Is it possible to self-coach yourself to greatness?

How easy is it to self-coach? The lessons learnt from being both a coach and an athlete.

Of all the great athletes today, how many are without a coach? I would love comments on this as I can only think of a very few. Ryan Hall the USA marathon runner first comes to mind. He opts for more of a "faith" based approach. Hey...whatever works! But the majority of successful athletes that dominate top level sport today, not only have a coach but a whole entourage of support. That is because it is very difficult without the right person. (It's also very difficult with wrong person)!

I was pondering about the above problem after a particularly frustrating discussion with someone about not overtraining and reflecting about my own difficulties of overtraining and injury, something I still battle with. Observation of enough athletes does often make me wonder why it is so easy to override seemingly very simple information about overtraining and injury. The number of really talented athletes I have seen that have sabotaged success because they couldn't control effort level does really make me sad, perhaps because it is so avoidable and I can empathise!

When we don’t learn from mistakes.

It's important to make mistakes for learning. Making mistakes once is a good thing, but replicating that same mistake, not so good. I’m talking about training mistakes, not skill acquisition. I have seen many athletes who know all this and should know better, fall by the wayside because of overtraining and injury and is a huge problem in the "self-coached”, because that "drive" is a function of personality rather than just not knowing.
In endurance athletes particularly, the instinct to train high volume at an "almost always hard" effort level (very little "extremely hard" and very little "easy") and to keep going at all costs is a major mental factor to success but it is also the very attribute that can destroy if not managed appropriately. Learning to self-direct that energy appropriately is certainly possible but I believe it is hard and requires a huge amount of self-discipline, the ability to be objective and at times override your own personality.

I talk a lot here about the overly “driven” and self –motivated athlete but of course there is the reverse, where someone needs a good kick up the backside. Past a certain sporting level, I don’t see this very often though.

Presently, I spend my time switching from coach to athlete, not ideal but I do find the switch easier and easier to make the more I understand. Being a coach and learning to be a better one, is quite a humbling experience and actually it’s only taken 34 years, but I’m finally starting to listen to my own advice and getting some very nice results. Perhaps a personality lobotomy thrown is as well.

I view my role as a coach to get the best out my athlete, both physically and mentally.
From the moment they walk through the door, you observe and watch them, from putting down their bag and warming up to the end of session. This allows me to sum up their physical and mental state, especially when they don't think I'm watching! You then have to be able to cherry pick bits of information that are relevant to that person and communicate it to them simply! Then, adapt, adapt, adapt throughout the session. So, of course the knowledge base has to be vast in terms of sports science but also human psychology and the theory of learning. The more you know, the larger the pool from which you can extract. Oh yes and TRANSLATION skills!!

I’m becoming more familiar with the “unspoken” language of human! Learning to decipher what people say or don’t say, as more often than not, people do not always say what they mean.

E.g

“I’m fine” means “I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus”

Conversely for another person

“I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus” means “I’m fine” 

 So…..a good coach (I still have a long way to go), has a lot to process. Self-reflection that is necessary for performing is essential for any athlete, but the deconstruction of self sometimes needed for changing behaviour is often too much for most and would be counterproductive. Using someone to redirect the energy associated with those personality traits that are needed for success in a given sport then becomes a necessity. If you can offload the responsibility of sifting through the maelstrom of sports science and program design to the right person, you free up an enormous amount of energy.
My current bodybuilding (fitness model) training program has been outsourced to someone I trust and have to say it is a real luxury.  I don’t have to think about anything, other than lifting tin! I think it is fair to say, the only time I felt I achieved any kind of sporting success was when I had a coach, whose main role was actually to hold me back, and protect me from myself!!

I'd be very interested to hear about those of you that have managed to coach yourself to a high level and what worked and didn't. Comments very welcome.