Coaching

I am not sure if I have commented on this before but I would like to comment on this topic because I get a lot of feedback from my staff and I get a lot of feedback from my clients.

What is a coach?

Wikipedia has a good history on it.
Etymologically, the English term “coach” is derived from a medium of transport that traces its origins to the Hungarian word kocsi meaning “carriage” that was named after the village where it was first made. [3] The first use of the term coaching to mean an instructor or trainer arose around 1830 in Oxford University slang for a tutor who "carries" a student through an exam.[4] Coaching thus, has been used in language to describe the process used to transport people from where they are, to where they want to be. The first use of the term in relation to sports came in 1831.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaching

I like at the very end how it says as a coach you "transport people from where they are, to where they want to be." I love that because that is exactly what you do. We have to understand that there are many different ways to coach, depends on the age group that you are coaching. Examples; kids, high school, college, adults, and also what field they are in. Sport Specific coaching (football/basketball coach), strength and conditioning, personal training, group exercise and the list can go on. Your approach to each of these in my opinion has to vary depending on the demographic of your group. This is obvious; I just hope it is to you. In my history I have coached freshman summer baseball, I have personal trained people from 12 years old to 55 years old, and I have been a coach at CrossFit Omaha for 3 plus years. I have worked with many different age groups and many different settings. I feel I can adapt to whomever I am around to help bring the best experience to each person. I am really only going to focus on personal training and being a CrossFit coach, because those are the fields I have spent most of my time coaching. I may hit a bit about when I coached baseball but I really want to talk about coaching the general public and elite athletes in our gym.

How I coach.

I take a different approach to each individual and I take a different approach to each class that I teach. This doesn't mean I go easier on different people/classes or go harder, I look at how each of them respond to different motivations. I try to connect on a personal level, not just in the gym but what's going on outside of the gym as well. When you start to understand the person and where they come from, then you can personalize your coaching. If someone responds better to negative reinforcement, you will find that out sooner if you get to know them better. If someone responds to positive reinforcement then you know how to motivate and get people to where they want to be.

"Where they want to be” Let’s talk about that. Let’s say someone comes to you and says I want to lose weight and tone up. Who hasn't heard that before? I'm not really sure what "tone up" means anymore but I get where they are going. Magazines use nice words like that to get people to buy their product. They show a man or woman doing exercises (that they really don't do) with "amazing bodies," right? So when people read these magazines they come to me and say I want to look like that. (This more relates to when I personal trained. It still does happen though.) Now I love the goal, don't get me wrong, whatever motivates you to get you moving and putting things to action I love. As a coach I want you to want more, if that is what gets you in the door and starts pushing you to become better, great. I now want you to start educating yourself in how you want to go about doing that, and then ask me questions about what you are learning. I don't want you to start taking supplement after supplement and eating whole grains and low fat diets. This is where a good coach comes in to play. As a coach you need to become educated in all aspects of fitness (granted I know I have a lot to learn but I am pushing myself to know all that I can). Not just knowing what set and rep scheme to give people to achieve a certain goal but to understand technique, work to rest ratios, recovery, nutrition, and different training modalities is just a start. The tricky part is that some people either don't want to work hard to really achieve their goals, because society has said fitness is quick and easy, or people don't understand what they really need to do to get there.

Let’s start with the "hard work" part. To achieve anything great in this life it takes hard work and dedication. If it is graduating from College, raising a family, getting a raise, becoming healthier, whatever it may be you can half ass it and get half ass results or you can put hard work behind it and dedicate yourself and get the best results you can. This is what most people do not understand, getting great things in life is a result (most the time) of hard work. You have to ask yourself what you want out of life or from your goal that you have set. Do you really want it or just saying you do, do you want to do the work, or are you just saying you do, and are you ready to dedicate yourself, or are you going to dedicate yourself until it becomes hard. Some people are misled to believe that losing weight and to better your health comes with taking a pill, or some people are too lazy to actually do the work. You have to look at fitness as an overall well-being. As a coach you have to be able to get people to understand that, which is one of the hardest things to get across to people. They see commercials with celebrities saying I wear Sketchers shoes and clothing that will help me lose weight and tone up my muscles in the right places. They also hear commercials saying take this pill and you can lose up to 10 pounds in two weeks just by taking this pill, you don't have to change anything in your life. They also have the government telling them bad nutritional information and leading you in the wrong direction. With all of these factors pulling them in all of these directions no wonder why people have a hard time believing you (coach).

