Before the first training plan gets written, a coach and athlete need to sort out the ground rules. These aren’t about watts, splits, or race schedules. They’re about the foundation that determines whether the relationship will thrive or collapse under stress.
This week, I want to present a framework that I use as a vetting process when taking on a new athlete. It is an opportunity to pave the two-way street that fosters athletic success. If the athlete struggles to understand the basis from which the relationship will rest, it can often be difficult to reach lofty goals.
Let’s have a look at the five components—
1. Motivation
You will not always have unwavering motivation. It will wax and wane and this is what makes the process of achieving a lofty goal so rewarding. You have become a different person in the process; a person who does not need the circus to be in town every time you want to go out the door to train. It has become part of who are you are.
Motivation is a product of four ingredients:
Value – Do I believe this matters?
Belief – Do I trust the process will work?
Self-Efficacy – Do I believe I can do it, at least in small chunks?
Identity – Do I see myself as the kind of person who does this?
When all four are aligned, motivation is high. When even one cracks, motivation collapses. We have to nail down the answers to these questions in the initial conversations before embarking on the coach-athlete journey.
Can you see now why it is not necessarily a “thing” that gets you motivated but rather a system that automates, not forces, discipline?
2. Value
What am I getting from this?
That is an important question to ask if you are targeting an athletic or fitness goal. At its best, training adds more than it takes—better health, more confidence, deeper relationships.
Perhaps this is confidence because you achieved the time you were aiming for. Or maybe it runs deeper such as setting a positive example for your kids to follow.
A personal note on value—
I made my exit from competing in triathlon when I had clear objective data that the way I conducted myself in the sport was providing negative value. My data and health markers showed decline. My life balance was wrecked. The sport that once gave meaning was draining me. That forced me to ask: what is the actual value of this pursuit right now?
For the example above, I started to realize that the fix to the issue was to engage in activities that build me up instead of break me down. It is not that triathlon is bad for me, but the way I approached it was bad. Stepping away for a while has made me realize that the value is not in a specific sport, but rather finding enjoyment in a wide range of activities.
I have also started to realize that the most value I can provide is in the service of getting others to their goals.
Being a coach and physical therapist has provided me a more clear idea of the Value, Belief, Self-Efficacy, Identity model covered above than I was able to offer to myself when chasing personal athletic goals.
3. Costs
There is no free lunch when it comes to taking on a fitness and athletic goal. It is going to cost you effort, time, or emotional reserves, and sometimes money.
The athlete needs to understand this before starting to train or prepare for the goal. And when I say understand, it needs to be spelled out plainly by the coach and internalized by the athlete.
How exactly does it look like in daily life?
What costs are you willing to sustain?
Have no fear, there are ways to decrease the burden you feel from the costs. If all of your training is viewed as an inconvenience, you have already started to lose the battle. Remember, your livelihood does not depend on this. You have chosen to take on this challenge and you always have the option of stopping if the Costs are overwhelming or if the Value is not providing you anything worthwhile.
You also do not always need to grind harder.
You can:
Automate (make habits/environment do the heavy lifting)
Shrink (break goals into smaller, more achievable steps)
Sweeten (pair training with rewards, community, or fun)
It is a privilege to have the opportunity to take on these challenges. Sacrifices often need to be made to truly make the work happen.
4. State (and notes on discipline)
If we get the formula right for Motivation, Value, and Costs, you enter a State of being that enables consistency as protocol.
Sleep, nutrition, recovery, and supportive environments make discipline feel stronger, motivation easier, and costs lighter. Poor State does the opposite. Coaches and athletes must acknowledge that managing State is as important as any training session.
You can force your way through in the short term with discipline, but true discipline is built on a foundation of good State.
Forcing yourself to do something you know you should can be thought of as doing what you need to keep the lights on. It is the backup generator and hopefully that generator is not always getting kicked on. If it is, there are probably some other signs of poor State that you should pay attention to (ie: chronic stress, fatigue, clutter, toxic inputs).
5. External motivation
Signing up for a race because your friends did, or being motivated by social pressure can get you moving. These are great momentum builders, but they often do not last.
There will be days where you wake up and think “who the f*** cares what my friends want me to do?”
What happens then? If you are in a poor State, you start to crumble and lose your stride. If you are clear in how this process benefits you (Value) and also believe that you have become a person who embraces the lifestyle (Motivation: identity), then you may be able to overcome those days where the external forces seem to be working against you.
Closing thought
The coach–athlete partnership isn’t just about planning workouts. It’s about building a system where motivation, value, costs, discipline, and state are understood and managed. These are the ground rules. Get them right, and training is no longer a fragile balancing act or an inconvenience. It becomes a durable, rewarding pursuit.
Do you like the ideas from this article?
If so, you will also enjoy the A Lap Ahead e-book which is available by clicking the photo below!
Great piece! And particularly missing motivation is something I experienced very clearly in the past: I struggle to picture myself into the identity I was drawing overtime. I had to start over again. But man, how well do you feel when motivation boost you!