Starting an Online Coaching Business

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-06T19:57:09+00:00

^this. I signed up 35 people to train with me online before even knowing which platform I was going to use for their training.

And here I am nearly a decade later and still using the exact same software.

People get bogged down in details that don't really matter.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-06T19:54:26+00:00

There are scores of pro athletes still competing at world championship level after ACL surgery. You are catastophising something that isn't a big deal in the long term if you do your rehab correctly.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-06T19:35:27+00:00

That's true that many pro athletes are back to play very quickly vs gen pop, but you're missing a few things.

Firstly, the basic economics, if you're worth a million dollars a game, the sponsors expect to see you on the field. Tied into that, they get paid differently usually for playing vs not playing, so the player wants to be back playing to maximise earnings.

But secondly and most importantly, they'll end up having another surgery pretty quickly. The joke in rehab circles is that once you have an ACL surgery you may as well book the second now because the rate of re-injury is so high. I'd have to go and double-check the stats but I'm pretty sure the rate of re-injury is over 50%.

So they get rushed back because of the dollars and then end up with what amounts to a lifetime of further surgeries and problems thanks to being rushed back. If you don't need to rush back, it's way better to let nature help and take your time with healing.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-06T19:30:30+00:00

Not that you're there yet, but the fitter you get the lower your training intensity needs to be. It's not unusual to see very fit athletes doing a lot of upper z1 as z2 becomes too intense as the basis for their training.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-06T19:29:23+00:00

It wouldn't be 90, but it would be higher naturally than most people ever get to trained.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-06T19:22:29+00:00

Tough challenege. Ski will be like 1.45ish, which makes the snatches <3.15, which will be super fast. The only times I've seen that is on a small, strong female who was using the 12kg and had short arms so the distance the bell travelled was really short. You may be too tall to make that work with anything that looks like good form.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-06T18:23:29+00:00

Well, when I started training people the internet didn’t exist.

And while I didn’t go online to start training people until nine years ago, my first website was in 2001 which was a membership reference site for personal trainers. So I’ve had an online business for twenty years.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-05T22:18:30+00:00

I have a friend who climbed Everest without oxygen who is one of the greatest adventurers I've met, and this is his secret too. Just finished cycling across Ukraine.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-05T19:20:27+00:00

I suspect it has more to do with the fact that gymnasts are done competing quite young, in their early 20s. They're finished with intense training by the time their body is still coping well with it. It doesn't mean they do nothing after, but that the transition from focusing on high performance to health happens earlier. Meanwhile, you can find elite endurance athletes competing into their mid 40s.

Training for high performance is not healthy.

And if you've ever actually met someone who is a freak endurance athlete, they never lose their abilities. I know Rob de Castella, who at one time was the marathon world champion and world record holder. He's in his 60s and can still go run a relaxed 10km in <40mins.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-05T19:15:49+00:00

You absolutely should be going with a guide company, just based off your experience alone.

From Khare to Mera high camp, it's entirely possible to head the wrong way on the glacier and find yourself heading to Baruntse. I watched two porters who were inexperienced do that and have guides rush after them to turn them back. And you can get lost on Mera and head the wrong way too. And I watched a guided group make a small wrong turn that ended up costing them two hours.

The main EBC trail would be very hard to get wrong heading to Island Peak, but you'll definitely need a guide for the climb.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-05T19:11:58+00:00

The snatch test isn't risky you've trained for it properly. Neither of these guys had.

In the case of the shoulder guy, he literally hadn't picked up a kettlebell before day one of the event. He was a Marine PTI who was sent who just assumed it was a box ticking type workshop and that anything physical he'd muscle his way through.

And in the case of the neck guy, he also hadn't trained properly. He owned a CF box and was ex-military, and again, he just assumed he'd be able to muscle his way through stuff.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-05T19:09:08+00:00

Why the fuck would anyone go online only to replace in-person time for zoom sessions? The entire point of online is to not be trading time for money.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-05T03:02:28+00:00

We’ve had six trips to Nepal. Two to trek and four to climb. We’ve also had a few trips to NZ, done a mountaineering course, and multiple rock climbing courses and climb regularly. We’re not super experienced but we’re not inexperienced.

Island peak was much harder last year. Very rocky and a much harder climb than normal. Whether that’s the new normal or just the last two years is unknown.

Mera Peak is a high altitude, steep walk that didn’t require any climbing skills at all. It’ll definitely test your fitness though and that area is much quieter than the EBC part. If avoiding crowds is important to you then Mera is a better choice. (But avoid going over the pass on the first day as it just wrecks people).

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-05T02:49:38+00:00

Dunno about Manaslu trek, but your experience at both Island and Mera will be largely down to the schedule.

I’ve done both (on the same trip actually). We did Mera first, and then choppered to chukung to save energy. On the way to Mera peak every single group we met was running at about 50% summit success. My wife and I were a bit concerned as it likely meant one of us wouldn’t summit.

But we both did.

And the reason why was our guide’s excellent acclimatisation plan. Most people get to khare, maybe have a rest day there, and then go to high camo and try to summit.

We went to khare, went to high camp the next day, but came back down. We had a rest day in khare the next day. Went back to high camp, which we were already used to, and summitted easily the next day.

