365 - Is 1-to-1 Coaching Worth It? Here’s When It Works (and When It Doesn’t)
Follow the Purple Patch Podcast at:
APPLE PODCASTS - SPOTIFY- AMAZON MUSIC - GOOGLE PODCASTS - YOUTUBE
Welcome to the Purple Patch Podcast!
On this episode, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon and Purple Patch Fitness Coach Max Gering discuss the importance of one-to-one coaching in athletic success. They emphasize the need for flexible training plans that adapt to life's changes, key sessions, and understanding session intent. They highlight the significance of support, accountability, and education on fundamentals like sleep, recovery, and nutrition. The conversation also covers the importance of community, communication, and a personalized coaching approach. Purple Patch's methodology, anchored in science and peer-reviewed research, aims to create a performance partnership where athletes and coaches work together to achieve goals and improve overall well-being.
If you have any questions about the Purple Patch program, feel free to reach out at info@purplepatchfitness.com.
Episode Timecodes:
00-1:32 Promo
2:01-5:41 Intro
5:45-7:24 Athlete Success
7:30-9:13 Clarity on Sessions
11:38-14:12 Connection to a Community
16:44 Vision with 1-1 Coaching
21:46-28:22 Team
28:30-end Rapid Fire Q&A
Purple Patch and Episode Resources
Check out our world-class coaching and training options:
Tri Squad: https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/squad
1:1 Coaching: https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/11-coached
Run Squad: https://www.purplepatchfitness/com/run-squad
Strength Squad: https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/strength-1
Live & On-Demand Bike Sessions: https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/bike
Explore our training options in detail: https://bit.ly/3XBo1Pi
Live in San Francisco? Explore the Purple Patch Performance Center: https://center.purplepatchfitness.com
Everything you need to know about our methodology:
https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/our-methodology
Amplify your approach to nutrition with Purple Patch + Fuelin
https://www.fuelin.com/purplepatch
Get access to our free training resources, insight-packed newsletter and more at purplepatchfitness.com
Transcription
Matt Dixon 00:00
Today's show is a cracker. We continue our conversation around what an athlete needs to be successful. It goes well beyond the training plan, and in today's discussion, Max and I break apart not just what an athlete needs to be successful, but how Purple Patch has designed our one to one coaching to serve those needs. It goes well beyond just delivering workouts and maybe giving a little bit of feedback. I think you'll find today useful. If you're a coach, you might be able to take some of the lessons and apply to your own coaching of athletes. If you're an athlete, maybe it will broaden your perspective on how to actually build a performance recipe for yourself. Of course, it might also be a catalyst where you want to continue the conversation with Purple Patch, maybe you want to understand how we can help you support your journey. And so why don't you reach out to us for a complimentary needs assessment? We'd like to understand your goals, your needs, what you're looking to accomplish. You can set up a complimentary call with Max, who is my co host. Today, he's going to really dig deep into what you are looking for as an athlete and what you're looking to achieve, and then we can see if there's an alignment. It's absolutely no pressure. We are just there to try and support you along your journey. And so I hope that you enjoy the show today and you find it beneficial. And if you would like to reach out, don't hesitate. Feel free to just reach out to info@purplepatchfitness.com that's info@purplepatchfitness.com we'll set up a call at your convenience, and we'll explore if we're a right partner for each other. Alrighty with that, enjoy the show, and I hope you find it's beneficial. Take care. I'm Matt Dixon, and welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. The mission of Purple Patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential through the lens of athletic potential, you reach your human potential. The purpose of this podcast is to help time starved people everywhere integrate sport into life.
Matt Dixon 02:02
And Matt, and welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. As ever, your host, Matt Dixon, and once again, I'm joined by my co host, Max Goering, how you doing, Max?
Max Gering 02:11
I am good. Matt, happy Monday. We're recording this on a Monday morning. Happy to be here.
Matt Dixon 02:16
Happy to be here. Yeah. And Goodness me. You know it's always, it's always tough recording with you. So I feel my age when I with, when I record with youth for you, and you bring your good looks. I did promise not to tell anyone on the show that your nickname within Purple Patch is Hollywood, so I certainly won't reveal that today and and there is good reason for it, but we are here to explore part two of our series around really coaching an athlete success. If you haven't listened to part one of this in in part one, Max and I went through and naturally, Max got to take control of the of the show and and interviewed me in many ways. We sort of designed these two episodes around a really popular NPR podcast, how I built this, and thought it would be really fun, but ultimately really useful, to dig into a little bit of Purple Patch. So Max, we talked about what it takes for an athlete to be successful, and then we unpack the tri squad program for Purple Patch. It was a lot of fun, I think, really, really interesting, sort of what came out of that. Today we want to go into the next step of that. So we're going to talk. We can do a little refresher. I think, I think you want to do a little refresher on what it, what it, what is required for an athlete to be successful. We also want to discuss coach ability. So from a from an athlete standpoint, how to be really coachable, and then from a coaching standpoint, how to set that up. And then I think we're going to dig into one to one coaching a little bit and how we view one to one coaching. I think I'm covering all the bases of what we want to get done on this show. Yeah, yeah,
Max Gering 03:57
that's exactly what we're going to do. I think the refresher will be good to start. And then ideally, people are going to walk away from this episode. From this episode with a lot to think about in terms of where they are on their personal journey, if they're thinking about coaching, if they're in coaching, and really come away with things that are helped them be more successful. Yeah.
Matt Dixon 04:15
And also, I'd like to sort of shine if you're listening as a coach, this might be really useful for you as a coach of how to think about your own coaching and how to get the most out of your athletes. We obviously got a lot of experience on that, so I'm hoping it would be helpful for coaches and then athletes, whether they're self coached, whether they're already in a coaching relationship, whether they're exploring a coaching relationship, as you say, hopefully broaden the perspective of what is necessary, because you and I both know it goes well beyond the workouts, which we're going to dig into today, but I think we can, we can get going with what we were labeled, the meat and potatoes. And so I I get to sit back a little bit today, and I guess I'm on the hot seat, so I'll put myself in your hands and and let us. Kick off the journey. It's over to you. I think.
