An Online Coach - Is it Worth It?

An Online Coach - Is it Worth It?

There are a lot of triathletes out there who are part of a club, have friends and family or even a group of like minded people to train with, but what if there are no local triathlon clubs, no support from friends or any local groups of people that you can train with. Is it worth considering getting an online specialised coach…?



In this post we will discuss the benefits of having an online coach and how you look for a specific coach to you. We will also talk with the Airofin Athletic Team Coach Jorge Trigueros (http://www.jtsportpersonaltrainer.com/2017/01/pilares-basicos-de-mi-metodo-de-entrenamiento/#more-177) on how he works, as well as the benefits he feels he can bring to an athlete on improving performance and results.

First of all let me introduce Jorge Trigueros a Spanish Triathlete and Personal trainer who is a coach to many high level athletes in the sport of triathlon, cycling and running. Jorge holds a degree in Sport Science, and combines his studies and experience to provide the best possible training programmes to his athletes. After finishing his Sports Science degree in University, he continued to improve on his knowledge and kept up to date with all the latest training techniques and information to be able to provide high quality and current programming. As well as this he reads regular articles in scientific literature, attends seminars and everything else related to training and development.

He has summarised his training and coaching in five points which highlight how his online training programming is tailored for his clients to help us fully understand what should be expected in an online training coach.

Individualisation: Jorge creates a training plan designed around his client based on their sport or physical activity, working the programme around their job schedules and daily lives. He also tailors the programming based around their goals and what they are looking to achieve in their sport.

Load control: The plans he creates comes with subjective scales that have to be filled in so he can understand everything about the athlete he is coaching. The plans and programmes that he writes up will be the most appropriate possible for your training goals and objectives. If you are a cyclist or triathlete and had a power meter he would ask for your training data so he would be able to analyse and use this information as part of his plan.

Polarised Training: Jorge will divide the different intensities into zones, identifying your competition zone. Avoiding this competition zone (specially between first and second threshold) and training above and under it has been proven as an effective way to improve performance, even as an amateur. This is called polarised training. Jorge will decide if polarised training is adequate to the athletes situation.

Feedback and daily contact - Jorge offers daily or frequent contact. If you are unable to train one day and miss a session, all you have to do is let him know and he will edit the training for the following days. He enjoys talking with his athletes and getting to know more about their strengths, weaknesses, short term and long term goals. He doesn’t just give you a programme, he sticks with you every step of the way and is contactable all the time.

Strength and Technique:  He will also provide you with another document with a number of running, swimming and strength exercises you can carry out. You will also have access to descriptive videos from his YouTube channel or from other channels that are relevant to your training. Strength along with the correct technique and form are compulsory if you want to stay injury free and improve your performance so he ensures you have all of the information possible to carry out these correctly.

These are all the things that you can expect from a specific sports related coach. When you are looking for an online coach make sure you understand their training policies and how they work. Find out their background and understand all the benefits that you will receive from engaging in this relationship. If possible speak to people who have trained with that coach previously and make sure you have a good connection with them as you will be working with them closely.

As well as all of these points above, there are a number of other benefits of having a coach.

Health and injury prevention: A well planned program will have a quantified training load allowing the coach to know the accurate amount of training that you are doing, thus being able to control the progression, increase and decrease the load depending on the athletes needs. This is crucial because very high load and sudden increases can lead to injury or illness. When talking about overtraining, polarised training is usually more effective to avoid injury than other training methods. The coach will also tell you what type of events and competition is better suited for you, especially with long endurance events like Ironman Triathlons and long bike courses. Sometimes the athlete is not well trained enough for it and it's the duty of the coach to advise the type of events they would be better competing in.

Performance: Sports Science is complex and is forever changing. A coach will have the knowledge and experience to lead you to your best personal performance. The capacity of selecting the appropriate load, understanding the athletes needs, and the knowledge of the sport can be reached by a specific coaching professional. If you want to get to your best results it can be very difficult to do it alone.

Motivation: Having someone behind you supporting you every step of the way, working with you to achieve your goals, keeping a track of your training will keep you focussed and motivated. The coach will usually act as a close support towards your goals, even if it's an online service, they will provide as much help, support, knowledge and motivation as possible.

In summary, doing things by yourself can work sometimes but letting a professional advise you will generally lead you to achieving your goals and succeeding. As well as this you will be more likely to remain injury free and oriented to reaching your goals in the most efficient way possible.

If you are interested in speaking with Jorge - you can reach him on the following;

Email: jorge.10.93@hotmail.com
Website: http://www.jtsportpersonaltrainer.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gorjeox/

All of the Airofin Team will get a discount if they decide to engage with Jorge as their online coach.