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13 Reviews on “Ryan O'Connell-Peller, SSC”

Overall rating
  • Jason Saar

    Ryan started providing me coaching in November and I’ve made more progress in the gym over the last few months than I have in years. As of now he’s taken my squat from 185x3x5 to 315x3x5, something that I never would’ve been able to do on my own. I highly recommend Ryan as a coach.

  • Mark B

    Ryan’s a great coach. He provides awesome excellent feedback on form reviews. I’m always amazed at how much helpful instruction he can provide from form checking videos. He uses TrueCoach which is a great site, and has a Slack channel for quick and easy communication/questions. For those that like it, he’s recently started doing form reviews where he records himself commenting on form while watching your videos. I think it’s great and better than just the written reviews. It’s a rep by rep critique and a chance to see your lift through the coach’s eyes. All that and week to week programming updates.
    To put it simply, for what Ryan charges and how much help/instruction he provides there is no better value in online coaching out there.

  • Jeremiah E

    I have been working with Ryan in person training sessions and now online coaching for the last 2 years. I would say his “attention to detail” is his strong attribute for coaching. He focuses on proper lifting technique and this is helpful in preventing and working through injuries that inevitably come to all of us. He is prompt responses and feed back is invaluable to my training. If you are new to lifting; I recommend seeing him at Next Level Barbell in person for the first few months; but if you are an advanced lifting then his online coaching is going to be helpful. Ryan is cheerful positive and up beat. I have enjoyed working with him and will continue to do so.

    On a less serious note: When it comes to beards; he is no Allen Thrall. I think this should be a standard of all starting strength coaches, minimum beard length to be set to 4 inches. The alternative being a respectable Rippetoe goatee in place of the classic Thrall beard.

  • Andrew Thiessen

    I’ve been training with Ryan online for 4 and a half months now. Before working with him, I kept injuring my back, resetting the weight, and crawling back up, only to repeat the whole Sisyphean process. It was disheartening to say the least.

    Enter Coach Ryan. Ryan immediately honed in on the form issues holding me back in all the lifts. Squats were especially ugly, and the lift where I kept getting hurt, but in the 4 months under Ryan’s expertise I’ve already exceeded my lifetime squat PR, and continue to make progress.

    Ryan’s style is quick and to the point. He records his screen as he watches my lifts, talking over them and cueing in “real time” (or as close as it gets online). This is a great help to me because I get to see what he sees and develop my own eye for the issues he points out. Then I’m better able to diagnose and correct my form during my workouts, as I review video from the previous set.

    I really appreciate Ryan’s balance of openness and professionalism. He doesn’t waste time when he breaks down videos. He gives you what you need to focus on and doesn’t mince words, but he’s there for you if you have questions or if something isn’t working for you.

    All said, Ryan has renewed my passion for training. His coaching has helped me break through what I had unconsciously accepted as absolute limits. Now, I have no idea where the progress will slow down—and even when it does, I have confidence Ryan will know how to adjust in order to keep trucking. It’s the difference between hitting your head against a wall and actually seeing hard work pay off. It’s a hopeful place to be, and I’m grateful to have a coach like Ryan in my corner making it possible.

  • Gideon Arom

    I’ve had the pleasure of working with Ryan both in person and then online when I moved out of state. In both settings, Ryan is just awesome to work with. The thing that stands out about Ryan is that he’s really paying attention to everything. He noticed even the smallest imperfections in my form and calls them out every session until they’re gone. Ryan is also really skilled at programming – he can really intuit when it’s time to adjust things. Last year sprained my AC joint so I had to be careful when lifting but Ryan changed my program so I could still get strong while it healed. All in all, I can’t recommend him enough.

  • Bennett Bushman

    As an intermediate lifter who never had any coaching, programming consisted of a lot of guesswork. Ryan found several issues with my program and gave me some great solutions. He also offered some solid critiques on my 4 lifts. Clearly he is very knowledgeable about strength and how to develop it. Looking forward to implementing this information into my training. Highly recommend

  • Michael

    Ryan was a pleasure to work with. I had him coach me for about 4 months virtually as I was ramping up on my SS NLP program and working on my basic lifts. My lifts are now double what they were when I started, and with much improved technique. Well worth the time invested and money spent!

