With the advent of CrossFit, there are now more lifting coaches than ever. Fantastic! More people to discuss mechanics and anatomy with is never a bad thing for me. However, 70’s Big hasn’t spent a lot of time discussing coaching despite my interest in it — this will change. I’ve been helping people lift since I was 14. As a leader on a football team, I took initiative to help improve mechanics. Over the years I was consistently bombarded with questions on nutrition, programming, and then started personal training in 2007. In early 2008 I started doing CF and passed the test for the Level 2 certification later that year. Since then I’ve developed my coaching into what some of you have seen today. I’ve taken 120 pound kids and made them strong 170 pound kids. I’ve taken Chris from a broken shoulder and a mid 400s deadlift to a 400 pound bench and almost a 700 pound deadlift. I’ve taken women and gotten them stronger and decreased their body fat. I’m good at what I do, and I’m sure as hell a better coach than a lifter. There are hundreds of aspects to good coaching, and today we will focus on a simple overall methodology: brevity.
Sarah didn't require much coaching on this high bar squat. Thanks to Jeremy W. for photo
CONTINUE READING
CrossFit has increased the number of coaches in the world significantly, and many of them come from non-coaching backgrounds. This may be one of the reasons that a trend in CF coaches is that they are long-winded and wordy. A few reasons that cause Faulkner-esque coaching include group classes, “explaining it all”, and a lack of a triage.
CrossFit inherently consists of groups. There is a group leader getting the group to learn and move a specific way. Often there are attendees with very different skill levels that the instructor needs to worry about. Furthermore, the instructor — who is very passionate — aims to try and explain every aspect of the movement. The instructor very much wants each person in the group to understand it the same way that they do. This often leads to sensory overload, especially with less experienced trainees. Instead, aim to triage what you’re coaching: what’s the one or two most important aspects of what I’m trying to teach?
Instead of explaining how to un-rack the bar, how to walk it out, and how to set up, just have the trainee do it. Besides, you should be teaching them to do it with an unloaded bar anyway, so these frivolous details can be taught later. The approach to teaching a movement should be as brief and concise as possible while teaching the most important aspects of the movement. Stop and consider each movement. Why are you using this movement in your training? Does it use a lot of musculature to use a lot of energy during conditioning? Is it to make the hips and legs strong? Now consider what cues are necessary to accomplish that goal and help the trainee grade out at a “B” with their technique. If the list is long, only select the top two. Does your teaching method focus on those two things? If not, how will you trim it to do so?
The teaching method is important since it initially establishes how quickly (or not) the trainee will perform a given movement. However, the cuing that occurs on a day-to-day basis is equally, if not more, important. Cues are short reminders to the trainee to do something during a movement to make it better. It’s okay to explain the concept in detail, however the concept needs to be immediately whittled down to a cue. Shoving the knees out while doing any squat will avoid hip impingement and ensure that the body’s force is more evenly distributed throughout the thighs and hips, but the cue only needs to be “knees out”. Furthermore, the cuing for a squat shouldn’t be, “big breath, chest up, knees out, bounce” (among others). Instead, focus on one or two of the most important that are going to elicit success on the next set. If needed, reinforce those same cues at appropriate times during the set. Note that introducing separate cues during the set will typically be unhelpful and usually make the movement worse. Freestyle cuing should only occur with experienced lifters who have received that cue numerous times in the past.
After the set the coach should mentally evaluate how well the lifter performed the two cues that were established prior to the set. If one of the cues became routine or automatic, it can be dropped from the “active cue” list and the coach can focus on the other established cue or a new cue. However, if the single remaining cue is still an ugly fault, the coach shouldn’t introduce a new cue; more variables in the equation results in sensory overload.
Lastly, the coach should have a primary goal for their lifter(s) in a given movement during a session; it should be relative to to the lifter’s skill. For example, when I teach the power clean in the workshops, I aim for each attendee to a) jump the weight up properly and b) rack it properly. While “jumping” may not be a good advanced weightlifting concept, most attendees are using the power clean for general strength and conditioning purposes (aiming to use the power clean for loaded power development). And even if they weren’t, getting their bodies to move a weight because their legs and hips did it instead of their arms is an important concept.
