S05E197 From CrossFit Member to Coach - Coaches Keith Andrews and Tara Porfido on Learning to Lead the Herd
What happens when passionate gym members step into coaching roles? In this revealing conversation, Coach David Syvertsen @davesy85 sits down with Coaches Keith Andrews @keithandrews1 and Tara Porfido @tporf – two CrossFit Bison members who successfully made the transition to becoming beloved coaches at the gym.
The journey from workout partner to workout leader isn't always straightforward. Keith and Tara candidly share the unexpected challenges they encountered, from the surprising amount of behind-the-scenes preparation to the delicate balance of coaching friends they once trained alongside. Tara, with her physical therapy background, and Keith, with his baseball coaching experience, bring unique perspectives on what truly makes someone an effective coach in the CrossFit environment.
"A good coach has the mindset that asks 'what can I give versus what can I get?'" Keith explains, revealing the service mentality that drives exceptional coaching. Meanwhile, Tara shares how seeing members achieve breakthrough moments provides unmatched fulfillment: "I'm that coach who's jumping up and down hands in the air when people hit PRs."
The conversation delves into CrossFit Bison's structured coaching internship program, time management challenges, and the art of effective class leadership. You'll discover why creating the perfect playlist takes longer than you'd think, how coaches mentally prepare for classes days in advance, and why knowing when to start your warm-up is crucial for a seamless CrossFit experience.
Whether you're a CrossFit enthusiast curious about what your coach is really thinking, someone considering stepping into coaching shoes, or a gym owner looking to develop your coaching staff, this episode provides an authentic look at what makes community-centered coaching truly special. What begins as a passion for fitness often evolves into something much more meaningful – a chance to serve others and truly impact lives through movement.
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S05E197 From CrossFit Member to Coach - Coaches Keith Andrews and Tara Porfido on Learning to Lead the Herd
TRANSCRIPT
Speaker Names
David SyvertsenHost
00:05
Hey everybody, Welcome to the Herd Fit Podcast with Dr Sam Rhee and myself, Coach David Syvertson. This podcast is aimed at helping anyone and everyone looking to enhance their healthy lifestyle through fitness, nutrition and, most importantly, mindset. All right, Welcome back to the Herd Fit Podcast. I am Coach David Syretson. I'm here with two very special guests here from CrossFit Bison. I have to my right Coach Keith Andrews and to my left, Coach Tara Porfito, also members of the CrossFit Bison community, Also, from my vantage point, friends of mine. I don't know if they feel the same way, but I would say friends of mine, co-workers of mine and people that I also get to work out with. I just got done working out, so sorry, with the sweat that will probably be filling up my shirt by the end of the episode, guys. But how are you guys? Tara, this is your second time on.
Tara PorfidoGuest
00:56
Yes, thanks for having me back how?
David SyvertsenHost
00:57
are you what's new?
Tara PorfidoGuest
00:58
Good, Not a ton new, just same old, same old. Keeping on with my 16-month-old now, so just juggling life.
David SyvertsenHost
01:08
Multiple jobs yeah, one of them here across at Bison, which we're going to dive into. Keith, you made it my man. You are finally on the Herd Fit Podcast, one of our most avid listeners. Probably some of the best feedback I get about any particular episode is from Keith, whether it's in person or on Instagram, and the guy even has a shirt for those that are watching on YouTube. This is an exclusive shirt that I think you said your mom made for you. Yep, what's up? Welcome to the Herd Fit Podcast. Congratulations for this next monumental moment in your life.
Keith AndrewsGuest
01:41
Thank you. It is a it's a big day. I listened to all 195 episodes, wow, good.
David SyvertsenHost
01:49
Did it so much Multiple times it's an honor to be on. So today we're going to talk about something that's really cool. I've been trying to line this up. I've been thinking about this for a long time and both of these guys were really like awesome main members, people that when they're in your class, when you're coaching, you immediately just feel better. That they're in the class is going to be better because their presence is there, and great athletes as well. And now they're on the staff here at CrossFit Bison and it's really cool to see from the outside like people that used to be members. They came in. I can still remember when they first started and how they got introduced to bison and then, years later, they're leading classes um, staples tuesdays with tara, middays on tuesdays, and, and keith took my friday.
02:35
But that shift has been mine, I think, since the beginning. Friday morning, five, six, seven am. There's a tough shift and they both we knew they were going to take it in stride and crush it and they went above and beyond expectations. I would even say my history of coaching probably some of the quickest comfort levels of coaching and just high levels of coaching, because it takes a long time to get really comfortable coaching big classes especially, and that midday crew is a very we're going to talk about the unique test of coaching midday in contrast to the morning, because that can be, in my opinion, tougher than coaching big classes in the morning, for a lot of different reasons, but these guys crushed it early on. They're still crushing it, and I just want to commend you guys, before we get into some of this that you guys really I mean from bottom of my heart have crushed coaching, and I think it's it actually has elevated our entire staff, have you guys on, and it's rare to see new people come into a 10 year plus affiliate, 10 plus year affiliate and actually raise the level of the gym so quickly like you guys did.
