The Coach Culture: The Maximalist & The Minimalist

From T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland”

“April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried tubers.”

 Okay so right off the bat, I should probably mention that my bachelor’s degree in the arts was English Literature and medieval poetry.

Context matters.

 I mention this just to make sure you know I am not a Strength and Conditioning who likes to read T.S. Eliot and The Canterbury Tales in my spare time whilst drinking mead from my Viking horn and playing Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.

Nothing wrong with the above said scenario at all of course.

I mean we all know what makes the green grass grow right?

 So why start with a piece pulled from T.S. Eliot's “The Wasteland”?

 Two of the main themes that can be drawn out of the poem are images of both brokenness and loss. The authors numerous references to the First World War suggest that the war played a significant part in bringing about an extreme shift as well as collapse of the social, psychological, and emotional foundations in which the ‘old world’ stood upon.

 So why is April the cruelest of all the months in the wasteland?

Well, very simply, in a non-wasteland world it is a time of renewal.

It is a time when the snow melts, life begins to grow again, and the crops are planted in all hopes of a bountiful harvest in the months to come.

 Rebirth along with resurrection are also central themes that can be heard echoed throughout the poem as well.

 What is needed in Eliot’s post-apocalyptic war torn world is a new beginning.

 New beginnings signal the beginning of something new or hope; and never forget that all new beginnings come from a destructive truth that brought upon the end of the ‘old ways’ that came before it.

 I was always drawn deeply to this poem for many reasons but mainly for one reason above all others; out of destruction and chaos comes the opportunity for reflection, growth and the chance to build something better than what came before it.

 Let’s pull this back home now before you all think I am just writing out of nostalgia from my days as an undergrad who had zero idea what I was doing with my life (which I am just a little).

 It is all too easy (Darth Vader voice), to relate these thoughts to the field of Strength and Conditioning.

 To put it simply, it’s a (insert expletive) wasteland.

 I mean just look at how it easy it was for an individual to come in (literally out of nowhere) and take a bunch of training methods, principles, movements and place them under a single umbrella of one brand name (fill in the blank) in turn making millions as well as creating a grass-root movement of fitness to which the like has not been seen before since the days of the Austrian-Oak.

 The comical thing about the success of said above individual's brand is that it was literally based off of that fact that the brand offered coaching to general population cliental using Strength and Conditioning literature that had existed for decades before the fact.

 I blame the Strength and Conditioning community for this massive drop of the metaphorical ball.

 Because Strength and Conditioning ‘professionals’ spend too much time debating, criticizing, shaming, and progressing ‘reductionist’ as well as ‘minimalist’ ideals in terms of Strength and Conditioning practice; they let an entity be created right under their noses and literally establish itself as the foremost beacon of knowledge, community, passion, coaching, and education that they thought they have owned just because they ‘worked’ for it or more importantly truly believed that their knowledge was a ‘sacred-cow’ in the sense that no one else could harness its power.

Fun fact for those wanting to become Coaches and for a lot of those that have years upon years of experience; your knowledge doesn't make you successful, it is your ability to connect with others that does.

The word of the day for me today is ‘maximalist’

Maximalist style was a reaction to the minimalist movement and is pretty much as simply as possible, the polar opposite to minimalist style.

White walls and quiet colors are a no-go for maximalism.

When it comes to decor, the bigger, brighter, louder, and busier the better.

Maximalism is a term used in the arts, including literature, visual art, music, and multimedia.

It is used to explain a movement or trend by encompassing all factors under a multi-purpose umbrella term like expressionism (expressionism refers to art in which the vision of reality is distorted in order to make it expressive of the artist's inner feelings or ideas).

I like taking things and putting them in other places to uncover some truths I feel need to be brought into the light, because, simply, lighthouses are important for survival when all other lights go out.

Coaches need to focus on celebrating Coaches that celebrate everything that came before them and not just 1 or 3 things.

They need to celebrate Coaches that look at everything that is available to them in terms of knowledge and skills as a strength and not a weakness because said Coach doesn’t subscribe to one specific ideal.

 I mean, to look at it another way, if you were a carpenter, wouldn’t you want to have access to not only every tool in the world as well as every skill in the world?

 The possibilities for you to create anything and provide the exact product your client wants or more importantly needs would be endless.

 A Coach that maximizes their coaching ‘tool-box’ is a Coach that values everything available to them to assist their clients in reaching their goals.

 This way of thinking also places the emphasis on the ‘job is never over’ mindset and I honestly think this makes a lot Coaches uncomfortable.

 It’s is almost a badge of honor to not be learning anymore or to continue to be a student.

 The entire age old process to become a collegiate Coach revolves around this toxic cycle or interning until your eyes bleed without pay until someway says you’re ready to be Coach because of the amount of suffering you have endured through internship after internship.

 So honestly, I don’t blame Coaches, I blame the system, I blame the wheel, and it’s about damn time that wheel was broken forever.

The hard truth here is that the greatest Coaches, professionals, leaders, and honestly humans in existence never stop being students; seeking out more knowledge is their passion and sharing that wisdom to teach others is their reason for waking every morning.

 Another giant ‘red flag’ for me in this field; when a ‘Coach’ says they know everything and that they have it all figured out.

 This is just simply (insert expletive) nuts.

The human body is and probably forever will remain one of the most complex systems we know. End of story.

 There is no way we as professionals in our field can say that we have figured it all out.

At best, we know enough to nudge the performance capabilities in a desired direction a bit to obtain whatever goal or standard we are seeking.

 To say that we have it all figured out? Really??

 Red flag.

 So really all this sounds great right?

 There are sides to everything in life and we all know this to be true.

 So what do we need more of in the Strength and Conditioning field?

 A Maximalist Coach in the sense of coaching skill, knowledge, and ability that also has a minimalist style when it comes to being able to educate, mentor, develop, empower, and create a culture of growth.

 Strength & honor,

Coach Ben