  • Antonio Maldonado

    Working with Ryan has been my first experience with online coaching. It has been incredibly beneficial, allowing me to advance my lifts further than just viewing form videos online and trying to program on my own. He does a good job of explaining the small details that are incorrect with my lifts, offering good cues to remedy the problems. While my lifts have a long way to go, I have been able to make steady progress that I would not have been able to make on my own with the help of Ryan.

  • Matt

    I’ve had Ryan as an online coach for about 4 and a half months now, and he has been outstanding. He has helped me get stronger – efficiently and safely at levels I didn’t know I could attain. Before Ryan, I had some “weightlifting classes” in school but nothing serious. Then I had a recurring back injury over the years since the military. A lot of that made heavy barbells problematic, but with Ryan all of that has gone away and I am stronger than I’ve ever been. What’s more, Ryan is always attentive and encouraging to his students, and provides the right feedback to keep you on track, safe, and improving. I would recommend Ryan to anyone out there wanting to lift and get strong while making sure the right technique and programming are followed. Ryan is a great coach to have!

  • Liliya

    I’ve worked with Ryan in person and online and had a great time with both. Working with him in person at first when I was a complete beginner was incredibly helpful. I was able to get a hang of the proper form and feel comfortable with it much quicker than I expected. It also made me feel confident returning to lifting on my own once I moved to another state. Then, after I finished my beginner progression, I started working with Ryan again, this time remotely. He has been super helpful in adjusting the programming to my goals, schedule and existing injuries from running etc. Definitely would recommend him to anybody!

  • Kristian

    I began working with Ryan over the summer via virtual coaching sessions. He would program each training session and I would record the sets I performed. Afterward, I would upload these videos to the TruCoach app and he would promptly post a video critiquing my form.
    Before this, I had read Starting Strength and had watch many YouTube videos on the Starting Strength channel. I was nearing the end of my NLP and needed assistance to progress further. With Ryan’s help, I have been able to improve my squat from 195 to 295. A 100 pound improvement is very substantial considering that I weigh 150 pounds. I also improved my deadlift from 215 to 295. I attribute this to the corrections he advised me to make in my lifting form

    Online coaching has become a pivotal part of my training and I would not have been able to make advancements without it. I would recommend that anyone training using the Starting Strength method contact Ryan to receive more personalized guidance.

  • Keith C

    I had my first session with Ryan last week and it was a great experience. I had done Starting Strength about 10 years ago and loved it but also failed – my lifts stalled and I gave up, knowing I was probably doing it wrong. Started again last year and made progress until I stalled yet again.

    I set up a two hour session with Ryan to cover the five lifts. The session itself was very productive, and confirmed my suspicions that I was doing many things wrong. There were things I had read in the book – especially around the press and deadlift – that never really clicked. Ryan not only cleared up my confusion but had me doing the lifts in the proper form for the first time. Additionally, there were details (especially around things like stance and handgrip) that I hadn’t quite internalized — after that one session, I finally feel like I’m getting it.

    I’m looking forward to working with Ryan in future sessions, and would highly recommend him to anyone who wants to take a step forward in Starting Strength.

  • Andrew R

    I decided to seek Ryan’s help after having previously attempted Starting Strength on my own with limited success. Having no athletic background, I felt unsure about my form and, as a result, I struggled to make much progress.

    Working with Ryan has been incredibly beneficial to my understanding of the lifts. I have worked with him both in person and online. In both settings, Ryan is able to quickly identify mistakes in form and provide succinct feedback on how to correct those issues.

    Additionally, Ryan is an effective communicator. When I am struggling to understand some of the concepts from the book or from his feedback, he is able to pick up on where I am struggling and present the information in a way that I can better understand. I feel significantly more confident under the bar as a result of his coaching.

    Ryan’s experience as a coach and his ability to accurately assess the degree to which I am being challenged allows him to adjust the program as needed so that I am constantly progressing at an appropriate rate. In the two months that I have worked with Ryan, I have made more progress than I ever did on my own. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with him and strongly recommend him as a coach to anyone interested in getting into weightlifting or improving their lifts.

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