03:35
So I want to talk about what it's like, though, to go from working out with peers, friends, this being a place where you just get to kind of release a little bit, work out, train. Now it's a place where you work. It's a job, there's responsibilities outside of those classes, and I want to talk about what that's like, because I think it gets overlooked by a lot of members that it's not easy to go from I work out with you to now I'm in charge of you essentially at the gym and there's a lot of awkwardness early on. I think that awkwardness for the most part is gone now these guys come in the room. But let's get into just a little bit of some intro. Tara, let's have you go first. Just a really quick you've been on before but a really quick kind of CrossFit start story, like what really brought you to coaching.
Tara PorfidoGuest
04:18
Yeah, so I started CrossFit probably back in 2017. I was in my doctor of physical therapy degree. I was living back at home. I was looking for community and I always, growing up, found community in sports, so it felt like a natural place to seek community and like-minded people, and that's what really brought me to CrossFit.
David SyvertsenHost
04:36
Very common right. Like I just want to be around people that also want to get after it, because it raises you and you raise them. Keith.
Keith AndrewsGuest
04:43
So I have after it because it raises you and you raise them, keith, um. So I have a baseball background. I played college baseball coach college baseball. I met kayla um. We were at courtland and she talked about crossfit all time. I never heard the word og used so much, um, and, yeah, she brought me into a couple classes.
05:05
This is old bison like 2018. You know, I liked it. I wasn't maybe like in love, it was just very different from my like baseball training. It's baseball is very like single leg rotator cuff training work. Crossfit is not. It's snatched olympic lifting um. So after a couple like classes, couple drop-ins, bison used to post their workouts on their website, yep, and I used to pull up the website every day, do the workout, um, pretty much every day, with hopes that one day I'll be able to go to bison. And you know, show people that I've been crushing it. And then, eventually, we moved closer to the area and I've been able to go to bison. And you know, show people that I've been crushing it. And then eventually we moved closer to the area and I've been able to come, uh, pretty much wherever so you were using the cross at bisoncom programming for free yeah okay, so we're gonna have to talk about that now.
David SyvertsenHost
05:55
Sorry, that is funny that, no, I mean I actually, to this day, I still wonder if we should just put workouts out there, because we do have people that pay for the programming. But I like CrossFitcom. You don't pay for that stuff. You go to their website every day and you get a free workout, and I actually like the idea of people outside of our gym doing the workouts. My brother, aaron, is in Wisconsin. He was member number one here and he moved last summer and he can't do all the workouts in his YMCA gym, but the ones that he can do, that's. That's the workout. And I have another brother of mine in New Hampshire who's doing the outlast workouts on his own and I think it's cool. I love having being connected to people workout wise that are not inside this gym. I remember you sending me videos of some of the workouts that you did. Where was that? Was that in a garage? Was it in a shed? It was so tight in there. What was that?
Keith AndrewsGuest
06:55
Yeah, it was. I mean, that was my shed, my parents shed, that I converted into a gym. I was fortunate, before Bison, I've worked at a couple strength and conditioning facilities and they had squat racks. You know everything need, so I was able to do pretty much whatever workout um yeah cool now.
David SyvertsenHost
07:08
So keith baseball background. Tara, you correct me if I'm wrong, were you soccer gymnastics background?
Tara PorfidoGuest
07:13
soccer, I did gymnastics as like a young kid that I soccer and actually basketball a little bit too okay.
David SyvertsenHost
07:19
so those athletic backgrounds, to me it's like all I think about the movement patterns of soccer, basketball, gymnastics and baseball. So many different movement patterns. And I try to kind of project Brock's future. Not necessarily I'm trying to morph him to the CrossFit Game Champion. I mean it'd be kind of cool. But I like the idea of playing a lot of different sports or putting your body in a lot of different positions. Different sports, or putting your body in a lot of different positions. And if you guys were to go back and do it again, would there be a? Would there have been any sports you would have played more? Would you have done the same exact thing? Because you guys are both to me you're not specialists at CrossFit training, which makes you partially a good coach, like you're a Jack of all trades, master of none, tight, like you guys have your strengths and weaknesses. But that background of all these different mood patterns, um, would there have been any different sport that you guys would play different growing up, if you could do it again?
Tara PorfidoGuest
08:11
I don't think so. I think soccer brings in that endurance capacity. Gymnastics gives you a lot of body awareness. Um, not that I did it for long, but I I almost wish I did do it for longer. It just conflicted with the soccer schedule. My parents made us decide okay, pick one, and soccer seemed like the better choice at the time. So I would say I think pretty good. And honestly, as a physical therapist, I see kids who just play one sport and there's so many overuse injuries that like I do think there's so much value in doing a little bit of everything.
David SyvertsenHost
08:41
Yeah uh, what did you? Did you do anything more than baseball?
Keith AndrewsGuest
08:45
Yeah, we played basketball, we played lacrosse growing up.
David SyvertsenHost
08:48
That's huge in Long Island, right, yeah, yeah.
Keith AndrewsGuest
08:50
I think you know if I could pick something different honestly, I don't even know if I would. It's mainly just like a passion thing. What do you love to do? Yeah, and like growing up, we just threw everything at the wall and baseball stuck and that was it.
David SyvertsenHost
09:03
Yeah, I still remember literally throwing things at the wall. I I think I developed my ability to pitch by throwing a ball against the garage for hours at a time all summer every year. How does my kid get a good at pitching? I'm like just throw a ball against the wall over and over, all right. So now that that's like your playing career, your athletic endeavors growing up. So so, now that that's like your playing career, your athletic endeavors growing up, so you're obviously into like that performance, competitive nature at any point Did. Did you guys have coaching desires in your younger years? Like I know it's sometimes it's hard to remember, but I can remember playing baseball and just I knew what good coaching and bad coaching was and I knew how much of a difference it made. And I always remember like, hey, I remember being in high school. I'm like I want to coach someday and even to this day I still kind of want to go into coaching baseball at some point if the schedule ever permits. But did you have a natural desire to coach in you years ago?
