What Makes a Great Coach, Part 3: Ability to Inspire

In part 1 and part 2 of "What Makes a Great Coach" I talked about the importance of higher education and commitment to excellence. In Part 3 I want to cover what I consider the most important quality a coach can have, (unfortunately it's the one that most coaches lack).


When I was a kid I had a baseball coach named Kim Fors. He was a great guy. Just your regular guy who liked to play sports as a kid and decided to volunteer his time as a baseball coach when he was in his 20's. He was my coach for one season when I was 10 years old. Remember when kids only played baseball for about 8 weeks in the Spring and played a different sport as the seasons changed? That's a rant for another day...... I'm pretty short now at 5'6", (I try to make up for it with a lack of sensitivity). You think I'm short now, you should have seen me when I was 10. When I was 10 years old I was about 2' 8", 65 pounds. I was a pretty good baseball player, always made decent contact with the ball and started at all the infield positions except first base.. I remember getting up to bat one day and Coach says to me "Buck, you're gonna hit a home run". I was never even close to hitting a home run, and at my size, it wasn't even something I imagined myself doing. So of course I looked at him like he was out of his mind and said "I can't hit a home run". He said, "Of course you can, get up there and give it your best shot. I think you can do it!". So I get up to bat all fired up because Coach believes in me. The pitch comes in, I swing, and make the truest contact with the baseball I've ever had. The ball is sailing into the outfield, over the center fielder's head. Of course the center fielder is "playing in" because the little kid is up. Anyway, the ball is flying, and I'm running as hard as my little legs could carry me. I'm watching the ball.. Going, going.... Bam! It hits the top rail of the fence in the deepest part of center field and bounces back into play. (It only ends differently in movies, people. You didn't really think I was going to hit a homer, did you?). I end up with a triple. My first triple ever! Inches from a home run. I will never forget to this day how excited I was and how excited Coach was for me. He said "I told you you had it in you! That was inches from being out of here!". And I believed I had it in me from that day on. Kim wasn't certified. He didn't spend weekends away at baseball coaching camps. He didn't watch DVD's and read books about throwing mechanics. He didn't study the game. But he had the most important quality that a coach can have. Something that's not learned in a book, classroom, DVD, or the internet. He had the ability to get people to believe in themselves, to achieve at a level that they didn't previously think they were capable of. That's what separates a good coach from a great coach. I've had a ton of coaches over the years and Kim is the one I remember above all of them. I can't remember what I had for breakfast. But I will remember until the day I die that one hit and how Coach got me to believe in myself.

I can't remember the name of the catcher that I was having a couple pops with here after the game, but I will always remember the day Coach Fors got me to believe.

I have yet to train the person at Dynamic that I don't have higher expectations of than they have of themselves. My primary goal, and the goal of all of the trainers at Dynamic is to get people to achieve at levels that they didn't think were possible. Not just in the gym. Hell, that's the easy part. I'm talking about the real world. When I see one of our clients take on a challenge like the Tough Mudder, or start trail running, or take up Cyclocross, or make a plan to start tackling all the 4000 footers in the White Mts I take great pleasure and satisfaction in knowing that what we're doing at Dynamic is starting to catch on in their lives outside Dynamic. Massive lifestyle transformations, better eating habits, more activities, accepting challenges they never thought possible. On average we see people about 3 hours a week. It's easy to make an impact on a person for 3 hours a week. I want to make an impact on the other 165. Those are the ones that matter to me the most. And they're the ones that matter most to my trainers. 

In 40 years I'll still be telling that story to my grandkids about Coach Fors and how he got a little 10 year old to believe he could do something that seemed impossible. My mission and the mission of all of my trainers at Dynamic is to help all of you create the same kind of stories for your grandkids. That's what coaching is all about.

This is Why You Don't See Skinny Seals: Tough Mudder 2011

Most of the things I sign up for I have a pretty good idea what I'm getting myself into. And then there are days like Saturday......

