S06E192 Movement Mastery: How Diverse Coaching Experience Creates Better Athletes with Special Guest Kristy Link
Veteran coach Kristy Link returns to share her fascinating journey from CrossFit gym owner to golf fitness specialist, revealing how diverse coaching experiences create better, more adaptable coaches.
With coaches David Syvertsen @davesy85 and Sam Rhee @bergencosmetic, Kristy begins by reflecting on her transition after selling Brazen CrossFit, one of New Jersey's original CrossFit gyms known for its distinctive go-for-broke style and fiercely competitive athletes. She discusses how her coaching philosophy has evolved through teaching different populations – from complete beginners to high-level CrossFit competitors, and now collegiate swimmers and golfers.
The conversation explores the progression of becoming a better coach through diverse experiences. From teaching herself Olympic lifting movements when resources were scarce to eventually training other coaches, Kristy emphasizes how learning from mistakes creates intuitive coaching wisdom. She shares how her background in yoga has enhanced her understanding of mobility and movement patterns critical for athletic performance across disciplines.
We dive deep into golf-specific training, with Kristy explaining why mobility often edges out pure strength for golf performance. The rotational strength required for the golf swing highlights a gap in many fitness programs – including CrossFit – that neglect this critical plane of movement. Through her TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) screening process, Kristy assesses golf clients' limitations and designs programs addressing their specific needs beyond merely "hitting the ball farther."
The discussion touches on the mental aspects of golf performance, the challenge of maintaining focus during a four-hour round, and how physical preparation creates mental confidence. We examine why golf requires a different mental approach than CrossFit, where you can simply "try harder" – in golf, sometimes you need to try less.
Ready to improve your movement quality for golf or any other athletic pursuit? Follow Kristy at KristyLink.com or @Kristy_link on Instagram to connect with a coach whose diverse experience might be exactly what you need to break through your current limitations.
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S06E192 Movement Mastery: How Diverse Coaching Experience Creates Better Athletes with Special Guest Kristy Link
TRANSCRIPT
David SyvertsenHost
00:05
Hey everybody, welcome to the Herd Fit Podcast with Dr Sam Rhee and myself, coach David Syverton. 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'm Coach David Syreton. I'm here with my co-host, dr and Coach Sam Rhee, and we have a repeat guest sitting in between us. Really pumped to have her back. I promised she was going to come back. I also promised I was going to have Sam here this time because last time I screwed up some of the back-end stuff and it was proven that Sam is all the brains behind the Herd Fit Podcast. I'm just the ugly face that stands next to him and talks about CrossFit.
00:47
But, guys, we are bringing back Christy Link, a longtime CrossFit friend and coach and even, in some ways, a mentor, which we talked about last time. She's a personal trainer out of Clifton and one of the coaches in New Jersey on the CrossFit side that has just been around the longest, has the most experience, the most things to share, and she did a great job last time we had her on, so great that we're having her back on and we're going to have a couple of different things to talk about. But, christy, before we get into that, just welcome back. How are you? What's new?
Kristy LinkGuest
01:16
Thanks for having me back. I feel like I need an introduction by you. Like every morning, I wake up because I just feel so like awesome after a day. Nice hype yeah, big hype, man. Everything's good. Yeah, I've been through some you know changes as far as business and as as a coach, and it's been September since I sold the gym, so I feel like I found a little more of a groove now. But, yeah, everything is going good. Definitely a different change of pace, but all good things.
David SyvertsenHost
01:40
Yeah, I mean we, we've been through some changes here and I do feel a big change like that whether it's selling the gym or starting a new thing like you have to go through the calendar to really feel like, all right, this is now like my new flow. It's not a few months Like you got to go through a fall, a winter, a spring, a summer and kind of find your, find your flow. So I'm sure you're still kind of in that process.
Kristy LinkGuest
01:59
Yeah, yeah and in my mind I thought it would happen in like a month. The one thing I'm like how come I don't feel like I'm on a groove yet? Yes, it always takes longer. So I'm excited to see that one-year mark, you know wherever, because I did say, you know, give myself a year, see where I am in a year. You know, if I need to change things, I'll, goes I love it.
David SyvertsenHost
02:24
Now, sam, you know of Brazen, yeah, and that's really like Christy's back, that's like her baby Right and she did such a good job growing that Haven't had as many conversations with Christy. But what are your kind of your memories of Brazen? Because you started F Bison about 11 years ago and that's when Brazen like I just remember looking at them the purple and the orange, just like just loud and strong and really intense at competitions. But what this is, this is the brains behind it.
Sam RheeCo-host
02:54
Yeah.
David SyvertsenHost
02:54
In a lot of ways, and I want to just like what were your reflections on brazen back in the day?
Sam RheeCo-host
02:59
Well, they sort of were the leaders in terms of what CrossFit was epitomizing back in the day. They were big. They were, like you said, brash, like that was their name, right. So they went big for everything. You saw them in, like you knew who the brazen athletes were. It wasn't like they were sitting in the corner eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and being quiet. Like these guys were very, very known. These guys were very, very known and the brazen athletes that had come over like there were a few like Dan Greenberg used to yeah, he's here, right.
03:31
Yeah, he was here this morning, right. Those guys always like I would say the benchmark for those guys were they lifted incredibly well. Like I remember the first time Dan Greenberg came and he was like squatting insane amounts and for his and I was just like whoa. And then, like I remember a workout after the workout uh, maybe it was a bench or something, I don't remember he would, he was doing more and I was like what is this? And he's like that's dessert and I was like what the? What the f is dessert? And he's like that's a brazen thing where we just like finish off with, like you know, 20 reps at a lighter weight or something. Yeah, the same movement Extra. Yeah, just a little extra. And I was like dude, that is not tasty, that's a very untasty dessert. Some are better than others.
04:15
But it's just great because you've actually progressed to where we will be someday, right? Because sooner or later I would assume that maybe at some point we're going to be ex-gym owners, we're going to sell for like a bazillion dollars and move on to our next phase of our career. So it's like it would be really nice to pick your brain and sort of feel like what that transition was like yeah, yeah, and you know you guys were up there with your feelings.
Kristy LinkGuest
04:45
For us we felt right back at you guys and like 908 and CrossFit Hopebook and there's a couple that just really stood out in the beginning and did a good job and really taught movement well and were passionate about it and you know they're still around because of that. You know, and unfortunately a lot of CrossFit gyms are not, because they lacked you know, really lacked that.
David SyvertsenHost
05:06
So kudos to you guys. Also, now, a big part of owning a gym, the Brazen and Bison, all this stuff, right, it stems from coaching. At the end of the day, that is like the secret sauce, right, you could talk about programming community and those are all huge components to it, but the coaching component to you, you're still, after all these years, still training people and coaching them. You know mentally, physically're still, after all these years, still training people and coaching them. You know mentally, physically, emotionally, everything. And I mean I say when you're a coach, you're more than just a coach. You're a therapist some days and you're a sounding board some days. I want to talk about some of your, your journey as a coach, because you've been to a lot of different levels of coaching, because A CrossFit progressed so much in that span from when you started oh my god, yeah can you?
