CrossFit Group Class Coaching Expectations: How to Work with Another Coach

Growing up, I hated team sports. I didn’t like being responsible for the outcomes of other peoples’ experiences, and I didn’t like other people being responsible for mine. This disposition was part of why I wanted to become a coach, have my own business, and do it without partners. I loved that every class and aspect of the gym came out of my own expectations and intuitions. But as our gym got bigger, one of the skills I had to acquire was being a better team player. Most CrossFit coaches have pretty strong personalities, which can lead to wanting to control everything—especially when it comes to running a group class. Working with people isn’t always intuitive, and requires practice and clear expectations about each person’s role.

Continuing on in ITA’s series about CrossFit group class coaching expectations, I’ve outlined basic guidelines that allow my coaches to focus on working as a team, and not be sidetracked by logistics while running classes. There aren’t assistant coaches or interns at CFSBK, and everyone has an equal share of work. We ensure that there is transparency and balance between who does what, which goes a long way in avoiding disputes or ambiguity regarding roles and duties. This also provides good guidelines for feedback if there is an imbalance in how coaches are working a class together.

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CrossFit Group Class Coaching Expectations: Coaching

CrossFit founder and CEO Greg Glassman once said: “I can tell you what it is that makes you successful in business, more specifically as a CrossFit affiliate. It’s the blind and relentless constant pursuit of excellence.” On ITA, we never get tired of talking about what we think makes an excellent CrossFit coach. Last year, I wrote about how as an affiliate owner, your coaches are the most important resource you can leverage—they are the brick and mortar of what will make your business solid. Earlier this year, I wrote an open letter to new coaches, emphasizing a few basic principles for getting started on one’s career. And a few months ago, ITA profiled one of CFSBK’s coaches, who shared 10 pieces of advice for other coaches.

Today, we’re continuing on in our series about the concrete expectations I have for CFSBK’s coaching staff during group classes, and these six categories below cover all the behaviors—specific to the unique, complex art of coaching—that I believe every professional CrossFit coach should embody during classes. Each of these categories reflects CFSBK’s own constant pursuit of excellence, and hopefully there will be plenty of crossover for your situation as a coach or affiliate owner.

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CrossFit Group Class Coaching Expectations: Communication

In last week’s article, I wrote about a brainstorming session a few years ago that led me to identify my expectations for my coaches during group classes. I wanted those expectations written in concrete terms so I could communicate with my staff more clearly and get all of us on the same page. As I stated before, I believe there are underlying principles of coaching that are consistent regardless of coaching style, personality, or context, and I now have a basic document that functions as a "job description” for my coaches. Last week, we talked about the importance of timeliness, and today, we’re going to address effective communication.

When I first started teaching group classes after years of training clients one-on-one, I quickly realized that communicating with a class was an entirely different skill that I needed to acquire and develop. Working with groups necessitates clear and effective public speaking skills. Your success coaching at or owning an affiliate is largely predicated on your ability to communicate with groups to accomplish the training goals of a class in a way that engages every member.

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CrossFit Group Class Coaching Expectations: Timeliness

A few years ago, I sat down and thought, “What are my expectations for my coaches when it comes to running group classes?” I wanted to list those expectations in concrete terms so I could communicate with my staff more clearly and get all of us on the same page. I believe there are underlying principles of coaching that are consistent regardless of coaching style, personality, or context. Out of that brainstorming session, I developed a basic document that covers the expectations I have for all of CFSBK’s coaches during group classes. This functions as a "job description," and also serves as a reference point I can revisit to provide feedback in a non-personal way. The document has proven extremely useful. 

CFSBK’s Coaching Expectations are broken up into six categories: 

1. Timeliness
2. Communication
3. Coaching
4. Presentation
5. Tandem Coaching Guidelines
6. Large Class Logistics 

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to deconstruct and dissect each of the categories I’ve listed as part of the job description. The goal of this series is for us to share our perspective on what’s been effective, and for you to either appropriate our ideas for your particular situation, or develop your own. Whether you’re an affiliate owner or coach that’s part of a team of other coaches, I promise that having consistent expectations for your team automatically ensures the quality of your coaching will be more professional and consistent. So, let’s start with Timeliness. 

