Finding Qaulified help.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I like analogies.
One area that continues to frustrate me is talking to trainers
about programming.

Often the conversation goes something like this:
“I use a little of your stuff, a little of Mark Verstegen’s stuff
and mix in a little of …”.

In trying to describe how this works or potentially
doesn’t work I’ve decided that a food analogy may
be the best route. Some people can really cook, others
need cookbooks and recipes. Some people write cookbooks,
others read cookbooks. Even in the restaurant world, there are
cooks and there are chefs. Cooks follow the recipes, chefs
create the recipes.

Those who know anything about cooking understand that
every ingredient in a recipe has a purpose. You wouldn’t
bake and simply leave out flour would you? The key is to
figure out if at this stage of your career are you are a cook
or a chef. Here are some basic guidelines.

If you are writing your first program, you are probably a
cook. You should find a recipe and follow it exactly.
Think about it this way. If you were making something for
the first time would you take two recipes from two different
cookbooks and combine them? Would you add ingredients
from one of the recipes while subtracting ingredients from
the other? If you did this, would you expect the end product
to taste good?

What if you took two pancake recipes and both called for
pancake mix and eggs but, you decided to double up on
the pancake mix and simply omit the eggs. The end result
would probably be pretty lousy pancakes, correct?
What if you said, “I don’t like water, I’ll just put the dry
powder in the pan and see if it will cook?”

All of this seems foolish doesn’t it.

Unfortunately, when it comes to program design, this is
exactly what many coaches do. I have athletes who have
trained with me for years and then become coaches themselves.
Instead of using the program that was so successful for them,
they alter it. Then they email me the program and say “can you
look this over?”. Invariably the program is a little of mine and a
little of theirs, with maybe a touch of third party. A combination
of recipes if you will. Also invariably the program is poor. These
are not experienced “chefs” yet they have chosen to alter the
recipe to suit their taste. The better choice is to choose a recipe
designed by a chef and then do a great job of making the meal.
In other words, coach the heck out of the program you have
successfully used.

If you have been writing programs for few years, perhaps
you are a sous-chef.

The sous-chef is the second in command in the kitchen. Many
third and fourth year coaches are sous-chefs. They have
developed the ability to alter the recipe without spoiling the
meal. They understand that ingredients can be altered but that
there should be a plan and it should be followed. The sous chef
also understands that the ratio of ingredients matters and that you
don’t simply cook to your own taste.

After five years of successful program design, you might
now qualify as a chef.

At this point you can contemplate bold changes to the recipe
because you have extensive experience “cooking”. One famous
coach used to say “it’s OK to break the rules, just make sure you
understand the rules first”. After five years you should no longer
be looking at a DVD and abandoning your whole program.
Chefs don’t abandon their chosen cooking style after watching
an episode of Hell’s Kitchen, instead you are now making small
changes to what should be a system.

Figure out if you are a cook or a chef. Don’t be afraid to copy
if you are a beginner. In fact, I would encourage you to copy
rather than to mix. I have said in previous writings that it is a
mistake to copy programs. I guess what I should have said is
it is a mistake to blindly copy programs. It is a mistake to
copy bad programs. However, it may be very beneficial to
copy good programs. I would rather you copy my program
than attempt to add bits of my recipe to the recipes of others.
If you are not confident yet in your ability to create a program, feel free to copy. I guess cookbooks were created for a reason.

The idea is that eventually we all can become chefs but, we
all start out as cooks.


-Mike Boyle