How to Coach Yourself When You Workout at Home

By Anna Woods

After leaving a local CrossFit gym, it was an adjustment to move in my garage and go from handson coaching and feedback daily, to silence and hopes that I was still moving correctly. It wasn’t long before I realized the value in having eyes on you consistently because bad habits sneak in before you know it. I started using my iPhone propped up with a shoe in the corner, to record my lifts as I was completing them, so I could be my own set of eyes.

After a session, or even between lifts, I would stop the camera and play it back looking for certain things in my lifts I knew were areas of weakness. I’d go back to the barbell and retry the lift, I’d record it again, and hope that I made the change needed.

Over time I got better at knowing which angles worked better for which lifts, what to look for at certain angles, and how to make the changes. And this has helped me be better coach and trainer as well, because I can walk to the exact angle I want to see a lift executed to know best what I’m looking for in their lift.

Here are a few of the best practices I’ve learned:

Best Video Angles for Squats: (Note: These same cues can apply to a split squat, a lunge, or a pistol squat.)

1. Front:

• Check symmetry of left side of body to the right

• Ensure that knees are externally rotated from the hips out over the 2nd and 3rd toes throughout the entire squat

• Check that big toe is in contact with ground

• Examine intra-abdominal pressure (360 bracing of core). You should not see indentions in the obliques or rectus abdominals

2. Side:

• Check neutral spine from head to tailbone

• Ensure that knees are externally rotated from the hip

• Check that knees are staying just behind or just in front of the toes

• If completing the front squat, check quality of the 90* angle of the front rack position (elbows up, shoulder blades back and down)

• As you near the bottom of the squat, check for “butt winking” or that the butt or pelvis does not tuck under the body--this means your rib cage is lifted and your hips have run out of room, therefore calling on the lumbar spine to come into play.

• Check that head is not up and that low back is not arched

• Rib cage should be down

• Intrabdominal pressure (360 core expansion) throughout entire lift

Deadlifts/Pulls (These coaching cues/visuals can apply to a single leg deadlift or an Olympic lifting pull as well.)

The best video angle for deadlifts is the side.

• Check neutral spine from head to tailbone

• Ensure that knees are externally rotated from the hip

• For conventional deadlift, check that knees are in line or just over the top of the bar.

• Check for pressure in big toe

• Check that head is not up and that low back is not arched

• Rib cage should be down

• Shoulder blades should back and down, and not shoved to the front of the sockets

Anna Woods is a wife and mother who has based her entire career on helping other people find their value and worth through fitness, nutrition and especially the belief that “I am enough.” A published author, motivational speaker and athlete, Anna is a Crossfit Level 1 Coach, an ACE-Personal Trainer and a Functional Aging Specialist. She describes herself as an outdoor enthusiast, OCR Adventurer, Crossfit Competitor and Triathlete. Her goal is to redefine fitness from basing our worth and progress off a scale number to that of crossing our own personal “finish lines.”