Tara PorfidoGuest
09:57
I don't know if I'd say years ago necessarily, like as I was transitioning into physical therapy. I think at its core as a physical therapist, you're teaching people about their bodies and trying to help them achieve a more optimal lifestyle, and that's kind of what the essence of coaching is too. So I think there's a lot of overlap. Is what I was seeking in a career and what I do as a coach now too.
Keith AndrewsGuest
10:21
There's sort of like a natural like when you're done playing your baseball career, um, almost like a pay it forward type of feel that you get, like you almost feel like that's like the next step uh to. You know, you've had good, good, good and bad coaches growing up and you want to be that good coach and good example for younger athletes. So that's where it kind of took for me is after I was done playing at courtland. Um, you know, I got a chance to coach at the college level to basically help the same people that I was playing with. So it's kind of a similar situation.
David SyvertsenHost
10:50
Okay, so it's not your first rodeo doing that. Yeah, yeah, so that's pretty cool. I love the. I love the pay it forward approach of hey. This has made such an impact on me. Why would I want to just keep that to myself?
11:02
And you know, I've always said with CrossFit coaches and we have all different backgrounds on our staff and all the coaches are great and they're all great for their own reasons too. But I have found, both in this gym and other gyms and people that I know outside of Bison, teachers and physical therapists slash people that have coach sports, that combo right there. Physical therapists, therapist because there's a lot of communication. You have to know a lot about the body. You need to really understand, like empathy for athletes and really understand what they're going through. Teachers need to be in front of a room and command it, but don't be, you know, don't take advantage of it, don't be the douchebag. You have to be there as a service attitude. And then coaching is pretty obvious. All those tie to what I have found the most common denominator to be the best coaches in CrossFit.
11:48
And at what point, tara, did you start thinking? Because we both approached you guys. That's the way we normally do it at Bison is we see how you are in and out of the gym, we see how much you love CrossFit, how much you love people, and can you mesh that into coaching? And it's not a skill for everyone. I always hesitate to talk about this in some ways, because I know that people have asked to coach before and for some reasons, in some situations it's not a fit, for simple schedule reasons or time of life reasons or what we currently have on our staff. Because you want to have a staff that is versatile. You don't want a bunch of Dave's or a bunch of Liz's or a bunch of Sam's like you want to have a lot of different personalities on the gym, and that's what we go after. Did you while you remember here at Bison? Were you thinking about coaching ever? Or was it like, hey, they asked me, let me think about this. I want to do it because we did approach you.
Tara PorfidoGuest
12:45
So I would say I did think about it. I think actually, kind of what brought me into teaching which I didn't mention earlier is I'm an adjunct professor at Rutgers oh, that's right. And as a physical therapist you can affect one person at a time right, and I love that. But I always wanted to have a wider scope of that. So that's kind of what drew me to teaching. If I can teach people to be a good physical therapist, then I'm getting more, I'm casting wider in it and I think that wanting to coach is kind of that similar thing. I now get a whole class of people that I can teach about their bodies. It's not quite as individualized as physical therapy, of course, but I can affect more people's lives in this setting than I can in the physical therapy setting. So I really liked that aspect of it and wanted to go there. But what actually drew me my level one I don't know if you remember this conversation we had was actually performance.
David SyvertsenHost
13:34
Yeah, I do.
Tara PorfidoGuest
13:35
It was after the open. I wanted to be a better performer the following year and I said to Dave can I like? What do you think about me getting my L1? I do you think it'll be a good learning experience?
David SyvertsenHost
13:43
that was really what brought me there and in my head I started having a party.
Tara PorfidoGuest
13:46
I was like, yes, yes, but I was never sure that like life would fall into place to allow me to even have the time to coach.
David SyvertsenHost
13:53
So I did yeah, and I actually remember, like you know, we think about coaches all the time, like to this day. We still have conversations, liz and I and ash and I, like we and Sam, we talk about, all right, who's going to make a coach? Who's the next person we want to ask for either gym? And you see, people take the initiative sometimes and I know you didn't get the L1 because of coaching correct, but I think that the fact that you took the initiative to get it to enhance what you are and who you are within CrossFit is a prerequisite, almost because you were. We still want that out of coaches now.
14:30
Like, what are you doing to make yourself better, smarter, what are you doing to? And one thing I keep getting from you, tara, right now, is that you're kind of like that holistic, like, hey, everything should kind of feed into its, into other areas of my life. It's not like this is its own section, other than family. Of course this is its own section, but I would even say there's things I've learned from coaching and doing CrossFit that I apply to being a father and being a husband, and that's that's one thing I look for. Personality trait is that you know how you do. One thing is how you do everything, and if they can feed into each other, you're just raising the tide for all boats, keith honestly sorry.