Coach, you have to do your research, you have to understand why this is good or this is bad, or how can I get you from here to there safely and most effectively. The client will only follow you for so long saying, "Well he/she tells me to do this so I am going to do it." This lasts until they don't see results or hear of this report that came out saying doing squats is bad for your knees. You need to be able to be 10 steps ahead of your client. Trust me that is really hard to do, especially when your client wants to learn and understand so much. You have to have them understand that working hard and doing it "this way" is going to have them achieve every goal they set forth. This is why we are doing this because this, this, and this, and this is why we are eating this way because of this, this, and this. You start to gain their trust and they will be asking you not telling you what they read in a magazine or heard from someone else.

What I see in the community.

I have been blessed to have great teachers and great mentors to look up to in my coaching, especially two at CrossFit Omaha thanks Ricky and Joe! In no way shape or form am I saying I am the best coach or my ways of doing things is the best, but it works for me. I try to take the best qualities from people I look up to and use them in my own way. My top three requirements to being a great coach; great personality, great with people, and be very knowledgeable about what you are talking about. Let’s talk about each one.

Great Personality, this is unique to each individual and group you are coaching. I believe that when you have a great personality (that's not fake) you can reach people on a whole other level. They start looking at you as someone they can trust and be comfortable with. When those things happen you can really get people to do amazing things.

Great with People, this is a must for obvious reason. If you cannot adapt to your people and cannot relate to them then you will have a tough time getting people to let you in.

Very Knowledgeable, you can only get your clients to achieve as much as you know. If you know very little about nutrition, fitness, and so on how much do you think your client will know? Remember your client looks up to you and expects that you know everything, so when you know little you client does not recognize that until they educate themselves. This only hurts your client.

I have seen and heard a lot of bad coaching out there and I think most coaches have one or two of these qualities but not all three. In my opinion when you have all three you put yourself in a great position to become an amazing coach. What I usually see with people is the first two but not the last one. People can be great motivators and connect with their clients but lack the knowledge. There are a few cases that I see people who have great knowledge but cannot connect with their clients. This makes it hard for clients to really excel and get what they want and achieve it for a life time. In the CrossFit community I see and hear many things. I see coaches with great passion, and see coaches with great intentions, and I see coaches with great knowledge. I also see coaches with elitist type attitudes, I see coaches who treat their clients like meat, and I see coaches that have no idea what they are doing. This frightens me because CrossFit and its philosophy are what I believe in and what I love. I don't want that to define who I am by association. I know everyone is going to do their own thing and coach their own way. All I ask is that you treat people with respect and you coach the best way you know how.

What needs to be changed, in my opinion?

You get yourself into a career or a job or whatever it may be that makes you happy. You have to ask yourself why did you get in to this job, do you love what you do or are you doing what you do because you have to. Either way in my opinion you should strive to be the best. My baseball coach in high school once said to me, "Be the best you can be with whatever situation you are in. If you’re playing baseball strive to be the best baseball player, or if you are a garbage man be the best garbage man you can be." No matter what you are doing why not put forth the effort in being the best you can. You have one life, one body, and one chance to do things right. So why not put forth the effort to be the best. So when it comes to coaching, you become the best you can and you do the research because people come to you for answers, and people come to you and put their life in your hands and they want you to improve it. So what needs to change? Educate yourself, don't think you know everything because you don't and will not know everything. If you research and keep researching and if clients ask you something you don't know tell them you will find out, it is ok to not know something. It's better to tell them you will research something then to tell them something you don't know for sure. Coach people with respect, motivate people with respect and remember they are paying you. They can walk away at any point and tell their friends how much they disliked you. The best clients are people who heard of you through word of mouth and if you are a great coach people will talk about you in a positive way.