Max Gering 05:01
All right, let's do it. The first thing I asked for you in this beginning section, Matt is to be as quick as possible. I am going to throw out a topic, and I want you to give us your quick take rapid fire on what athletes need to know about this topic, regarding, you know what they need to be successful. So we're going to keep this short so we can keep keep going. How's that sound?
Matt Dixon 05:26
Well, I would do my best. I like the fact that you're you shine the light of pressure on me. So I would do, you know, I'm a man of many words, but I will do my best. I'll try and be succinct.
Max Gering 05:35
All right, so to kick things off, what athletes need to be successful? Because we are talking about training is a training plan. So flexibility in training plans. What does that mean? Why is it important? Well,
Matt Dixon 05:46
life is not a spreadsheet. That's that's what I would say there. So I think that whether you're prescribed a training plan by a coach, whether you're following a training program, it needs to dance with life. Life is chaotic. It is the one certainty that we have is change. And so the only way that I've seen athletes be successful is if they either design or have a training program that, in itself, is highly flexible as well, that can ebb and flow with the demands of life. And what I mean by that is, I consistently see any training program that has a predetermined progressive load by week on total training hours has been or total training Miles has been. The predominant sort of feature of success is the one that is always going to break. And so having a program that actually can integrate into life, and if life is busy, then it can be less or less busy, then you can do more training. Is always the recipe for success. I would say,
Max Gering 06:51
think that's hit the nail on the head. It's really important for listeners there. It's not just about you being flexible with the way you approach training, but the training program itself needs to be flexible inherently,
Matt Dixon 07:01
yeah. And I would, I would add to it, a plan is not coaching. A plan is just that a spreadsheet. And so the coaching part of it, and and the empowerment of the athlete part of it, that's where the magic occurs. I see it's not really about the workouts per se. It's how you apply the workouts in the context of your life.
Max Gering 07:20
Exactly, all right. Number two, clarity on what sessions matter. How does that come into play for an athlete to be successful?
Matt Dixon 07:29
For that, I would say two things. Number one, right from the start of coaching professional athletes, it was exactly the same. It's particularly important for very busy athletes, and that is that any given week, it's very, very easy for athletes to fall into viewing their training programs like chicken casserole, where every suggestion has the same value or importance. That's not what training is. Any given week of training, I think, is, is most successful when you build it around two or maybe three key sessions of the week, the ones that are there that place typically the most demand and drive the performance needle. The supporting sessions, as we call them, are valuable. They're important, but they're the ones that you can scale both in terms of duration and, of course, intensity, or both of those. So that's the adjustable component. And I think if you look at any week of training, and you can't clearly identify the key sessions, and then you're starting to go down a cul de sac of struggle. The second part of it that I think is really important is an athlete understanding the intent, what are you trying to get out of the session? And it's not just the hard sessions. It is understanding the demanding sessions, what the goal is and how to execute them successfully. That's great. It's also really buying into and executing the easier sessions, as easy as they need to go. And one of the common mistakes we see of athletes is going too hard in easy sessions. So understanding and executing to intent is the second layer of that.
Max Gering 09:01
Fantastic. Yeah, that clarity is super important. Clarity is a word we'll come back to when we talk about coaching, but that was in terms of the training, program, support and accountability. How does that play into an athlete being successful?
Matt Dixon 09:14
Well, I should preface I think I'm on a little mini victory so far. So I'm going to keep my ball rolling here, because I think I've been pretty succinct, so I just want to flag that, and you're holding me to account to execute this, so I better not be too wordy. Support and Accountability that's at the heartbeat of any successful team, any successful coaching relationship, when you are looking to achieve something in something meaningful for you. There is no shortcut to success. It is a journey, and a big part of the journey is consistency. And along that journey, you are going to have challenges, you are going to have things you don't expect. You're going to have setbacks, you're going to have struggles. And so. So for you to show up every single day and execute to the best that you can relative to the context, it's very, very difficult to do it alone. People tend to excel when they have a really strong, robust system of support and accountability, carrot, stick, etc, that can come from teammates, that can come from mentors, that can, of course, come from coaches. It's really, really important. The second thing I'd say around that is support and accountability, to focus on the things that are going to actually help you. We talk a lot about focusing on the boulders, not the sand. Matt nail, the basics, a big part of coaching, I think, is actually removing distractions and really getting prioritized the things that are important and and coaching is holding the athlete to account, to stay focused on those components and and very quickly, because I know that I'm supposed to be quick fire. The other part of it is motivation. In here, motivation is always going to ebb and flow. That's a norm. That's not you do not show up every day in anything in life, highly motivated, but the through line is commitment, and so if you are committed, the support and accountability is really a useful tool to keep you on track. That's my quick fire on that one.
Max Gering 11:19
Fantastic. I liked how you broke it up into support and accountability. In terms of the general process of what you're trying to achieve, and then the support and accountability of what you need to focus on to move the needle forward. Which brings us to this next point, which is education about those fundamentals. Why is that an important part, pivotal part of the process of being successful as an
Matt Dixon 11:39
athlete? And with fundamentals, you mean the supporting elements, like sleep, recovery, yeah. That like the exactly, What? What? When I started coaching, the things that everybody sort of relegated to an afterthought and and right from the start of Purple Patch was, in fact, the most polarizing part of the methodology is putting those with equal value and importance to the in triathlete, since swim, bike and run. So we're talking about integrating strength, recovery, proper hydration, nutrition, prioritizing sleep, those components without without a heavy emphasis on those, an equal emphasis of those, education on those. And then even the perfect workouts will fail. That's what I would say with that and and the interesting thing, whether we're talking about nutrition, a really emerging field, hydration, sleep, integrating strength, all of these components can be really confusing, a lot of contradictory information. And so education on those are critical from a coaching standpoint, and I see our role as being the filter. So there is a blizzard of information on every one of these. We could spend weeks and weeks and weeks going down rabbit holes. What are the things that you as the athlete, or she as the athlete, or he's the athlete, need to focus on for themselves to drive their performance needle, absolutely critical. So I would say that is fundamental. And there's one more that I would add that is often forgotten, which I think is the unlock for many athletes, and that's our Sunday special process label, you know, ultimately organizational effectiveness without a weekly ritual of getting organized and planning strategically all of your life, non negotiables, your work, non negotiables and your training, hopefully non negotiables. It all falls to custard. So the biggest unlock is that process of every Sunday doing proper planning. That's the unlock to actually integrate all of those things. So yep, that that is the program. That's the truth of it. How important are those other elements outside of Sim, bike and run, they are part of the program. That's the only way I've seen athletes really be successful over the long term. That's for sure.
