TRY ATHLETE OR CLIENT "AUTONOMY" FOR POTENTIALLY BETTER RESULTS
Updated: 5 days ago
Caleb wood played for Penn University for two full seasons and went from being an average D1 player to a standout contributor in his team's quest for an eventual Ivy League Championship! See his game clinching 3 pointer here. Caleb was a huge fan of exercise autonomy after he trained with me a few years, and it made a world of difference in both his motivation levels and performance measures.
Autonomy is a fairly unknown term in the training industry that refers to the ability of the athlete to practice some freedom when it comes to their exercise selection. It must be used at a coaches discretion and mainly applies to specific individuals who are very familiar with the intended training system or program, to help prevent stagnancy and potential boredom, and provide some preference for what they have found that they love to do most. Not to sound like a broken record here, but I really want to re-emphasize you need to be a veteran level athlete or client to earn autonomy from both a theoretical perspective and results standpoint. This ensures the client is reliable, disciplined, highly coachable, team-minded, and able to comply with supportive and constructive authority.
Moreover, it's best used for higher level athletes who you can trust to call the shots that have proven themselves in the weight room and carry plenty of discipline, compliance, and have earned the chance for more Autonomy. Newer athletes are still learning the ropes so a coach calling the shots who created or understands exactly what is expected in the program is a much more efficient approach. Exceptions would be occasional requests for a favorable exercise or training method which could be viewed as a potential reward, or if injury and poorer performance outcomes necessitate a quick adjustment to their exercise prescription.
In a study from Wanwan 2025, there was quite a bit of conflicting research across several cultures that indicated a mix of results when it comes to autonomy in the coaching of high school level athletes. 1 The issue of control is another one that is very personality based I've noticed in coaching over the years, so if you have someone that is just strong willed and stubborn and markedly does better with what they enjoy, then you might want to reconsider letting them have their way, at least for a little while. There is nothing wrong with this and I've had great success with compromising on exercise selection, especially in veteran or advanced athletes or clients. There are a lot of strategies you can use here as well. You can agree to rotate each of your choices, or modify the focus in some way to find a solution. Exercise rotation is very effective according to world class coach Louie Simmons over at Westside Barbell, as it prevents pattern overload and overuse injuries at ultra-high weekly intensities. The reality is that Autonomy could delay results slightly if you are sacrificing a very valuable technique (i.e. Hex Bar Deadlifts), or speed them up if it enables the athlete or client to lift much more aggressively and with better intent, it just depends in this case.
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