Conclusion.

Coaches, if you educate yourself and you get to know your clients and have a good relationship with them, you are going to be very successful. There are people out there that want to be helped and people out there that say they want to be helped. You can't help everyone; all you can go is lead them in the right path. It's their choice to take that path, but they will more likely take that path if you fit all three of those categories I mentioned before. I want to be the best coach in the world, I'm not saying I am but I want to get as close as I can.

Grains (Wheat)

Wheat; it's in everything, it's part of our diet (for most of us), and it has been, in my opinion, put on a pedastal in terms of nutrition. We have been told wheat is good for us and that whole grain bread is a good source of fiber, vitamins, and nutrients. The following is what the Whole Grain Council has to say about grains:

Following is the official definition of whole grains, approved and endorsed by the Whole Grains Council in May 2004:

"Whole grains or foods made from them contain all the essential parts and naturally-occurring nutrients of the entire grain seed. If the grain has been processed (e.g., cracked, crushed, rolled, extruded, and/or cooked), the food product should deliver approximately the same rich balance of nutrients that are found in the original grain seed."

http://wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/definition-of-whole-grains

I have been looking at both sides of the story and those sides are either that whole grains are good for you or whole grains are bad for you. There is really no in between. I can't really think of anything that isn't either good or bad for you, when people say it's okay to eat they are simply saying, "Well its harmful, but not that bad." Like grains. When you break down the argument that grains are good for you, you have to start asking questions. I ask questions about all things, which I feel is really the only way you can make an honest opinion about something, otherwise you are just saying it. When it comes to conversation there are beliefs and there are facts. Some people want facts (me) and some people settle for just believing what they are told. When people start talking about how grains are good for you, its a belief they have and not a fact. When someone says squatting below parallel is bad for you its a belief and not a fact. Improper teaching or self-educating is the issue. Either people did not do their own research or they are just repeating what someone else has told them.

I fear that people have just come to listen in this society and to not challenge anything. I love it when people ask questions about "stuff" because it means they are taking an active role in their own development as a human being. When you don't challenge things you are being molded by someone else and not yourself. Again, don't be a dick about it when asking or questioning something, just have a conversation. Even if you are wrong, it's OK. Ask a highly successful person how many times they have failed or were told they were wrong and it is typically several. You learn and then create your own thoughts and opinions, they shouldn't be developed from someone else. Again, people will point you in either the right or wrong direction but ultimately it is your choice to follow a path. Stand by your opinions but don't disrespect someone else's opinion. Educate each other and learn that is the only way we can grow as a society, even if you don't want to believe the other side you must still listen because you may learn something.

Sorry got off track.

Celiac Defined: (defined by http://www.celiaccentral.org)

"Celiac disease is triggered by consumption of the protein called gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye. When people with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging the finger-like villi of the small intestine. When the villi become damaged, the body is unable to absorb nutrients into the bloodstream, which can lead to malnourishment."

Wheat is something that I have eaten my whole life and I have never had as severe of a reaction to it as someone with Celiac, i.e. vomiting, nausea, or diarrhea. So if I don't have a visible negative reaction, why should I not eat grains? Although you can't visibly see or physically feel the negative reaction from wheat if you're not a celiac, it still causes damage to the systems of every person who consumes it. When you do the research you look at two things that pop up: 1. Gluten (& Gliadin) and 2. Lectin. Both do damage to our system. One reason why I may not show signs of anything now is because I could be asymptomatic, meaning it doesn't show effects to my body now but will down the road. Do I want to take that risk? Probably not.

