Coaching Development Series: Cracking the Lesson Plan

November 14, 2022 by
Photo credit: Photo courtesy of CrossFit LLC (@ crossfit)

Part two of our five part series dives into how delivering an incredible group class starts with preparation. Outlining and detailing the class timeline, whiteboard brief notes, warm-up and cool-down requires a great deal of effort and energy, but allows coaches to provide a fun, organized and productive class. 

Timeline: Mapping out the class based on the day's programming is the first step to figuring out how much time can be dedicated to each segment, and ensures the class will fit within the scheduled hour. 

  • Bookend the class: Always block off five minutes at the start and end of class to account for the whiteboard brief and cool-down to finish the class on time. 
  • Plug in your workout components: Work backwards from the cool-down and plug in your workout of the day. If it’s a time priority workout (AMRAP or EMOM), you will know exactly how long the workout will take. If it’s a task priority workout (prescribed work for time), you will have to figure out the intended time range for the workout and decide if there will be a time cap. If the programming calls for a strength or skill segment before or after the workout, put that into the timeline based on the specifics for that day. Always block off five minutes between major segments to allow for clean-up, questions, bathroom and water breaks, etc. 
  • Calculate the time remaining: At this point, you’ve entered the non-negotiables of the programming and can figure out how much time there is for a warm-up and teaching segment. 
  • Warm-up: Block off time for the warm-up first, as you can be creative and sneak teaching progressions into a coach-led warm-up if you’re short on time. 
  • Teaching: If the programming allows for extra teaching time, this is where you will block off a focused progression for the movement you’d like to emphasize for that class. 

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