The Art of Coaching

What truly makes a CrossFit coach great? Not the ability to prescribe more training, but the ability to see exactly why an athlete is plateauing.

During an in-depth conversation with Josh Godinez of HWPO Training and Brute Strength coaches George and Elliott, one thing stood out immediately: how little elite sports coaching resembles the way many CrossFitters think about it. Where athletes often think in terms of training harder, adding volume or squeezing in extra sessions, high-level coaches think primarily in problems, patterns and priorities.

The conversation centered on a fictional athlete with ambitious goals. She wanted a 100-kilogram clean, an 80-kilogram snatch and, ultimately, a top-ten finish at Torian Pro, the semifinal event for the Oceania region. On the table was an impressive set of data: strength numbers, Olympic lifts, gymnastics benchmarks and conditioning tests.

Before a single training session was prescribed, the questions began.

"How much CrossFit experience does she actually have?" asked Godinez. "Two athletes can have exactly the same numbers but completely different problems."

That turned out to be a recurring theme throughout the conversation. Data are essential, but without context they are just numbers on paper.

Understand first, then program

The fictional athlete had a notable background. She had played basketball and netball for years, ran extensively as a young athlete and then spent eight years in the bodybuilding world before making the switch to CrossFit. She had also competed at a semifinal twice.

That last detail made her profile interesting.

She was not a beginner who could still make large general gains. She was at a stage where progress becomes increasingly difficult and where small deficiencies can have major consequences on the competition floor.

For Elliott, the analysis in such cases almost always starts the same way.

"I basically just do a lot of math."

That sounds simpler than it is.

The coaches constantly compare numbers against each other. How does the front squat relate to the back squat? Is the deadlift where it should be? How strong is the strict press relative to bodyweight? Which ratios deviate from what you would expect in an elite CrossFit athlete?

With this athlete, two things stood out immediately.

Her deadlift lagged behind her squat strength. Her bench press and strict press also fell short of expected values.

That immediately produced a few training priorities.

But the most interesting insight came from somewhere else.

Strong enough, but not explosive enough

When the coaches placed her absolute strength numbers next to her Olympic lifts, a much clearer picture emerged.

On paper, the athlete was strong. Her squat numbers were excellent, her upper body was well developed and she had a solid strength base. Yet that strength was not translating sufficiently into her clean and snatch.

"Strength plus speed creates power," said Elliott.

That distinction turned out to be crucial.

Many CrossFitters assume that getting stronger automatically leads to better performance. But according to the coaches, that is only half the story. An athlete can have adequate strength and still fall short when that strength cannot be produced quickly enough.

Other numbers pointed in the same direction.

The athlete recorded relatively low scores on explosive efforts such as short bike sprints. Her power clean lagged behind her squat capacity. And although her technique looked polished according to the coaches, there was still a clear gap between her strength potential and her performance on the competition floor.

"She already has the strength," concluded Godinez. "Now she needs to learn to use it."

That immediately shifted the possible solutions.

Rather than simply doing more weightlifting, topics like sprint training, jump variations, sled work and explosive power development came to the table.

The hardest part of coaching

Notably, a large portion of the conversation was not about training schedules at all, but about psychology.

What happens when an athlete firmly believes one thing while the data tell a different story?

It is a situation every coach recognizes.

An athlete may be convinced that conditioning is the limiting factor, while the numbers show that strength development is far more important. Or the reverse.

According to Godinez, that is one of the most challenging aspects of coaching.

"You want to follow the data, but ultimately the athlete also has to believe in the process."

He sees a constant balancing act there. Sometimes a coach needs to convince an athlete. Sometimes he needs to explain why certain choices are being made. And sometimes an athlete deliberately receives a training component that may not be the highest priority but builds confidence in the bigger picture.

Elliott recognized that dilemma immediately.

A spreadsheet does not complete training sessions.

People do.

And people bring emotions, doubts and convictions with them.

Why individualized programming is so complex

As the conversation continued, it became increasingly clear why individual programming demands so much expertise.

Every decision triggers a chain reaction.

More deadlifting can improve strength but also create fatigue that affects Olympic weightlifting. Extra sprint work can develop explosiveness but simultaneously eat into recovery capacity. A greater focus on technique can come at the expense of other qualities that also deserve attention.

From the outside, a personalized program often looks like nothing more than a collection of exercises.

For a coach, it represents something entirely different.

A series of trade-offs.

That became perhaps most visible when the three coaches began building a training week for the fictional athlete in real time. Within minutes, a discussion emerged covering deadlift variations, snatch frequency, power development, gymnastics priorities and energy systems.

Not because they disagreed with each other.

But precisely because multiple good solutions were possible.

Think more, not train more

At the end of the conversation, one thought lingered above all others.

Many CrossFitters seek progress by doing more. More volume. More metcons. More hours in the gym.

The coaches thought in exactly the opposite direction.

Their first question was not how much work needed to be added.

Their first question was which problem needed to be solved.

For athletes who want to make the leap from good to exceptional, that may be the most important lesson. At a high level, success is rarely about outworking the competition.

It is about understanding where the real limitation lies and then having the discipline to address it consistently.

That sounds simpler than it is. But after an hour of listening to three of the most experienced coaches in the CrossFit world, one thing became clear: the best programs do not come from more training, but from better thinking.