Because we are a fitness school centered around providing our students with learning opportunities (in the realm of movement), our discussions around coaching often fall into the realm of pedagogy. Remove the garage-gym setting, trade out wood plyo boxes and barbells for a round table and chairs, and replace diagrams of positions of the snatch with diagrams of the progressions of calculus, and the discussion is the same as what you might find among educators in a university board room: how do we most effectively and efficiently convey concepts and give our students opportunities to learn and integrate? This conversation is at the center of every weekly meeting of our Coaches’ Prep Course.

As a student, you’ve likely observed your coach applying these concepts of pedagogy when they follow a simple progression of verbal, visual, and tactile cueing when coaching a movement in class. The idea is this: just as we are all different learners in the classroom setting, we are all different learners in the physical education space, too. Jennifer absorbs more information listening to her instructor lecture, while Francesca gets more from reading the materials. Both benefit from broader exposure to the information from multiple sources, but their instructor would be remiss to leave any one element (i.e., reading but no lecture, lecture but no reading) out of her presentation of the materials. The same applies in coaching movement. In addition, our practice considers layering complexity: first, a student must understand what they are trying to accomplish and the general best practices around it (verbal); then they must see what that execution looks like when done well (visual demonstration); and finally they must try it out and open themselves to coaching and correction (tactile execution and cueing).

This process allows us to convey the information most efficiently and effectively, and gives you, the student, the best tools to learn and improve. For a fun game, next time you’re in class, see if you can spot when your coach is using each type of cueing. Class is in session!

- PS

3/12/19

• Push jerk - 5,5,5

Then...

• 7min AMRAP:

• 15 cal row

• 15 shoulder to overhead (95/65)