Max Gering 13:54
Yeah, it's incredible how much focusing on that as an athlete gives you control over your journey in your process, which, again, we'll get into flagging that for myself. The last thing I want to ask you about is community. So we talked about support and accountability and going on a personal journey. But, you know, being a part of something that's bigger than yourself. Why is that
Matt Dixon 14:15
valuable? I'd say community, staying power. That's really what it is. It's so additive I can't think of anything in life where people perform better individually, when they just go it alone, when they surround themselves with people, particularly where it it delivers a sense of shared mission. It's a like minded and you're sharing on that journey. It's more fun, it's more rewarding. It drives individual performance, collectively. And in fact, when you're a part of the community, helping others is also another catalyst to actually provide meaning and purpose towards this. And so I think that. If you sign up for a race or you have particular goals or aspirations, your driving purpose is very individual in nature. That's absolutely fine, even if you look at it through those lens, for you to get the most out of it for yourself, surround yourself with team. If you want to call it that, you will get more out of it. You will also be adding and helping others get more out of it, and that's useful. So in many ways, actually, if you think about Purple Patch, most people, and I think it's the same for any coaching organization, most people sign up for coaching or join coaching, start a coaching relationship with through the lens and with the goal of achieving a goal, getting faster, making a breakthrough, finishing their first Ironman. Whatever it is that's the reason for coming, but the reason they stay is all of the other stuff that we talked about. It's a catalyst for people to become more more organized and effective in life. They feel better and they get the reward. They feel more accomplished. They feel a part of something. So for me, like the community is a big part of why people stay. And it turns out people stay for for a long time when they join us. So, so I think it's, it's another critical backbone of making it really successful. I'd say,
Max Gering 16:16
Well, that wraps up our rapid fire section, and we were successful. That was, that was a win. So on to the onto the next part, I think now, is now the time has come to start to break down one to one coaching. And just like we did when we talked about tri squad and we walked through, you know what your vision and mission was when creating Purple Patch tri squad, think it'll be really valuable to do the same to frame this, which is where did Purple Patch one to one coaching come from, and what was your big mission when creating the coaching program at Purple Patch?
Matt Dixon 16:49
Yeah, I think it's worth us going back, not to walk over world trodden ground, but it's worth going back all the way to me starting Purple Patch, which was me, myself, and I and and I had really a relatively narrow perspective. When I started Purple Patch, I wanted to coach champions. That was it. It was in myself, in my studio apartment. And the whole methodology of Purple Patch emerged out of my struggles as an athlete, myself and and really the lessons that I gained of well, this is not how to do it, despite my background in clinical physiology and and obviously an elite sport before that, and even coaching in swimming at a pretty high level. So when I started, I had this methodology, and I implemented it, and went on this journey in World Class sport. And I when you're coaching elite athletes, where it is, it is not soft. There is, it is black and white. These athletes show up perform and need to stay at the razor's edge of world class performance. I learned pretty quickly what it meant to be, for lack of a better phrase, an elite coach. In other words, a coach of elite athletes. I'm not calling myself elite per se and and what I realized is, firstly, it was incumbent on me of to really understand a little bit or something, or quite a bit around a whole bunch of stuff. You know, whether it was equipment, whether it was aerodynamics, whether it was fueling and nutrition, strength, recovery, everything I needed to know a little bit about whole bunch of stuff, and then I needed to apply it for athletes. And yet, in any one of those fields, nutrition, manual work, for prehab, strength and conditioning, there were experts in their fields that knew vastly more in each area, and so I would have been, I think, pretty naive to not try and utilize those experts. And very quickly, I thought, hang on. My job is to get these athletes to not just achieve world class levels, but stay there over time. So how can I surround myself with some really, really smart people that can contribute to that journey? And then how can i to use an American phrase, quarterback, this thing, a little bit and and that really, I think maybe that was just my personality. Maybe it was even a little bit of lack of confidence, I don't know, but I really tried to bring them together. So it was, it was people like Jerry Rodriguez of Tower 26 a great open water swim expert, Paul Buick, an amazing cycling coach, technical cycling coach. I'm more you know, learned more about cycling from Paul than than any other person on the planet. Various bike fitters that we utilize, Stacey Sims, the man, John ball around bodywork, just you know, an absolute Maverick and legend, a host of nutritionists, most recently Scott Tyndall, really, really smart guy. And then other coaches reading and interacting with Stephen Seiler and David Tilbury Davis and Steve Magnus out of running these people that could help contribute to the athlete's success. And and that became really important. And so when I. I started to build this pro squad, and they were surrounded by by pro athletes. I went through this experience of saying, hang on now we're going to start to expand this I was coaching. We started to bring coaches on, and I I always looked at other coaching organizations and saw the floor of their model, and that was that there was this name coach, and then they had under them a field of coaches distributed all over the country or world with just a logo on, and they are up there. And it was like, okay, in name only. And I thought that doesn't deliver what we want, which is long term athlete success with great service. So much like my pro athletes that I was coaching that were wholly committed, completely dedicated and chasing world class performance, that was the standards that I wanted to set for the coaching team. So it was all in. And I thought, if we're going to do this, this is all in. I want coaches that are committed, that are going to perform to the highest level and and so I really borrowed off of the model of the pros, and I shaped what we did with the pro athletes. Does it? Does that make sense of, sort of the catalyst of how we started this?
