One of the most useful things any coach can give you is insight, which can cut weeks off your learning curve if you know how to use it. I often see beginners in fitness-trainer skill development ask, “What does this look like?” or “Does my form look good?” The issue with these questions is that they are too open. You’ll probably get a response of, “Yeah, that looks good” even though there was one thing that you failed to do every single rep. Instead, try to make your feedback objective, observable, and actionable.
This will give you something you can apply to your next coaching set. Before you ask for feedback, identify a single movement and a single coaching cue you want to hear about. A squat, hinge, split squat, push-up, or overhead press are all great movements to work with because they’re relatively easy to read. Instead of asking for general feedback, try to direct their attention to a single coaching cue. You might ask them to tell you if your knees are staying inline in the squat, your rib flare isn’t expanding during the press, or if your back arches in the hinge. If your question is specific, the answer will be easier to apply.
This will also help you compare your next set to your previous one, instead of trying to apply 5 different coaching cues at once. It’s also important not to try and apply too much feedback at once. Often times, I’ll hear a newer coach receive four or five coaching cues at once, and then on their next set try to apply every single one of them. This usually results in an ugly rep. Instead, try to identify a single coaching cue that will have the largest impact on the overall pattern. Focus on that cue first, and make sure you improve it on the next rep before moving on to the next cue.
Helpful feedback should decrease the confusion, not add to it. The way you demonstrate the movement is just as important as what you ask for. If you want help on your form, don’t just blast through a set as fast as you can and hope they saw the cue you wanted help with. Take your time setting up the movement, and lower yourself at a controlled tempo so the movement can be observed. If you can help it, try to do a few slow controlled reps instead of going for a long set to fatigue. It will be easier for them to see when your form breaks. If you’re reviewing your own form, try to only watch with one question in mind, and one time point in mind. Instead of asking when does my form look the worst, ask yourself when does my form first start to break?
This will help you improve your self analysis. An example of how you might structure a short 15 minute practice to improve this might look like this: Take the first 2-3 minutes and identify a single movement you want to work on, and a single coaching cue you want help with. Take the next 8-10 minutes and do a few sets of the movement you identified. Keep the tempo slow enough that the cue you want help with is observable. After each set, take a minute to write down one sentence about what you observed about the movement, and one sentence about what would be the most helpful coaching cue in that moment.
Finally, take the last few minutes and try to apply the most helpful cue you received, or that you observed in yourself, and repeat the movement while only focusing on applying that cue. This will help you turn feedback into action instead of just letting it become another opinion that you hear as you coach. When you’re stuck, it’s probably not because you need more feedback, it’s probably because you’re not asking for the right kind of feedback for the drill you’re working on.
If someone gives you a cue that seems too cognitive, try to turn it into something you can physically test immediately. Instead of “stay tight”, try “keep your entire foot rooted into the ground.” With time, you’ll start to learn which cues actually produce change, and which ones just sound good. That knowledge is incredibly valuable. Most of the improvements you’ll make as a developing fitness coach will come from your ability to ask for the right kind of feedback that will result in a better rep, and then repeating that better rep until it starts to feel natural.