05:46
do you remember some of these early days of of why did you start coaching and what it was like to actually be like hey, this is. I'm not doing this as a side gig, this is like. This is my job. I'm doing this morning, afternoon, night, weekends. I'm really doing this to as a career, to make money and pave a path for myself. Can you reflect on some of that, that the why you started and kind of comparing it to what you are now as a coach?
Kristy LinkGuest
06:11
Yeah, I mean, I think I was always into fitness and working out and you know, crossfit came about and all of a sudden, like it made working out fun, like it was actually fun. Not that I hated working out, I always enjoyed working out, but it was this excitement about working out. So, you know, crossfit was so transformative in the fitness industry even it still is today. You know, I think a lot of things like Orange Theory like kind of spawned from CrossFit and the group fitness experience. But CrossFit just became so fun and it just was what I did and we opened the gym. It wasn't really planned and it kind of just happened and we went with it and in the beginning it was a lot of teaching ourselves because I didn't know how to snatch myself.
06:50
You go to a two-day seminar at level one. You're like you can open a gym. You're like, okay, here's how to snatch guys. Meanwhile I was just ripping the barbell off the ground, trying to get off my head with no technique. But there was also really nothing to learn from. There was no YouTube videos, you know it was hard to to find instruction on that.
07:10
So, um, a lot of it was, you know, teaching myself in order to teach people better. So a lot of it was just exploring, you know, within myself. Okay, well, how do I translate this to somebody else? What am I feeling, you know? Uh, then a couple of seminars would pop up so you were able to, like, take some instruction from actual Olympic weightlifters, right, but I just always liked movement. I, you know, before CrossFit I was a yoga instructor, so I did that for about two years and that was just my workout was yoga. I just know how important movement is and I've just wanted to translate that to other people and show people how to move and feel better. And then again, like, crossfit was fun. Like you know, there's guys who joined Raisin.
07:49
Their wives were like I can't believe he's taking a group fitness class and it is a group fitness class, but it's not like step aerobics, so it was just a whole new way of working out and I just kind of wanted to share that with as many people as wanted to come and try it.
David SyvertsenHost
08:04
Now you have. You've had different roles as a coach, right, like you were, you know, the, the one of the primary coaches, first coaches at Brazen, and at some point you started to have you start training other coaches, right, what is it like to be the main show? You are the coach and then you have to start now training other people to coach. Do you take some of these experiences like these, these lessons learned, the mistakes that you've made as a coach? How much of that did you put into training other coaches? Because at some point, that's what, something you have to do. Right, you're training other coaches and that's huge. Yeah, how did you? What was the differences? What was some of the similarities between that?
Kristy LinkGuest
08:40
I mean, I would just kind of take what I learned and what I messed up on and yeah, learn from mistakes.
08:46
Learn from mistakes. So if I can fast track them learning from the mistakes that I made and just translate the stuff that worked to them, it would help them obviously learn a little bit quicker. You know, just walking around class and saying, you know, I used to do this, but don't do this because of this. So, in case they want to think about doing it, this is why I don't do it anymore. Do this because of this. So, in case they want to think about doing it, this is why I don't do it anymore.
09:05
So it was really just like learning from my mistakes as a coach and what worked and what didn't work, and translating what worked, you know, to them so they can use what worked as opposed to what didn't work. And you know I'm sure they'll learn their own along the way and what works and didn't work. But that was like my best. You know we didn't have like a rule book or a handbook or you know you have to put in certain floor hours. It was just kind of case by case. But yeah, I would say learning from my mistakes and translating what worked to the new coaches is probably the best way.
David SyvertsenHost
09:33
What was more difficult Training people new to CrossFit, teaching them CrossFit or teaching coaches how to coach others? What do you think is? I don't want to say easier or harder. What did you enjoy more?
Kristy LinkGuest
09:45
I think that's a good question. I think I enjoyed teaching the coaches more because it was just another person that can share the love spread the knowledge.
09:56
And they already had a good foundation of movement. We obviously picked people who could move well because they're able to translate that better. Move well because they're able to translate that better. So having them look at it from a different eye, from a different angle, even just from sitting in the corner and watching class, I thought was really cool. And then you kind of see their brains working differently and then they get really into helping people. So I think I got a lot of enjoyment from seeing someone go from athlete to coach and then enjoying helping somebody else move better.
David SyvertsenHost
10:23
Yeah, that's a huge part of looking back on your coaching career is you start off as hey, teaching myself. I'm the expert. Now you're doing this other people, but you actually, in turn, probably end up start learning from other coaches, like, like Sam, how about you with your thoughts on? You started coaching at Bison after we had grown to a certain level, like we were not a small gym. No, you started coaching right. So in some ways, in my opinion, it's easier to start coaching when the classes are small. Yeah, three, four people. You can give them a lot of attention. Now I look at tara, keith, krista now, like they come in new coaches. At bison they got 18 people in class. Oh, the logistics are crazy.
Sam RheeCo-host
11:05
It's like a different level of it's like a different kind of. That was one of the hardest things to sort of get your head around as a new coach. Is the logistics right, like you know where do you sign lanes? Like how tall is this person like? How do you partner this person up? You know all of that, uh, and then like the timing of everything, like how can you make sure you fit?
11:25
Like my first, I would say, month I ran over so many times because I just didn't know how to shut up. I didn't know how to move you know the athletes through things quickly and to focus on what was necessary. And and you fall in love with your lesson plan and you're like, oh, this is going to be like the best warm up and all this. And then you know, so, yeah, there's, there's just a tremendous learning curve. When you don't, when you have to move through three classes in the morning, the parking is a situation where, like, if you don't get them out on time, everyone's like bunched up, they get pissed off and they get mad, and so, absolutely, I think the newer coaches now have a very big cup to fill when they're first learning.
Kristy LinkGuest
12:10
Yeah, I think that's one major thing I said to new coaches. I was like, honestly, this is mostly logistics. It does Like teaching the movements is easy. The clock, the music yeah, all the logistics, yeah, the modifications. Yeah, the technology not working yes, the logistics, yeah, the modifications. And yeah, the technology not working and not freaking out about it and just playing it.
David SyvertsenHost
12:29
Cool, yes, but yeah having a happy face on.
Kristy LinkGuest
12:32
Yeah, yeah.
David SyvertsenHost
12:33
Your, your core value as a coach, because I kind of want to blend these next two together. Right, like you, have been involved in a lot of different methodologies. Have been involved in a lot of different methodologies and I think the more versatile a coach is like even your to this day, I bet your yoga background helps you with a lot of training. And then the crossfit and maybe some of your sport background. Uh, growing up right were you, was it snowboarding? Yeah, so you, you. There's a lot of coordination and body awareness with this Like can. How important is it for you as a coach and any coach out there that is trying to get better, to take all of these past experiences? It could be physically and mentally too. It could be test taking. Honestly, it could be a lot of the stuff that trying to advance an education, do you ever? Are you ever present with that? How, how many of those, how much those experiences yoga, snowboarding, your early days of CrossFit help you right now with what you're doing, which which we'll get into in a few minutes.
Kristy LinkGuest
13:32
Yeah, and sometimes it's like a little overwhelming because I'm trying to fit all these things that I've learned into like programming now and I see something a lot I'm like, oh, I totally forgot. I used to do that. You know, like there's so many different disciplines in my in my mind, so I think for me it's tough to narrow it in with. You know, like I said, sometimes I just forget about certain movements or certain stretches and you're like I forgot about that and so, yes, I kind of I need to like it's hard to reel it all in to a precise like programming.
