Twenty Coaching Lessons That Make Athletes Better

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After 24 years of coaching all types of sports, with cycling and mountain biking as my forte, there's a handful of lessons I wish every athlete learned sooner, myself included.
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Why?
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Because they are fundamental to the success in any athlete's life.
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I'm Adam Pulford, Head Coach of Cycling at CTS, an endurance coaching group with coaches all over the world.
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Today I'm going to share these lessons with you as quickly and concisely as I can.
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No fancy charts, no colorful graphs, no rabbit holes to chase down, just some good old-fashioned coach talk.
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I'll try to get 24 years of coaching done in 12 minutes.
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Let's go.
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Number one, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
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You can get information everywhere these days.
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There's a ton of smart coaches, there's AI, and accessible resources, but the coaches who care about the athlete's journey, turning their failures into success, will be the ones who last.
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Why?
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Because an athlete's journey is nonlinear.
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It's a damn roller coaster.
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Empathy and human connection still matter, and they're some of the best tools when navigating the ups and downs of life.
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Number two, doing what it takes to get fit is not the same thing as what it takes to stay fit.
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This is something almost all athletes get wrong and they need to be reminded of.
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Less is more once you build your fitness.
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Once you put in a ton of work in that base and build phase of training, driving fitness up, you can maintain that level of fitness or even build on it with strategically timed intensity, long rides, and doing less overall.
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And that's just smart training.
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Number three, fitness is not performance.
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You can train the house down, but can you go fast?
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Can you make the podium?
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Do you have the skills on the bike to use all of that fitness?
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If you don't, you won't perform well, you won't win much, and you won't reach your full potential.
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Number four, there's no such thing as too much base, but you can probably have too much build.
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Base is your aerobic foundation, not only in the current year, but in all the years you've been training.
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Having a deeper, wider base of aerobic fitness is never a bad thing, but too much high intensity leading up to an a priority race could leave you tired, burnt out, or just not motivated to ride your bike.
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In other words, you can never have too much hay in the barn, but be careful not to light it on fire.
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Number five, overtraining doesn't exist.
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Under recovery certainly does, and underperformance is the red flag.
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The training is typically not the problem.
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It's everything else in life.
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In particular, lack of recovery.
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For most athletes, this is lack of sleep, not taking enough easy days, trying to do too much intensity in a week, and having too much life stuff going on to hit the training that they think they can and should do.
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Think about it.
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If you didn't have a job, no kids, nothing else to do in life other than train, you could do more training, right?
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Right.
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And if you have better genetics, you could probably do even more training.
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So if you think the quantity of the training is the problem, where do you draw the line?
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20 hours, 30 hours, 40?
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You see, time and quantity is not what to focus on.
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Instead, think of it like this how much recovery do you need for the training you can actually do and then still adapt from it?
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Plan your training like this, and you won't overdo it.
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Number six, strength training is an effective modality to improve endurance cycling performance.
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This may sound antiquated now, but not too long ago, many endurance coaches and athletes did not think strength training had much benefit to endurance sport.
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Now, with better research, testing, and open-mindedness, we know better.
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Isn't that lovely?
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It's not that you can spend all your time in the gym and then become a legendary cyclist, but with two to three times per week in the gym year-round with good periodized planning, you can increase strength, power, durability, and decrease the chances of injury, not to mention improve longevity in the sport and in life.
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Number seven, you're not only as good as your last race.
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Many athletes think it's all over after a bad race.
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It's not.
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It's just one day in your life.
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Another lesson learned, another experience to make you better.
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You're more than just one race.
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And that goes for the good ones and the bad ones.
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Number eight, no matter how good you were today, there's always somebody better.
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Along with my last point, when you win, that's wonderful.
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Just know that there's plenty of other fast people that could have won as well.
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They just weren't there today.
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Number nine, winning is special, so celebrate it.
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Losing is common, but it teaches us lessons.
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Either way, spend 24 hours celebrating or analyzing both when they happen, then move on.
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You want to remember your wins, but you want to remember your losses too, so learn from them.
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Just don't dwell on either situation.
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A good athlete moves on and improves after each race.
