Your Coach Has a Life, Too

The MELtdown. Part Two. Coach Mel, unfiltered.

Prefer to listen? Hear this conversation on The MELtdown with Coach Mel on Spotify.

I’m a coach. I’m also a parent, a business owner, and a person who occasionally needs to close the laptop. Apparently, that needs saying. I run this business myself and support roughly 25 to 30 women at a time. There is programming, nutrition, feedback, administration, planning, and a whole lot of communication behind what you see. I care about doing it well.

But caring about you does not mean being continuously available whenever a message or check-in arrives. And boundaries do not disappear because you’re frustrated.

Your deadline and my review window are connected

If your check-in or monthly assessment arrives late, you cannot automatically expect the original review window to remain available. That slot exists within a schedule. While I’m waiting for a missing submission, I still have other clients to support and other work to complete. Their time doesn’t become available for reassignment the moment you’re ready.

Late work needs to fit into the next available review time under the policy communicated for your service. That can mean receiving feedback later than you hoped. Please save your check-in link. Bookmark it. Use the resources you’ve already received. If a link is genuinely missing or broken, tell me so we can fix it.

But repeatedly needing the same information retrieved for you adds work to the process. Small actions on your side can make the whole experience smoother. And if you submit on time, I owe you the response timeframe I’ve communicated. My usual expectation is one to two business days, unless we have arranged otherwise or I’ve communicated time away.

If I miss that commitment, I need to own it. Another client’s needs don’t make your concern invalid.

A thoughtful reply starts before you hear from me

You may see the voice note. You don’t necessarily see what happened before I pressed record. I may have compared your current training with previous sessions, checked nutrition entries, reviewed photos, revisited earlier messages, and considered whether the next adjustment is appropriate. Sometimes the information is clear and the right coaching decision is straightforward: keep going. Sometimes it takes more investigation.

If food records are incomplete, if an assessment covers an unclear period, or if an important change hasn’t been mentioned, I need context before I can make a useful decision. That’s why complete submissions matter. You don’t need to write a novel. You do need to give me a clear account of the period we’re reviewing.

Follow-up questions are sometimes necessary even with excellent tracking. But repeatedly filling avoidable gaps uses time that could otherwise go toward discussing your next steps.

I don’t need praise. I do need a conversation.

When I’ve sent a detailed explanation and asked specific questions, I need enough engagement to know where we go next. A thumbs-up can be a perfectly reasonable acknowledgement. It doesn’t, by itself, tell me someone is annoyed. But if there are unanswered questions, the emoji doesn’t answer them.

If we still haven’t clarified the nutrition issue and the next message moves straight to a supplement question, the original issue remains unresolved. I can help with the new question. We also need to finish the conversation that informs the plan. Tell me you understand. Tell me you disagree and why. Tell me you haven’t had time to think about it yet. Give us something we can work with.

You can be unhappy and still be respectful

You can tell me the plan isn’t working for you. You can question my recommendation. You can ask why an adjustment was made. You can say you expected something different. Those conversations belong in coaching. Insults, personal digs, and contempt don’t help us solve the problem. I don’t expect sunshine when you’re having a terrible week. I do expect us to speak to each other respectfully. And that applies to me too.

You’re paying for a professional service. You deserve care and attention without needing to flatter me or manage my feelings. A little kindness still goes a long way. A simple acknowledgement or a respectful request reminds us there are two people in this conversation.

Time off is part of running a sustainable service

Yes, I’m allowed a vacation. I’m allowed to spend time with my family. I’m allowed to be unavailable outside the support arrangements for your package. That isn’t a lack of dedication. It’s a reality of being a person.

Planned time away should come with clear communication about dates, response times, and what to do with routine questions while I’m off. If something unexpected affects my availability, I need to communicate that too. You shouldn’t have to guess. But once those arrangements are clear, please respect them. A message arriving on a weekend or during time away does not automatically create an immediate appointment.

When the relationship starts to feel exhausting

I’ll be honest: I’ve had coaching relationships where I dread opening the next message. It can happen when we’re going in circles, agreed actions remain unresolved, and every attempt to clarify feels like another argument. That feeling is something I need to address. It isn’t a reason to quietly deliver less support or make someone wait as punishment.

Sometimes we need a clearer agreement. Sometimes we need to simplify the plan. Sometimes the coaching relationship is no longer a productive fit. I can care about someone and still recognise that continuing the arrangement isn’t working. Difficult weeks are part of coaching. A relationship that consistently lacks mutual respect needs a direct conversation.

Here’s what I’m asking

Submit by the agreed deadline. Give me complete information to the best of your ability. Read the feedback, answer the questions that matter, and communicate respectfully when something needs changing. I will provide the coaching, explain my decisions, honour the agreed response arrangements, and address concerns when I fall short. I am invested in your progress. I also have a life, a schedule, and limits.

We can respect all of that at once.

Explore Team Mel Coaching at https://www.teammel.ca/coaching for support built around your goals and real life.

About Coach Mel

Mel Cech is a Canadian IFBB Figure Pro, certified personal trainer, and founder of Team Mel Coaching. She is a featured contributor in 100 Best Physique Workouts: Transform Your Body With the World's Top Trainers (Gareth Sapstead, 2024) and a 3x Inside Fitness Magazine Hot & Fit 100 honoree, placing 3rd in Canada (2022). She specializes in online fitness coaching for women over 30 across Canada and internationally: strength training, fat loss, body recomposition, and hormone-conscious programming.