How Coach Monroe Miller Helps Everyday CrossFitters Move Better and Train Smarter
Monroe Miller wasn’t supposed to end up here.
In 2009, he was a pack-a-day smoker, a recent college dropout, and worked as a barista at Starbucks.
Every morning, a crew from a local CrossFit gym would stop in, and something about them caught his attention.
- “They just had this feeling of health exuding from them,” Miller said in an interview with the Morning Chalk Up. “I didn’t really care about working out or getting in shape. I just wanted to be part of what they were doing. I was kind of lost.”
So he walked into Hammer Down CrossFit in Chantilly, VA, got crushed by “Filthy 50” next to a woman more than twice his age, and signed up on the spot – even though the $169 membership ate up a third of his paycheck.
- “My sister told me, ‘You’d better go every day to make that worth it.’ That’s why I was so consistent at first,” he said.
Fifteen years later, Miller is a coach, content creator, and founder of Technique Team, a growing online community dedicated to one mission: helping everyday CrossFitters overcome their sticking points.
Why Progress Stalls for So Many Athletes
Completing workouts “Rx” feels like a badge of legitimacy in CrossFit for many people – a sign you’re not just participating, but competing at the intended level.
But Miller argues most athletes get stuck because they chase it blindly.
- “They think if they just keep showing up, eventually they’ll get there,” he said in a recent video posted to his YouTube channel. “But showing up without a plan only gets you so far. The truth is, you need targeted practice and progression.”
Athletes often default to scaling with simpler or different movements, which is smart in the short term but stalls long-term growth if not paired with intentional skill work.
- “If you only ever avoid your weaknesses, you’ll never outgrow them,” Miller explained.
That plateau, he says, is what traps thousands of CrossFitters from progressing in their training and fitness.
The Three Barriers
Through his years of coaching, Miller sees three main reasons athletes never bridge the gap:
- Lack of consistency. “Consistency beats everything,” Miller said in the video, harkening back to his sister’s push to go daily in his early days. “If you’re only coming three days a week and skipping the stuff you don’t like, it’s going to take years longer than it needs to.”
- No structured progression. Many athletes repeat the same weights, same scales, and same movements week after week. “You need a plan that layers strength, skill, and conditioning together,” Miller explained.
- Mindset. For Miller, the mental side is the biggest hurdle. “I dropped out of college, failed at the military route, and felt like I didn’t have much. CrossFit gave me purpose because it forced me to confront hard things. That’s why I tell people: the process of getting to Rx will teach you more about yourself than the result.”
Coaching as Calling
Miller believes his pull toward coaching is in his DNA.
His father was a professor at Boston College. His mother was a nurse.
- “Teaching and being an educator is in my genes,” he said.
That background shows up in his approach.
“Coaching isn’t just about cues,” Miller explained in the video. “It’s about helping people understand the why behind movement.”
He’s blunt about the mindset it takes to progress: you can’t hide from the movements that expose your weaknesses. You have to lean in.
- “I wasn’t athletic growing up, didn’t play sports, nothing,” he told us. “I gravitated toward weightlifting because it was a skill. I loved that I could out-skill people who were stronger or more athletic. That shaped how I coach, because it’s not just about talent, it’s about technique and persistence.”
From Garage Gym to CrossFit Verity
Miller speaks from more than a coach’s perspective; he’s also spent more than a decade building affiliates and systems that last.
In 2013, he and a partner opened CrossFit Verity (now also known as Verity Strength & Conditioning) out of a garage in South Riding, VA.
Within months, HOA complaints about sled drags forced them to move into a warehouse. Eventually, Miller bought out his partner and, alongside his wife, grew Verity into a full-time business.
Now, his wife runs most of the affiliate operations while Miller focuses on content creation and remote coaching.
The Technique Team
The idea for his Technique Team community originated from his constant focus on refining movement.
- “Helping everyday CrossFitters get to the next level – that’s my specialty,” Miller said in our interview. “That’s what spawned these videos.”
Miller’s platform offers programs, monthly challenges, video drills, and unlimited video coaching directly from Miller. It’s a hub for athletes who feel stuck and need a systematic path forward.
He’s clear about the formula: “The secret isn’t talent. It’s consistency, plus technique, plus the right mindset. When you put those together, you finally break through.”
A Leader’s Journey
From being a lost college dropout picking up Starbucks shifts and taking cigarette breaks to coaching and mentoring athletes worldwide, Miller’s story is proof of what persistence and CrossFit can do.
- “I got addicted to CrossFit, got really good, really fast, and just wanted to help people,” he said. “Now I get to spend my time teaching others how to move better. That’s what it’s always been about.”
For Miller, the videos, the Technique Team, and the years of coaching all come back to the same vision: making sure athletes don’t stay stuck.
“You’re not broken,” he tells his members. “You just need a plan. And once you commit to that plan, everything changes.”