Sam RheeCo-host
14:01
Are you still doing yoga? How do you like? How does that work in your life right now?
Kristy LinkGuest
14:05
Yeah, I need to do more yoga. I'm not going to lie. That's been one of my goals to try to get to some more classes. I'll do a little just like stretching like 15 minutes on my own, but I can work out on my own. I you know whether it's their hips or their shoulders, so I do kind of pieces of it. I would say now, but I that's, I'm going to put that on out there that I need to get to some more yoga class Accountability.
14:43
I do miss it. I miss it and it's great, and I think everyone should be doing yoga in some some form older you get, the more you realize you should do it.
David SyvertsenHost
14:55
But you should do it. Should I do it like, yes, like I. Every now and then I'm getting more like muscle strains. When I do like a simple thruster, I'm like you're just, and then you go get some treatment. A guy goes you're really tight back here and like weird areas like your traps or your low back. I'm like I've never had low back issues. Well, you're not 25. Yeah, well, you want. You want to get ahead of it and stay ahead of it exactly yeah, performance.
15:13
You also coach at Montclair State. I should say train.
Kristy LinkGuest
15:17
Yes.
Sam RheeCo-host
15:17
What do?
David SyvertsenHost
15:18
you do there, is it still to this day? Yep, okay, what do you train at Montclair State, because I kind of want to touch into that as well.
Kristy LinkGuest
15:24
Yeah, so I'm the strength and conditioning coach for the swim team at Montclair State for about nine years. I think I just burned my ninth season.
David SyvertsenHost
15:31
Awesome, that's really good yeah.
Kristy LinkGuest
15:32
I just finished my ninth season with them, so they have a full gym, the athlete gym, and luckily there's lots of machines, but there's also squat racks and dumbbells, yeah, so I do really just like basic strength with them, not too much conditioning, I mean, they swim their asses off, so I get plenty of conditioning and for them it's really a matter of just taking care of their shoulders, okay.
Sam RheeCo-host
15:55
Very shoulder focused yeah.
Kristy LinkGuest
15:57
So you know, just kind of being mindful of what we do for shoulders, really a lot of stability work, but other than that it's your basic, you know, barbell lifts, power lifts.
Sam RheeCo-host
16:06
So what would be a typical workout for the like on a Tuesday for your Montclair State Twin Team?
Kristy LinkGuest
16:12
Yeah, so we do like an ab week. So monday would either be squatting or deadlifting and then, uh, wednesday it's typically um, push press or bench press, I believe, um, so we would do like we do. This strip took on typical strength sets. We start with like a six by six or five by five and then as the weeks progress, we go, you know, you know six by four, seven by three, um, and then you know, we kind of see how they feel as far as maxing out. But it's always fun for them, they're young and they get, they want to get a number. And then the second part is kind of just like a full body mixture. You know, depending, it's a little tight, tight there for a space. There's dumbbells but there's not like 20 pound dumbbells for everybody. So we kind of have to like do stations. So the programming logistics right, it's a little different. Good programming logistics right, it's a little different.
David SyvertsenHost
16:54
Good thing you're experienced there. Yeah, I'm telling you, I bet your CrossFit experience helped that out. Yeah, 100%, like when I work out with my brothers, I usually bring up dumbbells, kettlebells. If we all afford to get together and I bring up a kettlebell and two dumbbells. Yeah, and it's the same thing, like just rotate stay and you can still get a lot done.
Kristy LinkGuest
17:11
But yeah, I would say it's CrossFit minus super high intensity, minus snatching, minus kipping pull-ups.
David SyvertsenHost
17:19
You're not doing grace with them, right? No or you're not doing a four-time workout. Do you ever do stuff like that?
Kristy LinkGuest
17:27
Not really, just because the format usually is like an AMRAP style. Crossfit will always be a part of me, so I, you know I do a lot of the rep schemes. That's right, because no one wants to do a three by ten, three by ten, three by ten, like that's just so boring. So I still want to make it fun. You know, it's not like the intensity of CrossFit or Grace or Fran.
Sam RheeCo-host
17:47
How coachable are these athletes? Because they're pretty high level in swimming, yeah, but then swimming, but then like coaching in something else. Like, are they coachable?
Kristy LinkGuest
17:55
Yes, so during my time this is probably last last team is, I would say, the strongest, most coachable team, like in the beginning. I don't know you know what changed or obviously they got different athletes in, but the first couple of years it was like a squat, was tough to teach. But they have progressed as athletes and you know I've seen two classes go through from like freshmen to seniors already, so it's a whole different group of kids. So I don't know if you know, younger athletes are just getting stronger. I don't know if it's swimming specific or they're just recruiting better, but over the years the team has become much more coachable, much stronger coming in, even though it's new kids, you know like by their senior year, like they know what they're doing.
David SyvertsenHost
18:40
But, um, maybe it's you honestly like you you probably wouldn't want to say this, but maybe it's like you have set a foundation there, a culture there, that it's just like expectation there, that that, that that's a thing. I I think that's part of what made brazen successful. Like that you knew what you were getting when you went there. You know, like you knew what you were getting when you saw them. You knew what you're getting when you were starting to train there, and I think that's. It takes time, though.
Sam RheeCo-host
18:56
It takes years yeah, yeah to build a culture, yeah you have.
David SyvertsenHost
18:59
You had a culture at brazen. Is there a culture in that kind of environment? Because it's different, right, they're not paying to come work out with you.
Kristy LinkGuest
19:07
They kind of have to yeah, so it's definitely different. And uh, the monday morning 6 am session, no one is no college kid is happy at 6 am on a Monday morning. That's tough.
Sam RheeCo-host
19:20
That's tough for you and for them.
Kristy LinkGuest
19:22
But, and you know, in their defense, they do get up early on the other days to swim. But yes, there's definitely a difference when someone pays and voluntarily goes somewhere or when someone is forced to do something. So there, you know, there is that part of the group that that slacks off and you really have to kind of get them going. But there's a lot of hard workers and you hope that the hard workers less hard workers see the hard workers and they can motivate them. But yeah, there's always the handful like oh, I have to sit down, I'm all right, I go to the bathroom. Yeah, I go to the bathroom.
David SyvertsenHost
19:52
Got to go to the bathroom.
Kristy LinkGuest
19:53
Yeah, I go to the bathroom.
David SyvertsenHost
19:54
Gotta go to the bathroom.
Kristy LinkGuest
19:57
I know I'm taking 12-pound dumbbell kettlebells out of guys' hands. I was like, guys, 12 pounds, like put it back, it's like the size of a paper, I mean. So there's definitely a lot of that, that happens. But there's also the people who really, you know, take it seriously and get after it, the pool records who are going, you know, to the NJACs and, you know, making it to the NCAAs. Yeah, the people who work hard in the gym are the ones that are putting up the better times over the season, you know.
Sam RheeCo-host
20:22
Wouldn't you love to be a strength and training coach for athletes like that? I think that's something you would really love to do.
David SyvertsenHost
20:27
I think so, I think so, I think that's something that would be fun. I'm getting like now Brock starts flag football in the fall and everyone's like are you going to coach him? Like not this year.
