Conscious Coaching: The Art and Science of Building Buy-In Kindle Edition

We've all read plenty of books on coaching, S&C and sports science... The theory heavy manuals that have without doubt done the industry a great service and are always great to dip back into as a frame of reference. Conscious Coaching by Brett Bartholomew however offers something different. Never before has the art of managing personalities and dealing with these in a practical setting been so prominent. This is were Conscious Coaching excels.Everyone will have encountered many different players/athletes during their coaching or teaching career, all with differing personality traits. Being able to identify and relate to these athletes is essential for building what is now commonly referred to as 'buy-in'. You can design the greatest program in the world but if your ability to build quality relationships is lacking than the program becomes flawed. Coaching Coaching categorises certain athlete personality types, and through real world examples (given by multiple guest speakers throughout the book) describes how best to approach these athletes in order to achieve an end goal. Throughout the book Brett Bartholomew guides you to look at the person behind the athlete, why do they do what they do and what makes them tick as a human being. This is preceded by Brett giving you his own personal history and background which I found fascinating. Even after all of Brett's achievements within the industry you really get the sense that he started at the bottom just like the rest of us.I can't praise this book highly enough, I enjoyed every single page and I have no doubt that it will go down as one of the 'go-to' texts in S&C, sports science and throughout the coaching industry.

Hits some home truths and i promise you will read this book and have at least 5 things you can go an improve on! I challenge anyone to read this and not learn anything

Conscious Coaching, is a must read for coaches regardless of the space they operate in. The book is full of actionable advice from someone that has been through the process and learned from the mistakes of not engaging with athletes to develop buy-in, on a genuine level. Brett's passion for elevating coaching practice is evident in the detail provided and the through the network of professionals that have contributed their experiences to the archetypes section of the book.On a personal level, the content help me to reflect on my coaching practice and identify areas were i haven't created buy-in, and develop a plan to improve these area based on the topics covered in Conscious Coaching and via the further reading.If you are a young or experienced coach this is well worth a read, if you mentor coaches I would recommend getting those you mentor to invest in this book, it's led to a heap of reflective conversations. Brett also has a tonne of additional free resources, that expand on the subject covered in the book. Enjoy

For all the fanfare and standout recommendations that carried this book, for me it was a painful slog; it felt poorly written and almost unedited. Filled with strange italicized inserts and interjections from the author (whose book were we reading meanwhile?).Half regurgitated behavioral science and psychology didn't help me along either, all respect to Brett and his journey but I felt stung by this one.

Excellent book! The concepts and strategies mentioned in this book should be in every exercise science degree. Unfortunately, they are not neither at the bachelor's nor master's level. Highly recommended for every aspiring or not Strength and Conditioning Coach out there. I realized the value of those concepts from my first internship; that's why I searched and found this book, and it delivered even more than I was expecting!