I have coached for thousands of hours in CrossFit gyms in New York City and Kansas City, Missouri. I have worked with absolute beginners, has-beens, and elite athletes. I believe your time in the gym should be the best hour(s) of your day, whether you’re a coach or an athlete.

Once you have a few hours under your belt as a coach, you can start to fine-tune your skills. We want coaching to be fun, interesting, and enjoyable for you so that it is sustainable. You want to be doing this for a long, long time. There are a few things you can do during your next hour of coaching to improve the experience for yourself and your athletes:

Make them laugh

“Gotta make them laugh, gotta make them laugh, gotta make them laugh.” This time-honored advice is helpful even while you’re coaching. If you're laughing, you know you're having a good time, and if they're laughing, you know they're having a good time. Laughing doesn’t have to be detrimental to the workout. I often say I would rather my athletes make a friend then have a great workout, but I believe both can be done at the same time. Once an athlete has friends at the gym, they are much more likely to come back time and time again.

Ask questions

An hour-long class doesn't have to be a learning experience for just the athletes; it can also be a learning experience for the coach. Don't be afraid to be honest with your athletes. “I don't know” and “let me find out for you” are two of the greatest things you can tell an athlete. You can only really learn how an athlete feels by asking them questions: “On a scale of one to 10, how heavy was that?” “What is your plan for the workout?” “What went wrong first during that rep?”

Also be sure to ask questions about their personal lives. Nothing too intrusive, of course, but it's good to let people know you care about them by asking about what they're up to outside of the gym. Aside from building rapport, this knowledge will also be very helpful when it comes time to figure out how to help the athlete reach their goals faster.

Have fun

If you're wondering if an hour of class is going well, be sure to ask yourself, “am I having fun?” If you're not having fun, it's not likely the athletes are either. Having fun doesn't always have to mean playing games or doing something silly, a lot of times it just means interacting more with the athletes and the athletes more with each other.

Cue in as few words as possible

Shortening cues not only increases their effectiveness, it also makes coaching more sustainable for you. If it's less work, you're likely to do it longer. When an athlete hears a short cue that they can understand and implement, they will do it much better. That's because your brain doesn't really have the ability to retain too much. If you give an athlete a long list of things to think about, they’re very likely to forget most of it, especially if their short-term memory is as poor as mine. You shouldn't ever talk for the sake of talking while coaching a class. That lessens the experience for everyone involved. Athletes will begin to trust you from very basic interactions. You don't ever have to seem uppity, overly professional, or unnecessarily intellectual.

Let them learn

Too often coaches think their athletes learn by listening to them talk. This truly is not the case. Not only are athletes able to commit only a limited amount of attention to a coach in the busy setting of the gym, they are also far more likely to learn physical acts by doing them. If you're teaching a snatch, put a PVC pipe in the athletes’ hands so they can move to the positions you're describing. It doesn't have to be anything heavy, fast, or uncontrolled, but an athlete does need to use their body in order to learn how to use their body.

Come together as a group at least three times

At the beginning of the class, gather all the athletes, but only give detailed explanations for what they are going to need to do next. They're not going to remember things that are coming later down the line, and if you only tell them what's coming next you're going to need to bring them back again to tell them what's coming after that. By bringing class together you make it clear that you are in control, and honestly that's what we want out of an hour-long class. As often as possible, athletes want to turn their brains off and simply do the task they're being instructed. Many of these people lead very crazy hectic and busy lives. They come to the gym to be told what do, so that they know they're getting the most out of the hour.

Give high fives

Physical interaction between humans increases trust, enjoyment, and dedication. It also lets the athletes know that you care about them and their performance. Many workouts we do are incredibly strenuous and tough physically and mentally. Encouragement is a crucial part of an athlete getting the most out of their experience. If they were capable of working out alone effectively, they probably would. They come to a class to be pushed harder than they would push themselves. By dishing out high fives, you're able to provide encouragement they need and encouraging increased interaction between the athletes. When the athletes are working hard to cheer on one another, that's less work for you. Tada.

Learn names

People love to hear their own names. The more you can do to say someone's name, the more they’re going to be invested in your conversation. It can be difficult to learn and retain names, but I have found the ability to increase over time. Play a game with yourself in order to remember names. My fellow coach Matt says that when he meets someone for the first time he does this: as they walk away he says their name to himself 15 times.

“Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle.”

This way he remembers it next time he sees them. When I meet someone for the first time I get their name, repeat it to them, and then repeat it to myself multiple times. Be sure to also use names as you cheer during a conditioning workout. Athletes are probably not paying that much attention to you, but if they happen to hear their name, they are much more likely to work harder since they know you are personally invested in them.

Ask an athlete to demonstrate

By making athletes demo exercises, you make classes less physical and more sustainable for yourself. And asking someone to demonstrate demonstrates your ability to give effective cues, and it also gives the demonstrator an increased sense of purpose. Many athletes will look forward to the day that they can demonstrate a movement on the fly. It's a good idea to prep your demonstrator from time to time, though. Just say something like, “do you mind starting air squats here in a moment?” and it's very likely they'll say yes.

Finish on time

This is truly the most important thing I can leave you with. From time to time, you're having so much fun in class that you run over. Try your best not to make this a habit. Your athletes are able to commit to your class regularly because it's over in 60 minutes (or whatever the given time.) If the class time becomes unreliable, an athlete may have to give up a class entirely. They may need to get back to work or to get home to their families. If you’re regularly holding them over they may have to move on to something more under their control and more flexible. To practice wrapping up in time, consider making a plan timing how long you want each part of a class to take. Here is an example of a well-structured class:

Introductions: 5 minutes
Warm up: 15 minutes
Strength: 20 minutes
Conditioning: 15 minutes
Cool down: 5 minutes

Sometimes you'll have to cut the class short. If possible, give your athletes an opportunity to cool down on their own so they can leave the class with a decreased heart rate and no longer sweating.

Be proud of every hour that you coach. If you ever need inspiration or education don't be afraid to ask for it. The hour our athletes spend in the gym is incredibly important to them. You should take the responsibility very, very seriously. If you have any ideas that you'd like to share, tweet at me @kjs_37. Thank you.