Sam RheeCo-host
20:35
What are you going to take them through? Strength and training workouts at age six? Yeah, I know Seriously.
David SyvertsenHost
20:40
I mean Brock is. Brock comes in here His videos. He's trying to figure out what kettlebells he can't move. Yet you know we're already up to the pink one, but no, I think there is a definite pull towards coaching. I don't know about strength and conditioning coaching or actual coaching on the field. I think I have more fun in the latter there, but I do. I mean echoing her thoughts. There's more people coming into college now. Just more physically capable Kids are lifting earlier now and I think there's just much more. And I think there's just much more like CrossFit. The strength and condition field is becoming much more widely educated and known because of technology and YouTube and Instagram. Like it's a really easy. It's easy to learn about training more resources out there and they're good resources and visual and kids love visuals.
21:37
Right, they're not going to be something that I want, then when Brock and his buddies start training I don't know five, 10 years, like I want it to be taught correctly and if you want to take control of it, yeah, maybe I could see myself doing that at some point, but I just think that there's.
21:46
I love how Chrissy's coaching career is general fitness for the people that are trying to live healthy and happy lives, but also for people that are training at a high level to break records in a pool. I think that's a really cool blend, because I do think the best coaches can do both, and you know we've talked about this all the time here Like you should be able to coach competitive athletes right now that are still slinging away behind us and the people that haven't worked out in six years. If you're a good coach, you should be able to do both yeah and um, and not make them feel like they are, you know, bad or too good. That that brings me to what is your core value as a coach? Like what is the? If I had to say one thing, what is your core value? What is it?
Kristy LinkGuest
22:25
just integrity. I mean just not operating with integrity and that was always my business philosophy too just not being a fitfluencer on instagram like selling bullshit, like gimmicky like just staying away from all that, just really like wanting to help people and just helping people with what they need.
22:43
And, honestly, if somebody comes to me and they need something different, I'm not going to take them as a client, Like I'm, like I'm probably not the right person for you. So just generally wanting to help people and, again, not being gimmicky, not trying to sell something and buy this program for $99, do this exercise and it's going to change your life because there's no exercise. It might be fun but it won't change your life. Yeah, just kind of staying true to really just what works basics, helping people feel better.
David SyvertsenHost
23:11
So you don't have a toning program.
Kristy LinkGuest
23:13
I was thinking about starting one.
Sam RheeCo-host
23:15
You guys were just talking about.
Kristy LinkGuest
23:16
Ask if you want to be in on it with me. Can you run a starting?
David SyvertsenHost
23:19
Toning by Christy, get in tone with Christy. So some new conditioning.
Kristy LinkGuest
23:23
If you ever see that, just please kill me.
Sam RheeCo-host
23:25
So you guys were talking about, before we started that there was someone who was like starting a toning program or something like that.
Kristy LinkGuest
23:31
Yeah, it was a conversation I had with a client who went to a group fitness gym not CrossFit and he left because he wanted to get strong. And, you know, the heaviest dumbbell they had was 25. And this guy's 6'5", he's a big dude, so he's strong anyway. And they had an exit interview with him over the phone and the guy's like, well, I want to get stronger, I want to. You know, I want to lift weights. And they're like, well, we're a toning gym. And he's like I'm like, well, if you were a toning gym, then you'd be lifting weights Heavy weights.
23:57
Yeah, it's just like that is funny. The word tone drives me nuts.
Sam RheeCo-host
24:01
It's an 80s term.
Kristy LinkGuest
24:02
Yeah, and it's yeah.
Sam RheeCo-host
24:04
What is your core like compared to Christy? What would your core value be?
David SyvertsenHost
24:07
Being like being, I would say, core value as a coach is simply just trying to like almost dive into feeling their results, like being in touch with them, like emotionally. You know, like I'm all about physical gains and people dropping fat, adding muscle toning or increasing scores and work capacity, but I'm big into how it makes you feel about yourself and I want, and I feel like you have, to feel those things with them as they go. So I really feel like and I don't know if there's terminology behind that of, hey, I want to be actually in tune with your feelings, I want to feel them as well when we're talking about them, because I think, at the end of the day, that is what gets people to come back, that's what gets people back to the North Star. It's like what is your North Star? It's like how I feel and it doesn't need to be what I look like unless that is what you, that your goal is. I'm all about that if that's your goal. But like right now, like I'm starting to get into like more competitive training and I feel better, I'm happier, I feel like I have a North star that answers questions for me when I'm by myself and I have to make a good decision or a bad decision with a drink, with food, with my sleep, and it just makes me feel like more of like a complete person type, and that's what I want to feel, that for others, because I think when you're in tune with that as a coach, it makes both of you better Like I can't tell you how many times I feel like athletes have made me better because of their work ethic and their consistency and their communication.
25:30
So I just that's like my core values. I want to feel what they're feeling because I just kind of rises everyone up. That's like my core values. I want to feel what they're feeling because it just kind of rises everyone up. I want to get into this golf training because I can't get my freaking handicap down and no, but I really golf to me. I was talking about this with guys last night. It was on TV at a bar and it was. It's getting huge now. I just feel like the popularity of CrossFit is much bigger than it was and I think a social media is part of it, like all these YouTube channels and influencers, and it just seemed like there's more guys and girls playing golf now like on a routine basis.
Kristy LinkGuest
26:10
I feel like in the last couple months I've seen that yeah.
David SyvertsenHost
26:13
And I think Christy's onto something with really getting into like I don't know many physical trainers that are really trying to train people for golf and I know there's other elements to it that we'll get into, but I think it's like a really cool thing because we have a lot of golfers here at the gym. We do these outings here and we get like 30 guys. Sometimes we have some really good golfers.
Sam RheeCo-host
26:34
Yeah, yeah, really good golfers.
David SyvertsenHost
26:35
yeah, yeah, really good and they're it's the best golfer is like no offense guys, they're not the strongest or or the best for hand times here, but they're fit. There's a lot of fitness involved in golf and I really want to dive into what, why. What's what pulled you in that direction as maybe one of your next possible destinations as a coach.
Kristy LinkGuest
26:53
I think someone just kind of mentioned it to me. Honestly, I took a couple of months just downtime and kind of contemplating life and figuring out what my next step was. And I think someone just might have said what about golf fitness? And I'm like duh, Like yeah, there's a lot to it, and it's not just like the movement pattern and the strength.
David SyvertsenHost
27:14
Like a lot of the guys, a lot of the strongest guys, I know they don't hit the ball the furthest. It's actually a lot of guys that are smaller that crush the ball. But there's coordination, accuracy, all that stuff.
27:22
And a lot of these foundational crossfit things. Where do you start if someone says, hey, like I want to train for my golf season, whether it's stamina, mobility, what is like one of your go-tos as you watch, and you're a player as well? Avid player what is your go-to for someone like, all right, this is where we need to start with someone that wants to use fitness to get better at golf.
Kristy LinkGuest
27:45
I start first at mobility. So I do. It's a TPI screen it's called. It's a 15 point movement assessment kind of testing everything from your ankles to your neck, mobility, sweet. You start there and just pretty much seeing if there's any physical restrictions. And this is done like cold, no warmup, just you know, can you touch your toes, type thing. So that just checks the full body hip rotation, you know left and right and we see if there's any mobility restrictions in there. Because I think that you know strength and fitness and mobility, it's like they're both good. But I think mobility might just edge out in the golf game. Strength and fitness, because you need to move, you know you need. The golf swing is so unnatural and it requires literally mobility in every joint of your body, like from your ankles to your neck. It's wild when you really break it down.
