I know I have been more busy than ever. Here's a recap video of last September. Other clips should come up eventually!
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
4 Steps to Effectively Coaching Exercises (re-blog)
This is an awesome article from Mike Robertson about coaching a movement. Of course, it first targeted gym coaches, however almost everything in this article is applicable to coach swing dancing. Have fun!
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One of the most important things we do at IFAST is teach.
It goes further than just teaching our clients; we’re convinced that teaching our interns and starting them on the path to becoming a great coach is part of what makes us great at what we do.
A few weeks back, I was grilling our current crop of interns on the various soft-tissue, mobility, and acute corrective exercises we use. One common mistake they made was failing to properly introduce a new exercise.
When coaching new exercises, I think it’s imperative to follow a four-step process.
This part is pretty simple, but telling them the name (and showing it to them, if possible) will help them remember the exercise in the future.
(Keep in mind whether you’re selling your services in a gym or selling your program to athletes at your school, this always applies – you’re always selling).
When you write a program for a client, each and every component of said program should have a rationale behind it. You don’t just randomly pick exercises, sets and reps, tempos, etc.
Instead, every component of your clients’ program has reasoning behind it, and it’s your job to explain how this specific exercise will help them achieve their goals.
Keep in mind, this doesn’t always need to be incredibly in-depth or technical. 98% of your clients don’t care about their psoas, thoracolumbar fascia, or lateral pterygoid!
Instead, they want to know why those muscles in the front of the hips are causing their back pain, or why they shouldn’t stretch the big muscles on the back of their thighs.
Describing the “why” in a down-to-earth and easy to understand fashion is a critical component to your success. I firmly believe the more you coach and educate your clients, the more they will trust and respect you!
This is where you need some modicum of exercise proficiency yourself!
If you work with an elite or professional athlete, you may not need to perform the exercise with the same amount of load, but you need to be able to demonstrate the exercise correctly and with solid technique.
This reminds me of a conversation I had a few years back with Carolina Panthers strength coach Joe Kenn. He told me that his goal was to be able to power clean, front squat and back squat 135 until he was 60 years old, because that would keep him in the game and show his athletes he could still walk the walk.
After demonstrating the exercise, you need to highlight a few of the key points or things to focus on as well. The goal isn’t to overwhelm them or give the 101 things to think about. Instead, give them a few big focal points, and then let them give it a shot.
All that’s left is actually watching them and coaching them on the lift!
I like to focus on one or two big cues per set. Obviously, if they are doing something that is blatantly injurious, that’s the first thing you need to fix! The last thing you want is someone getting injured on your watch.
A big issue I’ll often notice with interns once they start to “see” what’s going on is overwhelming the client with cues, like:
It may help to think of coaching exercises as a pyramid. The base of the pyramid is the big-ticket items that absolutely must be correct in order for them to execute the exercise correctly.
These are the things you want to focus on and address first and foremost.
From there, as your client improves the quality of their movement and technical proficiency, you work your way up the pyramid and you start to fine-tune the little things you want to address.
But if you try and build the entire pyramid at once without prioritizing, you’ll not only overwhelm the client, but you’ll reduce their likelihood of success as well.
If you’re not already using the method outlined above (or one similar to it), give it a shot for the next 3-4 weeks. I think your clients and athletes will really like this streamlined approach to coaching!
-------------------------------
One of the most important things we do at IFAST is teach.
It goes further than just teaching our clients; we’re convinced that teaching our interns and starting them on the path to becoming a great coach is part of what makes us great at what we do.
A few weeks back, I was grilling our current crop of interns on the various soft-tissue, mobility, and acute corrective exercises we use. One common mistake they made was failing to properly introduce a new exercise.
When coaching new exercises, I think it’s imperative to follow a four-step process.
- Step #1 – Name the Exercise
- Step #2 – Describe the “Why”
- Step #3 – Show It
- Step #4 – Coach It
Step #1 – Name the Exercise
The first thing you should do when introducing a new exercise is to tell them the name of the exercise. If you have a typed or written program, pointing to the name while saying it will really help the visual learners in your gym.This part is pretty simple, but telling them the name (and showing it to them, if possible) will help them remember the exercise in the future.
Step #2 – Describe the “Why”
This may be the most important part of our equation. Furthermore, this is a critical component of the selling process.(Keep in mind whether you’re selling your services in a gym or selling your program to athletes at your school, this always applies – you’re always selling).