Max Gering 21:16
It does, and I think it really does a good job, job of describing, and we'll get into the way we coach a pro patch today, which is based on that, but describing the feeling you have as a coach at pro patch, which I can speak to, which is you feel like you are a part of a team. You are a part of a team that has high standards. And it makes total sense, because how could you create a team culture with our athletes if it doesn't start with a team culture and when it comes to organization. So
Matt Dixon 21:42
I'm glad you mentioned team as out of that, because that was, I think that was the biggest differentiator of our pro athletes that we coached in the early years. I coached individual pros. It was only when we took a team approach within this individual sport that everything went to the next level. And so with the pro squad, in order to be coached by me, they had to be a member of the team. They were a part of the Purple Patch pro squad. And then there we put systems in place, non negotiable behaviors, very, very similar stuff. You know, you must fuel after workouts. You must integrate and buy into strength training. You must go easy and easy sessions, all of these things. We had a mentorship program. We got together consistently out of our their regular training environment to build trust, understanding, support, collaboration. It started to feel like a team, and I knew that we were getting success with that when they started to identify themselves as Purple Patch pros, rather than Tim Reed pro athlete. So we really had this sense of belonging and team, and so I would have been foolish again to not try and replicate that as a as a coach. And I said, we need to build a team of coaches. So I don't want just in name only. I want a team of people. And so we set up a very similar approach. As we started to add coaches, we did two things. Number one, we put in what are the non negotiable behaviors that we want every coach to adhere to? What's our consistent framework of how we go and deliver coaching? So that's our model of coaching that we talk about interestingly, to keep it really consistent around an athlete experience, whether you're being coached by Max or Matt or Nancy or Brad, it feels like a Purple Patch experience, and it really helps with you know, if you're stepping away, as you did earlier this year and you went and got married, a coach can come in and support you and have a clear understanding of where the athlete is on the journey. So we put all the systems in place. And I think that's a big reason around our one to one coaching, and I know we'll get into the details of one to one coaching, but I think that's a reason for for a couple of things, number one, why it's so challenging for someone to join Purple Patch. We don't hire very often, because we don't lose coaches very often. And and you're, you're actually the freshest face on the Purple Patch coaching team, but it takes a while to hire, and it and and coaches tend to stick around, and that's that's actually a huge component for for that, that retention, that's very similar to what happened with our pro athletes. People just didn't want to leave because the coaches and I think, and maybe you can speak to this more, it doesn't feel like an individual, isolated journey. You've got a support network, you're held to account. The standards are high and and certainly for an incoming coach, that's not for everyone, because you don't just get to go off and hide in the corner and coach your 1015, 20 athletes. You are held to account to deliver excellent service, and also you're supported and and so you probably know as much about Nancy's athletes and Brad's athletes as my athletes as in some ways, as you. Own athletes. You know, it's, it really is this Purple Patch athlete mindset across everyone. But sounds like you, you feel that as a as a member of the coaching team?
Max Gering 25:09
Yeah, I do. I think, I mean, that's what makes it fantastic, is being part of that team and working really hard as a given in anything you're going to do and do. Well, the question is, are you going to be working really hard with people around you in that you know, that are that for the same pursuit, and that's what makes it enjoyable and
Matt Dixon 25:26
sustainable. Yeah, yeah, I would, I would add as well, by the way, you know, I mentioned Jerry Rodriguez and Paul Bucha and these experts in fields. It's also really valuable from a coaching team standpoint. What that looks like in our coaching team is we all have different strengths, and all of us have weaknesses as well, and so in our coaching team, we would be silly, through that same lens, not to leverage that. So Nancy is a fantastic resource in female physiology. She actually up levels the rest of us. She uplevels You, myself and everyone. You are a brain mechanic, as I like to say. You have the expertise around sports psychology. It's fantastic. And John is obviously a real expert in open water swimming and technique. So we bring these different assets that then can be surrounded. And you know, when someone joins as an athlete, they need video analysis from John. You have video analysis from John. You want to deep dive and get support around an athlete that you're coaching, around female physiology and merit perimenopause, bring Nancy into the fold. So it creates, I think, more of a 360 degree team approach to the individual athlete as well, which I think is is really beneficial for, ultimately, what we're here for, athlete success.
Max Gering 26:43
Yeah, it's funny as you're saying that I was thinking about the next part of the, you know, the service that we're going to get through, which is coaching and being coachable. And it's probably a whole other topic for another day, but how you can only be a good coach if you are very coachable, and this team dynamic forces us as coaches to be very coachable and to lean into team, to work together, to be open to feedback, to communicate when we need help. And so, yeah, that's a key component of us being successful as coaches within an organization.
Matt Dixon 27:13
Yeah, I and I'm sorry I've heard sort of, I came in and got excited when you said that, because I think what, what does it take to be a great teammate. What is if you think about being a great teammate, always identify three things which you want to bring a certain level of smarts to it. So you want to be smart, you want to be hungry. That's like because there is a will to win here. There's a we want results, we want outcomes, and you want to be humble. Those are the three things. And so a big part of humility is looking outside of yourself for answers, support, accountability, all of those components so smart. We don't hire dummies. We want people that are ambitious, that are there, that want to meet the standards. Don't want the standards lower to them, and you want to be humble enough to actually surround yourself with people that have got got great, great core expertise in areas that maybe we're we're weaker in and that's how everybody benefits, including the athletes.
Max Gering 28:05
Yeah, fantastic. All right, before we ramble on too much, let's keep going. So when it comes to One to One coaching, and as you talk about a lot, being in a performance partnership, a key part of that partnership is the athlete. So to kick things off with this next section, what does it mean to be coachable from an athlete's perspective?
