Episode 28: Pat "Manimal" Barber- Coaching, Training and Business

Geo and JP have Pat Barber on the show to talk about the landscape of competitive exercise and how it has evolved over the last 15 years.

We start with Pats background. Theater and Volleyball are not the usual mix for a dude who lifts weights and runs fast, but it turned out to be an amazing foundation for Pat. He was a college volleyball player who found CrossFit through his Coach at the time Tony Budding.  From there Pat was immersed in the original CF gym, CrossFit Santa Cruz.  He was getting instruction from Greg Glassman and Nicole Carroll back in 2003.  Greg, the founder of CrossFit and Nicole, current director of training at CFHQ.  

Check out this sweet old school video of Pat- Demo WOD Pat Barber.

Pat talks about the landscape back in 2003 and how the sport and movements have evolved over the years.  The other curve ball Pat threw in was that he started on the CF media team.  He was not picked to be on the Level One Staff or picked to be a great athlete.  He worked his way up the ranks and took on any job he possibly could.

Currently his main job is coaching development for Nor Cal CrossFit.  Nor Cal has over 20 affiliates including their corporate gyms. Pat is busy trying to maintain quality and consistency across the board with all the staff he has to manage.  He keeps his foot in the water by coaching on a weekly basis.  This helps keep him on his toes and develops his coaching and cuing skills.  Great to see a master continue to refine his skills.

Our take away point in this episode is....How do you find/spot a good coach? We feel a good coach makes for a great gym.  Pat likes to see a coach who interacts with the athletes as a group and individuals.  He also wants to see his coaches actually coach class from start to finish.  60 minutes of instruction and attention.  The last thing would be a coach that actually coaches.  It could be simple not groundbreaking, but someone who shows empathy throughout the workout.

Next we jump into Warm up and workout. This is a project that Pat and his wife are collaborating on.  Pats wife opened CrossFit New Zealand a few years back and since then they have been writing session plans.  60 minute plans for coaches to follow from the warm up all the way to the cool down.  It makes it so the coaches are on the same page and they can actually focus on coaching instead of planning.  It also puts them outside their comfort box and forces them to learn new warm up skills and drills. 

Pat is also throwing out ton of free resources through his new website.  He has videos from fun warm up questions to how to launch specialty programs.  Check out the BLOG and dive into all the free content he is putting together.  This is one of the most experience guys in our field, learn from him. 

Finally we touch on training and what Pat plans to do in 2016. He is a CrossFit Games veteran and someone who has put it all out there year after year.  He talks about his experience and what lead him to his decision for 2016.

Because old videos are amazing- Check out Pat Barber getting coached by Mike Burgner in 2010.  Pat looks like he is 14, which makes the video even better! Coach Mike Burgner Clean and Jerk.