Internet speed gurus and the people who love to hate them
I like to study the patterns. And I’ve found another one. It seems that a lot of brand name (and not so brand name) coaches out there have decided it’s their duty and responsibility to announce who is and is not qualified to create training products. They’ve also set the standard for what is and is not acceptable in terms of ‘marketing’ and ‘hype’.
Well, my friends. Since none of my fellow ‘internet speed gurus’ want to jump into the fray with a response, I will speak for all of us. And by that I mean I speak only for myself. So here is the truth about internet speed, strength and conditioning gurus and whether or not you’re allowed to believe the hype.
If we all lived in a vacuum, then athletes would magically flock to the coaches getting results without any marketing, sales copy or fancy logos. Only those who had a minimum of 20 years experience working ‘in the trenches’ and have coached X number of All Americans and/or Olympians would be allowed to sell that information on the great equalizer known as the Internet. And those ‘qualified’ coaches would each have a personalized video testimonial from Jesus on their sales page. And they’d make alllll the money.
Sadly, we don’t live in a vacuum. And I find this entire concept to be patently Un-American. The whole structure of America is based on the idea that if you hustle hard enough, you can be successful. You can’t say ‘you’re not qualified to create products and marketing is evil’ and then say that America is the best country in the world. This country was, literally, stolen and built on the premise of The Hustle. (I have a degree in History, so feel free to debate this with me. But first, read Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.)
Let’s get down to brass tacks, my friends:
When someone we think is a lesser coach than we are appears to be selling more products and making more money than we are, signs better athletes than we have, gets more clients than we do, has more followers, speaks at more clinics and/or runs bigger camps, it bruises our Ego. It feels unfair and that fills us with anger and contempt.
Of course, if we lived in a world that had anything to do with being ‘fair’, the discussion would end here. At the end of the day, this is the reason we rant about hype and marketing and unqualified coaches bamboozling the ignorant masses into buying products that aren’t as good as ours.
Let’s be real my friends. Most, if not all, of the coaches who rail against ‘marketers’ aren’t doing it solely because they’re purists who can’t stand to see their beloved sport and/or industry tainted. Such feigned piety is fascinating, hilarious and insulting to those people whose consciousness has expanded beyond believing our world view is any more accurate than anyone else’s. (Yes, I get the irony in this statement) Though it does keep their followers in line. But, hey, I’m American. I still believe in The American Dream. So I respect everyone’s hustle. I don’t hate The Player or The Game.
We live in a world where we’re constantly bombarded by marketing. If you want to be seen and heard, you need to spend almost as much time learning the business side of the game as the coaching side. I know this causes many coaches and trainers a great deal of psychological discomfort. They’ve spent so many years learning every nuance of anatomy, physiology and biomechanics they don’t want to have to learn business, too. Because they live in a reality where, again, products sold should be directly proportional to time in the trenches. But that’s not how the real world works. So, instead, we get mad. Because it’s easy to do and easy to find other ‘over worked and underpaid’ coaches to commiserate with.
Of course it bothers me when I see products created by 22 year olds who I know haven’t coached anyone. Just like it bothers me when I see sprinters with bad coaches beat my athletes in big races. Getting high and mighty won’t get my kid on the podium. I need to improve the way I coach.
I’m no fool. I read the forums. I’ve seen people bash me. I know it offends people that my stuff sells too. After all, I’m just a high school coach from the Northeast. Some Big Time coaches have been in the trenches longer than I’ve been alive. I’ve also never coached an Olympian. Or an NCAA All American. All I’ve done is coach HS kids to State Championships and teach them how to believe in themselves. You don’t get sponsored by Nike for that. So I guess that means I’ve got nothing to offer except overhyped marketing to compensate for my incompetence. It also apparently means my only goal is to make money.
