StrongFirst Instructor Courses

StrongFirst Teaching Principles

As Students of Strength, we embrace—and quite possibly thrive from—the responsibility to "walk the talk" as we pursue, practice, and promote our principles and the greater purpose that strength serves. But we equally recognize that all walks of students—from aspiring instructors and competitive athletes to everyone else—entrust us with the opportunity to improve or transform their lives. So to deliver exceptional learning experiences, we must continually strive to be better coaches and teachers. Having knowledge is one thing. Helping someone benefit from it is clearly another. This online course is designed to help you bridge the gap and be an even more successful StrongFirst certified instructor.

Drawing from our years of StrongFirst teaching experiences as well as from modern research, this course presents established principles and practical techniques to build and refine your (or your team's) instruction skills toolbox. Not only will you develop consistent teaching practices, but you will also learn how to focus on providing the best means of safely assisting students in their learning and training. These principles and techniques are the backbone of what makes StrongFirst the gold standard in teaching kettlebell, barbell, and bodyweight training.

Kettlebell Instructor's Toolbox

Coaching and instruction is more than just working your student(s) into the ground. Good coaching means making the right choices for the goals in mind: visualizing MORE options, not LESS. Having the most tools in your toolbox means finding the right “fix” for your student becomes easy when THEY are struggling to own a skill, and YOU are struggling to help them own that skill.

Every student responds to unique stimuli, and the more options you have as a coach ensure your student will learn quickly and effectively. Once your student understands and can perform a difficult skill-set safely, you are now the go-to expert. The K.I.T. (Kettlebell Instructor’s Toolbox) Course and accompanying workbook are designed for kettlebell instructors and movement coaches in mind – we all need those “fixes”, tricks and ways to see progressions to help guide our students to safe healthy movement and into skilled strength practice.

Solid instructional foundation comes from a comprehensive understanding of the elements, sequencing, cueing and troubleshooting for each movement pattern. Knowing what movement patterns create what problems and understanding what can fix them requires experience and a large arsenal of fixes — the same cue that works for John might not work for Sue. Having as many options as possible to solve the same challenge is the key to effective movement instruction.

K.I.T. (Kettlebell Instructor’s Toolbox) was developed over many years by StrongFirst Instructors, Zar Horton, Vic Verdier, and Andrea U-Shi Chang, and is a thorough collection of many unique drills and form fixes that enable the instructor to sharpen their eye, and to coach safely and effectively.