If two people perform at the same level in a work function and one of them fits the archetype, the other is generally better at the actual work. This heuristic is called the surgeon paradox.
Similarly, if someone is the owner of the weightlifting gym and they run some of the intro-to-barbell classes while another coach runs the other classes, the non-owner coach is likely better. This fact comes form the question, “How did they get there?” If that question offers a reason they don’t have to be good at their job – nepotism, eg – then they’re the wrong person.
On Tuesday, I took part one of an intro-to-barbell class. We learned squat and overhead press. The instructor was a dedicated weightlifter named Christian who had been teaching for 10 years.
Today, I took part two of the class. The gym’s owner led this class, and he spent more time socializing than I would like. When we started 10 minutes late, he promised that he would push longer. Then, he ended 5 minutes early and pitched the gym: they offered open gym and classes, didn’t I know?
I first learned this heuristic when backpacking around Asia. Thailand offered (at that time) 90-minute massages for $6. The worst massages, I quickly learned, were given by attractive young women. The best massages came from older women or men, presumably because the clientele (overwhelmingly young men) would often choose the young women for reasons other than the massage quality. (I’m talking about normal thai massages: get your mind out of the gutter.)
Sometimes the owner is the most knowledgable or most helpful. They commonly have the most skin in the game (eg because the business is their reputation on the line). When incentives are aligned and you want to be sold something, they might be your best fit.
On the other hand, they probably invested time and attention in an area that’s not “be the best lifting coach”.
When I send Partner, I’ll send her to go on sequential Tuesdays so she doesn’t have to experience the owner. We already have a gym membership. We aren’t looking to fill out new membership forms; we just want someone to critique our lifting form.
