S06E120 BISON 15 - From Nervous Newbie To Head Coach At CrossFit Bison - Liz Tanzola
Sam Rhee sits down with Liz Tanzola @liz_tanzola, head coach at CrossFit Bison, to talk about how she goes from zero coaching experience to leading hundreds of classes plus an entire staff of coaches.
We dig into class prep, athlete cues, scaling decisions, and the harder part of the job: leading a coaching team with trust and honest feedback.
• starting coaching without experience and leaning on a desire to help people
• early nerves and the logistics of starting and ending class on time
• learning athletes through movement observation and individualized cues
• building a coaching workflow from program notes to the clock
• varying warm-ups based on workout length, intent, and room energy
• breaking down a sample class and utilizing smart scaling
• picking music that supports the workout and organizing playlists
• stepping into the head coach role and giving feedback to peers
• how to define coaching potential
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Dr. Sam Rhee (00:01.297)
Hello, welcome to another episode of Botox and Burpees. This is the Bison 15, where we take lately it's been a little bit more than 15, but that's okay. as long as it's it's been so compelling, all of these stories of everyone from Bison that we've been talking about. And today I have one of the most special guests at Bison. Arguably she is the linchpin, the cornerstone, the anchor, whatever you want to call.
Liz Tanzola (00:09.56)
Ha ha.
Dr. Sam Rhee (00:27.387)
Her, she is the head coach at CrossFit Bison and she started about twelve years ago. So it's been quite the progression over those twelve years. A lot of life, a lot of progression, a lot of and just to see her now as head coach, it's worthwhile sort of learning a little bit more about Liz and what she's gonna talk today about is her coaching experience, which I do remember since I started a little around the same time she did.
Liz Tanzola (00:55.591)
Ha ha.
Dr. Sam Rhee (00:57.283)
So Liz, talk to us a little bit about that coaching experience and what's that's like.
Liz Tanzola (01:03.16)
Thanks, Sam. Very happy to be here. to hop right into it. I had no coaching experience when I first started. they had approached me and asked me if I wanted to coach. And at first I was like, I don't know if this is a good idea. I don't know if you want me leading a class. I don't know if I should be in front of a class. And they said to go home and think about it, and I did. And I started thinking about my background and how I'm I come from adoption. My parents adopted me.
And I've always loved helping people. I think that's something that has just been embedded in me with my whole family and how they treat people and how I wouldn't know the difference if I was adopted or not, like as if I'm their own. The sacrifices they make for people around them. Like my mom's incredible. If you she finds out you have surgery, she'll cook you a three course meal for seven days. That's just what she does. So with that, it was kind of a no brainer that I wanted to help people, and this was still
a way to do that. I was coming from retail where that was easy, the customers came in, you help them, they leave, but this was different. So I took it. I took the job.
Dr. Sam Rhee (02:06.929)
So so how how long had you been crossfitting and what do you think like Dave saw in you that made him want you to be a coach at Bison?
Liz Tanzola (02:20.568)
I think it's it was only a couple years, but I wanna say the same thing that, you know, he does for people. Like if he sees somebody struggling to learn something, he's right there helping them. It doesn't take an appointment or you know, he just jumps in and's like, What can I give to help you learn how to do this? And you wanna see people succeed. Like you want them to get that first muscle up, you want them to get the first pull up, and it's exciting to see and it doesn't feel like work. It feels like
You just wanna do it. So I feel like some of that, like early on there was only a couple of us and we could stay in the gym for hours and just help each other learn things and we were all there together. So that would be my guess.
Dr. Sam Rhee (03:03.111)
So what was the what was that first coaching experience like? So you obviously had to take your L one and then do you remember what it was like tea like starting coaching like your first classes, what that was like? Yeah.
Liz Tanzola (03:07.374)
Yes.
Liz Tanzola (03:14.858)
It wa for me horrible. Yeah, I was so nervous. I think I was going right into the nine thirty moms. That was my time slot. but I trusted Dave. I've known him for a while now, even before I was there. And I trusted that he would help me through it. and I knew I had that care for people. So I was like, it just has to turn out all right. I think logistics were really scary for me early on. Like starting classes on time, the promise of ending them on time, learning how to kind of orchestrate warm ups.
