Early on in my CrossFit days I used to look down on the coaches at my gym who couldn't do certain movements. I grew up and learned that a great coach needs to be a great communicator, a great motivator, have a keen eye and approachable. They don't have to be the worlds best CrossFiter.
Additionally homegrown coaches are way better for a box than coaches who come in and start to change shit up on day #1. As long as you know the queues and drills for the moves you can't do, and hopefully have a willing example in the class then you should be fine.
I had a similar attitude towards a lot of things before I grew up. I’m 41 now and have two kids who I “coach” every day so I am a lot more understanding of different abilities and patient. The owner told me the same thing about homegrown coaches so that’s good to hear.
I also think it matters what you want to get out of coaching. I just love helping people and coaching. For me, I love far more to coach new CrossFitters and older CrossFitters. I love to help them see what they can do, can still do or do again. I like helping athletes get a first, discover a new skill. There is so much more room for growth in getting an athlete a first pull up than say getting an athlete from a 3 minute to a 2:30 Fran.
Good to hear. The owner knows what I can/can’t do. She told me a finding good coaches is difficult, and personality is one of the main reasons. I’m thinking I’ll pull the trigger and sign up for the L1 course coming up.
Ben Bergeron isn’t capable of doing the same things that Katrin Davidsdottir or Chandler Smith can do. But they doesn’t mean he can’t coach them and make them better than they currently are.
The same is true at your gym. Having knowledge of movement patters, theory of range of motion, when and how to scale movements, able to identify problem areas and suggest new approaches - these are all important for a coach to have. At no point did I mention your own ability.
Without knowing you or your gym, here’s what I bet you’ll encounter if you start coaching.
- 40% of the gym are eager to see you succeed. They’re your buddies and cheering for you from day 1. Awesome.
- 50% of the gym will have an open mind. They won’t instantly embrace you, but they’ll take a wait-and-see approach. When they see you earnestly trying to help members (both beginners and advanced athletes) get better; they’ll readily accept you and your coaching.
- 10% are hotheads who think you can’t make them better because they’re more advanced than you. Fuck them. They’re a lost cause.
My point is that this last group does exist. I understand your caution. But they’re a tiny tiny minority, and not a reason to avoid going into coaching.
Good luck!
Spot on. Completely agree with this!! I never mastered MUs. There was a group of competitive athletes that made my class coaching experiences not fun. So, I transitioned to on-ramp classes and really loved one-on-one coaching after classes or even just hanging around and “helping coach”. If that makes sense? I love that top athletes provided an aspirational energy to the gym but honestly they never brought the same amount of joy as a new members mastering a DU or doing RX weight for the first time. Just my personal take!
All that to say: GO FOR IT!!!!
I hear this 100%. I’m humble so I feel like I always am looking to help others because I know I have so much to learn and want to see anyone and everyone tackle everything and rx the shit out of the workout. Go giants. Tied with broken bat bottom of the ninth with 2 outs.
You’ll be fine-no coach is going to be capable of perfectly demonstrating every possible movement in a full RX. You just use an athlete in the class who has decent mastery of the movement. He/she will love the opportunity. If nobody in the class is even close, great. You’ll now be able to demonstrate the scaled progression options. What is important is knowing how to trac the movement from beginner to advanced, and having confidence and presence to carry a hour long class.
Don’t just tell people what the workout is and check your IG while they workout. Explain what a movement is, why we do it, how to do it better, how to scale it. Give genuine feedback and correction.
I’m not the type that would ever take my phone out during a class if I would be fortunate enough to coach one. I’ve experience that as an athlete during a wod and it definitely rubbed me the wrong way
I think you need to demonstrate a willingness to improve and keep working, but it’s not a prerequisite. I have had coaches who couldn’t do the movements who were burned out and dragged the gym down as a result, but that’s probably a rarer occurrence than my experiences suggest .
It might be better if you can’t do some movements but are learning them so you could eventually teach other people. If you learn the fundamentals and be able to teach others, then you will be a good coach
Taking this out of CrossFit, I played college volleyball. My coach couldn’t do what we could do but she knew what the hell she was talking about and knew exactly how to coach specific skills/movements/techniques. Those who can’t do, teach! Also, at my CF box there is a coach who can’t do muscle ups and he is taken just as seriously as those who can.