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Don't Sell Out: Selling Supplements at CrossFit Affiliates

A handful of ITA readers requested that I write about the kinds of supplements and products we sell at CFSBK and why. The short answer is that beyond our training services, we don't sell much else. Like most affiliates, we sell shirts and some other seasonal apparel such as hoodies and sweatpants, which are both fun to design and help build community by allowing­­ members to rep their home gym. Beyond that, we carry lacrosse balls, Kelly Starrett’s book Becoming a Supple Leopard, and the following three supplements: fish oil, magnesium, and vitamin D. We are also a host site for a local Paleo prepared-meal service and three different CSAs. The food service pays us in food credits, and we don't make any money off the CSAs—we just think supporting local, sustainable agriculture is the right thing to do. 

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Bridging the Gap: Using Feedback Forms at CrossFit Affiliates

Seven-plus years in and I still see CFSBK as a continuous work-in-progress. Reflecting back on our earlier years, I wince a little at the way we could have been doing things better, given the 20/20 vision that comes with learning from experience. That's not to say we haven’t always attempted to deliver an excellent service, cared about our members, and poured passion and love into all our classes; but it does mean that we're constantly tweaking our program and experimenting with how we can evolve the gym. Starting a business from scratch involves a lot of learning by trial-and-error. In the broader world of fitness, it wasn’t so long ago that CrossFit was the new kid on the block, and we’ve all had to figure many things out as we’ve gone along. This process of learning and sharing is largely why I started ITA in the first place; if you can benefit from the solutions CFSBK has discovered, all the better.

But part of growing a successful business involves embracing the actual process of growth, and constantly learning to serve your community and population better than any one else can. One of the most effective ways we’ve learned to learn involves soliciting direct feedback from our members. We’ve done this in two main ways: first, by using various feedback forms, and second, by maintaining an open dialogue on our blog.

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The Organic Affiliate Growth Model

I don't really consider myself a "business person" despite the fact that I've owned and operated a relatively successful small business for almost seven years. As with so many others, I got into this profession because I love coaching movement and facilitating the positive impacts it has on peoples’ lives. I knew from very early on as a coach that I wanted to have my own gym, that I wanted it to be something special, and that having fun would be more important than making money. That being said, I didn't really have the money to start a "proper" business from Day One so I had to do it the old-fashioned way and grow it organically. Below are the two concepts that have essentially encompassed CFSBK’s entire business plan from the early days in the park up through today.

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How to Run Large Group Classes at CrossFit Affiliates Part 2

Last week, we discussed some practices and principles that help CFSBK run larger classes in the most effective, efficient, and professional manner possible. We discussed the importance of clarity and how to leverage your coaches in each class. Today, we’ll focus on how programming can create a better management situation in group classes, and share a few strategies about how to run certain workouts and maximize the utility of your space. We’ll also address the pros and cons of requiring preregistration. 

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How to Run Large Group Classes at CrossFit Affiliates Part 1

As CrossFit continues to grow in popularity, affiliate owners and coaches will naturally wind up with far more potential business. When I started my affiliate in 2007, the number of people contacting me about joining the gym every month could be managed on a few post-it notes. CFSBK now has a front desk staff and full-time administrator who manages our membership and deals with the high volume of training requests we get. CrossFit's popularity makes running a profitable affiliate more possible, and whether you're a new affiliate in a big city or an established gym located in the sticks, you're going to have to deal with managing larger group classes. Our next two articles will address just that.

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Thinking Inside the Box: Hosting Events at CrossFit Affiliates

Before I knew about CrossFit, I used to conceptualize the gym I would own as being something unique, something that touched people's lives even beyond central role of improving health and fitness. Part of what fascinated me so much about being an affiliate owner in particular was how CrossFit gyms seemed to be cultural hubs for their communities. They were places where people had BBQs, held fundraisers, and hosted unique and interesting events for their members. Fast-forward to almost seven years into CFSBK’s affiliation and we can safely say that we've done our best to leverage our physical space in order to create some unique opportunities for building a community and contributing to the one around us. In today's article, I'll talk about some of the ways we've used our physical space to enhance our members’ experiences beyond our standard training services. 

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