15:09
Yeah, I was gonna ask, just just so you don't forget the question did you have a vision of coaching at Bison? Because you're not. You're a little different in that you haven't been a member for 10 years, you know like you really came here honestly because of a girl and then we hired Kayla years ago A great hire, a great coach. She's making moves now. I've loved watching her kind of grow up and have a really tight relationship with her. And you came in after that and you weren't a member for a long time and we usually have prerequisites here. But did you ever, were you coming here with that thought at all?
Keith AndrewsGuest
15:51
Zero, yeah, zero thought. Even when you asked me, that was almost probably one of my first times even thinking about the possibility of it. Wow, that's awesome. I don't know, I don't know what it is. I think CrossFit still feels so new to me. I guess the difference between this and baseball coaching was I played baseball my whole life, I grew up. You never master it, but you know pretty much everything there is so that you can teach someone you're not surprised by anything in baseball, right?
16:19
yeah, and like crossfit, I still feel like I have so much to learn and like, so that's why coaching has never crossed my mind, like I need to be able to break down a workout and, like you know, explain the stimulus well. And that takes experience, it takes a lot of time and like just learning about the sport, your floor is higher than most.
David SyvertsenHost
16:39
I would say your floor is higher than mine when I started coaching. Your floor is higher than I think, than anyone we've ever had coaching like. And to put it in baseball terminology to help you understand what I'm saying is like imagine you turn on a major league baseball game today and you see a 19 year old or 20 year old that just got called up from the minors and he's already crushing it and it's like wow, this kid's already a stud, but he's so young he's probably going to get even better because naturally people do. And that's kind of like where you're at in your coaching career and I'm excited for you in that. Like I think the sky's the limit for you as a coach. I think whatever you want to do with it, you'll be able to do, and and youth is a part of that where you are in life. But I also think it's just like that that sport background of understanding it takes a long time and essentially you're never done trying to get better. Yeah, and I think that's a problem I see with a lot of people in and out of CrossFit. It could be training, it could be coaching, it could be teachers that have tenure I remember we always make jokes about teachers in high school like you could tell, like, oh, they got tenure, they don't care about us anymore because or you know police officers that no longer try to be in shape, you know, because they have their job locked in like these things, like the second, you get too comfortable, you probably are going to start getting worse at what you do and and I think that's both you guys are wired to like, hey, I need to get back to the point where it actually might stress you out a little bit, like you might be trying to bite too much. And I look at you, right at you, tarot. I say tarot, take a freaking day, take it, take a week off, you know? Um, but getting into now the coaching component, right, you guys have been around long enough. You've been around coaches long enough. You've been around bison long enough. You've been around coaches long enough. You've been around Bison long enough and you've done this long enough yourself.
18:14
In my opinion, what do you think makes a good coach? And I want to be careful and not put you guys in a tough spot. Everyone has different styles. So some people it's like hey, create the environment, the music, this that People are like I want to be scientific with what I know and what I can teach Other music this. That people are like I want to be scientific with what I know and what I can teach other people are. I want to be inclusive with conversation. There's no right or wrong. But what do you guys think is a good coach? Because that does apply to how you guys are trying to kind of evolve as coaches here at Bison. What, tara, if I had to ask a quick two sentence answer what makes a good coach?
Tara PorfidoGuest
18:50
I'd say a good coach is someone who knows how to push you to your potential and also cares about you genuinely as a person. Like those are the main two things. I don't care what the class is like. If you have those two things like you can make it work.
David SyvertsenHost
19:02
Good, I love that.
Keith AndrewsGuest
19:05
Short answer. I think a good coach has the mindset that what can I give versus what can I get? Okay, say that again. What can I give versus what can I get? Okay, say that again. What can I give versus what can I get. So, like a coach that comes into class and thinks how can I do anything I can to make someone's experience better versus? You know, I don't even know something selfish. You know a selfish mindset, like you know. Why can't I make more? Why can't I get more hours? You know this is too early for me. Yada, yada, yada.
David SyvertsenHost
19:35
Service mentality right, Like I think the best coaches have that like that is wired in. That's who they are when they're coaching especially. You know I'm not going to get into outside the gym personality traits, but I, when you're a coach, you are in charge. We know that it is your room. You know you do control everything the clock, the schedule, the warm-up, everything, all that good stuff but you are still the servant of the room. You're there to help people and I've seen bad coaches not here.
19:58
But uh, to be honest with you, that you can tell their coaching it's like feeding their ego, almost like they love you know telling people what to do it makes them feel powerful. What really like that's a red flag to me. Yeah, to me it's like, hey, you are almost the least important person in the room, Like you are the you you eat last. I'm a huge like leaders eat last type person. And when you see coaches that want to push you to your pen potential but they truly genuinely care about the person, uh, that's when the magic happens here at Bison. I think it happens here every day and you guys are a part of that. Um, what's one standout component you've learned or experienced when it comes to coaching that you did not previously know. So you guys have like the personality traits down right and that's really what drew us to you. But you've been coaching long enough now. What's one thing that you wish you knew at the start, that you now know.
Tara PorfidoGuest
20:51
So I don't know if it's something I wish I knew, but it's something I definitely didn't know Is just how much Is going through the coach's head during a class, like I even just talking to Kristen recently she's our most recent intern coach right now and she was like the logistics of putting people on the whiteboard Prepping for the following class. All of that stuff is going on while you're still giving your full attention to the class, calling times that you need, giving actual coaching feedback. All of this is happening and you're just there working out and you don't even know what's going on. And that's not even to take into account all the lesson planning, making playlists, which takes a surprisingly long time.