Matt Dixon 28:27
What we could do, and I have to go back through my memory bank, I think we might have done a whole podcast on coachability, but we certainly could if we haven't done it, because coachability, I think, is one of the traits of high performers generally. You know, in my experience with coaching too many elite athletes to remember the ones that are most successful, the champions, the ones that are highly coachable, that is the one that is really consistent. And interestingly, you know, I've worked with a lot of C suite executives, and many of them pretty well known. And the common trait amount around the ones that are most successful is their thirst for learning and their coachability. It is absolutely a critical component to success, being coachable. But what does that actually mean? And I think the most important thing is what it doesn't mean. It does not mean that you're relinquishing control or you're removing ownership. And so if you're coachable, you still own your results. You are still ultimately steering the ship. What a coach is is a performance partner, as you talked about that. So it remains your journey, ultimately your responsibility. But if you are the athlete with your aspirations and goals. If we just narrow the focus to being an athlete, you are doing the doing every single day. So you are the person in the weeds. You're the ones where the goal, the purpose, the passion, is very personal. It really means. It shouldn't mean more to anyone else than you. You're the one that has everything you. Yeah, and so on a day to day basis, it's really, really difficult to retain perspective while also putting in the required hard work you can't always. I read something, I think it was from Steve Kerr which is he was obviously a great basketball player and a fantastic coach. He said, When you're a player, you can't see yourself play, but a coach is the person that can see yourself play to give you feedback. That's the same as an endurance athlete. You can't see yourself doing it. The coach is there as a sounding sport board, but also a person of great wisdom with hopefully a broad experience of lots of different athletes, where they can put your performance into context and give you great feedback, guidance, advice, etc, along their journey. And so if you can't see yourself, but the coach is there for that. That is a critical component. The coach is also a really good person to set the strategy and help you filter the distractions and get you to focus on the things that are going to help you. I remember Tim Reed became a great world champion as an athlete, had great success. A big part of my role as his coach was to filter out the things that were causing distractions and get him to apply his lofty talent and commitment to the things that would drive the performance needle, and that was the catalyst. So as much about what I removed as it was any magic in workouts, to be honest, it was really, really important. And so with that, I think that if you're an athlete, listening, if it's your journey, and the coach is there as a sounding board, a point of perspective, helping you filter. At the heart of your relationship is what you bring communication, not just waiting for feedback, not just being told what to do, but providing feedback, asking questions, showing up to meetings in a more tangible with an agenda, with things that you want to talk about, and that's how the great partnerships form, where two people are committed, both are bringing it, and there is feedback from the coach, but there's also feedback back to the coach. That's where the magic occurs, and that's how we really build apart that. And so I think it's a critical component. And then the final thing I'd say, I know I'm on a monolog is, you know, people know the growth mindset, but the ever and never ending thirst for learning is so important. The most challenging athletes that we have coached are the ones that are yes, but I know what I want to do, so they like the idea of getting a coach, but they don't want to evolve anything that they do as an athlete, and that's where, that's where the challenges really emerge from. I would say, Yeah,
Max Gering 32:49
summed it up really, really well, starting with commitment, you know, and then breaking it down, that commitment really comes down to communication and questions, questions, what stood out to me a lot, and what I think about the best athletes I've coached, they're always coming with questions. Just this morning, I had a call with an athlete, and it's, you know, what should I focus on this week, understanding that he's going to be on his own, it's up to him to bring it every day, and taking ownership of that part
Matt Dixon 33:17
of the journey. And that was the that was one of the questions he asked, yeah, what should I focus Yeah, yeah, that's it. Exactly, yeah. It's great. Um,
Max Gering 33:26
all right, so that's being coachable. That's one component of the performance partnership. It's the athlete. Now this next part is what the coach needs to bring and what you know how the relationship should be set up so that the coachable athlete can be super successful. So we're going to stick with the format we did before, which is, I'm going to ask you a question this time you have more time to answer. So I want to keep a time clock and to kick things off with this. I think it's a really good place to start with the Purple Patch methodology, because we talked about team and standards and all of that. And okay, we're going out into the world as coaches, coaching athletes based on what are we coaching, not just our own thoughts and goodwill. So Purple Patch methodology,
Matt Dixon 34:22
yeah, so if, if we're looking inside and and I guess, just, just to frame it for listeners as well, the as I answer these questions, it's not how everyone should do it. It's how we we try and solve the challenge of really making sure the athletes can be successful. I'm sure there are other ways out there, and I know there are many other coaches being successful, so I just want to ground ourselves in that when, you know, I just returned from Mexico City, and we were doing a leadership component, and we talked about. About being a great coach or a great leader in a corporate setting. And I said the first thing I talked about was having your methodology, your your your your distinct methodology that you buy into that's really, really important. I think that's the heartbeat of coaching. What do you actually believe in and and what are the principles that are going to guide you. That's a critical component, a Purple Patch, those that methodology emerged out of, as we talked about before, my own struggles, I wanted my athletes to be really, really healthy, with a long term lens focused on self improvement, and built a methodology to try and address those needs, and that methodology is the heartbeat of it. And so the reason that is important is that over the course of time, that methodology has always evolved a little bit, because we're always looking to improve. We're always looking to reflect and say, What can we improve next year? But at the base of it. Those principles fit into into the the umbrella is what we talk about, and it is anchored in science and peer reviewed research as well as, and I think this is really important lessons from the journey where we just know it works and and it continues to evolve. It stood the test of time. It's 20 years now in duration, what it looks like now, you could argue, is almost exactly the same as what it looked like 20 years ago. Through the other side of my mouth, it has evolved and built every single year where it's radically different and fit for purpose for this time and and I think that's a huge part of coaching. So without a methodology, without a set of beliefs, without a driving compass of what, how you want to take athletes of all levels, of all goals, of all abilities, etc, to their own personal up level, I think it's very, very difficult to be, ultimately, a great coach, and especially a great coaching organization. Just the heartbeat of everything you say, Yeah,
Max Gering 37:09
provides a lot of clarity, which we spoke earlier as a coach, because there's a way of doing things, there's a rationale, there's a proven methodology, and there's just like, there's a blizzard of information for athletes out there, there's a blizzard of information for coaches, and it gives you clarity on what you should be focusing on as you're helping people succeed, and so you're not looking left and right all the time when things are popping up as you say, this is the what cycle of lactate testing or zone two being important On as a coach?