28:34
So you know, we look at that first and I usually start most people just on a mobility routine and then, depending where they are, like, some people are starting from zero fitness, right from not working out. So I would, you know, start them somewhere different than someone else who came to me who's actually does CrossFit on his own in another state and he does online program with me. So I started him at a different space because he needed to. He wanted to specifically learn how to create more power in a swing. So you know, I'd start him kind of in a different space, moving more towards like building power and how to translate you know a power clean, like what do you think about when you're doing a power clean, even a back squat, like what you can think about doing that in your golf swing? So it's like the mental connection of the two also as well as just the physical connection of you know a power clean. So yeah, it depends, like you know where they are in the fitness world, but I always start with just the mobility assessment on that.
Sam RheeCo-host
29:26
I mean it makes sense to me because your golf swing is what dictates your score. Basically, like repeat, repeat a bill. It's like your technique, so you repeat, like can you repeat that you know 70, 100, 150 times on a golf course and and be accurate with your golf swing? So I've seen people with terrible golf swings but they're very repeatable and they can actually hit.
29:50
So, knowing what your mobility is will dictate how far can you take your backswing, what is your hip motion like? And it will actually probably dictate what a golf pro will say in terms of you need to bring your left hip around first or you need to get your left knee set. So the mobility part is the most important. The strength part, yes, like you will see a Bryson DeChambeau bulk up and then suddenly add 20 or 30 yards to his driver. But I guarantee you, when you go to the golf course you see like four really muscular guys go up to the tee.
30:27
What do you think their golf skill is going to be? Like? Probably not so good. Like I can almost guarantee they're going to be terrible. So strength doesn't translate most times into golf ability but, that being said, durability is probably one of the biggest things you work with with your golfers Because, like you said, it's such a weird unnatural motion and that hip rotation and you see all these golfers like especially pro golfers. Because, like you said, it's such a weird unnatural motion and that hip rotation and you see all these golfers like especially pro golfers, over time they break down a lot and they have a lot of issues.
30:57
So I would say what is it that you do in your training to help golfers prevent injury? Yeah be durable, be able to play 1836 a day for like three days and not like totally destroy themselves yeah, and for the people who currently don't work out, it's the first thing I say to them.
Kristy LinkGuest
31:15
I'm like you're repeating this swing. You're doing the same thing all day, like the same thing you know to a different extent.
31:21
And if you're walking and carrying a bag, it's, you know, a completely different game. So I think, just building a solid, you know nothing. That's crazy, the stuff that you guys do, just solid fitness foundation, solid strength foundation, so you can, you know, walk the 18 holes and then you, you know, so you don't have the breakdown on the swing when you get tired and then you're doing weird stuff and then your back is moving weird, or your shoulders moving weird, or you know, your, your elbows coming out, so, um, yeah, just being able to, I mean, it's, you know you're playing, you're playing out there for four and a half hours, like it's not, it's, you know, it's not an intense endurance, but it's still a form of endurance that you need to. You know, get through around, you know, mentally is a whole different conversation, but physically. So the stronger their physical base is, you know. Just, you know your basic lifts, like your squat, your bench, your power lift, your power clean.
Sam RheeCo-host
32:12
What hurts the most after you finish a round of golf.
Kristy LinkGuest
32:18
My soul. Yeah, we can do it, we should do another podcast on that.
David SyvertsenHost
32:22
Yeah, I was going to ask you, is there a mental training? Yeah, I will tell you, I think there's. I golfed on Monday and I was just telling Chris it was a scramble, and usually in scrambles I kind of go for it more because you know you get one ball in the fairway, you just go for it and it's like you have some of your best drives like wow, if I could do that every time. But I did have in my right lat. It was actually bothering me yesterday at the comp.
32:44
Um, like there was one swing I know exactly what happened, like I really like recoiled and just went for it and like I had a little bit of a strain in my lat. And I've never had that before. I've never hurt anything playing golf, other than one time I hit the ground way too hard and hurt my wrist. I hit a root or something under a tree and I was thinking it's just ironic that Christy was going to come this day on that and I was thinking that rotational strength and ability, that's one thing we don't do a lot of. I was about to say we don't do a lot of rotational movements Almost none.
33:17
Almost none, to be honest with you, and that is a hole and it could be me as a programmer like that. We should find ways to get some rotational strength in. And I want to ask, because I know I videotape my golf swing just like I videotape a snatch, sometimes right, and I think it looks some way that looks completely different. I hate that.
33:38
But one thing I've noticed that a lot of golfers do that I don't know if I'm capable of, is that that finishing like that follow through, like that really full turn rotational strength, because I just can't. It's not there and if I try, like I did last Monday, something gets hurt because it's not there, that mobility is not there. And if I try, like I did last monday, something gets hurt because it's not there. That mobility is not there. Like I've spent all this time mobilizing hips and knees and thoracic for my overhead positions but rotational it's not there and it looks terrible on tape like it's like you can't turn and that's where these big muscular guys getting to a t-box you pretty much know it's going to happen it and it looks awful, like it's a terrible ugly looking swing because you just can't rotate and I think that's something that needs to absolutely be trained if you want to reach your peak in golf. How do you do that?
Kristy LinkGuest
34:21
Yeah, so I was. You know, really there's golf. Fitness is not re-bending the wheel, it's adding stuff like rotation, anti-rotation and really just watching your intensity and volume throughout the week because you don't want to max you out. You gotta lift and play golf next day.
34:36
Like I'm not, I'm not a smart move. Or do Fran, even like I won't. I can't walk after France. I'm not going to do Fran if I'm playing um tomorrow. So, uh, rotation, anti-rotation is huge.
34:44
Um, rotation also, just again, in mobility, like stretching, like separating the shoulders and the hips, and you like stretching, like separating the shoulders and the hips, and you know, spending three minutes in a stretch, that you know is working towards that.
34:54
So that's definitely, and you know a lot of, and maybe this is your inspiration to incorporate some of that into the bison program, cause it's a, it's a plane of motion that is often forgotten, forgotten about rotation and even side bending. There's two things that you most programs just kind of forget about but are super important. I mean, we obviously twist and turn, you know, in our daily life. We just don't do it with like force and load like a golf swing, unless you're a baseball player or something, but it's still a really important plane of motion. So that's one thing that in golf fitness we want to make sure we train, but again, also mobilize, because you know it's the give and take that you know you strengthen the muscle, it can get tighter, so we need to make sure we also are able to keep it nice and loose, so we don't go too far in our backswing and tweak our lats.
Sam RheeCo-host
35:36
I'm trying to imagine a training program, and the only thing I can think of would be like taking a wall ball and like rotating it and crushing twists, a little bit Like you start those things yeah.
Kristy LinkGuest
35:46
Even a lot of band work, like pale-off press. I'm not sure if I just say that right, payoff, payoff, um, with a lot of band work, with rotation, um, you know they make some fancy like tools you can use now but like anti-rotational, like a plank drag or even just like a plank march. You know where you're, you know holding, you're resisting the urge to rotate while still translating all those rotation muscles. Uh, landmines and their minds are great. Good old landmine twists. Yeah, russian twists are great, even just like a push press with rotation. Yeah, there's a lot of places I've kind of added in, like, once you start thinking about it.