David SyvertsenHost
21:33
Playlists.
Tara PorfidoGuest
21:34
But there's so much that goes into it. I think that you just don't realize, and if you're a person like I think most of our staff is, that gives themselves a hundred percent like it really can take more out of you than you realize it is.
David SyvertsenHost
21:46
Yeah, I can. I can feel all the crossfit coaches like nodding and saying amen with their hands up in the air, because you don't realize how much goes into a class and that's why I've always compared like an hour of coaching classes at a gym like this is it's equivalent to you know, I worked, used to work, in the finance world. It's like two to three hours of work like just the, the amount of thought, intensity and things you have to keep track of. It's amazing and you come up with your own system and you guys have took that in stride so well, and Liz did and I'm going to give her a shout out at some point, oh yeah, later on like she had such a good process of of getting you guys into coaching right now and I'm watching with Kristen and that's. I think that's a key reason why the transition has been so well put done by you guys. Yeah, but there are so many elements to it that you just don't realize, keith, what caught you off guard?
Keith AndrewsGuest
22:34
I think the time management piece of it. I feel like I always paid attention to the coach and like thinking about why are we warming up this body part? Just kind of like the previous coaching experiences that I had. I try to like think of like all right, why, why are we doing this progression? But the time management piece like you have to end at a certain time. You have 30 people waiting to get into the parking lot. You know when do you need to start the workout if you have to finish by this time and then a couple of minutes in between for them to use the bathroom, whatever, when do you like? How much time do you have for your warmup at that point? If you're working backwards, what do you want to complete in the warm-up? How long is your whiteboard talk? How long does it take to get all their equipment after the whiteboard talk? And like that took a few to like, probably five to six classes for me to be like okay, I got it down I feel like it's funny.
Tara PorfidoGuest
23:25
You say that because I feel like you're the best time manager out of all of us. I know for a fact when I take keith's that I'm going to be out of there at 10 minutes before the hour.
Keith AndrewsGuest
23:34
He's so good at that, that's because we get the workouts on whatever Saturday or Sunday and not this week. Yeah, true, true. I usually take all week to make a warm-up and then Wednesday or Thursday I'll come in at night and do the warm-up. Pretty much time stamp how long everything took. That's awesome, Like a psycho and like make sure that there's no way that the warmup can go too long, that I can start the workout late.
David SyvertsenHost
24:01
Yeah, that's, and I can verify that because I've been here on, let's say, a Wednesday or Thursday night working out or cleaning or doing a beginner session, and Keith walks in and you know he's here. In the morning he worked out. I'm like, dude, you're not doing this workout again, are you? Like, come on, like don't be that guy. And he goes no, I'm going to do Friday's warmup. He's got his timer out. He's doing all his bandage stretches, his warmups. He's not even doing a workout, he's just practicing warmup.
24:29
And I want people to know that. You know you don't need to have everyone know all the work that you do, right, but I do want people to know that Keith does not come unprepared and Tara does not. Our coaches don't come unprepared. There's a lot of things that go into coaching that you will choose to do. I've never and Liz has never told Keith to show up Wednesday night to do your warm-up and make sure it's on time. That's called taking initiative, that's called being proactive and that's partially why Now Tara's result and we have a lot of people like Tara sometimes you really gotta be in and out, you gotta hurry up. Yeah, and Keith does that out of respect for those people. Again, that's the servant mentality. I bet he doesn't necessarily want to come in on a Wednesday and do a warm-up for a workout that he's not doing, but he's doing it because he wants to make the experience as good as possible. And part of making the experience as good as possible at Bison is you've got to be on time, especially in the morning, for a lot of different reasons.
25:27
So this intern process I was the head coach up until last year when we made a few changes here and we put Liz in the head coach role and she made a lot of a few changes right away, and one of them was she really wants to come up with a structured intern program for new coaches. And I'm a little bit more like, kind of like, let's, you know, do it on the fly, do it on the fly. I'll meet you on Friday. Hey, let's talk about this, let's work on that. Liz had like a checkpoint list that you're going to do this week's one through four, this five through eight Lead the warm-up, lead the whiteboard talk. Here's your cleaning duties blah, blah, blah, blah. Right, and you two were, I think, the first two. How much did that help you? Because I remember Kayla telling Keith that she was like. I wish I had that when I intern. How much did that process that Liz put together for you helped?
Tara PorfidoGuest
26:14
Oh, I thought it was perfect, it was. It just made it so comfortable and gradual. I think, like we said, there are a lot of things that you have to think about, and Liz broke it down into like, okay, think about these things this week, then next week we'll add a little bit more to your plate until your plate was full, and completing the whole class, like I thought she was so organized in that and it's very much my style. So you like I don't know if I would have jived probably wouldn't. It would have to be perfectly honest like it really worked for me.
26:40
Yeah, um, and I got to work directly with Liz. She was always at the cap, the classes I was coaching too, so I bought to have that one-on-one time with her as well, which was really cool. She did a lot of things, even just in working with her, of asking the athletes questions every day, like the first week it was just basic like what do you do for work, just so they could get to know me and I could get to know them a little bit better. And every week we asked new questions. It was like what's your favorite cost with movement, least favorite cost with movement? Um, she, we even asked what kind of music do you like to listen to? To work out, she took notes as huge. Yeah, we spent some time trying to put playlists together, but I think that the way she went about it was really just made it a seamless process yeah, that's what it seemed like for both you guys.