When you write a program for a client, each and every component of said program should have a rationale behind it. You don’t just randomly pick exercises, sets and reps, tempos, etc.
Instead, every component of your clients’ program has reasoning behind it, and it’s your job to explain how this specific exercise will help them achieve their goals.
Keep in mind, this doesn’t always need to be incredibly in-depth or technical. 98% of your clients don’t care about their psoas, thoracolumbar fascia, or lateral pterygoid!
Instead, they want to know why those muscles in the front of the hips are causing their back pain, or why they shouldn’t stretch the big muscles on the back of their thighs.
Describing the “why” in a down-to-earth and easy to understand fashion is a critical component to your success. I firmly believe the more you coach and educate your clients, the more they will trust and respect you!
Step #3 – Show It
Once you’ve named the exercise and explained why it’s important, the next step is for you to physically perform the exercise for them.This is where you need some modicum of exercise proficiency yourself!
If you work with an elite or professional athlete, you may not need to perform the exercise with the same amount of load, but you need to be able to demonstrate the exercise correctly and with solid technique.
This reminds me of a conversation I had a few years back with Carolina Panthers strength coach Joe Kenn. He told me that his goal was to be able to power clean, front squat and back squat 135 until he was 60 years old, because that would keep him in the game and show his athletes he could still walk the walk.
After demonstrating the exercise, you need to highlight a few of the key points or things to focus on as well. The goal isn’t to overwhelm them or give the 101 things to think about. Instead, give them a few big focal points, and then let them give it a shot.
Step #4 – Coach It
You’ve name the exercise, you’ve stated why it’s important, and you’ve demonstrated it.All that’s left is actually watching them and coaching them on the lift!
I like to focus on one or two big cues per set. Obviously, if they are doing something that is blatantly injurious, that’s the first thing you need to fix! The last thing you want is someone getting injured on your watch.
A big issue I’ll often notice with interns once they start to “see” what’s going on is overwhelming the client with cues, like:
- “Your right foot is turned out 2 degrees too far,”
- “There’s the slightest hint of hyperextension in your lumbar spine,”
- “Your neck is 3.73 millimeters away from neutral,”
It may help to think of coaching exercises as a pyramid. The base of the pyramid is the big-ticket items that absolutely must be correct in order for them to execute the exercise correctly.
These are the things you want to focus on and address first and foremost.
From there, as your client improves the quality of their movement and technical proficiency, you work your way up the pyramid and you start to fine-tune the little things you want to address.
But if you try and build the entire pyramid at once without prioritizing, you’ll not only overwhelm the client, but you’ll reduce their likelihood of success as well.
Summary
Coaching new exercises is something that we do as coaches and trainers every single day.If you’re not already using the method outlined above (or one similar to it), give it a shot for the next 3-4 weeks. I think your clients and athletes will really like this streamlined approach to coaching!
Monday, April 23, 2012
My greatest influence as a teacher and coach
I have rarely mentioned it, never publicly for sure, who my greatest influence as a teacher was. It's hard because I owe so much to Patte Brodeur to help put everything together, but this is not what I want to talk about right. My model, the one who would be responsible for the core of my pedagogical system would be without a doubt Alain Guebenne, my old kung fu master. This got it right on about at least two basic principles how to teach movements. - Let the body teaches itself. Most of his teaching was through the execution of certain manoeuvres and techniques. He would never insist on one exact move, but would rather teach several similar moves over the weeks. Of course, every exercise was explained, but he would never overload the brain with useless extra information it cannot handle. Once in a while, he would say something that would only make sense 2 years later, which is awesome if you think about it! He also teaches routines (called forms) and everything in the routine is there to support the teaching. Alain would also never hesitate to start showing the students a 2nd or 3rd martial arts style just to make the body move differently and help it develop different motor skills. The results were spectacular. His students would often accomplish more in 2 or 3 years than others in 8 or 10 years.
- A logical and meaningful level system. Alain organised his material in 5 levels (the number of levels is not that important for us). One stick to his level as long as he doesn't reach the not so arbitrary requirements set by Alain. The most basic level fits perfectly into the 2nd and so on. The students understand quickly that skipping any step is not an option. The 2 first levels needs to be solid or they won't be able to fight efficiently.
- It represents the core of his kung fu system. One can have very good results and be able to face most combat or sparring situations with a level 1 in the the pocket. It contains all the essential skills and doesn't need any further knowledge to work.