Sam RheeCo-host
36:21
Yeah.
Kristy LinkGuest
36:22
But a really important plane of movement. And again the side bend too that a lot of people or a lot of programs just kind of forget about. But I think it's super important for everyone to train that range of motion, especially in golfers.
David SyvertsenHost
36:33
Yeah, and it can go beyond golfers too. Like I think it's really important to again just widen the way, like being versatile as an athlete I think is huge, like you don't want to just be a specialist, especially if you're here for fitness.
Kristy LinkGuest
36:43
And most sports have some aspect of rotation, even if you're not swinging a club, like you know, basketball you're like weaving side to side. So most sports do have some. You're throwing a football, you know there's a rotational aspect to that. So, yeah, going to add some interprogramming.
David SyvertsenHost
37:00
Now, if you have someone that is rotationally strong and they do have a nice swing because I know you're not necessarily teaching people how to play golf- yeah, I'm not a swing coach.
Kristy LinkGuest
37:11
Make that very clear. It's an accessory. I need a swing coach, right.
David SyvertsenHost
37:15
If anyone knows anyone, but if someone does have like the basics down, a good swing and they're mobile, but they want to use you and your training for I want to literally hit the ball further because the game is getting longer now and I think that's just. That's just natural with anything um sports as they develop. Like some of these par fives I see on tv, I'm like 600 yards yeah, it's insane.
Kristy LinkGuest
37:36
Um well, we've talked about, like, um, making a specific ball. Have you heard about that? In the in the pros no it's like a lower flight ball because they're hitting the ball so far. Oh, and these courses? They can't stretch the courses anymore, like their courses are the courses and the tee boxes can't go back anymore. So I don't know if it's going to happen, but there was talk about that, like last year.
David SyvertsenHost
37:55
I just remember watching. I watched Tiger Woods grow up, you know, and I remember his body changed so much as his career went Like he got yoked at one point. And he was kind of the pioneer of like okay, you guys should work. You kind of say like all right, if you want to hit the ball further, because everything else is good, but you do want to lengthen the game. Like are there go-to movements that you would prescribe?
Kristy LinkGuest
38:17
Yeah, and it kind of comes back to the basics, like your power lifts and your Olympic lifts. You know it's not crazy stuff. It's not like standing on a BOSU ball, holding a stick attached to a bungee and twisting. You know it's like generating leg power, like make sure you're making sure your back is strong, like making sure your lats are strong. So it's really it's basic strength stuff. You know it's not really reinventing the wheel, especially if somebody has a good swing, doesn't really have mobility issues and just needs to get stronger. You know your your squat, hinge, push, pull, rotate is. You know really where you start and you assess their strength, where they're at and kind of program accordingly to where they're at.
Sam RheeCo-host
38:54
Do you see? Have you seen, what the pro golfers do, or do you steal or incorporate any of what their training is? What do you think about Rory McIlroy and his training program and what his strength training is like?
Kristy LinkGuest
39:07
Yeah, I mean, they're all a little bit different, but also a little bit similar, and I think it's really interesting the fact that some of these guys will do a full-on workout before a competitive tournament.
Sam RheeCo-host
39:19
Is that good?
Kristy LinkGuest
39:20
If it works for them. I mean, I know Dustin Johnson does a full-blown workout before he goes out and competes. Charlie Hull runs a 5K every day A 5K, that's what she says Wow, that's what she says. Wow, that's what Instagram says. I don't know.
David SyvertsenHost
39:34
That must be true.
Kristy LinkGuest
39:35
Yeah, I mean listen. That doesn't mean to say we have to go do that, but you know, essentially, whatever sport we're doing, whether it's CrossFit or golf, like you know, maybe you don't do a five by five backspot, but maybe you just do some light squats or to loosen your body up. So if it works, you know, if it works, obviously it works for them. They're playing on tours, right, they're doing something right. But I think, just like you, taking that philosophy, like this is what these guys are doing it's okay to lift heavyweight, like you're not going to get too big to be able to swing an off club.
40:17
Um, there's a lot of awareness about how important it is and, again, you don't have to do exactly what they're doing. But like, do a watered-down version, you know, like work on getting stronger, like maybe loosen up a little bit more before your round instead of sitting at your desk all day and then going right to the first tee and like hammer, trying to hammer a driver. You know like that's where you're gonna get hurt. So, um, but yeah, they all have kind of different routines, like I definitely like, look at movements, you know, I'm like oh, that's a good one, or I'm like I don't know about that one.
40:37
But um, yeah, I kind of always just peek around to see what they're doing. But it's interesting that they all are kind of different but there's a lot of similarities too. And then so they're, they're all squatting and deadlifting. You know they're. It's not, you know they're, they're power cleaning they're doing you know the basic stuff and then they're adding you know some rotational and guys at that level probably have like more tools and you know equipment to really you know train their plane of the swing, you know their actual swing, which you know. At that level they'll have that more fine tuned.
Sam RheeCo-host
41:08
Do you do anything in terms of outside of just strength training, like counseling them on nutrition or like other parts of their life, in terms of optimizing them?
Kristy LinkGuest
41:16
Yeah, 100 percent, which for a golfer is kind of difficult because it's definitely a drinking game.
Sam RheeCo-host
41:22
I actually don't like drinking when I play golf. You don't? I don't, really, I don't, I just don't. It just seems like it's such part of the culture, like, if you're not having something, I it seems like it's such a part of the culture, like if you're not having something, I don't know Really, I just don't like to drink, Because I'm not anti-drinking and I don't look down on anyone that does it during a round, but I just don't.
David SyvertsenHost
41:39
That's not where I want to have a drink.
Sam RheeCo-host
41:41
When you played on Monday, were people drinking.
David SyvertsenHost
41:43
No, I was with my dad.
Kristy LinkGuest
41:44
No, oh, okay, I really want to. I'm trying to play well every time I go out there. And one little sip and it's all over.
David SyvertsenHost
41:52
Yeah, right, yeah, Start seeing four balls Like again. I love that Some of these guys have like seven transfusions.
Kristy LinkGuest
41:57
Yes, there's people at the club we play at that I don't know if they can play sober. It's the real, like it's wild. I'm like how are you? You're a foreigner yeah, it's. Yeah, so it's wild, but but yeah, so I do macro coaching with some people and, just like you know, general like are you drinking water?
David SyvertsenHost
42:19
yeah, honestly, it's a long time.
Kristy LinkGuest
42:21
Yeah, there's a lot of the basics. You know, and you know what's. What are you eating during the day? It's a long. It's a long. He's chugging protein chips.
David SyvertsenHost
42:28
Oh yeah, I mean.
Kristy LinkGuest
42:30
God bless him. His stomach can handle that, but all day he's just shake barb. It's awesome, so you need the stamina. So, yes, I definitely work with some people with macros or just kind of just giving them general advice, because if you want to perform better, you got to recover better, whether it's on the course or in the gym.