But I’ll let everyone in on a little secret. I know my market. And so do the other people actually selling copies of their programs. Sorry contemptuous coaches, but the vast majority of consumers are not interested in your overcomplicated programs, big words and training schemes using equipment we’ll never have access to. And your bland product description looks too much like an article in the NSCA Journal and not enough like something that gets potential customers excited for your product. Truth is, the mass market consists mostly of youth (age 8-18) coaches, parents and trainers with a relatively small amount (<10 years) of ‘in the trenches’ experience. As long as your information gives them enough tools to make their regular kids in their regular programs better, they’ll buy your stuff.
It’s like this: Let’s say, on a scale of 1-10, Johnny Bigtime coach is a 10. And Latif is, say, a 7. Well, most consumers are between 1-5. So a 6 is plenty for their needs. When I speak at clinics or coaches approach me at meets, they don’t say,
‘Holy crap Latif, you sure are smart. Tell me more about the nuances of addressing muscle spindle fatigue’.
No. They say,
‘I like how you keep it simple. Thanks for validating what we’re doing in my program. I can tell you work with high school kids because you’re dealing with the same problems I am. Uncoordinated kids. Enabler parents. Poor equipment. No space. Jealous coaches. You’re like me.’
That’s why they buy. ‘Experience’ is only 1 of many factors they consider before they purchase just like ‘endurance’ is only 1 of the 5 biomotor skills you have to develop in practice. Place all your stock in one area and you’re not going to get the results you’re looking for.
I get a little bit depressed when I buy programs from coaches filming products in their fancy gyms with their fancy equipment. Most coaches can’t relate to that. I’ve got 90 kids and we use piles of dirt left by custodians as cones.
If you’re so smart and experienced, sell me a program that makes 400 runners fast when you can’t go outside and only have a 30m hallway. And have to run around piles of dirt on the floor.
For those who balk at ‘unqualified’ coaches using ‘hype’ over ‘substance’ to sell their DVDs, remember one thing about the business side of this game:
You don’t stay in business if your product/service doesn’t work or help. Like drug dealing, the money is in the comeback. Repeat business. The 80/20 Rule. So all hype, no substance marketer coaches won’t stay in business if their information sucks. Because the customer will be insulted and won’t buy from them again. I’m pretty sure that’s called ‘The Free Market’.
It’s also why I only promote resources from coaches I know and trust. Resources I use for myself and for my athletes. I know that people rely on me to lead them in the right direction. So I’m not going to endorse something or someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. It’s why most of my customers are repeat customers. It’s why we’re still growing as a company after being in business nearly 7 years.
In the real world, just getting results isn’t enough. You need to get peoples’ attention. Sometimes you have to over coach an athlete to get them to perform a particular movement pattern the way you want it. Sometimes you have to overhype your product or service to get people to give you their email address or take a flyer on your product or service. That’s just the world we live in. But I’ve been in this game long enough to know that we’d have a better class of coaches, from youth through college, if more of our best coaches were less afraid of marketing. Put down the anatomy book and go watch a Frank Kern video. Marketing is not bad. ‘Hype’ isn’t evil. And, whether we like it or not, it’s up to the consumer to decide who ‘deserves’ to create a product or who doesn’t. That’s the American Way. If you want to drive the undeserving marketer coaches out of business, then provide a better product and do a better job marketing it.
It may not be what you want to hear, but it’s the truth.
Want to weigh in? Post your comments below. You can disagree and even get mad at me. I will still post your comment. As long as it is coherent.
To your success,
Latif Thomas
P.S. The Top 3 reasons to follow me on Twitter:
1. Email is getting outdated. Stay current and get exclusive info that I’ll only be announcing via Twitter.
2. I have censors (sort of) who control what I say in the blog and through email. But on Twitter, I release the beast.
3. When I find good info scattered throughout the ‘net, I’ll tell you about it here. It won’t be in emails and it might not always be track related. But it will be interesting.
Check me out:
Filed under Uncategorized by on Feb 3rd, 2011. Comment. 
Comments on Internet speed gurus and the people who love to hate them
I’m one of the youth coaches you mention in the article. I’ve purchased your product despite being told by other coaches with more experience than me that “the majority of what is for sale you can also find online for free”. While I’ve found the information to be valuable and IMO worth what I spent, I’ve also found that you have given most of this same info away for free at some point or another via internet posts. I’m not mad because I love this sport and don’t mind spending money on my own development as a coach. I consider it the same or actually better than paying to attend a coaching conference.