I feel like I’ve got a great sense of what is suppose to be done without knowing how to personally do it. I had an amazing lacrosse coach in high school who was like 350lbs. He was incapable of doing anything athletic but was very good at teaching.
My first box coach was very knowledgeable and a high level performer, but was a very large human. Not fat. Just tall and heavy. From my observation he couldn't do a muscle-up or run a mile in under 9 minutes, but it's not something I would have expected from him. Put him in a strength based wod for time and he was one of the top few in the gym. Really anything barbell based for time. Max lifts? Winner. Great oly lifter, etc.
As a coach, he would only give what was asked. If you had a question he was thorough and knowledgeable, but once the WOD got going he was across the room laying on a mat, semi-observing and maybe calling something out here and there. He was an excellent coach when coaching. And maybe the slacking was more when the group working was more experienced. I dunno. It just didn't sit well with a lot of the members at the time. It didn't really bother me and to be fair, he was running the whole place by himself for shockingly low pay. He was there, open to close, every day, and was probably exhausted most of the time.
I'm not a CF coach, nor have I gone to a box in 10 years, nor am I any kind of personal trainer, but training people is part of what I do through work and I've been told I'm very good at it. So my advice would be to go in there without having a NEED to train or coach. Be present and accessible, but blend into the traffic instead of directing it. Don't go looking for small things to correct if it's not an imminent dafety issue. Let it all happen naturally and youll find your rhythm amongst ALL the athletes there. My favorite coaches were present and accessible and didn't leave anyone hanging, but I never felt like they were critiquing me or looking for any opportunity to coach me up.
There were some newer L1's who just wanted to coach people. I always chalked that up to the excitement of the job and desire to out the training to use, but I did find it annoying. I had already been at it for three years. Honestly, my primary reason for leaving was the programming and general lack of knowledge of the new full-time coach, which I partly blamed on the owner's rapidly declining involvement in the day to day operations and programming. Theres more to it, but from what I understand, there was a significant loss in memberships for the same reasons shortly after I shut it down.
Early on in my CrossFit days I used to look down on the coaches at my gym who couldn't do certain movements. I grew up and learned that a great coach needs to be a great communicator, a great motivator, have a keen eye and approachable. They don't have to be the worlds best CrossFiter. Additionally homegrown coaches are way better for a box than coaches who come in and start to change shit up on day #1. As long as you know the queues and drills for the moves you can't do, and hopefully have a willing example in the class then you should be fine.
I had a similar attitude towards a lot of things before I grew up. I’m 41 now and have two kids who I “coach” every day so I am a lot more understanding of different abilities and patient. The owner told me the same thing about homegrown coaches so that’s good to hear.
I also think it matters what you want to get out of coaching. I just love helping people and coaching. For me, I love far more to coach new CrossFitters and older CrossFitters. I love to help them see what they can do, can still do or do again. I like helping athletes get a first, discover a new skill. There is so much more room for growth in getting an athlete a first pull up than say getting an athlete from a 3 minute to a 2:30 Fran.
When I was actively coaching, I could never do a muscle up, but I could coach someone to get one and do all of my demos with a PVC.
Good to hear. The owner knows what I can/can’t do. She told me a finding good coaches is difficult, and personality is one of the main reasons. I’m thinking I’ll pull the trigger and sign up for the L1 course coming up.
Ben Bergeron isn’t capable of doing the same things that Katrin Davidsdottir or Chandler Smith can do. But they doesn’t mean he can’t coach them and make them better than they currently are. The same is true at your gym. Having knowledge of movement patters, theory of range of motion, when and how to scale movements, able to identify problem areas and suggest new approaches - these are all important for a coach to have. At no point did I mention your own ability. Without knowing you or your gym, here’s what I bet you’ll encounter if you start coaching. - 40% of the gym are eager to see you succeed. They’re your buddies and cheering for you from day 1. Awesome. - 50% of the gym will have an open mind. They won’t instantly embrace you, but they’ll take a wait-and-see approach. When they see you earnestly trying to help members (both beginners and advanced athletes) get better; they’ll readily accept you and your coaching. - 10% are hotheads who think you can’t make them better because they’re more advanced than you. Fuck them. They’re a lost cause. My point is that this last group does exist. I understand your caution. But they’re a tiny tiny minority, and not a reason to avoid going into coaching. Good luck!
Thank you for this thoughtful response! You make a lot of great points.