Matt Dixon 37:40
Yeah, it's about, I think I'm in my third cycle of black blood lactate testing being really, really trendy, and there's some value to it as well. In the right context, I what I will say with all of this zone two, it's the brand new thing that's been around for a generation. The the question that we always ask is something very, very simple, will this make athletes go faster? That's that's ultimately it. Will it make them go faster? Obviously being legal, obviously being healthy, and so that, that's what so you, you add things into the mix if it's appropriate for the athlete, and will yield results. That creates a real confidence and filter of Hang on. We're not just going to move with the tide here. We're not going to get distracted. This is what our fundamentals are. And then we can infuse as a team, these things, if it's really beneficial and and so I think that's a really important thing for coaches to really understand of I think it's at the backbone of success. Ultimately,
Max Gering 38:46
yeah, and then so we take that another step, which is we have this methodology applying that methodology you mentioned before, the coaching model, the Purple Patch coaching model. So talk a little bit about the importance of having unified coaching model, again, the way we do it. And also, if you're another coach listening, the importance of having your own model that you coach based off of,
Matt Dixon 39:12
yeah. So there's always some confusion around Hang on, is the model? The methodology? Is the methodology the model. So the methodology is, if I am coaching you, Max, what, what, where are we going to apply our focus? What type of sessions are you going to do? How you're going to lay out the week, how, what are you going to think about nutrition, integrating strength, etc. So it's sort of the the the actual principles of your coaching and how you you derive it. And obviously it's tailored to every individual, but at the heartbeat, it's unmistakably Purple Patch. We always talk about, every single athlete's plan is unmistakably theirs, but also unmistakably a Purple Patch approach and that. So that's the sort of the methodology. The model is, how do we apply that methodology where we can scale? It across all of the athletes, all of the coaches that are applying it in a systematic way to create consistency. And what we're trying to remove here is many of the things that undo coaching relationships. So why do athletes really struggle in coaching relationships? Well, there's, a few things. Number one, the athlete not having alignment and buy in with what does success look like? So it's very, very important that you have every single coach with all of their athletes that they're coaching really aligned shoulder to shoulder to say, this is the vision. This is what success looked like out of that vision and purpose. This is how we're establishing the goals and the action we're going to take. So with that, it creates clarity, it creates alignment, and it's a bond. It's the start of a partnership. The second challenge that we try and remove by consistently applying through a framework is a lack of clarity of well, what am I supposed to focus on as an athlete? One of the biggest challenges we see is athletes focusing on too many things and therefore not doing anything very, very well, or confusion over, well, where am I on the journey? What am I supposed to be applying here? Shouldn't we be adding this, this and this? So there's a process in place where coach and athlete can do some contracting to say very, very clearly, in order to achieve these goals, this is what we're going to focus on, and perhaps just as important, what we're not going to focus on. And that becomes really, really helpful for clarity, removing confusion, making sure there's no distraction. And it's almost a contracting then a big part of it is to help the athlete go on the journey and provide feedback, support and accountability that we talked about to those actions. So that's how you you feel like you're in lockstep with each other. And then, of course, as a part of that, something that is just a reality of going on any journey, whether you're building a business, whether you're trying to train for an Ironman or a marathon, or anything else, there's always things you haven't thought about, and there is always change you are going to come about. Things that derail you, take you off track, suddenly become an obstacle or some external force that changes things. So how, as a coach, can you bring your back on track? Well, it's all part of that alignment and vision that's a part of it, and then finally, helping an athlete stay on track and understand their progress and how they need to adapt to keep back with that vision. So having a framework is incredibly important. And the interesting power of this is, when you have a really formalized framework, it's actually liberating, because it helps facilitate better communication. It creates better alignment with coach and athlete, and with a stricter framework, ironically, it provides all of the coaches with greater autonomy to bring their best and own personality. So what I don't want is everybody coaching like robots. What I want is everybody to bring their strengths, everyone to be able to have their own personality, everyone to have their own styles, every coach athlete relationship, to have a communication system that works for that coach and athlete, not just systematically, but operating in a framework where it creates really easy transitions. We can support other coaches. The athlete understands where they're at on the journey. So what that looks like in person, in really tangibly, is we love moments in the Purple Patch journey, and so once a quarter, typically, we have these moments of reflection where all of the coaches are looking back over the quarter and saying, what do we do well, where can we improve? Like, what do we not do as well? What should we do now? And that's a systematic thing. But in there, there's a whole bunch of flexibility of how you apply that, and what the athlete needs and what they're chasing, etc. So I think it's a a really, really important part that creates a whole bunch of freedom and ultimately makes things easier. And that's what we're looking to do, is to remove friction, make things easier easier, and create that word that you mentioned earlier, that I think is a really good one, a performance partnership, word, phrase, whatever you want to call
Max Gering 44:29
it fantastic. It's it really is that the crux of it, the crux of the coach relationship. I like how you said. It creates more freedom. It does give you more capacity to focus on the things that really, really matter, and spend less time dealing with the little things, the logistics. Again, it makes coaching a lot more effective.
Matt Dixon 44:49
I would just add one thing to it as well, from for listeners that are maybe interested in this part, from myself as the head coach or the leader of the coach. Same team as well. It creates the framework. Is the thing that enables us to set really high standards. It's like, this is how we do stuff. So you asked me about support and accountability earlier, if it's really, really clear of how we deliver coaching when I'm having the one to one conversations with you Max bi weekly, and we look at your roster, and we look at how you're doing, and we investigate where each of the athletes are on their journey and how I can support you. It makes it much, much easier as we're going along in this step by step process of like, Have you done this? No, where do you need support here? So it creates an ecosystem of high standards, high support, where I can help fuel hopefully your coaching, which I think is really beneficial for everyone.