People think I'm nuts so they always point these crazy events out to me.. "Here you go, Kev.. The Death Race.. Hahaha.. You could do that.". The Death Race is an event that I almost wanted to do, if for no other reason, they had a great website, "www.youmaydie.com".. The Death Race is at the height of this new trend of "adventure" events where people pay money to have other people abuse them for their own enjoyment. The Death Race is a 24hr event where you have to do stuff like dig a tunnel to China, cut off one of your own arms and battle a wild boar with it until one of you dies. I would have done it, except I've recently decided that I have to get at least 8 hours per night of sleep or I get cranky, and the Death Race wasn't going to allow me to sleep for 8 hours. So I opted for the next one on the list, the Tough Mudder.

The Tough Mudder was brought to me last Fall by Mark Wholey. "Hey Kev, we should put a team in for this.". I thought it was a great idea for two reasons. First, it was a legitimate challenge at what was originally 8 miles up and down the face of Mt Snow with 20 obstacles thrown in the way (turned into 10 miles with 28 obstacles). Other events out there, like the Warrior Dash and the Spartan Race would have been a walk in the park for most of the people at Dynamic and I wanted something that was at least a bit daunting. Secondly, I always try to get people at Dynamic to set specific goals so their training has a focus and purpose. I don't like "Oh, I just want to be fit and lose a couple pounds as a goal". I do like, "I'm going to get through the Tough Mudder even though it scares the living shit out of me!". So I threw it out there as a challenge for people at the gym to set as a goal for 2011. I figured maybe a dozen or so would sign up for it. By mid-Spring we were at 41 team members, the largest team in the event which had 7000 people sign up. Not bad for a small gym in Nashua! The people that come to Dynamic absolutely rock!

Leading up to the weekend, the team was getting together for training events, mostly led by Staci and Beth. As the event got nearer and nearer people were starting to freak out a little. What are you going to wear? What about shoes, should I wear these bloodzilla mocs, or these fuddmuckers? How far do we have to swim? Are they really going to electrocute us? Is there really cow shit in the turd's nest? It was awesome! As somebody who races, I know how worked up one can get leading up to an event, so I was really  psyched to see people getting all nervous. 

Personally, I'm an idiot. I didn't think it would be too bad so I didn't train for it. Plus I was there to do it as part of the team, I wasn't there to do it for time, and I knew I could get through it physically.. Leading up to the Mudder I kept right on going with my regular training on the bike and lifting a couple days a week in the gym. I added sprints once a week. I figured the obstacles would be easy to get through from a physical standpoint. I figured there would be some shock value to freak people out a bit but I don't scare easily so I wasn't real worried about that either. I knew there'd be some cold water. Whatever, I take ice baths for my legs and lower back 4 or 5 times a week after my rides...

Weather turned out to be about as good as we could have hoped for in early May in Vermont. We arrived at Mt Snow and I was expecting a logistical nightmare, but it was possibly the most organized, best run event I have ever been to that had that many competitors. We found the Tragically Fit team and everybody was hanging out, smiling, warm, dry.... Warm..... Dry...... We touched up our face paint, took some pictures and headed off to the start. The guy at the starting line got us completely fired up and sent us off whooping and hollering down the mountain.

First thing we had to deal with was "The Death March" straight up to the top of the mountain. The frenetic pace from the starting line lasted the 100 yards down the mountain, around the corner, and then about 50 feet up. People were already slogging with the hearts beating out of their chest. It was a long grind up. I had decided I was going to hang with Danny Locapo for the race. Danny and I go back about 25 years, he's one of my best friends ever, and I was psyched to be able to do this him. I lost him about 10 minutes into the climb... We re-united at the top and I was determined to do a better job of sticking together after that. 

Only a true friend would paint your nose red for you.