Not to mention I respect a good hustle! I tweeted you earlier and asked for a sample training inventory. I really felt like it should have been included in my product but it wasn’t. I’ll keep following and most likely continue to purchase what I consider to be valuable products, but can you just send me a youth based training inventory I can use as a reference to creating my own?
Sound reasoning, passionate too, obviously…haha I think I might choose to minor in “Business” because of that rant! No, seriously though, I am currently working to get my degree in Kinesiology, but at some point down the line I want to open up my own CrossFit Affiliate… And the business side of operations will account for at least half my success right? (Besides a higher quality of coaching ability and some charisma to boot.) …I’ll look up Frank Kern for the marketing side of things, but do you think “Complete Speed Training” is compatible with CrossFit-style programming? Do you have an suggestions on how to implement it into a schedule that is already jam packed with Strength Training/Olympic WL’ing and high-volume Met-Cons? Thanks Coach T!
Hey Latif – I am a club coach so talk about being being under-appreciated! My entire focus is on the betterment of the athletes that run for me or come to me for help because they do not get it from the high school and sometimes college coaches. I definitely hear what you say and I am not sure if it jealousy on their (other \”gurus\”) or what but I would not be listening to what you have to say unless I did not see the wisdom and knowledge in it. Clyde Hart said two things that always stuck with me:
- The only thing worse than no coach is a bad coach
and
- Any coach who is through learning is through!
We can all learn from each other so keep doing what you are doing and paying attention to and learning from who really counts —– your athletes!
Robert: I think you can work CST principles into anything depending on the training goals of the particular workout. CST 1 & 2 do not reinvent the wheel so don’t think of them as stand alone resources that can’t be integrated with anything else. If you understand energy systems and use common sense, you’ll be fine. You’re probably already using CST type stuff with what you’re already doing (and vice versa).
dcscoach: Sure you can probably kinda sorta find it online for free. But time is money. And I personally don’t have time to spend 40 hours piecing together internet clips when I could follow a seamless program from one person for a couple hundred dollars. But that’s just me.
I don’t know what program you have, but if it’s one of the CSTs, they are, by their very nature, a training inventory. Want an inventory for speed, look at the different ways I talk about doing acceleration work, max velocity, etc. That’s an inventory for speed. Want an inventory for speed drills? There’s a whole section. Bodyweight/GS exercises. A whole section. Core work? Done. You get the idea. Every drill in every section in either program is structured from simple to complex so, for your 10 year old, just start with the simplest exercises and progress when the athlete acquires the skill.
That’s about all I can really do because I simply do not have time to create individualized programs for people. I can answer questions, but I can’t create programs.
Coaches must remember that our weight training, conditioning and speed training all came from the European countries. What many so called gurus have done in america is used some part of the European training philosophy to make billions of dollars. There are many so called strength, conditioning speed and power assocation that claime they are doing things the right way and will try and destroy anyone who does not agree with their philosophy.
I know you are the BOSS Latif. Here’s a secret. I think if you were in jamaica, and with all those resources i saw; the gymn etc. you would be winning both the boys and girls section of champs. you would have to spread yourself thin or have a cadre of good assistants and you the concentrate on the sprint. these coaches look for natural talents. they go to the primary championships and look for people who run fast. sometimes they dont even correct their flaws. I am currently doing my bachelors degree. I am glad i didn’t attend the P.E. College. Jeesh!! 99% of their men running the 400m ran heel first. They will be coaching kids to run properly? Heaven help us all. worst5 of all the same coach that coaches them; is coaching 7 times girl champion school Holwood tech. another bunch of heel runners. that guy has the gall to be selling dvd about sprinting the jamaican way. call my shrink!!!!
What’s up brah?