Max Gering 45:55
Yeah, it's exactly it's a really good example of what it looks like for us as a coaching team. I like that. It's, it's super, super important. So I guess one more, one more thing to say about it is, I think that, again, as you said, it allows the coach to bring their own personality and speak from it personally. Is it? Again, it just provides it's not that every athlete is coached the same way, but there's key things that we're touching on with all athletes, making sure that we're reflecting, making sure that athletes have clarity. And so it it's a kind of a plug and play model as a coach. I guess that's one way I think about it as a coach. But moving on, some things that are pretty a given in the world of coaching, but I think they're important to talk about anyway. Um, anyway, starting with, you know, having a truly customized plan, a tailored plan, something that's flexible, as we mentioned the beginning, just quick, quick, quick hits on that. As we could say, even though it is a given,
Matt Dixon 46:54
yeah, what? It should be a given. Interestingly, when, and you're the person that's having a lot of conversations when you're doing for lack of a better phrase, and needs assessment with an incoming athlete where you want to understand their goals, where they're at, etc, and correct me if I'm wrong. But one of the most common things that you hear from athletes with their frustrations of their prior coaching relationship is the lack of integration of their training plan into life. And so I'll give an example. They might be traveling to New York and being asked to go for a two hour bike ride that doesn't that that's stunning to me, that that's that's such a basic it's a little bit like brushing your teeth in the morning. If you are a coach, you are delivering a program, particularly if you're working with someone one that should be absolutely integrated into life. Number one, it should be highly flexible. And once you write the training program, you should fully expect that that training program is a living document that might need to be evolved depending on how the athlete executes in training and their fatigue level changing life commitments. Maybe they have to travel suddenly to New York. You need to adapt the program so, sort of unlimited program changes, and making sure that program adapts in real time, that's a part of it. And it should integrate and follow that athlete's personal calendar, their work calendar, and it should evolve. And I think that's, uh, you know, obviously the one of the big differences between tri squad, a little bit more autonomous and self managed on that standpoint. And the one to one coaching is every single workout should fit how much time you have in that day, where you're at in the world, etc. And it should all feed into the best decision to keep long term progression and making sure that you're a part of a journey, that's a second part of it. I think that's really important around the tailor program is really simple language, not requiring people to have science degrees and understand about mitochondrial density in order for them to execute simple is better, in fact, as simple as genius and and I think that's a critical component, and it does. And maybe you're going to ask me about this, but it ties in as well to the communication piece. Communication, how can you have a one to one coaching relationship where you're you're limiting communication? In order for it to be successful, you need communication. And I don't really mind how it happens. You know, it can happen through our training app. Training peaks really consistently. That's one part of it. It can happen on text and email. You need to have human interaction, sort of whether it's voice calls, whether it's video calls, whether it's in person, all of that comes together with a recipe. But communication for me, needs to be unlimited if, if an athlete has life events that change, they need to be able to reach out, and that program needs to adapt so that that's why, at the heart of it, we have never, will never, limit communication. You know, if, if an athlete ever in our quarterly surveys that we do, that I lead and follow up with athletes. If an athlete ever reports I feel under supported, that is a dagger to our heart. And I think that would be a dagger to your heart as an as a coach of Purple Patch here. I mean, that's, that's perhaps one of the worst pieces of feedback we can get. Luckily, we don't get it too often. But yeah, goodness me,
Max Gering 50:18
yeah, not, not something we want to hear support in your style, as I like to say when I start with new athletes. So let's figure out the style that's best, that best works for you in your life. All of this, the reason why we have the plans, the communication, the quote, unquote contract in the beginning, at the end of the day, is, yes, to accomplish goals and also to do something a lot bigger, which is to go on a personal journey. And I think, as you mentioned before, which is the staying power. You know, people come because they have a goal and they want to accomplish something in sport, and it's something that's super important to them, but then it transcends to something bigger than that, and that often that's why they stay so I think it'd be good to talk a little bit about broader education and going on a journey with athletes. What does that look like?
Matt Dixon 51:07
It's a great point to bring up. I think it's, I think it's actually under undervalued by many coaches and even athletes. So I think the first thing here, as a coach, our job is not done once you hit send on the plan. All right, there it is. Off. You go see you later. I'll speak to you in the week. It's that's simply the training plan. That's the really simple part. And unless the athlete really understands the meaning behind that plan, how to execute his intent, and then it's never going to be executed as you intended and how you've written it, that's number one. So when you think about coaching conversations, it goes well beyond How you feeling, how's your swim, how's your bike, how's your run. We have to talk about that a little bit. But do your coaching conversations genuinely address what we would call the pillars of performance? Are you actually thinking in a broad enough perspective that's really that's really important, and that can transcend. It transcends beyond recovery and organizational effectiveness. It does bleed in to broader life and and I think that when you start to develop a really positive coaching relationship, that's where things get really sticky. So let's, let's dig into that a little bit. An athlete joins, and let's just, we're using Purple Patch as the case study. An athlete comes to us typically because they want to take it to the next level. They want to get faster, they want to finish for the first time. They want to qualify to Kona, whatever it might be. So it is a results business in which they come to us to achieve goals, to get faster. That's why, at the heart of it, when you strip it all away, that's why they come great, and that's not why they stay. Because what emerges over time is that by taking on this challenge, by solving the integration challenge of not having it be like a monkey on the back, where it feels like it's a net negative to the life, but you want to achieve that very important goal and actually unlocking your performance recipe, what starts to emerge is this is something more profound, ultimately, is the only way to Do it. Because they they feel healthier, they have better energy, they gain perspective, they become better at navigating challenges. They draw the lessons from that, and it helps them sharpen broader life. So there's all of this stuff and, and as a coach, I think that's a very, very important part that we need to take really seriously. And and even as a part of that, if you have someone that signs up and joins and you are coaching, and they are wholly focused on the finish line, the time, the qualification, the pass, fail, element of it, it is a part of our role to try and steer and say that's really critical in your journey. But this is the other stuff that's also important, because that's the stuff that really, really galvanizes the value of why people do this sport. And when you take people on a journey and they have that, wow, that's important, and that's a really critical component, I can even tell a personal story here, because when I came to the US, I had the most narrow field of focus I could possibly have. I came as a swimmer. I'd final in the Olympic trials in swimming. I joined, came over here in 1992 my whole goal, my whole mission, was, yeah, I'm going to university, but I want to make the Olympic team. That's it. And I committed for four years. I went to the Olympic trials in 96 and I didn't make the Olympic team. So objectively, I failed. But what actually came over that is I went on this incredible journey. Yeah, I got a degree out of it, this incredible journey that really helped drive me as a human being. And not only did I gain a whole bunch of friendships with a whole bunch of really crazy other swimmers and. That still to this day, I keep in touch with and keep me sound sane, sane and grounded and and, and I don't even want to say anything more about those guys, but, but it gave me every reward that I possibly couldn't imagine at the start of it, that, yeah, I didn't get the Olympic rings out of it, but ultimately, it didn't really matter, and it you don't need to be an elite athlete. You don't need to be chasing Olympic Games to yield exactly the same thing out of the sport. And so the broader education and the bigger perspective, I think, is the most powerful part of coaching. You know, that's not how you, for lack of a better phrase, sell it, but that's the reward, and that's why so many Purple Patch athletes stick around for such a long period of time?
Max Gering 55:48
Yeah, I love that. What comes to mind for me is something that we talk a lot about, is we are passionate about, how can people get better and tap into the potential? Yes, we want to make athletes faster, and we do make athletes faster, but we don't care who the fastest athlete is. We want people to win within the context of their life. And when you nail this in a coaching relationship, that coaching relationship and partnership for athletes become essentially like a lab in their life where they get to practice, being coachable, having a growth mindset, and then work on all these things, being someone that has perspective. And then that's when they're able to, you know, convert it to other other components of their life, other arenas in their life. And that's really where the magic happens,
Matt Dixon 56:35
yeah, and in fact, that that aligns with many of the C level executives that I'm working with that are essentially incredibly successful in life and at work and but I've had coaching relationships that last seven, 810, 14 years, I've been coaching a C level executive, and it's just this continual low risk lab to continue to take on challenges, To keep honing communication and leadership skills, etc, that's the value. And they keep getting faster, even though they're getting in advanced stages. That's great, but that's just the cherry, ultimately, is the truth of it?