Gluten is found in wheat, rye and barley (oats in some cases) and is the cause of many issues in our system. Our bodies don't know how to digest gluten, so when we consume it, our body then starts to attack itself. It is a substance that threatens our gut, so it sends anti-bodies to defend the threat. Our immune system kicks in and helps correct the issue, resulting in problems with intestinal function, but no structural damage unlike those with celiac, and negative effects on virtually all tissues of the body. Because there is no structural damage to the intestine, these reactions will not show up in a test for celiac or gluten intolerance, as these tests look for atrophy of the villi. This is where belief and fact meet head on. People believe there is nothing wrong with them since they have no reaction or structural damage. The fact is that there is a reaction but the severity is different in everyone, celiac or not.

I was listening to a Robb Wolf podcast the other day and was listening to Dr. Davis, who is the author of Wheat Belly and it was the first time I heard about gliadin. It is a component of gluten. They talked about it being an appetite stimulant and how whole grain breads are one of the worst in glycemic index. They talk about how from the first part of digestion (chewing) your insulin level rises because the whole grain bread turns into glucose very quickly and increases insulin. The combination of the increase in appetite and increase in insulin is a very bad duo. These conditions lead to diabetes, some cancers, obesity, and a whole host of other auto-immune disorders. With all these factors put together why do we make ourselves susceptible to this? Well I'll tell you why, it's easy, it "fills" us up, it's cheap, it's in everything, and the government tells us to. Which are just some off the top of my head.

Lectin is also found in grains/legumes/dairy that can cause similar issues in the body. When you look at nature and you look at how "things" survive, you have to look at the defense mechanisms that allow them to survive and eventually strive. Animals can move, see, attack, hide, and so on. What can plants do? With grains they can't run or move from their predators so they have to come up with their own defense mechanism. In this case, this defense mechanism is lectin. The plant uses this to tell its predators to stop eating it because the "poison" irritates the gut (leaky gut) by attaching itself to the villi in the small intestine and letting partially digested food or toxins into the bloodstream. When the small intestine is damaged then the body starts to try to repair the damaged area. This again in turn creates auto-immune disorders.

Gluten and lectin are two different components, but both cause problems in digestion and problems in the small intestine. Like I said before, some of us may not show these signs now when eating these foods. But again I ask, why eat something that puts a poison in you so you don't eat it again? Take an active role in your nutrition and understand what you are putting in your body. You only get one so treat it well, and it will treat you well.

I've decided to challenge myself starting Jan. 1st 2012 to go 365 days (hopefully a lifetime) on a wheat free diet. You Celiacs say "What's so hard?", I say it's going to be a bit tough because I don't have the fear of my food exiting aggressively. The fear I do have is letting myself down or going back on this. So I guess I have a big incentive. I am going to chart many things during this process to see what changes and how I feel. I will post every night, with the help of my wife because I want her input on how I am doing. I feel as though having a second view on my progress will increase my chances of success. My plan is to turn this into a book, (not sure who would read it) in hopes that it will encourage people without Celiac disease or even people with it, to change their lifestyle and see how things can change.

I've been reading a lot about nutrition and I want to give thanks to Marks Daily Apple and Robb Wolf for making their information available, and I will continue to learn from you and many others.

Great info on these sites:

Marks Daily Apple
www.marksdailyapple.com

Robb Wolf
http://robbwolf.com/

New background

What you think? Its something I have been playing around with. It reminds me to keep educating myself. A reminder everyday right! Yesterday was a reminder how much farther I need to go and how much harder I need to work. I front squatted #250 felt good and should have gone more. The workout on the other hand not my best, maybe my worst. I think I was 330ish, my legs have always been my issue but yesterday was a good reminder. I just fell off. You have those days and you hope they are few and I need to keep on it. My eating has not been good but my reading on eating has been good. That's weird. I have been reading and listening about wheat and how harmful it is. I will be writing more about it and seeing your input. I got to go now but I will have more time tomorrow. Check it out! Our video, shown this before but can't get enough.