Good to see you still doing your thing. I’ve been coaching kids the last couple of years for our track club and every year I’m still trying to learn and get better. Out of all the resources and supposed “Gurus” I researched for information you stuck out. The bottom line is that you think outside the box and keep it simple for coaches trying to get kids better. You are not trying to impress everyone with your resume or intellect. You impress people with your passion and that is what I like about the way you go about your business. Keep grinding because the sport needs a renegade like you. Let me also take this time to say that since my Cowboys were eliminated from playoff contention by October….Go Packers.
@Robert: I\’mm a high school coach who has adapted CrossFit into our program. We\’ve also bought Latif\’s program and found we were doing much of what he advocates. Nonetheless, it’s a comprehensive presentation. Here\’s a thread on another site you might find interesting: http://www.elitetrack.com/forums/viewthread/9731/#86276
I love to read your stuff Latif. Much of it is re-packaged with “new” names but all in all you are really switched on.I have coached for over thirty years now and continue to learn. Like yourself I have worked with and spoken to some of the “best” (define? ) coaches in the world. Mainly in Europe well Britain to be exact. Unfortunately the “old” breed are dying out and very few switched on younger coaches are coming through…..they have all the answers…….NOW. I will continue to to watch and learn and develop my skills. My next target is to get down to London and spend time with Dan Ppaff who I have seen on video but strikes me as my type of person NO BULLSHIT . I hope I will not be disappointed. Continue the good work .
Latif,
Glad you jumped on this topic. It’s funny you did because I was getting heat for the exact same reasons you mention here.
I was talking with Mike Boyle the other day and we were dissecting this same issue.
Your absolutely right when the potential client is just looking for results. They don’t care about what every single muscle is in the body or what their function is. They just want results. Although I agree with you on how a young kid who has never coached creates a product and sells it isn’t cool, at the same time you gotta give him credit for hustling to get it done. Because most of the coaches who do know their stuff don’t hustle on the business side of things.
Oh yeah, and as for training kids in a 30 meter hallway and piles of dirt as cones, I’m still looking for that magic pill that can send my kids to the state meet for the jumping events when they aren’t even able to practice the event. But some how we’re able to do it
Let me follow your little rant up with one of my own. I’m a middle school coach, and have been doing it for a few years now. I coached HS for 2 years, but teach at a middle school, so I dropped down to help out one year. I’d like to think I know what I’m talking about, my girls teams always finish in the top 3 at invitationals. If I took my team to a high school meet we’d finish middle of the pack, which I think is pretty good considering I have girls who are 12, 13, or 14 at the oldest. We’ve broken all but 2 records in the 3 years I’ve been here. Sounds like I’m doing a good job…
HOWEVER, every time I try to talk to a high school coach or apply for a high school position they look at me like I don’t know what I’m talking about. Like my results are tainted because I’m coaching middle school kids? I thought dropping down to middle school wouldn’t be a life sentence. What do I need to do to prove that I know what I’m talking about? Our high school coach has 2 spots open on this year’s coaching staff. He’s filling one… and just not filling the other. How does that make sense?
I’m available. I want to do it. I don’t need to be head coach. I just want to work at the next level, and maybe some day move on to a small college and coach. However, with coaches looking down on you because you coach at the middle school level, its hard.
I thought the stop watch was an equalizer. Is 27 for a 200m not fast… for a 13 year old girl? How about teaching a 5’4″ 13 year old girl to 3 step 100H in 15.8? 2:32 800m for a 12 year old? Having four 7th grade girls running 65′s in the 400m on the same team? Obviously there are better times out there, but I’m sure there are a ton of coaches that would love to have times like those for their high school kids. Apparently just no coaches that want me to help their kids do that. But then again, I’m a middle school coach, what do I know?
If I’ve learned anything from reading your posts, watching your videos, and reading other’s posts on here and athlete’s acceleration its this: Just keep doing your thing.
I’ve bought into your program. It works.
Keep it up!
Latif,
Great article – the strength & conditioning business is just that – a business. The market will decide your validity as a coach but if you don’t constantly let people know you exist your knowledge doesn’t matter. Coaching, like any other business, starts with marketing and then service fulfillment – it takes a lot of time and energy on the former to even start on the latter. It’s not easy but who said it should be?
