When I took up triathlon back in 2005, I ran infrequently, didn't own a bike, and could barely swim 50 meters without making lifeguards very nervous.  The fact that I needed coaching was painfully obvious.  

So I joined a club that had pro coaches and learned tons in very little time, particularly about swimming:  how to keep my body level, how to get the most out of every stroke, how to keep my head down and stretch out, making myself hydrodynamic.  I learned how to pace myself on the bike and how to achieve and maintain optimal running posture.  And what do you know, I finished my rookie season with a handful of decent finishes.     

I like to think, ah, I probably could have figured all that out myself without those meddling coaches.  What did I really learn from them anyway? 

But a recent New York Times piece argues that if you're serious about your sport (or, I would add, about getting in great shape) training with a coach has a clear edge over going it alone:

... training, if done right, is the ultimate performance enhancer, with effects that can dwarf those of illegal drugs, like the blood-boosting drug EPO, as well as legal stimulants like caffeine. Still, it seems, too few amateur athletes take it seriously and fewer still do it right. Exercise physiologists and coaches say most people who want to run, swim, cycle or row faster or improve in almost any sport do not appreciate what can be accomplished with training nor how to do it.

One of the keys to good coaching, the article points out, is finding the optimal balance between work and recovery.  Most people know that hard training is an important part of training, but for consistent improvement, a good coach needs to understand when to back off and let the athlete recover.  

In my quest to at least try every mainstream strength-and-conditioning program out there, I recently started doing Eric Cressey's MAXIMUM STRENGTH program.  I'd already been foam rolling pretty consistently and had lifted some of his warm-ups from the book, but had never actually gotten down to the program itself.  One unique feature is the emphasis on recovery and prehab drills within the workouts; movements that ensure the safety and integrity of the spine and the joints even as you bash away at them with big-ticket movements. 

Through most of my training life I've been a hard-work junkie with limited patience for a lot of these exercises, but nowadays with a back and shoulders that occasionally go wonky, and some postural issues I'm trying to resolve, I'm pretty well sold on their value, and Cressey's program puts it all together in a way that has kept things, at least for the first few weeks, surprisingly pain-free.  

The point?  At the same time that a coach knows you want to see improvement, a good coach will also want to keep you for life, so it's going to be in his interest to, as Mickey says to Rocky, "Keep you winning and keep you healthy."  So if you're in a rut--go find one.