Thursday, 1 September 2011: Encourage, Don't Coach

"Encourage, do not coach. By all means, offer support and cheer your fellow clients on. But nothing irks the trainers more than when clients offer CrossFit instruction to other clients. Do not do it. Ever. It can be dangerous. And it's certainly aggravating. You will be politely told to STFU."

-Jeff Martin (CrossFit Brand X)

When I first started CrossFitting, I thought I knew so much just by watching the demo videos CrossFit.com posted in the archive section. I even started teaching some of the folks that decided to start training with me how to do these movements.  I combed the web looking for demo videos to further refine my technique and see the nuances of all the movements. I found them alright. And I began relaying that information to my training partners. That was the height of my "blind leading the blind" coaching. After attending my level 1 certification, I realized how wrong I was coaching my training partners. I'm lucky I didn't get my them injured. No amount of video analysis is a substitute for actual hands-on training.

No matter how well intentioned you are, NEVER provide coaching, tips, hints, or advice to a fellow client if you're not a certified trainer. Especially if there's already a trainer present providing the coaching. You're not only confusing the athlete, but you're stepping on the toes of the trainer. Just because you've been CrossFitting for a year and a half and you've found some useful techniques that work for you, doesn't mean they are correct techniques. Let the trainer, who has spent several hundred hours learning proper technique in the movements, do the coaching while you spectate, encourage, and maybe pick up a few useful hints. NEVER make recommendations to a fellow athlete on how to move properly with a trainer present. That really pisses us off.

WOD
3 Rounds for time:
100m Lunge
100m Run
150ft Bear Crawl

RESULTS:
15:25