David SyvertsenHost
27:24
It was seamless, and part of it's who you guys are and part of it was the process that Liz put together. Keith, I came in with you a lot on Friday mornings. What did you think about that structure of shadowing, then whiteboard, then warmup? Did you crush your process as well, which Liz put together? How much did that help you be comfortable right away?
Keith AndrewsGuest
27:42
Yeah, it helped a lot. So it pretty much started off. We basically would get there and like learn names with step one, because you know you kind of take that for granted. You think you know everyone's names, but you know you need to know everyone's names.
David SyvertsenHost
27:58
Yeah, I think your first time writing the names on the whiteboard. I think I timed it. It took you like 11 minutes, didn't it?
Keith AndrewsGuest
28:04
Or is it five? It was a really long time, it was 11. So you learn all their names because you need to know everyone's name. You know how can you cheer for someone if you don't know their name. And then you learn their tendencies. You know this person likes to scale this because they have a shoulder issue. You learn, you know where does the coach usually put them for the pull-up bar, like, what type of pull-up bar do they like? And then you get into more of the warm-up and we would run the warm-up and then we run the whiteboard talk. So it was, it was gradual. You got to know the athletes well and then you start to feel comfortable, like okay, this is the time management piece, like this needs to be done here. Um, and I started paying attention to, like you know, I would shadow mike was was coaching Friday mornings and like Mike cues he is truly always coaching and I would pay attention to that a lot and like the cues he was giving for certain movements. So it was gradual and that helped a lot.
David SyvertsenHost
29:00
Yeah, that combination Again I'm just here like teamwork, teamwork, teamwork Like everyone has a role and you guys both learn from really good coaches Like Mike has as much experience as anyone we know, and Liz is just a machine with with how she runs her classes to the point she's still, to this day, shows a half hour early, writes down everything she's going to do on a whiteboard and it's, and you know she plans out her warmups like days ahead of time and spends hours on it and that those are the people you'd want to learn from. And and spends hours on it, and that those are the people you'd want to learn from. And it really does help a lot that you guys got to be a part of their classes while you were doing your thing.
29:34
Now, was it weird for you at first when you start to have to like coach some of the people that you were working out with and Tara, you work out in the morning primarily, so it was a slightly different crowd, but it's still were. You know, I still see them on Saturdays people flip and flop in classes. Was that tough for you to all of a sudden, you know start to be in charge of these people, that you know some of them. They've been here longer than you yeah, oh, definitely.
Tara PorfidoGuest
29:58
I think that was a worry of mine coming into it and I imagine you probably had a similar thought. But, like you said, fortunately I don't coach a lot of the people that I really closely work out with. Most of these people are people that I adjacently knew but didn't really have close relations with, so I feel like my transition might have been easier in that regard. But still, I think being a physical therapist has helped that piece for me, as I'm constantly working with people who maybe are a friend of a friend or a patient referred them. So, like you, have that kind of relationship, and I'm often working with people who are older, younger, so I think it buoyed me a lot of comfort coming into being a coach. That I imagine for Keith, because you worked out in the mornings and also coach in the morning, but that was probably a topper transition for you.
Keith AndrewsGuest
30:45
I would say yeah, I work out at five, six, seven, usually like those are. Yeah, I work out at five, six, seven, usually like those are the people that I work out with. The biggest difference was and I didn't even think about this beforehand was I know these people like you, you work out with them. You never think about if someone is a coachable athlete like you, never. You never think about how they're going to respond to you cuing them until you actually do, and you're going to respond to you queuing them, sure, until you actually do, and you're like okay, I actually have no idea if this is a coachable person, if this is something like, are they gonna like really be like gotta coach, like I'm gonna do this, or are they gonna be like, bro, I know everything you've been giving us for two years, so like that never even crossed my mind. I will say, besides that there wasn't a whole lot of differences.
31:29
I feel like I tried to not act differently. Um, people may have like heard my voice for the first time, but, um, yeah, like you are who you are and I don't think that you should act differently just because you're a coach. Like, the things that we expect from coaches are like. They're a good person, they're kind. You know they, they care about people. It's the same thing that we expect a regular person to be like. So you know, I don't try. I try to act the same as how I normally would yeah, that's huge.
David SyvertsenHost
31:58
Uh, I mean both of your feedbacks that people gave me, like those first two, three weeks, were like hey, you're just you're. They made you made people feel comfortable and I think part of that you know to expect, personality wise, and you also just genuinely care about the people and like I really do think to give any advice at New Coach is like that's like you try to make other people feel comfortable. And if you all of a sudden change and start yelling at people and like belittling them, it's like hold on, keith, this is not you. Or if Tara starts like cursing up a storm every five seconds, like Tara, what are you doing here Now?
32:31
Those early days of being by yourself, you do like the intern process is pretty long here, right, you always had someone there and that kind of has like a safe feeling, like if you don't know how to use the clock, the music goes out or what do I do in this situation? Your first few solo classes were like this is your room, you're the only staff member here, so it's on your shoulders, some pressure there. Can you reflect a little bit on what that was like and how long did it take you to get fully comfortable with like hey, I am locked in, nothing's gonna catch me off guard, I'm ready to rock.
