Sean Tierney, The Man in the Iron Mask

Sean Tierney first approached me at the end of 2010 with a transformation proposal to which I declined. A lot of things were happening during 2010 and 2011. The only constant I can remember is change and the only variable I managed to relate to was uncertainty.

Finally, near the end of 2011 things started making sense in my life and at that point I was lucky enough to have Sean Tierney approach me a second time with the proposal of working together.

I would have been the biggest fool on the face of the Earth if I had declined a second time. Thankfully, I am no such thing and so we both started a journey together.

Sean is not the perfect coach (no offense intended) but he just happened to be THE PERFECT COACH FOR ME.

I remember our first buddy workout/meeting where I think I can credit myself for doing a great job at hiding the fact that I was intimidated by his serious demeanor and his big bodybuilder muscles. I believe we kept our conversation limited by a businesslike tone and to a bare minimum. Maybe we were both just trying to measure each other out and get a sense for personality traits that would be defining factors in our success or failure in the journey ahead of us.

However, what I found most intimidating was "the Iron Mask" Sean wore on his face since the day that I met him, till the day that I took on the stage.

Let me tell you that my EGO is used to receiving constant feedback on my performance. Whether it is good or bad, my EGO feeds off attention and enjoys an epic comeback carefully planned out of the information from such feedback. I guess it just my need to impress.

At the end of the session, I did not get anything at all, or at least nothing that I could read from Coach Tierney and this puzzled me greatly. It literally left me scratching my head for months.

From then and on, I remember it became sort of a personal challenge to try and squeeze any emotional reaction out of Sean so I would work my butt off and train like a killer beast to push my body into maximizing the results. The muscles kept growing, yes, but the Iron Mask remained.

Anytime Sean would re-evaluate me, he would focus on making notes on his program charts or providing plan changes and/or follow ups based on numbers and actions that needed to be executed in order to proceed with the plan. There were only facts, numbers and times, but nothing else, no pad on the back, no tone of disappointment, no food to feed my EGO.

With time, the same way my body started shrinking, my EGO became smaller with the lack of emotional feedback. I learned to call Sean's Iron Mask PROFESSIONALISM and started to greatly appreciate such a personality trait in his coaching instead of getting confused by it. It just happened to be the perfect tool that Sean possessed that made me want to sweat my fat off! ( that is what I mean when I say he is the perfect coach for me)

I came to understand that when you are committed to achieving an extraordinary goal, you have a schedule to attend to and this schedule does not include your emotions, your excuses or the schedule of your EGO.

An extraordinary coach knows that, and even if he is feeling his own emotions whether it is frustration or confusion at your lack of progress or an overwhelming desire to tell you how well you are doing, he first and foremost knows that he has to wear the Iron Mask. (for the most part)

Such a tool can only come from years of experience, past failure and trial and error. I know this because in being a coach to my clients myself, I have come to understand the need to wear such a mask and separate my personal emotions for the well being and greater gains of my clients.

The Mask is but one of the many great traits an experienced and well rounded coach can possess.

Let me list some others for you.
A great coach will:

* Provide you with clear and honest information regarding plan expectations and necessary actions.
* Provide you with a reference portfolio of people he/she has worked with in the past and will have no problems in letting you discuss with some of his/her athletes how their personal journey has been
* Provide continuous reassessments to ensure the progression towards your greater goal
* Meet with you as needed to ensure that you are on the right track.
* Maintain a professional and task oriented relationship.
* Continuously challenge you.
* Clarify any questions that can arise during the journey.
* Will be by your side, right until the very end and a little bit more to ensure you do not get lost afterwards.

Sean provided this for me as an athlete and more, a lot more.

Along with his Iron Mask, I am forever thankful for his professionalism, commitment and passion for the art of bodybuilding and the fact that he saw the diamond in the rough in me and decided that I was worth his time and attention.

Thank you COACH Sean Tierney for chipping away the excess in my body to let the diamond shine. Than you for giving me the gift of transformation.

Alex