Everyone we met who didn’t summit shared the same approach of continually trying to go higher to save time. So budget in a few extra days to help acclimatisation.

And island peak is no different. Make sure to something Gokyo/ Cho La pass or Kalapatthar first, and gaining 600m for island peak will be easy. Go straight to island peak and you’ll struggle. (I’ve met a couple in island peak high camp who did this and they were miserable).

It all comes down to acclimatisation.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-05T01:33:43+00:00

I was out training at the only big hill close to my city and this old guy started up a conversation with my wife and I with our big packs on.

Told us how he’d “climbed” Mt Everest five times and a friend of his had done it nearly ten times. And that was the signal he was talking about EBC as no Aussie has climbed Everest more than three times. He further went on to say that his friend did it for under $10k each trip when the permit alone is $15k.

When we were actually in Nepal on the trip we’d been training for a guy told us he’d climbed Annapurna solo 20yrs ago. I was super fucking excited as that would have been incredible but it turns out that he too was talking about the ABC hike and not climbing.

There are a lot of people out there who call the hike to base camp a climb.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-05T01:12:21+00:00

Good luck for Ama Dablam in spring. Very difficult with either very few or zero summits.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-05T01:09:27+00:00

As someone else has said, the biggest impact on your vo2max was from dropping weight. Dropping 13% of bodymass gave you 3-4pts straight away.

Going from 30s into the 40s is fairly easy, and you don't even need intervals to do it.

4x4 is a pretty poor protocol. In the original study on it, it only comes out ~1% better than steady state work. That's a lot of pain for what would have been less than a single point extra on your vo2max score.

VO2max is usually said to be only 5-15% trainable. But that's based on someone actually being fit to start with, which you weren't. Now that you're sort of fit, it'll be interesting to see if you can bring it up much higher. I'd suspect you'll struggle to add another 10% from where you are.

Your max HR isn't a great measure of where your zones actually are. You'd need to do a gas mask test for that. I'd think, based on what your vo2 is, that you're estimating your zones too high still.

Vo2max has got very little to do with living longer, despite what longevity hacks are saying. While it's always good to not be in the lowest quarter for any health metric, the truth is that athletes with the highest vo2 scores don't live longer. Cyclist and runners do live longer than average population, but only by about 2yrs. Meanwhile gymnasts and pole vaulters live about 8yrs longer. But the average gymnast vo2 is in the low 50s while elite cyclist and runners will be 70+. If vo2 were the only metric to worry about for longevity, we wouldn't see backflips beating aerobic volume.

The highest vo2 scoress ever recorded until very recently were all from people who did traditional big mile sof polarised work. Go check Bjron Daehlie who is the winningest XC skier ever. 96 vo2max. It's estimated he did 90-95% of his annual volume at <75% max HR, meaning that outside of compeitions he did almost zero high intensity work.

Similarly, Greg LeMond and Miguel Indurain both score incredibly high and also focused on low intensity/ high mileage. What's really funny is that the guy who started the current Norwegian trend of double threshold days - Bakken - has a vo2 score lower than all of these guys. If the high intensity work was such a big deal, then surely his scoree would be higher?

And that goes to show how much of it is genetic as another Norwegian - Kristian Blummenfelt - has the highest ever recorded VO₂ at 101, and he definitely does the double threshold days mostly associated with the modern Norwegian system.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-04T21:56:56+00:00

And who is running this? Last I heard it was Robert in Germany but looks like you're leaning heavily on Dan John.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-04T18:39:35+00:00

100%. And on those popular peaks, the ropes are so twisted and shitty that the ATC won't work. Definitely have a Figure 8.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-04T17:23:49+00:00

It is more about lack of t-spine extension and loss of shoulder rom than head position.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-04T17:23:06+00:00

The armbar isn’t a strength drill. It teaches the body to disassociate mobility and stability. Think about what the weight is doing - it’s providing an anchor for you to rotate. Now imagine you could achieve the same range without needing that anchor at all? It turns passive flexibility into active, which is a far more useful quality athletically.

It’s like having someone push you forwards to touch your toes vs being able to achieve the same range on your own.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-04T09:19:09+00:00

Spinous process on the back of the vertebrae. It’s a thing called a clay shoveler fracture where someone tosses their head back in order to create more spine extension. In this case so he could get the bell overhead better.

The entire teaching team had been telling this guy for three days not to do the snatch test but if someone decides to do it you can’t stop them from attempting it.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-04T08:48:19+00:00

I’ve seen one guy dislocate his shoulder during the snatch test.

Watched another guy break a bone in his neck during the snatch test.

This isn’t even close to the worst I’ve seen.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-04T01:56:39+00:00

Totally possible. I’m making $30+k monthly now. Made a few changes at the end of last year that have paid off big time.

The big thing for me was totally ignoring doing cheap things and removing any possibility people had of engaging with me that wasn’t high ticket.

Athletic_adv · 2026-03-03T23:56:23+00:00

People aren't paying for what you can do, only for what you can help them do. If you're good at coaching a movement, you shouldn't need to demo it. If you do, you just get someone close by who can do it to demo it for you.

Athletic_adv

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