Keith AndrewsGuest
33:06
I think I felt like towards the end of the intern process, when you were there still and I was basically running the show, yeah, I felt like I was ready to take the training wheels off, like I don't know, I felt I felt comfortable.
33:19
There were still things that I was nervous about but, like public speaking, I was getting to the point where I felt comfortable. I had done it before, comfortable, I had done it before. The only thing I was I'm still nervous about is like I want to always make sure that I'm doing a good job explaining to the members and the athletes what the stimulus of the workout is. I'm like really making sure that they understand this is going to be, you know, a hard part of the workout. This is going to be something that's going to be like sneaky and like that's still something that I feel like I need to do a better job of, and like that's the only thing that I get nervous about is making sure that I portray to them what the important parts of the workout are. Um, but besides that, I felt good going into it after the internship yeah, I would agree with that.
Tara PorfidoGuest
34:01
I think because the way liz had structured things, like you guys were there while we were kind of independent- Right, yeah, I think the biggest scary thing is like we such a big shoes to fill, Like we talked about.
34:13
The coaches here are amazing. Like as an athlete, I always looked up to all the coaches and you're just like. I hope I can fill the shoes that they've placed for me because I'm, you know, so wanting to be the best version of myself and I was just hopeful that I could be a part of this team and not let anyone down. I think that's kind of maybe a personality flaw.
David SyvertsenHost
34:35
Yeah that's, yeah, it probably makes you uncomfortable sometimes. I, you know, I still to this day feel that way, like you don't want to let other people down, like you still want to kind of keep you know everything stable and do a good job. And you know, I, I think think there is pressure for all coaches, even people that have been here for a long time like if you kind of get worse or you stop caring, you're not putting as much into it. It gets noticed pretty easily here because most of the classes are very well run and they're very well coached. So if you start to go backwards a little bit, it can expose you a little bit and that does. You don't want anyone stressing out about that, but I'm a big team culture type in that we should all be pushing each other to be better and part of that is uncomfortable and dealing with that discomfort and but also feeding off each other and helping each other and we all take each other's classes. I purposely try to come in and do your classes when I can. I know you guys get to coach you guys sometimes and, uh, you know we give, we can give each other feedback and I don't think anyone's too sensitive to take some, you know, constructive criticism, because at the end of the day, we all want the same thing. You know we want this to be the best possible place. Um, now, to wrap this up, just, I want to talk about the future because I don't only want to talk about the past, and I want to help some other people that are listening that are going to get into coaching someday, because there are.
35:48
Everyone has different struggle points and why they struggle with certain things when they start coaching. But is there anything different for you and be honest about this, about being a Bison member here or a Bison athlete, I should say? Is there anything that stands out in your mind that is very different about being a member now, in contrast to where you were pre coach? And I'll give you an example of what sometimes I, when I'm stressed out or I'm struggling, there's times where I wish I could come here and just work out and like and not get asked. You know, there's times you come in and, hey, this is part I'm not complaining, there's, this is part of ownership and coaching. It's like, hey, dave, something's wrong with the bathroom. Hey, the light went out over there. Hey, dave, did you hear about what happened here. I'm like can I just work out please? You know those kind of things. Is there anything good or bad that has really changed for you, in contrast to your relationship with Bison and Bison's relationship with you, now that you dramatically.
Tara PorfidoGuest
36:44
I think there's just now this underlying piece of you're always a representative of the brand. Now too, you know, I know you care so deeply about the brand of bison and not that I would change who I am, but I there's always in the back of my mind, everything I do here. I'm a coach, I am a representative of this place and I want to make people proud of that and I want to be proud of that as well. So I think that just not a stress, but just like something you notice, like you can't not that I would, I mean if I throw my barbell and like react badly, but you know that if you do, it's representative of who the place is yes and I think that's the biggest thing.
37:27
But beyond that, I've just gotten to meet so many more people and, like I know you've said it time and again like this is an amazing community and it really is and just being able to coach classes that I don't get to really meet those people has been my favorite part about being a coach yeah, the midday to me it's a special group, um, you know, because the mornings it's like has, it's like crowded culture, you know, full classes.
David SyvertsenHost
37:51
The nighttime they're like, they're like a funny group, it's like the end of the workday and like there are a lot of them just like letting loose and it's like a fun environment type thing.
38:00
The midday has changed a lot over the years and I actually I love the midday people. It's like a lot of them like they've been through the morning rigor, whether it's kids, morning work something, and they still have they're still halfway down the day, but they need that like that break, right, that one hour break, and I feel like it's become like a tighter group in the middle of the day and I don't know if that's just the way. I mean that that of gyms and schedules and people that had to come and go change, but it's like I feel like it's a really cool, cool and I'm noticing the class sizes are bigger in the middle of the day. It's like a really cool culture that we have in the middle of the day and those people are they're really unique. They're it's a very, they're very different from each other. Yeah, like it's like the morning has a very specific vibe. The night has a specific vibe, the midday is like. They're kind of all over the place, which kind of makes it understand personality people and goals.
38:49
Yeah, it's, it's cool keith, anything that has changed for you, um, because, again, you're you're a unique situation. You came in here, uh, because kayla was here first. Uh, now you're married in to the bison family, um, and I still I just think your situation is really unique. That has anything really changed for you since you become a coach?
