Exercise

I have a coach now.

Jonathan Gulbrandsen

26 Aug 2024 — 3 min read

Yep! I have a coach now. “A life coach!?” You ask? Ah, no. It’s a training coach!

I’ve been a longtime reader and follower of everything by Stronger by Science (purchased one of their training programs back in 2016) and I’ve eyed a coach subscription in the past but ended up not going for it mostly for financial reasons.

But becoming a parent has put a strain on my workout regime to say the least. During parental leave but especially after returning to a busy work life and then balancing that with taking care of the kid, I have compromised way too much on keeping up with workout and healthy eating habits.

To be specific, using the app Fitness Stats, I can see the following - comparing 2021 year to date and 2024 year to date, I have:

Excercised 63 hours less
Spent 84 hours less in the gym
Tracked 245 less workouts
Other depressing data points...

I came to the conclusion that a coach would solve a lot of the problem, since it is after all about priorities - not that it’s impossible for me to fit it in. With a coach, I have accountability. But I also want to make sure I do the most effective thing when actually at the gym, which this will do.

I am just starting my 3rd week with the coach, and we’ve started only with the training regimen. We also kicked off the nutritional part earlier today, as we needed some weeks with food logging before kicking that off properly.

It all started with an initial call to understand my current training experience, my goals and wants, and my situation.

We've agreed on a 3 day training schedule where he designs each session in detail - exercises, sets, reps, weights and so on all decided by him. I provide feedback after each session on any concerns or issues with the choices, and of course he adapts if I say I don't like a particular exercise or want a different focus.

For nutrition, we will aim to get me down to 10% body fat by early next year or so, which will mean a 0.5kg reduction per week.

I realize it's early days, but I have not been this engaged at the gym for many years. I am seven workouts in, and loving it so far. The feedback he gives on form videos are fantastic, and already calling out mistakes I have been doing for 10+ years while thinking my form is pretty good on those big lifts.

I'll be sure to provide updates on this