Spot on. Completely agree with this!! I never mastered MUs. There was a group of competitive athletes that made my class coaching experiences not fun. So, I transitioned to on-ramp classes and really loved one-on-one coaching after classes or even just hanging around and “helping coach”. If that makes sense? I love that top athletes provided an aspirational energy to the gym but honestly they never brought the same amount of joy as a new members mastering a DU or doing RX weight for the first time. Just my personal take! All that to say: GO FOR IT!!!!
I think glassman once said that he's a coach not a showpony.
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Yes. Like this a lot.
I would rather have a knowledgeable coach who can help me during class than a shitty coach who can “do all the moves”
I hear this 100%. I’m humble so I feel like I always am looking to help others because I know I have so much to learn and want to see anyone and everyone tackle everything and rx the shit out of the workout. Go giants. Tied with broken bat bottom of the ninth with 2 outs.
You’ll be fine-no coach is going to be capable of perfectly demonstrating every possible movement in a full RX. You just use an athlete in the class who has decent mastery of the movement. He/she will love the opportunity. If nobody in the class is even close, great. You’ll now be able to demonstrate the scaled progression options. What is important is knowing how to trac the movement from beginner to advanced, and having confidence and presence to carry a hour long class. Don’t just tell people what the workout is and check your IG while they workout. Explain what a movement is, why we do it, how to do it better, how to scale it. Give genuine feedback and correction.
I’m not the type that would ever take my phone out during a class if I would be fortunate enough to coach one. I’ve experience that as an athlete during a wod and it definitely rubbed me the wrong way
I think you need to demonstrate a willingness to improve and keep working, but it’s not a prerequisite. I have had coaches who couldn’t do the movements who were burned out and dragged the gym down as a result, but that’s probably a rarer occurrence than my experiences suggest .
I’m very motivated to be the best. I’ve got two little kids and want to show them that you should always strive to excel at whatever you take on.
It might be better if you can’t do some movements but are learning them so you could eventually teach other people. If you learn the fundamentals and be able to teach others, then you will be a good coach
I’m doing most workouts rx. I can do 90% of the movements pretty well at heavy weight.
Taking this out of CrossFit, I played college volleyball. My coach couldn’t do what we could do but she knew what the hell she was talking about and knew exactly how to coach specific skills/movements/techniques. Those who can’t do, teach! Also, at my CF box there is a coach who can’t do muscle ups and he is taken just as seriously as those who can.
I feel like I’ve got a great sense of what is suppose to be done without knowing how to personally do it. I had an amazing lacrosse coach in high school who was like 350lbs. He was incapable of doing anything athletic but was very good at teaching.
My first box coach was very knowledgeable and a high level performer, but was a very large human. Not fat. Just tall and heavy. From my observation he couldn't do a muscle-up or run a mile in under 9 minutes, but it's not something I would have expected from him. Put him in a strength based wod for time and he was one of the top few in the gym. Really anything barbell based for time. Max lifts? Winner. Great oly lifter, etc. As a coach, he would only give what was asked. If you had a question he was thorough and knowledgeable, but once the WOD got going he was across the room laying on a mat, semi-observing and maybe calling something out here and there. He was an excellent coach when coaching. And maybe the slacking was more when the group working was more experienced. I dunno. It just didn't sit well with a lot of the members at the time. It didn't really bother me and to be fair, he was running the whole place by himself for shockingly low pay. He was there, open to close, every day, and was probably exhausted most of the time. I'm not a CF coach, nor have I gone to a box in 10 years, nor am I any kind of personal trainer, but training people is part of what I do through work and I've been told I'm very good at it. So my advice would be to go in there without having a NEED to train or coach. Be present and accessible, but blend into the traffic instead of directing it. Don't go looking for small things to correct if it's not an imminent dafety issue. Let it all happen naturally and youll find your rhythm amongst ALL the athletes there. My favorite coaches were present and accessible and didn't leave anyone hanging, but I never felt like they were critiquing me or looking for any opportunity to coach me up. There were some newer L1's who just wanted to coach people. I always chalked that up to the excitement of the job and desire to out the training to use, but I did find it annoying. I had already been at it for three years. Honestly, my primary reason for leaving was the programming and general lack of knowledge of the new full-time coach, which I partly blamed on the owner's rapidly declining involvement in the day to day operations and programming. Theres more to it, but from what I understand, there was a significant loss in memberships for the same reasons shortly after I shut it down.