Coaching Foundations Pt 3

Skill isn’t built through information overload, but via clarity, meaning how we coach matters just as much as what we coach.

The aim is simple: help students absorb the movement with the least possible friction.

Visual learning is powerful.

When someone sees a technique executed perfectly, it becomes the reference their nervous system carries into every attempt. Demonstrations must be precise and efficient—because this is exactly what their body will attempt to mirror.

There is some value in witnessing struggle, but when the goal is mastery, attention should be anchored to excellence.

Speak Less, Guide More.

Verbal instruction must be intentional. One cue can steer the entire movement, but unnecessary excess dilutes attention.

We’ve all seen it: a student moves smoothly, we comment mid-rep… and everything falls apart. Not because the technique was wrong, but because we shifted their focus.

Teaching is not play-by-play. It is orchestrating attention. So, if they look good, don’t disrupt it.

This is why we rely on external cues rather than internal ones.

Internal cues focus on body parts—extend this, squeeze that, etc. They force the student to micromanage their body.

External cues anchor the mind to the environment—push the floor away, fall forward, etc. They guide the body without overloading the mind.

External focus improves performance, efficiency, retention, and transfer. Internal focus does the opposite.

When attention shifts outward, motion becomes smoother and more automatic—exactly what we want.

Start with the Goal. End with the Goal.

Start every instruction with what you want, not what you don’t. Naming errors conjure endless alternatives that the student must process.

Narrow their world to one clear task.

Finish the same way—reinforce what you want done so that attention is aimed at a single point.

Clarity Creates Flow.

Teaching is the art of shaping attention. When instruction is clean, purposeful, and minimal, students learn faster. They move with confidence. They absorb concepts rather than memorize steps.

Great coaching is not loud or complicated.

It’s quiet. Precise. And unmistakably clear.