Cressey Sports Performance Internship Diary – Part 3

I could never fit everything I’ve learned at Cressey Sports Performance into a couple of blog posts. But over the past few months, I’ve consolidated  the most important things I’ve learned into nine traits of great coaches. In part three of this mini-series (read parts one and two here), I’ll cover the final three characteristics that I’ve observed from the coaching staff at CSP.

7. GREAT COACHES POSSESS UNIQUE SKILLS

Not too long ago, I finished reading Cal Newport’s book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You. The book presents the controversial idea that “follow your passion” is terrible advice – something I was shocked to read after quitting a full-time job at an Ivy League university to pursue an unpaid internship. Instead, Newport suggests building “career capital,” defined as rare and valuable skills, so you can exchange them for a fulfilling career.

In other words, you can’t have your dream job unless you’re really, really good at something. So get to work.

This got me thinking that everyone at CSP possesses rare and valuable skills, which is why they work at the best baseball strength and conditioning facility on earth. Sure, they’re all great at coaching and programming, but everyone brings something different to the table. Greg is in charge of speed and movement programming. Tony and Andrew both have a tremendous knack for the personal training side of CSP. Chris offers massage therapy and nutritional counseling services to compliment our athletes’ training efforts. Miguel has brought new perspectives on breathing techniques and energy systems training that have immediately benefited our athletes. Matt is the wizard of anything and everything to do with pitching. George runs the highly-successful morning bootcamps. And Eric, of course, has a deeper understanding of functional anatomy than anyone I’ve ever known.

Even my intern class is chock full of standout coaches. We’ve got a pair of former Division I baseball players, a yoga and Pilates instructor, powerlifters, personal trainers and even a former CSP client. We all bring unique perspectives that compliment each other.

I have to shake my head and laugh when I think back to my frustrations over not landing a job straight out of grad school. What did I expect? I didn’t have any unique skills! Now after spending so much time with talented coaches, I realize that I have to continue building my skill sets if I hope to be counted among the best.

 8. GREAT COACHES HAVE A FILTER

I’ve already touched on the importance of continuing education, but not all new information is valuable. In fact, a lot of info out there is flat-out terrible. Great coaches can easily decipher between useful and useless information.

There’s nothing worse than the trainer who browses YouTube for a few hours, sees a bunch of fancy new exercises and then tries to incorporate all of them into their clients’ programs. Or the trainer that reads that running will make you fat and forbids all their clients from aerobic training. Or the trainer who hears that gluten is evil and starts telling everyone to swear off wheat forever. These approaches not only aren’t helpful – they can be downright harmful.

That’s why resources like Examine.com’s Supplement Goals Reference Guide and Stack Guides are so valuable – they’ve already been filtered by some of the smartest people on the planet. And that’s also why quacks like Dr. Oz, Dr. Mercola and Food Babe are so dangerous – they spout ludicrous information that, if not filtered, can completely derail someone’s health and fitness goals.

I’m always impressed by how the CSP coaches “slow drip” new ideas and techniques. Eric Cressey always says that you can’t just keep adding new stuff to a program – you have to take something out. And you can’t change everything all at once or you won’t know what was working in the first place. Whenever the CSP coaches learn something new, they add it in little by little to see if it works without completely overhauling their approach. This is a fantastic practice for ensuring long-term athletic development, which is often overlooked in favor of short-term results.

Least valued concept in S&C: #LongTermAthleticDevelopment. Emphasis on the long.

— Miguel Aragoncillo (@MiggsyBogues) November 10, 2014

9. GREAT COACHES DON’T KEEP SECRETS

I’m continually amazed by the willingness of great coaches to help up-and-coming fitness professionals. I don’t think I’ve ever asked a question of an established coach or trainer and been blown off. In fact, I’ve never even been told I couldn’t come visit a facility when I emailed about observing for a day.

And as busy as CSP gets, not a single coach on staff has ever been “too busy” to answer my questions or help me with anything. That’s because great coaches are all about helping others. No methods are too secret to be shared. No techniques are too complex to be taught to those willing to learn.

That said, after being on the “inside” for a few months, I’m blown away by how much of CSP’s methods are available to the public for free. If you read Eric’s blog or Tony’s blog, or if you watch their YouTube videos, you get a huge chunk of what goes on during day-to-day operations at CSP, from the programming, to the coaching cues, to the training environment (which includes its fair share of laughs amid all the intensity).

And although the info is out there, you simply can’t replicate the experience of actually being at CSP or the deliberate practice of coaching long hours in a high-energy environment. We have outside coaches observe at CSP on a daily basis and the doors are always open to visitors. If you’ve been putting off a visit CSP or any other facility for some free learning, that’s on you. No one worth meeting is going to tell you, “Nope, you’re not welcome here.” Get out there, make connections and learn something.

SUMMARY

Here’s the summary of these very brief list of important things I’ve learned about coaching while at CSP.

• Great coaches put their hands on people.
• Great coaches don’t skip the little details.
• Great coaches don’t spend their time – they invest it.
• Great coaches remember names.
• Great coaches don’t coach everything the same with everyone.
• Great coaches lead by example.
• Great coaches have unique skills.
• Great coaches have a filter.
• Great coaches don’t keep secrets.

This list merely scratches the surface of what it means to be a great coach, but it’s a start. I can’t say enough about the great experience I’ve had at CSP, so I’m sure I’ll be back with more Internship Diary installments soon.