Once over the climb, the mud started coming... And coming.. And coming... And then the water started coming. I think the first water hazard was just getting sprayed with hoses or something annoying, but then we had to crawl through these plastic culverts that descended into this foul smelling muck. By the time you got out the other side of the culvert, there was just enough room to keep your nose out of the water, catch your breath, and then go through another one. It wasn't long after that we got to the "Ballshrinker".. Now, I'm used to having my balls shrunk. Like I said, I've been taking 4 or 5 ice baths a week now so I've been shrinking my balls on a regular basis. My balls were ready for this. The Ballshrinker was a wire traverse through a 35 degree pond that completely submerged your whole body. I was not prepared for this. I couldn't breathe, and it felt like my arms shattered. My balls were fine, they were trained for this. The rest of my body? Not so much. But, whatever, a one minute traverse in 35 degree water wasn't a big deal. Once I get out I'll be fine right? Ummm, no. I wore stuff that really held the water well, and at about 7% bodyfat I was freezing my ass off from this point forward and it only got worse. I couldn't warm up for the life of me, regardless of the effort I would put in on climbs. Teeth chattering, body shaking, looking at people without shirts on or in short sleeves and I couldn't imagine how they were even alive. After another climb or two Danny's knee was really starting to bother him and slow him down, so like any really good friend of 25 years I said, "Sorry, I'm fucking freezing, I gotta go". Brett and Mike came with me and we ended up catching up with another group from the Tragically Fit crew (Kerry, Staci, Beth, Lisa, Nancy, Kim) and stuck with them for most of the rest of the day. I finally started to warmup a little as the sun got stronger and I dried a little and then we got to the "Walk the Plank", a 15 foot drop into one of the snowmaking ponds. But this time I was smart. I took my shirts off so they wouldn't get soaked again. Brilliant! Jumping into the water bare chested hurt like hell, but I don't think it would have been any better with a shirt on, and it really helped to not have my shirts drenched again. 

after walking the plank and swimming in 35deg water with no shirt on, my balls shrunk so far into my body they ended up in my mouth

But it didn't matter for long, we soon got to a gauntlet that you had to pass through where a guy with a high pressure fire hose soaked everybody coming through. I have no idea how the guy lived through the day without somebody beating the crap out of him. Getting towards the end we had to go through more snow, mud and water. I loved the big dunking booths full of ice water and dye. The Tough Mudder crew was there dumping bag after bag of ice into the water. People were coming out of the dyed water with this stained skin the color of deathly pale easter eggs. I got to the final water obstacle (or I thought it was anyways). It was sloped, greased monkey bars over another pool of freezing water. Maybe 24 monkey bars.. 12 up and 12 back down. My fingers weren't working, my body was shaking uncontrollably, and my eyes were glazed over... But you would have had to shoot me dead to get me to fall off the bars and into another pool of water. I made it across.. The rest was blurry.. Berlin Walls, water slides, electric shocks (what a jolt! that felt like I got hit with a plank 3 or 4 times), a half mile epileptic stagger back to the car for a dry change of clothes...

I would've preferred flamethrowers at this point but 10000V will do.

After that it was back to see Michele, Dawn and Sandy come across. I was the one that talked Dawn into signing up. Dawn has been working out with us for about a year now and has completely transformed her life. The Tough Mudder was an incredibly aggressive goal for her and I really encouraged her to do it. After just coming through the course myself, I knew Dawn could do it, but I knew it was going to take absolutely everything she had. I was so thankful that Michele was with her, although to be honest, I was just as worried about her at this point because Michele, cold, and wet are a really, really bad mix.. If there is ever another ice age, Michele will go first, and I will be close behind. I was sitting and watching (and shaking) from the bottom, trying to see if I could see them coming into the water slide above. An hour went by and then another one. It was 6:00. They had been out there for over 6 hours, and I knew with the sun getting lower they had to be absolutely freezing. Then across the way I saw Vince and Jaime get up with their cameras. It had to be them. Michele, Dawn and Sandy came around the hay bales and ran through the electrocution maze. The whole group of them were really pretty overcome with emotion, I might even have had a couple man tears on my cheek. Or maybe it was just thawed ice, I don't know. Others from the Tragically Fit team were running out to hug them and congratulate them. It was really pretty incredible.