Elf on the Shelf

If you have kids and don't know what Elf on the Shelf is I will explain, and recommend you get one. Jen and I were told (can't remember who) about Elf on the Shelf. You get a book that has an Elf inside sent by Santa to look after your kids and your kids can tell your Elf what they want for Christmas. Your kids have to name your elf before he/she gets their magic. Canyon named ours "Buddy". Your Elf flies back at night when your kids are sleeping to report to Santa if they have been naughty or nice, and what they want for Christmas. The next morning when your kids wake up your Elf is in a different place. In the tree, on the shelf, or as you can see in ours in our Christmas Candy.

If you want to feel like a kid again and bring the spirit of Christmas back into your household I recommend you to get an Elf on the Shelf. Now if that isn't a slogan for the book I don't know what is. Its great to have Canyon, who is 3, come in every morning and ask "hey lets go find buddy"! Its great and you and your kids will love it!

Well day 2 on returning to CFO workouts.

#1
"CFO"
For time:
60 Burpees (hand release)

Compare to 100802.

#2
Double Unders, 2 minutes
Sit ups, 2 minutes
Double Unders, 90 seconds
Sit ups, 90 seconds
Double Unders, 1 minute
Sit ups, 1 minute
Double Unders, 30 seconds
Sit ups, 30 seconds

Workout #2 begins exactly 5 minutes after workout 1 begins. Obviously, this means workout #1 has a 5 minute cut-off.

#1- Did it in 3:05 a whole minute and 10 seconds faster than last time. What was I doing last time?

#2- 319 DU's my shoulders and lungs were burning, and 115 on situps, total 434.

Overall Im happy with the day shoulders are going to be sore from the past couple days but now just waiting to what Wednesday is going to be. My suggestion for this workout, find a pace with burpees so you don't stop. DU's shoot big for your first set then find a number you can hit before you rest. I always did about 20-25 DUs after my first set. Situps again find a pace that you dont stop. I hope this helps and I may keep putting up what my strategy was for each workout so maybe it helps people come up with their own.

Jimbo G put this up a little bit ago and I have heard the first 25min and can't wait to hear the last. Its on Robb Wolf's podcast on Wheat.

http://robbwolf.com/2011/08/30/the-paleo-solution-episode-95/

SNOW!

Well we just got hit with a good dose of snow. Here is a picture of Canyon we got to go out and play in the snow and have a snow ball fight and make "foot" prints in the snow (my favorite part of the weekend). It was nice not to get it until December usually Halloween gets nasty. Anyways good weekend to sit around and get a little closer to my sister in-law. We got snowed in while my wife was doing a project. Good time spent with the family and got my first taste of making noodles. I didn't cut my fingers off so successful day!

Back on track with workouts now. I took last week to try to ease my way back into them and saturday started my routine again. I liked doing Front Squat 3x10, Deadlift 3x10, and working on deep handstand push ups and also strict muscle ups. My saturdays.

Today back at noon, feels good to be back but still with JenD and Bob! Seeing if those two months pay off ;).

Skill/Strength

Push Jerk 2-2-2-2-2-2-2 reps
164-184-198-220-230-242-252

Perform 2 push jerks (no split jerks or push presses allowed), increasing in weight every set, for 7 sets on a two minute clock. This will be performed out of a rack.

Conditioning

Every 30 seconds for 8 minutes, perform:
1 Push Jerk, 70-75% of heaviest 2 rep from above
5 Pull ups

1 push jerk at #186
5 kipping pull ups (no butterfly)

It was a good one. I haven't done 80 pull ups in a while so I will probably be feeling that. Push Jerk felt good, worked on going wider with my grip and I liked it. Kipping pull ups got a bit tough at the end, grip just is still a little weak. Want to stay away from butterfly for a bit just to keep my shoulders healthy. Overall great day and it was nice to workout again with my wife, good teamwork!

Addi K, posted a good article on sleep so I wanted to share it here. Sleep is often over looked when training and it should be a huge focus when training and also for you health. As you will read here!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080101093903.htm
Courtesy of Science Daily