Coaching Should Have a Reason

I do not want to throw shade at other coaches.

Most coaches are trying to help. I get that. Training has to stay interesting. Clients get bored. Social media rewards novelty.

But sometimes you see an exercise and you have to ask:

What is this actually for?

A lunge into a push-up into a front raise into a bicep curl into a hop might look creative. It might get attention. It might even make the client feel like they are doing something advanced.

But complicated is not the same as effective.

If you combine a squat with a bicep curl, the curl becomes the limiter. Your biceps will give out long before your legs get enough work. So now the squat is too light to train your legs properly, and the curl is being done while everything else is fighting for attention.

That is not efficiency.

That is confusion.

There is nothing wrong with combining movements. A thruster makes sense. A clean and jerk makes sense. A burpee pull-up can make sense in the right context.

The difference is that those movements have a reason. The pieces fit together. The stimulus is clear.

That is the line.

If the goal is conditioning, train conditioning.

If the goal is strength, load the movement properly.

If the goal is coordination, choose a drill that actually teaches coordination.

If the goal is just variety, be honest and call it variety.

Because if “efficiency” is the argument, where does it stop?

Front squat. Lunge. Sit-up. Push-up. Jumping jack. Pull-up. Curl. Press. Hop. Twist.

At some point, the exercise stops being training and becomes content.

A coach with self-respect should care about that.

We do not need every session to look clever. We need the training to work.

Good coaching is choosing the right thing for the right person, at the right time, for the right reason.