Greg Schnackenberg
Could you get to work on secondment, come to Jamaica or better yet could i send you some of our athletes? 15-=16 years old. running mid 12s females and 10 high boys or 53s in 400 0r 57-1:0.3 females. But I would like you to com work here for a year say T arrant High in Half-way-tree. If these coaches just recruit, you would beat them because you will be making sprinters. We got some 12 year old coming to our grade 7 with heel running arms swinging across their chests, and running 14 odd on 100m. We converted then to 12 or 13 sec times. 5m in the long jump. Them those same coaches in high school who didn’t look at them in the Primary Champs would go to their parents homes bearing gifts to have the before they graduate at grade 9. Many are now complaining that there are no individual attention and correction. They have to run for their spot and a lot of wasted talents; since only 2 per event and 4 in relays so 5th and you rub the bench. Doing a lot of repetitions doesn’t make you an excellent coach.
Latif,
-still open to learning and doing things to get my Divas better.I am a high school girls assistant coach(short sprints,jumps, relays) at a large affluent suburban school district in Missouri.The ladies arent Divas in the true sense of the word,its just what I called them as a confidence booster. Your comments and videos are straight forward and hit home,continuing to give me hope and inspiration to fight the good fight.Its almost like you have a window into my world in St Louis.As my pastor says-”you know you are doing a good job and getting closer to your goal cause the enemy starts to get real busy to try and stop you” Keep up the good work
While I have not subscribed to Complete Speed Training,I pay close attention to what you have to say and how you go about doing things. I have been a coach for 22 years, mostly at the age group level. When I had my own team I had five National USATF qualifiers(long jump,shot put,discus,javelin) When I started coaching high school track 13 years ago I had changed my style to accomodate working with the “carbon life forms” at the schools I have worked(“How to Fix Bad Coaches”). I like to think of myself as a New Breed Coach-you can teach and old dog new tricks,I’m 50 and holding
As a coach and blogger, I find the easy part is designing training programs. The hard part is trying to adjust volumes and recoveries. Everyone is different. I believe any coach can make a high school runner better, as long as you don’t “screw them up” (quote taken from a Latif podcast).
But the hardest part is the soft skills required to coach. And trying to get the kids to become “street smart”. How many kids forget to bring money for lunch? Or worse, forgetting your spikes? This even happened to Christophe Lemaitre in Rome DL. His manager had to run around town looking for spikes. At the end they were buried in his track bag.
Those are the incidents that make me furious. Not whether they should do 6x30m or 4x40m.
Latif;
Experienced coach but relatively new track coach who has had some great success in Florida H.S. track…..I purchased your material, read your email posts and follow what you do!!!! It has helped me clarify the parts of my work outs that are most important, put together a plan that is more manageable and help my kids pay attention to their improvements!!!! Who cares what the so called, self promoting experts say……keep it coming!!!
jv
Jimson Lee: I couldn’t agree more. Just yesterday, at a major Invitational, I had to address one of my best athletes and a school record holder who had toast for breakfast. For a snack, she brough pretzels. Then, after the meet, I come across some pictures of one of my best jumpers funneling a beer or 6. Forget about 6×30 or 4×40, those decisions are not what what will make or break our programs.
Frank Bacon: Much appreciated.
Latif,
Your analysis is spot-on.
“piles of dirt” = PRICELESS.
Made me laugh out loud!
I’ve learned valuable insights from free resources your blog, as well as from paid products like books by Coach Johnny Bigtime.
Whether it’s a 7 who markets like crazy (you) or a 10 who doesn’t (Vern Gambetta), this “5″ will continue to seek out knowledge from any teacher who can help me see things in a new way.
I hope others will do the same and realize that, as coaches, we have little to gain from criticism of others and much to gain from finding ways to help our athletes.
Keep up the good work!
Regards,
Eric Starkweather
USATF-1, YSAS-1
St. Petersburg, FL
If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them to become better than they are.