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Coaches

Three coaches, and no rotating cast behind them

Ruth, Tom and Sadie opened Gain United together in 2017 and all three are still on the floor. If you join, you will be coached by these three people and nobody else, which is the main reason the membership is capped.

Illustrated portrait of Ruth Adeyemi

RA

On the timetable as RA

Ruth Adeyemi

Foundations and over fifties strength

Ruth spent eleven years teaching secondary school science before she started coaching, and it shows in how she runs a room. Everything gets explained once properly, then practised until it is boring, then loaded.

She takes most of the beginner courses because she is the most patient of the three of us with an empty bar, and she runs the daytime over fifties sessions because that is the group she cares most about getting right.

Her view is that the first six weeks of anyone's training decide the next six years, so they are worth slowing down for.

Qualifications

  • A recognised strength and conditioning coaching qualification, kept current
  • Further study in coaching older adults and in training around long term health conditions
  • First aid trained and re-certified every three years

Coaches: Foundations  ·  Over fifties strength  ·  Small group strength

Illustrated portrait of Tom Whitcombe

TW

On the timetable as TW

Tom Whitcombe

Small group strength and return to training

Tom was a plasterer for fifteen years and came to lifting through a back that had stopped cooperating. Getting it working again took him two years and taught him most of what he now knows about patience.

He runs the early morning sessions and takes most of the return to training work. If you arrive nervous about an old injury, you will probably end up with Tom for the first month.

He is the one who will tell you to take ten kilos off the bar, and he is usually right.

Qualifications

  • A recognised strength and conditioning coaching qualification, kept current
  • Additional study in coaching people back from injury, alongside ongoing work with local physiotherapists
  • First aid trained and re-certified every three years

Coaches: Small group strength  ·  Return to training  ·  One to one coaching

Illustrated portrait of Sadie Larkin

SL

On the timetable as SL

Sadie Larkin

Small group strength and one to one coaching

Sadie competed in weightlifting for six years, stopped when it stopped being fun, and found she liked coaching considerably more than competing. She writes most of the programmes that go into the log.

She takes the lunchtime and late sessions and does the majority of the one to one work. If something in a lift is not clicking, she is the one who will find the cue that makes it land.

She keeps a notebook of every member's sticking points and she remembers yours, which is either reassuring or unnerving depending on the week.

Qualifications

  • A recognised strength and conditioning coaching qualification, kept current
  • Six years of competitive weightlifting experience at club and regional level
  • First aid trained and re-certified every three years

Coaches: Small group strength  ·  One to one coaching  ·  Foundations

How we coach

The things all three of us agree on

  • Explain why. A member who understands their own training does not need us forever, and that is the aim.
  • Watch the lift, not the clock. If something needs ten minutes of attention it gets ten minutes.
  • Load slowly enough to be boring. Almost every injury we have seen came from a jump somebody was impatient about.
  • Write everything down. Memory is a poor witness and the log settles arguments in four seconds.
  • Say when something is not for you. We have sent people to other gyms and we would do it again.
  • Never shout. Nobody has ever squatted better because a stranger was loud at them.
A coach with a notebook watching one lifter train

What we are not

We are coaches, not clinicians. We do not diagnose injuries, we do not treat them, and we do not give medical or dietary advice dressed up as something else. If you are under a physiotherapist or a doctor, we will work to what they have told you, and we are happy to speak to them directly.

We also do not sell food, powder or plans, and we have no arrangement with anybody who does. It keeps what we write about eating considerably shorter.

Where to next

More about the place

Come and meet usA free joining session, in a quiet hour, with no obligation. Read what we writeEight guides, going back to the year we opened. See who takes whatCoach initials against every session in the week.