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Number 10, train your mind as much as you train your body.
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This is more important than you realize, and it takes on many shapes and forms.
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In some way, you're always training your mind with thoughts.
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Learn to shape your thoughts into good thoughts for good training.
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Read good books that teach you about life, not just sports.
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Spend time meditating, breathing, and being still.
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This is hard to do as an athlete, but it's powerful practice.
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Check out the links below and a few good book recommendations and other resources for more on this.
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Number 11.
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Descending and technical skills are no longer optional.
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They are part of being a great cyclist.
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Whether you're racing the Tour de France or doing a group ride, working on your handling skills is important not only for you, but for those you ride with.
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Going uphill is fast, but so is going downhill.
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And if you don't think like that, it's probably because you're not good at it or you have anxiety about it.
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Get with a good coach, a mentor, or a friend to teach you better descending and cornering, and you'll not only get rid of your fears, but you'll have a lot more fun doing it as well.
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Plus, you'll increase your confidence and skill so that you're safer in every condition that comes your way.
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Number 12.
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Training and racing are actually opposites.
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To be reductionistic, racing is doing as little as it takes to win, whereas training is doing as much as you can do to get tired while still being able to adapt.
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Number 13, the quality of the training is determined by the execution of the athlete relative to the plan of the coach.
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In other words, high quality training is both planning and doing, not just a few good intervals, and certainly not just high intensity training.
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Number 14, following a good plan most of the time is better than trying to perfectly follow the perfect plan.
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Nobody is perfect, and neither are you.
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There is no perfect plan, there is no perfect training, and there is no perfect workout.
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Good plans and good execution over time bring great results.
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Don't overthink it and don't try to be perfect.
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It doesn't exist.
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Number 15, most people overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a year.
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This means we think and stress about getting so many things done today, focused on the small details that don't really matter compared to the big goals that we have in life.
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Proper long-term planning helps us stay focused on the big picture, achieving big things in life by doing fewer things done well today.
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Number 16, everyone is adaptable at any age.
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From grade schooler to the nursing home, human bodies can adapt to skills and training at any age.
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It's never too late to start training and being healthy.
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You're never too young to play sports.
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The level of intensity and focus changes throughout life, that's for sure.
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But even the 100-year-olds are making progress in their FTP these days.
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Number 17, true development takes time.
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Big lasting change takes intentional effort.
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Be patient.
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Don't rush, because if you build it right, it will last.
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Number 18, moving meditation is more beneficial than we actually realize.
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Endurance training is monotonous, and this is fine, because we have to do the work, and sometimes that work is not glamorous.
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Anyone with a job knows this well.
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Let your legs go on autopilot and let your mind wander.
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Find flow, find joy in your mind while doing the work on the bike.
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I once had an athlete tell me that he could solve all of life's problems in one four-hour ride.
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The tricky part was writing it all down.
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Number 19, we can talk ourselves into and out of almost anything.
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Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're probably right.
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Self-talk is powerful.
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So work on making yours at least neutral, if not positive, but always realistic.
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Finally, number 20.
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Know your why.
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Remind yourself why you do what you do in sport and in life.
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Why you train, why you compete, and why you make the sacrifices that you do.
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Because when the going gets gnarly and shit hits the fan, you'll have to answer your why.
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Otherwise, you'll quit.
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The sport is not easy.
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It is a lifestyle and it's all-encompassing.
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Establishing why you do it and remind yourself of that often.
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And this will keep you motivated and it'll keep you having fun for years to come.
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That's it for today.
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I hope you liked it.
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A summation of 24 hours of coaching and well, almost 12 minutes.
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I ripped through all of that pretty quickly, so it might be worthwhile going back through and hearing it again.
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Spend some time thinking on how these concepts apply to what you're currently doing with success, or could be doing better in order to help you navigate your athletic journey.
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And please feel free to pass this video on to a friend that would want to hear it as well.
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This isn't the typical video I do here on this channel, but I thought I would change it up with a few life lessons and thoughts that can still help steer your training in the right direction.
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Let me know if you liked it, and we'll see you back here for the next one soon.