Why do other strength coaches care what someone else does with their programming? I’ve always wondered this. If you really think about it, someone doing something that you think is bad is a competitive advantage. It is actually in your best interest to not say anything.

It is perplexing to really care about what another strength coach does with their athletes. Really think about it. What does it matter? When we break down someone doing something we do not agree with, the best way to prove you are right is getting better results. Objectively, the person that gets better results over time is the one that is on the right side of things.

Go on twitter, or anywhere else that people interact, and see the barrage of strength coach arguments. It is such a futile discussion. Someone being critical of another strength coach’s program is more a reflection of that strength coach’s insecurity than trying to make someone more conscious of what they are doing. If there is a sliver of doubt about something you are doing and someone in the world disagrees with that, it creates defensiveness. The question if we post something and someone dislikes it or disagrees with it becomes what are we looking for? Are we looking for acceptance or self promotion?

Strength and conditioning is all about taking chances and trying new things. You do not want to use your athletes as guinea pigs, but you want to approach training with them as an opportunity to push performance. Avoiding risk based on what another strength coach might think of you is bad form. Having the courage to do what is necessary is important. We should not be discouraged by someone’s criticism when they have no actual impact or skin in the game.

But again, who really cares? If someone says my program is bad, honestly, it’s a good thing. I like to think I am in the right. For someone to be critical of something I am doing, in any capacity, is a good challenge. I hope they then decide to go in the opposite direction. It becomes a competitive advantage for me. The idea that someone cares enough to disagree with me on something I am doing despite all of my experience, education, and trial and error means they do not fully understand what my training program is based on.Therefore their opinion is invalid. For me to take offense to that would be illogical.

This is a dual critique. Does it really matter if you share what you are doing with the world? Is it benefiting anyone other than yourself? In part we share what we do because we want validation from others. We want recognition for what we are doing, and then to be met with opposition is difficult to handle. The idea of putting yourself out there is based on the general assumption that people will at least not care to disagree along with the hope they will think it’s good enough to like.

But on either side of the equation, does any of it really matter? Do you really care what I am doing? Do I really care what you think about what I am doing? At the end of the day it really is only a matter of what works. If people get good results from what I am doing, that is really the only point that matters. A strength coach’s preference on a certain exercise is irrelevant. A strength coach’s opinion on a certain method is limited to that coach’s situation. It’s not a universal thought.

Keep posting your stuff if you want to. People that criticize or judge you for something are likely doing so from the lens of their personal situation. It really does not make a difference what someone thinks other than your clients or athletes. Nor does it matter if you post at all. It’s entirely up to the person what they share, and how that gets interpreted is irrelevant. Social media is merely an illusion of the world we are actually living in. It’s like taking offense to or basing your worth off of your dreams.