FREE VIDEOS, ARTICLES & INSIGHTS
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Join our coaching community and receive a weekly email dedicated to exploring the attitudes and actions (culture) that has helped AthleteFIT make a positive impact on the lives of our athletes for the last 25 years.
Each week you'll receive a short email with links to:
Impactful quotes or insights that broaden our perspective
A video breakdown of a specific coaching technique
A short article on strengthening the coach-athlete relationship
A FEW EXAMPLES FROM OUR LAST EMAIL...
Dealing With Lazy Athletes:
What I used to think of as negative, lazy or unmotivated attitudes towards my training program were actually misconceptions. Most of the time, it wasn't their fault at all. And after many discussions and observations with my athletes, I discovered that they weren't negative, lazy or even unmotivated. They were just 1) bored, 2) anxious, or 3) disinterested.
Clients get bored when the challenge is well within their perceived competence. Clients get anxious when the challenge is well above their perceived competence. Clients lose interest when they can't see how the activities connection to their perceived goals.
This falls back on me, the coach. I need to create interest, connecting with each clients motives. Then create progressive structures to hold the clients attention. Just outside of their competence, but just inside their belief that overcoming the challenge is possible. This forces them to focus attention on the challenge. In overcoming challenges, they find enjoyment. In finding enjoyment, they commit to the process
Quotes of the Week
Many of my athletes say they are perfectionists. In truth, they’re not perfectionists, their ego just can’t take the feedback. They fear the errors. It’s this fear that becomes the distraction that affects their attention on the task. If they were perfectionists, they would demand feedback for errors and desire to work though every solution.
There is a sweet spot in the attention zone…too demanding we get anxious, to easy we get bored. Both result in a loss of attention… and enjoyment.
To be good at something, we must first enjoy it. If we don’t enjoy it, we will get bored. If we don’t see the connection to our innate interests, we lose focus. If the work seems beyond our capabilities, we get nervous.
The most enjoyable experiences in our lives probably involved some sort of challenge we overcame. It probably wasn’t easy. It most likely stretched our skills, understanding, or willpower to its limit. But afterward, looking back at what we accomplished, we remember it as an enjoyable, rewarding experience. An athlete must give each task her full attention. In this fully attentive state, she locks in on every detail. She processes all the incoming stimuli and feels every movement of her body. With their senses heightened, the outside world fades away. It’s in this state that she learns in the deepest, most effective way.
Podcast Shorts:
Experiences, Culture and Workout Design
In a recent podcast, I discussed how the culture a coach creates is based on how their experiences have shaped their beliefs. I dig into how I design my workouts, and why it's so difficult for me to share them with others.