Max Gering 57:13
Yeah, fantastic. Well, this has been really beneficial. I personally have loved this conversation. It's gotten me inspired to go about my day and keep coaching. To wrap it up, I would love for you to give us some quick thoughts on summarizing who we are at Purple Patch, what you know, what we're optimizing for as a coaching team, to really bring some closure to this conversation. Yeah, yeah.
Matt Dixon 57:41
It's, um, well, you, you address the one that I always, I always highlight, actually, and it's, it's my, it is my biggest point of pride and satisfaction, and that's that we don't care who the fastest is, and that that creates a culture like, if I take a step back, we have a culture of excellence. We set very high standards for ourselves. We make athletes faster. That is it. At the same time, we are not there is no ego here. Like, the common thread that ties everyone together is a desire to improve, and I think that creates a really safe, fun environment. That's that's number one. Number two is that word fun. I don't need a reminder from you this week, Max, that three letter word, but I think it's important, like people don't when you when you're taking on this. Ultimately, what this is as a hobby, it's something that's very, very important that can create some real value and return of investment in health, in how you perform, in how you show up, pride, satisfaction, but it's a big part of your life that should not feel like a second job. It should be fun. Fun from how we build the programming, how we coach the programming. I mean, anyone that's in my live and recorded sessions on the video coaching that we infuse into the program. It is fun. I'm deadly serious about it, but I want to have a good time, and it's important fun from a stress removal standpoint. Like we work hard, but we laugh hard too, and, and it turns out as well, by the way, winning is really fun and, and we like that. We love to celebrate victories. I'm still really proud of all of the success our pro athletes had. That's really fun. It's a virtuous circle and and then the final thing I will say that I think, is, is maybe who we are to your question, we're winners. The whenever we talk about fun and talk about that, I think we have to also say it's fun, it's enjoyable, but it's not just cheerleading. We are results driven, and I think that is really fun as well. We take that deadly serious. When we have athletes that join us, they expect and deserve really good results. They expect to. ROI from the effort that they put in will steer you. Will guide you. They have the ownership. But if an athlete commits and leans in, follows the program is really coachable, as we talk about, I would label the success rate of that more than 98% 98% I think it's almost inevitable. We talk about performance inevitability. I'll say that again, who we are. I think it's almost if you show up and are coachable and follow the program and really communicate and buy into it, it's more than 98% that you're going to achieve your goals. And I don't think that's a light thing to say that's who we are and and therefore it's not forever, because, you know, you got to buy in, you got to follow the program, you got to really commit, and you got to have a little bit of a smile on the face and be committed to having fun while you're excelling. That's who we are. It's been a great conversation.
Max Gering 1:00:59
It has been it's a great way to wrap it up.
Matt Dixon 1:01:03
I still, by the way, I'm still, I'm declaring victory. I was succinct in that first section. I built a little victory. I've got my own confidence. So thank you for keeping me on course and on track, my friend.
Max Gering 1:01:15
Thank you for bringing me back as part of the podcast. It's always a good time.
Matt Dixon 1:01:19
Fantastic, Max. Thank you for being here today, and I'm going to going to say something. I don't give out compliment compliments lightly, as you know, but we talked about the coaching team, and we talked about how tough it is. Challenging is we don't hire quickly at Purple Patch we bought you on and it is. It has been nothing but a positive for the team. You have taken our levels that we feel are lofty, and you have up leveled us. And so thank you for bringing everything that you bring to the team. It's been a joy to get to you know you over the last year plus and and it's fantastic that you've just bought so much the team and your athletes are lucky to be coached by you, so I really appreciate it. Thank you. I appreciate that, good man, and anyone that's listening that is a coach that is interested in joining Purple Patch. We're not always hiring, but we're always looking to connect, discuss, talk and explore. So if you are interested, it's not for everyone, we have high expectations, high standards. You better love being a part of a team and and feel free to reach out to that same address info at Purple Patch fitness.com if you're interested. Send us your resume, your background, your inspiration, why you love to coach and and we have a conversation and and then finally, as as I started the show today, Max. If anyone listening would like to explore one to one coaching, or try squad. If they listen to part one, they can reach out to that address info at Purple Patch fitness.com, or set up a complimentary consultation, I believe, with you, where you can understand their goals, what they're looking to achieve, and at least explore if it's a match and if not, where they're going to get a lot of a lot of the conversation, because I'm sure that you'll give them some coaching advice along their journey regardless, and we'll, we'll take it from there. So all right, thank you so much. I really enjoyed how I built this, how I built Purple Patch. We're still on the journey, but Max. Thanks for your time and listeners. Have a great week. Stay healthy. Best of luck and keep working hard. Take care, guys. Thanks so much for joining and thank you for listening. I hope that you enjoyed the new format. You can never miss an episode by simply subscribing. Head to the Purple Patch channel of YouTube, and you will find it there, and you could subscribe. Of course, I'd like to ask you if you will subscribe. Also Share It With Your Friends, and it's really helpful if you leave a nice, positive review in the comments. Now, any questions that you have let me know, feel free to add a comment, and I will try my best to respond and support you on your performance journey. And in fact, as we commence this video podcast experience, if you have any feedback at all, as mentioned earlier in the show, we would love your help in helping us to improve. Simply email us at info@purplepatchfitness.com, or leave it in the comments of the show at the Purple Patch page, and we will get you dialed in. We'd love constructive feedback. We are in a growth mindset, as we like to call it, and so feel free to share with your friends. But as I said, Let's build this together. Let's make it something special. It's really fun. We're really trying hard to make it a special experience, and we want to welcome you into the Purple Patch community with that. I hope you have a great week. Stay healthy, have fun, keep smiling, doing whatever you do, take care.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
One-to-one coaching, athlete success, training plan, flexibility, key sessions, support and accountability, education, fundamentals, community, performance partnership, coaching model, communication, customized plan, broader education, team culture.