3 Tips – How to Be the Best CrossFit Coach Part 2

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This is part two of the series, so if you were too busy doing muscle ups be sure to catch up by reading PART ONE HERE.  I want to reinforce that the single best thing you can do for your gym is employee excellent coaches.  Anyone can scribble a WOD, say 3-2-1 go and yell good job, but the coach who truly has an effect on people’s lives is the foundation of an amazing community.

The next three steps dive into the personality characteristics of a good coach.  How you combine your technical knowledge into a flawless presentation, class after class.  We will start with the importance of positive thinking and talking.  Then dive into giving each WOD loving fool your undivided attention and finish up with how to be a good leader.

The most effective way to improve your coaching ability is to be evaluated.  You can fill out your own form after class, but if you consistently get a perfect score, have a fellow level one trainer do the evaluating.  I have provided a free downloadable pdf for you to print out.  Grab it HERE- Fitrilla- Trainer Checklist  It has each of the points that I covered in these articles and room for comments to be added.  When you use it, let me know what you think.

Is Your Glass Half Full?- most people will skip this step and think “yeah, I am positive”, but lets break it down.  Do you celebrate someones first double under as much as a 500lb deadlift?  When people walk into class do you say “yeah it is a super hard one today, it sucks!”  Every single thing you say as a coach is soaked up and evaluated.  If your calculs teacher told you this test sucked, it is hard and takes forever.  How would that make you feel?  Your anxiety and nerves would be running wild.

Do you welcome a big class? or complain when it gets too busy?  People pick up on everything you do and say.  You are on stage when you are coaching a class of two or twenty. Positive, encouraging and motivating should be your mantra.   Set your class up for success by forgetting about how bad your overhead squat is and celebrating every break through.  Encourage the new person, fire-breather, and weekend warrior equally.

Personal Attention- Everyday, every member should get personal attention.  Make your class of ten feel like it is a class of one.  You do that by personally interacting with every person in your class.  Start by saying hi to everyone as they come in, continue by circulating during the warm-up, encourage each person by name when the WOD starts, ask for opinions and thoughts when the WOD is over.   Remember you catch more flies with honey then vinegar.  Being nice (it can be an ambiguous term, but come on we all know what is nice and what is not) in this industry goes a long way.  Even if it is the 100th time you told someone to use their hips not their arms, be sure you approach it with a good attitude.  At the end of the day the members are the ones paying the bills so be nice!

This point also relates to the technical side of the workout.  When giving a cue for a power clean mid WOD do you yell it across the room or stop the person and correct them?  There is no one answer fits all, the bottom line is if the athlete adjusts then you did your job as a coach.  The follow up question would be did the athlete like how you approached it?  Everyone has a different preference and it is your job to learn them.

Another question to ask yourself if people are moving incorrectly is…”Was there a hole in your warm up?” There should always be an instructed warm up that is movement based followed by specific skills that are in the WOD.  Writing a group warm up and sipping on your coconut water while each class warms up is freaking lazy.  You deserve to lose members if there is not an instructed warm up.

Your So Boss-  The shy timid coach is not respected, looked up to or taken seriously.  You need to command attention and speak with confidence.  Remember people are there for you to tell them what to do.  During class your job is to help and improve their form, technique and fitness level.  The balance here comes with being approachable.  We have all had the boss that we hate or are intimidated by.  Well, your goal is to be the boss that everyone likes, but respects.  Encourage questions and always be available to help.

In case you missed it, grab the Fitrilla- Trainer Checklist. You can use it to evaluate the coaches at your box.

Another great tool to use is Survey Monkey it is free and takes a matter of minutes to create a survey that you can send out to clients or use for yourself.  If you have any questions or want to see some of my pre made surveys send me an email Geo@fitrilla.com

Get Stronger.

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