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was to see these three come across :)

The whole thing was amazing. I was talking to Danny after and we decided that it was the stupidest thing we've ever done sober. But I will tell you what, anybody who got through it has a level of mental toughness that others could only dream about. To anybody out there who completed the Tough Mudder, you are definitely a badass in my book. I am honored and thankful to have been a part of the Tragically Fit team, you guys showed grit, tenacity, and unrivaled determination and you should all be incredibly proud of yourselves. 

What Makes a Great Coach, Part 2: Commitment to Excellence

A few weeks ago, Conor, Chris, Kyle, Michele, and I travelled to Saco, Maine on a Saturday for an all-day seminar. Presenting were Eric Cressey and Martin Rooney, two of the top names in the strength and conditioning world. Cressey spent half the day presenting on assessment and re-conditioning of joint injuries. I'm not sure I've seen anybody more knowledgeable in how the shoulder works. It was a great presentation and we all got a lot out of it. Then Rooney came on and completely blew our minds. His first talk was "The Art of Exceptional Training", an incredibly motivational presentation. Coming out of there it was like being a little kid on Christmas morning and you just got the toy from Santa that you wanted more than anything and you couldn't wait to tell all your friends. We couldn't wait to get back in the gym and start working with people. It was that inspirational. 

In part 1 of "What Makes a Great Coach" I talked about educational background and a commitment to higher learning. In part 2 I am going to talk about a commitment to excellence. As a coach, a commitment to excellence means that you are committed to improving your knowledge and understanding through constant research, experimentation, and continuing education.

When I interview anybody for an internship or coaching position, the first question I ask them is what they are currently reading. If the only book they are reading is some Steven King novel then the interview is going to be relatively short. Regardless of educational background or years experience coaching, if a person is committed to excellence as a coach then they will have at least one book going at any given time that they are reading for the specific purpose of getting better as a coach. Ask any one of the trainers at Dynamic what they are reading and they will absolutely have at least one or two books they are reading for the sole purpose of becoming a better coach. Books on training methodologies, scientific studies, nutrition, personal development. There is no shortage of books out there written by the very best in the industry.

Seminars, webinars, DVDs, trade journals, and the internet are also valuable resources. I personally attend somewhere between 60 and 80 seminar hours per year and will also watch several training DVDs. I make sure that each of the trainers at Dynamic have the opportunity to also attend seminars that are of interest to them and are directly applicable to the training that we do on a daily basis. When we get a useful set of training DVDs you can be sure that everybody will watch them. The internet can also be an incredibly valuable resource as long as you are able to decipher the good from the bad. Honestly, there is a ton of garbage out there and it's important not to waste time on anything that isn't going to be helpful. I like to find the top 2 or 3 coaches in a specific area that I'm researching and focus on their information. Each of us at Dynamic follow coaches that we really get a lot from and when we find something that really hits home we share the information amongst each other. 

Each of us experiment with what we learn before it finds it's way into one of your training program. I am not going to put something into a program that we have not done ourselves to prove it's effectiveness. I will not put anything into a program that does not have a positive effect on the training program and yields the results that I am looking for. The programs at Dynamic are always under careful scrutiny and are always evolving.

At Dynamic, I have created an atmosphere that allows all of my trainers to have the time and means necessary to do what it takes to become the best coach they can be. I have talked to trainers from other gyms that spend 50-80 hours per week on the floor running sessions. Tell me this, where do they find time to become better? They can't. They never evolve, they burnout, and they become ineffective. You see it in the fitness industry all the time. My trainers spend between 20 and 30 hours running sessions so that they have plenty of time to do what it takes to get better. They have time to read and do research. They have time to workout and experiment with new techniques and training programs. They continue to learn and reflect on how they can be better every time they run a session. They stay sharp and upbeat. They thrive on getting better. My trainers are committed to excellence so that you will have the best experience and get the best results possible when you come to Dynamic.