David SyvertsenHost
42:50
Anything performance-based, whether it's on the course or in the gym, anything performance-based and I know not everyone that golfs is like a competitive golfer, but most people I golf with do get frustrated every time they play golf because they're not performing right Anything performance-based. Recovery needs to be a part of your thought, your ethos, and I do think four to four and a half hours is a really long time in the sun where you're not like I've had had this like you go to the turn, you get a sandwich and you immediately just feel like, all right, I got some energy, yeah.
Kristy LinkGuest
43:18
Yeah.
David SyvertsenHost
43:18
So that that there probably does need to be some thought into the stamina endurance factor. That centers around your ability to recover, and ability to recover very much has to do with hydration and eating and so that. But in regard to stamina endurance, how, that's a hard thing to train, but it should be trained, because I know a lot of people that are good at golfers but they're just not in good shape. Two hours in they just get tired.
43:41
And I'm like how are you tired? You're literally driving a car to your ball, but people walking up and down in hills and looking for the ball in the woods I mean, god forbid if you are walking on the course that can absolutely wear you out. How much of that should people put? How much thought should people put into getting their, their conditioning better, their endurance better? Because I feel like that gets neglected by a lot, because it honestly it sucks. To train, it takes a long time yeah, yeah, and it's.
Kristy LinkGuest
44:12
You know, golf is usually has been considered a leisurely sport, so it's really not. Oh, I got a train to play golf. You know this is like a recreational leisure sport, but, like you're saying, it's four hours, it's really not. Oh, I got to train to play golf. You know this is like a recreational leisure sport, but like you're saying, it's four hours, it's like it's a lot.
44:24
You know it's a long day and depending how much you're walking. And yeah, this it's really just getting people on a routine you know um. You know, even just getting stronger is going to help your endurance. So you know, you're just going for more walks, like outside of playing golf, is going to help.
Sam RheeCo-host
44:41
So just really, the more you can improve your general fitness, the more your better your endurance will be on the course, you know do you train men and women differently, or is it sort of the same for each gender in terms of golf training, or is it just completely customized to the individual and gender doesn't make any difference?
Kristy LinkGuest
45:01
Yeah, I would say it's completely customized. Gender doesn't really make a difference. It really just depends where they're at, like what they need more, whether it's mobility, whether it's strength, whether they're just starting off, whether they've been working out. So it's really just like a case-by-case basis. But really good question for sure.
David SyvertsenHost
45:17
Do you have? Have you been picking up on any trends? Like it's not been a long time of doing this, but have you picked up on like Ooh, these we just talked about trends as we grow out last over here. Like we're hearing this over and over. Let's put some thought and attention to it. Are there any things that you're picking up on yet that you are seeing kind of like all right, this is a bit of a trend, this is common.
Kristy LinkGuest
45:35
Let's put a little bit more thought into this as far as golf books yeah, with training golfers, yeah um, I've seen I mean I've seen in good trends and bad trend. You know, I see the gimmicky trends, you know, where people are just trying to sell, like a you know some, some stick that'll help you improve, right? Or some you know magic oh, I have the magic. Uh drill that'll you'll give these seven strokes less. And it's in a play. Just do it in 10, 10 minutes. They're like really.
David SyvertsenHost
46:00
What was that? Okay, we're good.
Kristy LinkGuest
46:04
Yeah, so there's that, like you know. I would say more about the negative trend, but there's also a trend, you know, with some bigger golf trainers out there that they're saying train like an athlete.
46:13
You know, they're doing rotation. So there is a lot the that going on saying that like you need to get stronger, you're not going to get too strong for your own good, like it's very hard to get too strong for your own good, um, so there is, which I think is a positive thing. It's there's more golf fitness out there. There's more, you know, accounts. There's more programs. There's online programs. There's facilities, um, and they're yeah, they're, you know, functional fitness. They're. You know it's trained like an athlete, just like a football player, you know. Like you know, and maybe just kind of your basis of training is the same as a football player and then you just kind of tweak the skill levels on top, you know what is your golf game like?
Sam RheeCo-host
46:55
so are you someone who you? Know who can talk about that because I mean it was not on the outline, just because I would imagine these people like obviously you, you are very fit, you, you look really fit. So like when a client comes to you they're like oh yeah, you look really fit. But then some of them might be like oh yeah, but like what's your handy?
Kristy LinkGuest
47:16
like yeah, it's a little stressful situation for me. I'm not gonna lie to lie. So I started older. I started as an adult. My husband got me into it and I knew nothing about golf like when I was growing up, so I took lots of lessons. Shout out to Tyler Hall I still take lessons with him, so it's gotten better. I'm a 17 right now. I hover between like 17, 18, which I think is like manageable.
David SyvertsenHost
47:37
Yeah, which I think is like manageable. Yeah, yeah, that's real golf.
Kristy LinkGuest
47:40
Yeah, so you know, I I feel like I know enough and I know enough about the swing, or I can. You know? Someone doesn't look at me. I'm like, oh my God, I'm looking for swings. I'm not listening to her. So, you know, I feel like I can hold my own on the golf course.
David SyvertsenHost
47:57
It's like coaching CrossFit. It's like, are you a games athlete? It's like no, but I could still teach it, coach it, and you move well and you put time on it. Because, again, I think the example you said is more important than what your handicap is.
48:09
Exactly Last part here, because golf we all know this is very much in between the ears. Now, yes, you need to know how to swing. It helps to be strong and stable and durable. I like that word, sam um. You need to have good endurance. Is it like I don't even know? Do you go into that? Because I get into some of the thinking, the mental process of crossfit when I coach people. I absolutely do, um, but it's hard because that has more to do with, like, grit and and focus right like it's hard to teach grit on the golf course, like have you dive into that or not really yet.
Kristy LinkGuest
48:44
Not really, but it's a really interesting point and I use this example a lot is that it's like a game where you can't really try harder. Yeah, like if you and I were to fight for competition. And you're rowing next to me and I'm here and I see you going faster. I'm going to try harder. I'm here and I see you going faster. I'm going to try harder. I'm going to pull faster, just physically pull faster.
Sam RheeCo-host
49:00
And you'll do better and you'll do better.
Kristy LinkGuest
49:02
You'll see like an immediate result and your immediate results will go faster, but like you're sitting there over the ball, you can't try harder.
Sam RheeCo-host
49:10
You almost have to try less.
Kristy LinkGuest
49:12
So it's really yeah. Yeah, it's very interesting. It's like you're like oh, you're an athlete, you should be good, and I'm like, yeah, but it's not like any other athletic sport. I've ever played in my life?
David SyvertsenHost
49:21
Yeah, we have a slow moving and yeah we have a mindfulness coach here, rafi.
49:27
He's come on a few times and he actually works with a golf team at Columbia. His job there is to work with them mentally the Columbia golf team. Some of them have done really well. And then I heard Rory McIlroy, after the masters, talk about his, his mindfulness coach, and how much and like you know, again, a lot of it is stems over process of a result and and you know, don't worry too much about the result, but it's just funny how, as golf becomes more popular Now the training is more becomes more popular. Maybe someone else out there maybe they're at their yours is a lot of physical training. Maybe someone else there can really dive into some of the mental training 100%, even for again, we can be talking to the leisurely golfers such as myself and yourself.
Sam RheeCo-host
50:08
You don't have to be, competitive, exactly. Have a mental crisis, right, oh yeah.