Keith AndrewsGuest
39:10
Definitely nothing negative. I totally agree with what Tara said too. The only well, one of the great things is, like now I finally gotten to know, like truly gotten to know, the people that work out at those times five, six, seven, right and you learn a lot about them, like what they do for like living their kids. You learn what gets them to tick, like what do they respond well to, what do they respond poorly to what's important to them? Um, so you really get to know the members where, before I would come in, I'd work out, crush the workout and then just go home because that was kind of like, I was kind of tunnel vision to like just yeah you know and then you start to see things bigger picture.
39:51
You're part, really part, of the community and I'm very happy about, I'm very lucky that, like now, I feel like I'm now more part of the community because now I know more people and have gotten to know them. Um, negatives, I don't like there is some sacrifice. Like now friday mornings are are coaching like they're not working out or sleeping in, like, um, you may have to coach on a weekend, you may have to come in on a sunday. There is some sacrifice. But at that point you really have to ask yourself why do I want to coach? And like kind of nitpick at it and be like is there anything selfish about why I want to coach? And at that point you should question like, should I coach? Um, so there was a lot of thought before I actually said yes and like, luckily, all those answers were I just want to like be a part of this community and help people yeah, that's a huge part of the initial conversations that we have with both you and anyone that comes to coach.
David SyvertsenHost
40:46
it's like, all right, do you want to coach? Okay. Now the other side to it is there's a responsibility, there's some obligations. You know whether it's an open gym on a once a quarter or how many weeks, how many classes you have to coach Um, can your schedule allow that? And a lot of our part-time coaches have other jobs, full-time jobs. Some of them had jobs and kids and like to add another responsibility.
41:06
It's it's usually a little bit more than than you think. Like we said earlier, this is it goes way deeper than one hour of coaching. There's a lot that goes into it, that that a lot of people don't see, and I think that's a something anyone should consider if you ever want to get into coaching. It's more than just coaching, like those fun classes. Last thing, if you have someone sitting in front of you guys right now that's a member that is eventually going to coach or wants to coach someday, what would you tell them? That is like, hey, this is, in my opinion, this is what you really need to think about, whether it's a consideration of a sacrifice or hey, there's more logistics than you think. What's the one thing you'd want to give them? Advice-wise?
Tara PorfidoGuest
41:46
I think actually really going off of what Keek said is that you have to understand your why. You have to reflect upon your why. That's going to lead you to the decision should I coach, should I not coach? If your why is service-driven, jump in. You are going to find so much joy in seeing people's progress. That is one of my favorite things. I'm that coach who's jumping up and down hands in the air like when people hit PRs. Maybe might be weird to other people, but like that's how excited I get as seeing your people in your classes make progress and you'll get that joy.
42:20
I think you also have to reflect on this is a process that will continue past saying yes to being a coach. Like you said, it's a continuous learning process. I think I've talked to you. I've sent some podcasts to the rest of the coaches. I really like the Best Hour of their Day podcast. They have like coaching development type podcasts. You have to find something to continue to make yourself better, because it's never enough, especially if you're being service driven. You need to be the best version of yourself and the best version of a coach to help the community and if you're willing to do that, jump in. Good for sure.
Keith AndrewsGuest
42:56
Totally agree. I think to piggyback you need to like, before you say yes or whatever, do you truly believe in CrossFit methodology? I think that's a big part of it and, like I don't think you need to be a you know, a diehard CrossFit truther, as you say, yep, but I do think you need to make sure that you agree with the methodology. I think you know you can't be a CrossFit coach and be bashing CrossFit. You know that's not what we want to build here. Right, crossfit, that's not what we want to build here. I think that's an important piece of it. Do you agree with the methodology and are you willing to teach it to people? But besides that, everything Tara said couldn't agree more.
David SyvertsenHost
43:37
Yeah, yeah, I mean you guys embody everything what you just said and at the end of the day, from my perspective, I can project who might be a good coach or who might want to be a good coach or try to always be a part of a team like that. But only you truly deep down know if it's something that you really want to do and your lives change, your passion can change. But I think if, like that baseline common ground of, hey, I want to help people, I want to serve people and, yes, I believe in CrossFit and I want to do it myself, those are the foundations of being a good coach. And then there's some personality traits that come in that you guys obviously exude and we really love to have it here at Bison and I'm just, you know, you guys are you're not even really a year in, because when did you actually start coaching the class solo? Was it the fall? Really a year in? Because when did you actually start coaching the class solo? Was it the fall? Right before the open? So the internship started in the fall issue.
44:32
So it's only been a few months, wow, and like. So I mean that that's. It's really impressive how far along you guys have come. But at the same time and I know how you guys are wired, you're not done getting better, like there's getting better from those points is going to make it even better. And I I'm I'm excited for everyone that comes to Bison that we haven't even seen your best yet and, um, life situations that you've gone through or will go through, that alone can make you a better coach in the future, because I think those are the best. They can take situations that they've been through and apply that to helping others. Um, so I'm really excited for you guys in that regard. So, thanks so much for coming on. Really appreciate it. And no, not every guest is going to get a Hurt Fit t-shirt. Let's do contact Side business. She's making money off us right now. I think it's trademarked, by the way, so just be careful with that.
Keith AndrewsGuest
45:27
All right, thank you guys so much for coming on.
David SyvertsenHost
45:29
That was great conversation and we'll see you guys next week. Thank you everybody for taking the time out of your day to listen to the herd fit podcast. Be on the lookout for next week's episode.