A specific example is Lisa from this past weekend. As I say in the video description, she was unable to go through the standard teaching progression very well. She was arm pulling (the worst habit to have in the clean or snatch), donkey kicking, and not jumping very well (she would remain in hip flexion). Essentially it was an uncoordinated mess because she had too many variables in her head. Instead, I just simplified it to “crayola style” and helped her develop an okay power clean. (Read the info of the video)
No, there’s not anything special in this video. It was recorded because Lisa was interested in how her movement looked. I don’t typically stand 10 feet away, hold a camera at waist level, and coach through the viewing screen of a video camera, so my method of cuing is a bit bland here, but the point was to cue very simple things for Lisa to do in a simple progression to get her to emulate the two primary principles in the power clean (explained above).
If I had gone up to her and explained every deficiency in her movement, then her confidence would have dropped and she would have had many variables to consider instead of one or two. Instead of saying, “Don’t donkey kick or pull your heels up,” when jumping, the result would have been different than having her do something that eliminates the fault to begin with.
Whether you are coaching a beginner or a regular trainee, it’s unnecessary for each cue to comprehensively address everything in the movement pattern. Instead, be concise and brief. Your brevity should focus on the things that have the greatest impact on the success of the movement. Focus on or two cues that actively tell the lifter to do something. When you do it right, the cues address the conceptual explanation that you have already established (even if the explanation occurred two minutes prior). As the number of trainees increase, keep your goals and cues even more concise. If one attendee is excelling, then you can cue them individually for the next point of emphasis…as long as it’s done with brevity.
i don’t coach anyone (yet) but occasionally my sister will ask for help in the weight room and I find myself explaining more details, and there’s not enough of her just doing the movements. I come from a family that loves details when learning so it’s hard to separate myself from that. But anyway, helpful post dude, I will work on it next time I’m helping her.
I am bummed I missed the late afternoon part of the seminar.
This is absolutely true. I remember trying to learn to properly throw a discus when I was on the track team in high school. My coach made it so complicated, going all the way down to how the disc should spin off of my finger and the exact angle of the trajectory. I couldn’t understand what the hell he meant. I finally got a book on it and after viewing this chart of 4 images I had the basic technique down. Also, Lisa (the woman in that video) is just fantastic. She trains so hard. She can already squat 165# for sets across with consistent “B+ or A-” form after only 17 weeks of training. Great post.
I’ve become a better coach due having learned from your techniques and you involving me with the seminars I was in.
I think I’m drunk, given what I typed above. What the fuck?
I’ve become a better coach due to having learned from your techniques, and you involving me with the seminars I’ve been to.
That’s what that should have read as.
I’ve run into this exact issue with a buddy of mine who has started lifting with me. He doesn’t have enough experience to understand explanations, so I try to tell him one or two things to change, and it’s amazing how much easier he gets it.
The concept of the most important cues is just as relevant for guy’s lifting solo. After the workshop, I have several minor-ish areas to work on with my squat (chest up, elbows up, quick turnaround, knees not crazy far out). But – you can’t actively think all about all of them at the same time, or you’ll get overwhelmed. Instead, I’m focusing on one aspect of the time, trying to really get more consistent at, for example, quick turnaround.
Although my history is only limited to coaching college baseball as a pitching coach, these same rules apply. Nice post, Justin.
Excellent post. I find myself giving way too much information to novice trainees, when I should just explain the basics and let them at it, correcting faults as necessary. I’ll apply this concept when I’m training people tonight.
Definitely agree, I probably got the best results from someone trying to learn to high bar squat by saying “knees out and chest up” only. Less is more at first.
Great read. I say too much as a coach. Will fix that.
This definitely applies to training solo, too. The whole “triage” concept has absolutely helped get my squat back on track. Feels great these days. Related: I’m mobbing right now.
I don’t coach anyone, but this definitely applies to teaching generally. When I teach college students how to write, I can’t take a C paper and turn it into an A with one round of comments. It’s information overload. The student inevitably loses their shit and you end up with a D paper. Triage.
Also? Justin talked about ‘women’. Intentional or no, it made me happy. :)
Hey Justin, thanks for the post. I’d love to hear your top two cues/points for some of the big lifts.
I too struggle to keep things brief with new trainees.
Thanks.
Awesome post! I got knocked for this at Rip’s seminar. I’m glad to see some additional insight into it.
Good stuff. Definitely a problem I have when teaching — I want the student to understand all the context and it becomes too much.
In the picture of Sarah squatting, her grip looks like it would lead to the ouchies over time, due to excess loading on the wrists. Since reading Starting Strength I’ve always gone for thumb over the bar.
@noel: The number of things wrong with your statement on sarah squating are insane.
Firstly, having your thumbs under the bar does not cause wrist issues, not having the bar properly on your back combined with poor mobility in a low bar squat causes wrist issues.
