Why Coaches Need Coaches

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned over decades in movement education is this:

Even the best coaches need other coaches.

Not because we lack knowledge — but because every body has blind spots.

And interestingly, the more you learn, the more you begin to realize how much you still don’t know.

As instructors, we become highly skilled at observing movement patterns in others. We can often identify compensation patterns, postural habits, strength imbalances, breath restrictions, and inefficient mechanics in our students almost immediately.

Yet many of us struggle to recognize those same patterns clearly in ourselves.

This is one reason coaching relationships remain so valuable throughout a teacher’s career.

A skilled outside eye can often identify:

  • compensations we’ve normalized
  • habits created by old injuries
  • inefficient loading patterns
  • limitations we’ve unknowingly worked around for years

I also continue taking other instructors’ classes whenever possible. Why?

Because even when someone has less experience or different education than I do, there is almost always something valuable to learn — a new cue, a fresh perspective, a creative transition, a different teaching style, or simply a reminder to keep growing.

Curiosity keeps coaches evolving.

Working one-on-one with Laura Jenkins, my StrongFirst kettlebell and FRC coach at BayCare Fitness, and Kelly Powers at The Pilates Room, has made me stronger, safer, and far more aware of my own movement patterns. Kelly’s professional background in ballet, modern, and jazz performance brings an exceptional understanding of body mechanics, posture, alignment, and movement precision. As someone who also comes from a dance background, I’ve consistently found other dancers to have an incredibly trained eye for movement quality and postural awareness. I also worked for a short period with Wendy Weaver, an Exercise Physiologist with ACE and ACSM credentials at St. Pete Calisthenics, while recovering simultaneously from surgery and an injury. She helped me further refine and adapt Animal Flow techniques safely during recovery.

Each modality teaches something different:

  • Pilates improves precision, breath mechanics, alignment, and control
  • FRC and other Mobility work builds joint capacity and end-range strength
  • Strength training builds resilience and power
  • Flow-based movement develops creativity, coordination, and athleticism

When modalities overlap, growth happens in ways that are difficult to achieve alone.

Without continued learning, even experienced professionals risk becoming overly attached to familiar systems or relying on outdated approaches in a constantly evolving movement field.

The best coaches remain students. Because coaches who continue learning ultimately become:

  • better movers
  • better teachers
  • better leaders
  • and better guides for the people who trust them.