“Evidence-based coaching” has become a buzzword in the fitness industry. Flash a PubMed ID, drop “systematic review” into a caption, and suddenly you’re the authority. The problem is, that’s not how athletes actually get better. That’s how professionals win arguments.
And trust me, I’m not afraid to defend my perspective when someone tries to dismiss it. But here’s what I’ve learned: getting sucked into endless debates with people who just want to be the expert doesn’t serve my athletes. It drains energy that belongs to them.
For me, evidence-based coaching looks completely different. It’s not about scouring PubMed to cherry-pick a study that fits my bias. It’s about pulling from three kinds of evidence:
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Research evidence. I read the studies. I stay up to date. But I don’t pretend that a treadmill study on college-aged men defines what a menopausal marathoner needs. Research is a tool, not a hammer.
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Athlete evidence. Your body gives us feedback every day — from long run photos where overstriding shows up, to how your recovery feels after a workout, to whether your glutes are sore from strength work. That’s evidence, too. And it’s often more relevant than any abstract.
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Coach evidence. Years of coaching and running give me a library of lived experience to draw from. I’ve seen what works, what breaks down, and how to adapt for different athletes. That’s not bias. That’s pattern recognition.
When you blend those three, you get coaching that’s flexible, responsive, and athlete-centered. You don’t get cookie-cutter absolutes like “just run more” or “never change your form.” You get nuance. You get prevention. You get strategies that make your running sustainable.
And here’s the part too many people miss: being truly “evidence-based” requires humility. It requires a growth mindset. It requires us, as coaches, to keep learning, to stay curious, to practice critical thinking, and to engage in actual respectful dialogue — not just pretend to while attacking peers in DMs or stories.
Because at the end of the day, evidence isn’t just what makes it into a peer-reviewed journal. Evidence is what happens in your body, your training log, and your lived experience. Real coaching respects all of it — and uses it to help you run stronger, longer, and with less injury risk.
That’s evidence-based done right.