Finding Fresh Meat at Tiger's Den CrossFit

December 21, 2012

Lauryn Lax

The Fresh Meat program launched in September with a mission to improve the 11-month-old box.

James Daniel Thorne, owner and head coach at Tiger's Den CrossFit in Dallas, created a new gym-based internship program for aspiring CrossFit coaches. He’s calling it the “Fresh Meat Program.”

“I feel with the attainability of the CrossFit Level 1 … and affiliation in general, a box must be ever vigilant in their quest for virtuosity. We see and hear about new boxes all the time, and I love it, but there is a need for good coaches — not just trainers with certifications,” Thorne says. “Knowing the competition is so fierce keeps my box and myself on top of our game. Every single day the focus must be to improve yourself; to improve the box.”

The first Fresh Meat Program launched in September with a mission to improve the 11-month-old box.

“I had no trainers. I had no partners, no wife, nobody to share the load of 25 classes a week … I loved my new life but it was getting harder and harder to manage larger and larger classes as it grew. I also found I had a surplus of passionate people who wanted to help,” Thorne says. “Then I went to the CrossFit Coaches Prep Course and I learned from some of the best minds CrossFit had to offer. They spoke of lesson plans, long-term programming and all other sorts of plans I needed to implement. I returned to my box, showed everyone what I had learned and the Fresh Meat program was born.”

Members of the program are considered interns. The first class in the Fresh Meat Program reflected the diversity of the community, including a National Guardsman, a nightclub D.J., an account executive, a law student, a cocktail waitress, a FedEx driver and a single mother.

“Anyone with the passion and a good personality has the potential to succeed in our program,” Thorne says. “The main focus is to develop great coaches — to make my interning athletes better at leading groups in various programs, as well as give them the opportunity to learn the back office and administrative side of things.”

Interns undergo a total of 100 hours of combined administrative work, lectures, shadowing, training and coaching, on and off the floor at Tiger’s Den before they graduate to coaching status. Fresh Meat starts before and continues after the athletes complete their Level 1 Seminar.

“When an athlete completes the 100 hours as an intern, I actually pay for their $1,000 Level 1, and then they continue with the same internship duties as before until they have passed several peer reviews on their coaching abilities learned from HQ,” Thorne says. “I try not to develop them too much with the teaching, seeing and correcting. I want them to learn all of that from the HQ trainers. We simply want to teach our interns the fine details that go into coaching and working at a box — how to manage big groups better, how to keep the vibe flowing and the energy high, reading and contributing to the CrossFit Journal and by analyzing other successful boxes.”

So what is a day in the life of a Fresh Meat intern like?

“The internship program consists of, first of all, showing you want to be there. Sweat equity — willing to do the work because you know there is a vision,” 23-year-old Fresh Meat intern, Rachel Hartwell says. “JD first had me watch tons and tons of videos —mobility videos, videos on Olympic weightlifting and YouTube videos, and also read CrossFit Journal articles. The next step was to study the CrossFit Level 1 Training Guide, reading the book over and over until we know it forward and backwards. He wants all the interns to become experts in our craft, confident in our knowledge of the exercises, the movements and the mobility necessary for each exercise.”

Observing and shadowing are the next steps. Hartwell says she shadowed Thorne for two or three classes a day, specifically paying attention to how he corrects the athletes and runs the class.

She’s part of an intern rotation, assisting Thorne with coaching, and all this before she attends her Level 1. She is planning on taking that course in December.

“Following the cert, the intern then comes back and helps write lesson plans for the box for every class they intend on teaching. It is a lengthy process,” Hartwell says.

Through the process, though, the interns are raving about the quality of information they have learned.

“I've learned how to exercise and train athletes safely and properly. I also have come to learn that the most important quality a CrossFit coach should practice is communication,” 28-year-old bartender and intern, Derek LaFon Gilbert says. 

While he has only been CrossFitting for six months, he believes he is years ahead in his CrossFit knowledge thanks to the internship program.

“You have to be able to properly communicate if you want your athletes to exercise correctly,” he says.

“Bottom line, we want this to be a place people want to be and they are getting the best training and coaching that we can provide,” 41-year-old intern, Russ Pharr says. “Currently, I am learning how to program and manage classes now that I have passed my Level 1 test. I am getting so much out of this opportunity it is difficult to quantify. I take a group of athletes from the box who are willing to try anything, program for them and then they give me feedback on what is working and what is not,” he says. “I am just a normal guy, not a super athlete, and I coach and program CrossFit that way — for everyday people. I know that anyone can do CrossFit and that it can help everyone.”

Andy Anderson says he initially wanted to be a coach because he thought it would be fun. And it is, but something deeper hit home.

“It’s not just about having fun and looking good naked when you are a coach. It’s about helping people do what they never thought they could. There is a lot of emotional stuff going on when a mother of three gets her first box jump, or when your 65-year-old Masters athlete … snatches 100 lb. for the first time in 30 years,” he says.

“Through the program, I have developed a new sense of self,” Anderson adds. “I wake up every day thinking about how I am going to help people achieve their goals. I now have a new family that is constantly growing and they look to me for guidance on their journey to elite fitness.”

For those interested in becoming a coach at their own box, Thorne is encouraging.

“Go for it. Just sell all your stuff and commit. It is a lifestyle you will never regret; a community you will never leave,” he says.

“Set aside time each and every day to spend time on the CrossFit Journal. Memorize the Level 1 Training Guide, then start chronologically reading/watching every single article in there. Write down names of elite coaches from weightlifting, gymnastics, endurance or sports you've never even played,” Thorne says. “Once you have a list, research them on the Internet, watch every video, read every article … never stop learning. Never be satisfied with your knowledge base.”

He says new coaches will continue to benefit from more experience.

“If you are a novice at teaching, seeing and correcting the nine foundational movements now, you will improve every single coaching session ... just like CrossFit causes favorable adaptations, every coaching session and observations causes favorable adaptations,” Thorne says. “The medicine for mediocre coaching lies in your ability to evaluate yourself. If you are having trouble finding flaws in yourself, have someone else critique you coaching a class and have a sit-down discussion about it afterwards. Tell them to be brutally honest."