- This is the fundamental level and the most important. It feel like getting into the very heart of kung fu. It's not necessarily about the number of techniques learned, but rather about how you move and do them. When one has finished this level, he doesn't have to worry to much about facing most opponent.
- This is the final level of the basic techniques.
- Advanced techniques such as weapons.
- You have learned all the techniques the style has to offer. This is where the true understanding begins.
Even after that many years and many experiments, following those 2 principles delivered the best results with my swing dancing students. It can only work if you can teach people for a decent amount of time though. Fortunately for me, having my own school gave me all the liberty I needed to stick to the right principles my old Sifu taught me. Thanks Alain for that heritage.
Fred Barbe
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Dance pratices : from March 12th to March 17th
I'm sure you will appreciate to the very end!
Fred Barbe
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Practices : Febuary 19th to Febuary 25th
Here's a video recap of last week practices. One of my partners canceled on me, but I got good footage. There is even a little bonus from my Intermediate Swing class. I hope you will like that.
Tomorrow, I will have my first practice with Melanie Couture. She is a very good dancer, but she doesn't seem to realize it quite yet. It should be fun.
Fred Barbe
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Swing Intermediate students
I have teach with studio 88-SWING for 2 years, Cat's Corner for 1 year and on my own for a year. I won't talk about international teaching which is irrelevant for my current subject. I taught other people's syllabi for so long and it can get very frustrating. I do believe most of the top dancers (I even believe everybody, but most people just don't realize it) are really good at one or a very small amount of things. I have always been impress with Max Pitruzzella capacity of copying something in a glimpse and improving it right away. My talent is to understand the quickest path to get good. I have never claimed to be exceptionally talented! Because what I care the most about is teaching and coaching, I knew I had to become very good or I would get no credibility in the field of swing dancing. I made of lot of experiment on myself and I am very happy to see my first results with others. Actually, I have had good results in the past coaching dancers such as Martin Roy, Geraldine Durand-Groulx, David Caya, Sandrine Lambin-Gagnon and more, however I was way more unexperienced at that time.
Last Tuesday, my students from my Swing Intermediate were learning to swing out after only 10 weeks and they were so good. I blamed myself so hard not having my camcorder... Everything in my syllabus was to prepare that glorious moment and it worked big time!
I will do my best to record them next week.
Fred Barbe
Personal Website
Thursday, January 26, 2012
And the classes begin!
This is my first week teaching for the winter session. Last week, I was a bit worried about the numbers, for January is supposed to be the biggest session of the year and we were barely breaking even. I forgot all about that meeting my old and new students. I love teaching so much!
Swing Intermediate last Tuesday
I challenged myself to teach the fundamentals of Lindy Hop in 4 classes and I succeeded last session. That 1st class was about getting a good stretch & release feeling from the 3-4 position in the swing out. Of course, we are not doing swing out yet, but we taught several movements using that position and feeling to get ready for what is coming.
We also introduced them to the concept of walking forward/backward instead of rock stepping all the time. This is tough for beginner dancers and I have been wondering how to make it easier. The longer you wait before teaching it, the harder it gets for the students to get it. I could decide to mix everything from the start, but it sounds to me awfully difficult if the priority in the Swing Beginner level is to make them dance.
Swing Beginner yesterday
That class was small, but those new people rocked it hard. I knew that at least 3 of them already have dance experience, so we prepared a lot of hot options to show either to everybody or just some of them. We taught everything we prepared including some Charleston turns pretty tricky. Everybody got it and the guys weer even able to mix their stuff and create new combos. How awesome is that?!
Swing Intermediate last Tuesday
I challenged myself to teach the fundamentals of Lindy Hop in 4 classes and I succeeded last session. That 1st class was about getting a good stretch & release feeling from the 3-4 position in the swing out. Of course, we are not doing swing out yet, but we taught several movements using that position and feeling to get ready for what is coming.
We also introduced them to the concept of walking forward/backward instead of rock stepping all the time. This is tough for beginner dancers and I have been wondering how to make it easier. The longer you wait before teaching it, the harder it gets for the students to get it. I could decide to mix everything from the start, but it sounds to me awfully difficult if the priority in the Swing Beginner level is to make them dance.
Swing Beginner yesterday
That class was small, but those new people rocked it hard. I knew that at least 3 of them already have dance experience, so we prepared a lot of hot options to show either to everybody or just some of them. We taught everything we prepared including some Charleston turns pretty tricky. Everybody got it and the guys weer even able to mix their stuff and create new combos. How awesome is that?!
Frédéric Barbe
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