Peer Coaching
We are blessed with a lot of good athletes and a lot of individuals who love training here have spent many hours studying our movements. In this environment the person next to you is a great resource. They can help you fix flaws and lift heavier.
For example, we have about 60 women, most of whom can do pull-ups. The majority of them did not learn the movement under the eye of a trainer. They did it by coming in early to work on it and by getting feedback from all of the other women who can share what it took for them to get it. I want to encourage this. But I also want to make sure it is done right. Done wrong, peer coaching can be confusing, unproductive, and annoying.
Here are some rules:
- Make sure you’re not being a pest. Know who you’re talking to, don’t start playing coach when you’ve never met the person before. Talk to them, make suggestions, and back off if they look like they don’t appreciate the feedback.
- Be humble. Nobody has it all figured out. We’re all learning and trying to get better together. Don’t let pride or ego or comparisons cloud your thinking. Be humble.
- One thing at a time. Address only one thing at a time. Only when the athlete has demonstrated the ability to do it consistently well, do you move on to the next thing. If you’re unsure what to address first, start with what comes first in the movement. A bad starting position will screw up what comes after it, start there.
- Be able to describe it. Just saying what is happening helps clarify what you’re talking about. It also often contains a seed of the solution you’re looking for.
- Get another set of eyes. Call someone else over (preferably a trainer) and describe what you’re seeing. Do they see it too? Do they agree with your assessment and solution?
- Get better at it yourself. Your ability to coach is determined by your ability to understand what you’re talking about. If you’ve got major flaws in your own practice, you may be better served by figuring that out rather than solving other people’s problems.
- Spend time learning to coach. Teaching is a skill, it takes attention and practice. Read books, watch videos, go to seminars, volunteer to lead a class. We’ve got a couple of seminars coming in the next 6 months that will make you a better athlete and coach. On February 13 Dan John will be here. On June 5 Michael Rutherford. Anyone interested in being a better coach can contact Morgan about assisting or leading a regular class during the week.
To head off any suspicion- there have not been any complaints or incidents which inspired me to write this. I just want us to get better at everything we do.
oh good cause I thought maybe you put up that picture of me making a face at pat’s press might be some ideas for poor coaching. “make faces where they can’t see you”. in all seriousness I love how helpful everyone is, only to make us all better athletes
And that picture is way i will be working on my strick press this week next week and so on…….
I love that this being discussed (Morgan!)…it’s good for CFT.
I’m going to start studying.
Kudos on bringing in Dan John and Rutherford, I wish I was going to be around for them, which I won’t
Andrea, I only chose the picture because it clearly shows one person watching another. Your facial expression is just a bonus. There is another picture from 1 second later where Pat’s arms are bent and the bar is lopsided and coming back down, and your eyes are wide and mouth agape. But the rack kind of blocks Pat’s face, otherwise I would have used it instead.
I have surprisingly few pictures of people watching other people work. We’re usually too busy doing the workout ourselves, or I don’t deem it photo-worthy to take a picture of people watching.
One of these days I WILL catch Derek on the row. With only 1.2 of a difference here I think the odds are good.
I am learning to accept when others besides the trainers give criticism. I have always internalized frustrations cause I am a perfectionist and wanted to figure it out on my own. As I have gotten older I have learned that I cant do everything on my own. So I greatly appreciate any criticism that I am given to help me improve.
For some reason I dislike giving advice when I know better trainers are in the gym. Or maybe its just hard for me to be serious…….
Annamarie you bring up the flip side that I didn’t think of; what it takes to be coachable: To accept feedback, however unwanted, and use it constructively.
I am open to any and all criticism/feedback that anyone can give. I am always amazed at how someone, or multiple people, can tell me the same thing over and over, and then someone different says it and it clicks. I love those Ah Ha moments! And really, I can’t get mad at anyone for telling me I am doing something wrong, I am too busy being mad at myself!!!
After being in the personal training field for 3-4 years. It is great being on the other side of the training. I have enjoyed the great feedback from the trainers and from the members at the gym. One thing that I keep in mind is that I cannot see myself do the exercise (unless I have my video camera). So feedback on whether I am doing the exercise correctly is always welcome.
Ditto to what everyone has already posted. My outlook is the same for Crossfit as it is with teaching: I constantly strive to improve at what I do and I can’t grow if I don’t receive constructive feedback. Thus, I fully welcome it!!
On another note, it is with deep sadness that I put my brand SPANKIN new weightlifting shoes up for sale.
I wear a size 6.5-7 shoe, so I got a 5.5 in mens. Well, darn my left foot! It’s bigger than my right and the shoe is too small. I’m sooo disappointed! I’ve been waiting for these to come in the mail for the past week (and this is the second time I’ve received a pair…the first ones I ordered were a 4.5!) I’m so bummed I want to chop off the toes on my left foot!! Anyways, they are for sale to any woman who would like them. I haven’t even walked around the house in them they are that new: they just came today and my left toes are too crammed.
Details:
size 5.5 “2010 Pendlay Barbell Weightlifting Shoe” in gray
http://www.muscledriverusa.com/peba20sewesh3.html
$119 (and you don’t even have to pay shipping! I will hand deliver them myself!)
email me if you’re interested: amanda.gylling@gmail.com
Maybe I could start a new look…the one-shoed lifter….
hey amanda can I try the shoes on? iv been meaning to get some and I believe those are my size, thanks.
Are there not going to be any posts the rest of the week?
If anyone needs help, just ask me as I am pretty sure I know it all. Doing an movement wrong is still doing a movement and will count at my new Gym “Tys palace of body fat, poor movements and cheese eating” Here we will celebrate cake and cheese with tall glasses of milk, probably mixed with beer for the heck of it. Location to follow shortly…
A new gym call “Tys Palace of Body Fat” sounds like a bad case of diarrhea. I have to take a Tyler and wipe my Severy. Love you man