Secondly, and more importantly, this is a high bar squat, where the entirety of the weight easily rests on the top of the traps and the arm angle for holding the bar is much more natural. There will literally be no pressure on the wrists regardless of where you put your hands on the bar.
Great post, couldn’t agree more, especially now that I have some hindsight.
From personal experience, I can say I’m one of those people that likes a lot of explanation, but I tend to digest too much of it all at once and start to completely over-think everything I’m doing.
Learning the snatch for me was a long ugly process, but luckily with a lot of patient coaching I’ve finally gotten somewhat competent at being able to do the movement. As I was learning and struggling though, I just kept overwhelming myself with so much information, and long lists of cues.
Luckily, over time, I think my coach realized this and really focused in on the ‘couple of cues’ approach which was like night and day for me.
What I thought I wanted and what I actually needed in coaching style were two totally different things.
So in the interest of interaction here, what are your thoughts on choosing a coaching approach for different people?
Do you find that some people actually benefit from lengthy, verbose coaching? Or do you just keep it simple across the board, no matter what?
lol @noel.
let the record show there is really only one thing wrong with Noel’s statement. smiley.
I couldn’t read the article. There’s a gym with an animal head mounted in front of the squat rack. Pure awesomeness.
@NolanPower, thanks for clearing that up. It was intended as a question, though I forgot a question mark.
“The number of things wrong with your statement on sarah squating are insane.” -> A little over the top.
Sean Waxman had an interesting response in his newsletter to a question about jumping and weightlifting as it relates to cues. Here’s the question, followed by his response:
“Dave from San Diego asked:
What do you think of the word “jump” as a coaching cue to help people learn the second pull?
Dear Dave:
I’ve used the cue “jump” with great success for many years. Although their are three phases in jumping, vertical propulsion, flight, and landing, I am looking for only vertical propulsion from my athletes. It is during vertical propulsion when the forces are created which create flight. When I use “jump,” I’m not looking for my lifters to actually leave the ground (except in certain supplemental exercises). Instead, I found using the word “jump” has been an effective way to communicate, in a language most people understand, how to apply the necessary extension forces at the ankle, knee, and hip in the proper sequence and in the proper ratio needed for successful lifts.* I believe the word “jump” cues these joint actions so well, in part, because the biomechanics of the vertical jump have been shown in volumes of research to be similar to the biomechanics of the second pull.
About six months ago, after lengthy discussion with Mark Cannella, head coach of Columbus Weightlifting Club, I reconsidered my use of the word “jump.” Mark is a friend, an excellent coach and gets good results without using “jump” as a cue. Since I have so much respect for Mark as a coach, and since his lifters all perform well, I wanted to see how his approach (or at least my version of it) might work for me and my lifters.
So as an experiment, for the last six months or so, I’ve worked with my new athletes without using “jump” as a cue. Instead, I’ve tried to get them to do the same thing using alternate verbal cues and drills that would mimic the actions I was seeking.
While using these alternative cues and drills, I found that my athletes had a more difficult time coordinating the timing and application of forces, causing problems with the tempo, speed, and trajectory of their lifts. Eventually, they learned the proper timing and application of forces, but I feel it’s taken them longer to achieve those results than if we had used the word “jump” from the start.
There are also at least two types of problems that may arise when a coach uses “jump” as a cue. The first type of problem is characterized by a lifter’s heels rising prematurely or a lifter’s weight shifting forward prematurely. I have found this can be easily rectified by telling the athlete to keep their whole foot on the ground longer and to keep their shoulders on top of/over the bar as long as they can. In the second type of problem, an athlete may spend too much time in extension. I don’t feel this is a problem caused by the cue itself. Instead, this is an issue of timing of the pull-under and proper use of the arms. This problem type can be easily rectified by introducing the phases of the lifts in the proper sequence and by using the correct supporting exercises for each phase.
Throughout my coaching career, I have found that there isn’t one coaching cue that works universally with every athlete. Cues will vary based on a lifters learning style, athletic background, and prior weightlifting experience. But at the end of the day, I’ve found that I get better results when I use the word “jump” when coaching the second pull. Other folks may get better results when they use different cues, but this is one that works very well for me.
* Note: We are also looking for specific ranges of extension at the knee (165-170 degrees) and the hip (170-175 degrees) as measured in successful lifts by world-class weightlifters Though we are looking for similar force application at the ankle, we are not concerned with achieving a particular range of extension at the ankle.”