Kristy LinkGuest
50:14
Anyone can have a mental crisis on the golf course. Yeah.
Sam RheeCo-host
50:21
Listen, when you get up to that first tee and the ranger and everyone else is waiting to watch you tee off. I mean I've done a lot of CrossFit competitions. I've never felt that kind of pressure, 100%.
David SyvertsenHost
50:29
Put me on the CrossFit competition floor, I'll be fine I will snatch this driver, but I am not going to hit the ball.
Kristy LinkGuest
50:39
Yeah, and it's quiet and it's like you're starting in this non-moving position and it's yeah, it's really wild usually what I do is I'll just be like you know what, let me just hit a terrible shot.
Sam RheeCo-host
50:51
let any doubt of where I am in terms of as a golfer out the window. So then if I hit better afterwards they're like oh okay, he's not as bad as I thought he was going to be. Start low, sometimes it's worse starting off good. Right, if I stripe that driver by some god-forsaken chance, then they'll be like oh wait, I thought he was good, but he's just like what a disappointment. He shanked every one asker that up. No-transcript.
Kristy LinkGuest
51:37
But yeah, I mean there's, you know, golf mindfulness coaches, golf therapists or sports therapists, not just in golf and any high level sport, like. I'm sure there's way more between the ears than we, you know, we think in even other sports.
David SyvertsenHost
51:42
Yeah, I just think help is out there for everyone, no matter what fitness program you're doing, and that's another thing that's growing. Just like personal coaches, like business coaches, life coaches, relationship coaches, golf coach Like I do think that's a huge thing of you know, one of the advantages of technology and social media is like there's just so much information out there and like, if you really want to dive into a deeper level and have a personal coach, I feel like you can find a coach for anything now.
Kristy LinkGuest
52:05
Yeah, it's really true you know we have.
David SyvertsenHost
52:06
We have a. We have a member here that she's a fashion coach. Like she, she redoes people's wardrobes for like work and stuff Really that they just want to. You know they need help on Like. I have no idea If I had to, like, go get a week's worth of business clothes right, I would have no idea where to start.
Sam RheeCo-host
52:24
Well, I think Richie can help you with your coaching clothes. Be like okay, this outfit doesn't match those shorts I had one of those this week.
David SyvertsenHost
52:32
Dave, you can't wear that together.
Kristy LinkGuest
52:35
Got to set an example, Dave.
David SyvertsenHost
52:42
But, yeah, let's wrap this up, Just like maybe all three of us and we'll start with Chrissy I want you to just put a bow on all these experiences that you've had as a coach and athlete and person. I want coaches to always know that, as you live, you should be able to become a better coach, and I say that to everybody. Experiences to me, they make coaches better, and that's partially why I like coaches with experience, and we all start with zero at some point. But when you're looking at the quality of a coach and how much impact they're making, they can blend all these experiences that they've had over their entire life and improve their actual product.
53:20
And I think that's something that you're doing right now on your own, because you've had so many experiences and I still think in 10 years from now you're still in the game. You're going to be even better than you are now. But you have to be mindful of everything that you're going through now and write things down and journal or try to find a way to recall your feelings, emotions and results as a coach. So can you just you know if you had a few coaches in front of you that just start off and they're sitting in front of you right now. What would you tell them to say like, hey, be mindful of this so that you can be a better coach in five to 10 years?
Kristy LinkGuest
53:54
Yeah, I think just you know, experience is your best teacher. So just don't be diverse and, you know, don't turn down certain opportunities or maybe, if it's like out of your realm, maybe just check it out and learn a little bit about it, because there could be a little piece that you can pull from a different discipline and bring it into your coaching. But don't be afraid to get out there. And, yeah, the more you do, the more just different types of people. I think one of my biggest learning experiences was just literally working from nine-year-olds to like 75-year-olds, like just so many different types of diverse clients. So the more you can just get out there in front of different people in different environments right Like CrossFit gym here, where you have plenty of equipment. Or you know, you go to a gym where, okay, teach this class of 15 and here's six dumbbells You're like, okay.
Sam RheeCo-host
54:36
Yeah, you know what do.
Kristy LinkGuest
54:37
I do so really putting yourselves in different environments and learning from that and, yeah, trying to remember it all down the road.
Sam RheeCo-host
54:44
Yes.
Kristy LinkGuest
54:45
Or I'm trying to remember all the things down the road, so yeah, maybe journaling, like writing down, like have a book of things that really stuck out in your mind or that helped. But yeah, just experience is your best teacher, so don't be afraid to get out there.
Sam RheeCo-host
54:59
So true, I know I'm a better coach this month than I was last month, month before that. You're right, at some point that weight of accumulated experience in your head is just so much that. But that's where you, as it comes out intuitively, like that's where you're no longer consciously thinking about it, you're almost automatically kind of guiding it through, because, like you don't specifically remember every experience, but it just kind of sits there. So you're like, oh, yeah, okay, so this, like it's almost automatic at that point yeah very true, and so you're right.
55:31
I think the most experienced coaches sometimes they can't even like tell you a specific experience why, but they just do it this way and if you had to ask them they wouldn't necessarily pull it out, but like it was all of this experience over time that intuitively gets them to the right spot. I mean, I think that's right for everything. Like you know 10,000 hours, right. Like you're not asking that expert to like pull every specific experience out to get them to do what they're doing. It's just natural. Yeah, it's to get them to do what they're doing. It's just natural.
Kristy LinkGuest
56:02
Yeah, it's to shape them at that point. Yeah.
David SyvertsenHost
56:04
Yeah, and mine would be just never don't be afraid to make mistakes. Because I think the fear of making mistakes holds people back so much because the feeling of making a mistake is awful, especially when it affects other people. But I also think that is what holds a lot of people back from actually reaching their potential and whether it's ego based or they don't want to have a negative impact on other people, or they're just thinking about the moment, like I don't want, but so many, even like teaching Brock, a five-year-old right now, like he just he's. Always he gets angry about losing something, like you have to lose to win at some point. You have to make mistakes to learn at some point. The mistakes are the best way to learn and it just you just don't want to keep repeating the mistakes I think that that's something that that we need to be mindful of.
56:48
But, um, a coach that wants to reinvent themselves, a coach that wants to start something new. When you start something new, you are approaching an area where you're going to make mistakes because you haven't done it yet, and and you have to not be afraid of that, because right now, christy's the coach. She is because she made mistakes and she learned from them, and I think I would say that about all three of us, and I think just take it from us that there's probably 30 plus years of experience sitting at this table with coaching people that if you don't ever find yourself making mistakes, you're probably not trying hard enough. Yeah, all right, all right, thank you, christy Link. You guys can find her. Where? Where can you find us?
Kristy LinkGuest
57:27
ChristyLinkcom. I'm at a club to New Jersey, or Christy underscore link at Instagram.
David SyvertsenHost
57:31
Cool, and we'll put that in the Instagram post. We'll get her information out there if you want an easier access to it out there, if you want an easier access to it. But give her a look If you guys want any sort of call, training, personal training she's a great person to reach out to. Even just getting some conversation, coaching, advice from her, I think if you have a conversation with her, you're going to get something really positive out of it. I always do and I have a feeling this will not be the last time we see her. All right, thank you guys. We'll see you next. 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.
