06/17/2026
Now that I've had some time to reflect:
The last week and a half has been a complete whirlwind; coaching for four days at USAPL Nationals left me short on sleep and short on time, but I left Chicago feeling nothing but motivation!
As a team, we did excellent. My lifters were the highlight; they grinded through tough lifts, took any losses in stride, and rolled with the day's punches. They performed perfectly, and made the days incredibly easy.
Now, I'm a 39-year-old powerlifting coach, soon to be 40.
We're an endangered species.
I left warmup rooms surrounded by young and enthusiastic 22-year-old coaches, and my thoughts were, I need to get better at running a warmup room, I have to get faster and more efficient, and I need to improve my preparation.
Local meets are relaxed and I've dialed down my attention to detail over the years, so as to not stress out my lifters. But Nationals was an eye-opener, and I learned a lot from these young coaches.
My notes included...
..I need to be faster and more efficient in warmups. Beware of men's masters sessions, where there's a dearth of other coaches; you will have to HUSTLE, coach Kyle.
..I need to keep all possibilities in my brain. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, every scenario. In one critical moment I missed a jury request that could have dramatically improved a lifter's day. I had a time-out on a deadlift opener. In other sports, we called these "unforced errors."
..I need to clone myself. Seriously. Coaching non-stop. Barely time for remote check-ins. Cutting into sleep hours to get work done...mostly down to 4-6 hours per night. I'm too old to be so short on sleep.
..I was happy with our success rate, but it could have been better. We had a couple of bad peaks that should have been better. We chased on a couple of attempts that I should have conceded on and adjusted down. There are easy fixes here to get into a 8/9 average range. Sometimes the coach just needs to call better numbers.
Even at 39, I always feel like there's so much room to keep improving at this.
www.jointeamkeough.com
