athlete both online and in my developpment squad. For the developpment squad, I show up to all workout, I put a lot of energy into it and I expect nothing else but the same from them. I do expect a email ahead of time if someone cant make it and we adjust the plan immediately.

The online coaching is a bit more flexible as I work with many very passionate age group athlete. they are driven and I know they put lots of effort and energy into this. I reply to email within less than a hour. I m up in the middle of the night at times... I expect a high level of commitment but also understand life as a age group is complicated. This is where communication is vital.... I want to know when something isn't getting done, we me changes, we make adjustment.

athlete sticking to 90-95% of the plan are the one that perform at a amazing level come race season. I can tell who will kick ass and how will struggle after only a few weeks of off season/winter. it become very obvious who is committed.

And very important....training plan need to be put together in line with your life reality, job, family etc.... it s vital for success.

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Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
Instargram

When i start with a new client, i typically encourage 90-95% of the workouts. I expect shit to happen. A storm will close the ymca. Kid gets sick. Work issue arises. In some cases, workouts are missed.

I feel that my "job" is to know that athlete, understand why s/he misses the workouts that they do and adjust accordingly. Is it the athlete? Is it the program? Is it both? Are we on the same page about things? Do we have different expectations?

I fired a client last year because she was a poor communicator and only did about 25% of the workouts. Everytime we talked, she gave me the whole next week will be better spill. I took her training down to four hours and she was still missing workouts. That's not the athlete i want so she was fired (she kept the trucker hat).

On the other hand, I have a client who owns his own law firm, has 2 young boys, volunteers on several boards, etc. he likes long course but his schedule is all over the place. He hits 70% of workouts. The key is that he and i are on the same page about it all. He doesnt expect to go sub-XX with that approach. And he is cool with that. So am i.

Sometimes it is the plan that doesn't work for an athlete. I recently had an athlete who skipped nearly all bike intervals above 90%. Took me a while to figure it out. When we chatted she explained that she really hated the pain 90% inflicted. She and I disagreed about how to get better but it didn't make any sense for me to give her workouts that she isn't going to do. As such, the program was adjusted to reflect a different approach to riding-one that she will complete.

In the end, the answers can be all over the place. The athlete and coach often have different expectations and that is why communication is so critical. It solves just about everything.

One more thing and Jason in Halifax kind of nailed it. The expectations from the coach side is also based on expectations on athlete side. If the athlete only wants to be recreationaly hobbyist, and doing it for general health, that's one set of coaching expectations...local podiums are another, BQ level another, KQ level another. So the answer is going to vary. If the athlete has high expectations but is not backing it up with actions, the athlete's actions need to be set straight, or the expectations on race outcomes need to be toned, down, but if the athlete keeps having high race outcome expectations but does not back it up with actions, the athlete deserves to be fired. Guys like Jonnyo are not going to be answering emails on 1 hour turnaround in the middle of the night across time zones for guys who are not taking his time seriously.

This will echo what a lot of other people are saying.

If someone has a 9 to 5 and normal schedule - soccer wednesday - church sunday - school play friday etc. Then after the first 4 weeks or so of adjustment period I expect 90% compliance with the training plan.

If it isn't there then something is wrong. It could be the athlete and at other times it could be the plan. It's usually the plan. The plan has to work within the person's constraints, sometimes in the preliminaries the athlete didn't realize his own constraints - he thought he could do this many hours but in reality only can do that many.

We do a couple of things to make sure things go well.
First, days off or trips out of town or whatnot go into the training software. So when I pop it open, the athlete has already entered, on wednesday "off - school play."
Second I try to make sure the athletes understand which workouts to move and how, which workouts can be skipped and which workouts need to be done.

Every season or three I get an athlete who gets in 50% or less of the workouts, with in 8 weeks I and that athlete "consciously uncouple." If they are only doing that many then he and I or she and I are in different places. That athlete is wasting money if they are only doing 50% of the workouts that I schedule and their money would be better spent with someone who has a better handle on what she needs.

So the coach I'm working with is a well known coach on this forum. Communication has been amazing and this topic is really a non-issue as far as our coach/athlete relationship goes.

I find it an interesting topic because I know if I were a coach, I'd be very vested in the success of the athlete. When you put energy into building a plan and having a vision for how to help an athlete improve, it's reasonable to expect a certain degree of commitment. Building a plan and then seeing it go to waste has to be frustrating. Now, consistently complete >90% of workout is not putting it to waste in my opinion. I'm interested in where different coaches fall on the spectrum.

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-Andrew

Maybe the best advice I got was from a famous Aussie track cycling coach, who has has coached many gold medal winners. He said, "You can't want it more than they do."

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AndyF
bike geek

I'm just getting started on this, but I try and understand the other commitments and obligations that an athlete has and for me, I understand that changes happen, life happens. I know I've had to change my own schedule plenty of times. For me, it's part of coaching. You coach the athletes on how to handle missing workouts, make sure they understand what can be moved around and while session are more critical than others and how the timing can impact the workout. I think it's important to have good communication and be transparent and they understand why they are doing certain workouts and how the training today will impact their fitness later in the cycle and season.

But ultimately, the reason you hire a coach is to adapt your training plan to these types of changes.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

Its clearly different for working adults but just by way of reference to what its like for folks going at it full time without distractions, when I was swimming in high school and college I missed maybe 5 practices total, less than one a year, and a couple times a year there were practices where I could not finish all the sets I was given. Other than that, it was do what I was told every day all day. There were certainly some kids in high school who were not that dedicated but for the folks who were serious, that was just normal. With very few exceptions, no one missed practice and no one quit in the middle.

you would be fired but you could keep the trucker hat