Are They the Product? Choosing Coaches Who Live the Journey

“Leadership is an active, living process. It is rooted in character, forged by experience, and communicated by example.” – John Baldoni

Thought of the Day

Over my many years in athletics, I have come across many different coaches. Some have been talented athletes, others had a mind for the sport but could not physically execute, and there are those who are all about looking good, and the grinders who have the grit to push to be better each day. This is not an all-encompassing list, but I’m sure you can relate and have probably thought of some coaches or teachers from your past.

When looking for a coach, there are a few questions I ask myself:

Is this person committed to improvement and truly there to help others?
We see it all the time—people who want to look good and flashy for Instagram, but who are not really committed to being the product and improving others. I think back to years ago on the jiu-jitsu mats. I was still a white belt at the time. We had a guest instructor, and while he himself was an awesome athlete, he was not really there to help us improve. He would just choke us white belts out and not really help us learn to defend or escape.

Sometimes we gravitate toward these types of instructors because it feels like the old “my dad can beat up your dad” arguments on the playground. By being close to these athletes, we feel like we get better through osmosis. But while a coach should be skilled, it’s their ability to pass on skills that matters most.

I’ve seen many athletes we’ve worked with go from being unable to hang on a bar to getting a pull-up; from struggling with stairs to running five kilometers and beyond. The important thing is us being able to support you on your journey to improvement.

On the other side, there are coaches who have neglected their personal journey. It’s not that you need to be the greatest athlete or practitioner, but you do need to be on your own journey of improvement—both from a coaching standpoint and in your fitness or whatever else you’re coaching. Personally, I don’t vibe well with “do as I say, not as I do.” As a coach, I am in action—always trying to improve in the areas I coach.

After a long (fourteen-hour) day on Tuesday, I went home to complete an online course. It was a nutrition course and a prerequisite for an in-person NCCP course I’ll be taking next weekend. This is all to be a better coach, to help our youth athletes, and to keep hammering away at the craft.

If, as a coach or a person, you feel like you’ve arrived and there’s no more work to do—it’s time to retire. I will continue to become a better coach and athlete, and the day those things are no longer important is the day I’ll no longer be of much use to anyone in this area.

When looking for a youth coach, your own coach, or a program, it’s important to ask yourself: Are they the product?
Do they continue to improve, or have they decided in their own mind that they’ve arrived? It’s not about being the best athlete or some genetic freak. It’s about being on a continued journey to mastery—both as a coach and as a student.

Are they really committed to growth, or is it more of a “do as I say, not as I do” scenario?

If you run into someone like Creed from The Office, doing a cartwheel, they’re probably not the person you want guiding you or your children toward growth. As coaches, we are here to walk the journey and to help guide others to reach their goals along the way.

Thursday

Programming for the group class:

H: 03-10 Warm up (7 min)

Active shoulders

Rotation: wrists, small arm circles, large circles

Chest stretch

Around the world with PVC pipe

Ring rows

Active core and legs

Inch-worm with a push up

Bird dog

Air squat

H: 10-24 Tech (14 min)

Air squat

• Points of performance

"Heels down, neutral spine maintained, knees track in line with the toes, the hip descends back and down, and the hip crease gets below the top of the knee at the bottom"

Shoulder-to-overhead

• Shoulder press

• Push press

• Push jerk (Split jerk is not recommended for this workout)

H: 25 WOD 4 rounds for time of:

50 air squats

15 shoulder-to-overheads

♀ 105-lb barbell

♂ 155-lb barbell

Intermediate option:

♀75-lb barbell

♂ 115-lb barbell

Beginner option:

20 air squats

10 shoulder-to-overheads

♀ 35-lb barbell

♂ 45-lb barbell

Time cap: 25 min

Finisher:

Footwork for split jerk, light weight

30 sec on, 30 sec off. Repeat until others finish

H: 50 Cool down (5 min)

Notes from TW:

My training need recently is to lift heavy whenever I can. So I chose 105 lb for my push press. The plan was to be able to finish 4 in a row when fresh. This weight is 75% to my over-head lifting weight.

I was cut off after finishing the third round. My shoulders were burning in the last 5 min of this 25 min workout.

Choose your weight and strategy. There will be a finisher if you finished much earlier than others.

Do not underestimate the 50 air squats. It does hurt when trying to squeeze them. Slight change of stands could employ different muscle groups: quats or glutes.