Monday 101122

Active rest day. Go do something fun and post about it.

Coaching...

what makes a good coach? is it knowledge? is it experience? is it understanding? is it ability? is it about being personable? is it the ability to listen and perceive?

Coaching is about all of these and many more. There is a lot going through the mind of a coach and there are many different ways to go about communicating these thoughts. Some people say coaching cues are what makes a good coach, that it's having the knowledge and experience but saying the right thing at the right time is everything. This is very true. One of the best coaches I've ever seen (not in person, I wish) who displays this beautifully is coach Burgener (the weightlifting coach of CrossFit HQ and also the USAW). Watch the video below before reading on and listen to his cues.
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For any sort of human interaction to take place you must have a sender and a receiver (this is communication). You and I are communicating right now, I am the sender, you are the receiver, and we can switch these roles if you post your thoughts to the comments. There are many things that go on here.

Now if coach Burgener came up to you while you were practicing your Oly lifts and said, "hey I'm coach Burg [yada yada he lists his credentials plus you've already heard how wonderful he is] Can I assist you with your lifts?" he would then have your undivided enthusiastic attention and he would most likely have you PR in this session. Now, if some dude walked into your gym who you've never seen before and started asking to coach you, you'd be like "go fuck yourself, buddy." funny, but you already shut that person down before knowing anything about the guy. Obviously you're not going to tell somebody to go fuck themselves (not right away anyway) so you are allowing this "dude" to communicate with you, however, you still have already limited yourself in your communication with this person. Even if coach Burgener's cue's and the cue's from the dude you don't know were the exact same, if everything they said were the EXACT same you will still have a lot more success in your communication with coach Burgener then you will with "the dude". Coaching is perception. Being an athlete is trusting in your coach.

Coaching is about the athlete, not the coach. If the athlete's mind is right, where they can go is limitless. That's why when somebody says to me: "thanks for the PR" I always say "thank yourself". I am here to show you the way from A to B just like every other coach, you have to take the steps. Now, let's go hit some PR's!




Great coaching.

Disclaimer: I love every single one of coach burgener's video's, I have been coached by lots of great coaches and he most certainly is on a different level than anybody I've seen. This was not to take anything away from him or coaching in general.