And make sure they were ready for whatever we were doing that day. not necessarily the movements and not knowing anything about them because we would do them all the time. It was just how to run a class and and be a leader as opposed to just being in the class. So that was for me the hardest part.
Dr. Sam Rhee (03:59.889)
So at this point you've coached hundreds and hundreds of classes. And so you probably what were the what were the biggest things that you picked up in terms of like evaluating athletes or you know, sort of working through a flow of a class, or you know, what are the sort of things that you think that you picked up that were the most important skills over over time?
Liz Tanzola (04:25.416)
I think learning each athlete, like watching each athlete move. Like when I first meet somebody, you make sure they're safe, they're moving well, to standard, they know the direction of the workout. But I like to spend time watching them move because everybody moves a little differently. And the cue you would give, you know, one person you would not give the other for the same movement. So if it's a squat, you know, some people squat with their chest a little bit more forward, some more upright. So there's definitely different cues.
For each athlete and not the same thing works. So I think I picked up on that right away that there's gonna be different ways to get through to people, and some people are more visual, then you could say the same thing over and over and over, and they still look at you like I have no idea what you're saying. So you have to find a different avenue to reach them. So I think over the years that was one thing that really kind of popped out at me that like you have to have other ways of getting through to every different person.
Dr. Sam Rhee (05:21.255)
So at this point, when you have a class and you coach a ton of classes now, how do you approach prepping for that class? Like what is your workflow for for preparing? Okay, I I have a WAD that I I I got the WAD obviously in advance, and now what do I do to get ready for that class?
Liz Tanzola (05:40.94)
The first thing I'll do is read Dave's notes. Make sure I understand what we're trying to drive home in that workout for each athlete and what they should be getting out of it. And then I go right to the clock. So in one of my reviews, it was that my classes didn't end on time. And in my mind, I was like, I really thought they were, but we have to be 10 minutes before because of parking and they need time to clean up and stuff like that. So now that's one of the first things I do is go to the clock. How long is the workout? What time should I be ending?
Dr. Sam Rhee (05:43.451)
Okay.
Liz Tanzola (06:10.955)
And then I kind of work backwards. So when should I be starting the workout? And then my whiteboard speech shouldn't be more than like three, four minutes. And now this is the time I have to work with. And then it's I like to do more of a stretch and then get them kind of moving a little bit and then go over the specific movements and then get them into a warm-up with those specific movements for the day. each day is a little different, but that's usually how I'll approach it.
Dr. Sam Rhee (06:35.431)
Do you do like how do you vary up your workout routine in terms of stretching and warm-up and all that? Because I've s I've taken a lot of your classes and and you mix it up quite a bit. It's not always the same, you know, thing. Like there are some coaches that always like to do the same type of routine. so how do you find and pull different things to, you know, vary it up for your for your prep?
Liz Tanzola (06:49.185)
Yeah.
Liz Tanzola (07:01.261)
So that's the workout specifically. If it's you're going into like a very long workout, I feel like I would need something different than if I was going into lifting right away. Or if it's like a five minute burner as opposed, you know, to a 20 minute workout. And I don't know, just changing up for them too. Sometimes I feel like if the class, sometimes the vibes, you'll be like, all right, everyone's a little tired today. They need, you know, like when we tried that game.
Dr. Sam Rhee (07:15.431)
Mm-hmm.
Liz Tanzola (07:24.641)
I was like, wake up, you know, like get going. And some days it's it is the vibes, like we're gonna be lifting and it's low key and we're just talking and stretching and everything's a little bit slower. But I don't think every day should be exactly the same because everyone's different. So it kind of gives a little bit to everybody.
Dr. Sam Rhee (07:40.217)
Mm. Do you remember your the last workout you just coached? Which was it? Was it Thursday?
Liz Tanzola (07:45.766)
It was Thursday. Yes. boy.
Dr. Sam Rhee (07:48.719)
And what was the workout? Was it do you remember? All right. Let me look at it. And then what I want to do is just sort of pick your brain about what you thought, like what you were thinking about that workout in terms of was it the 800 meter run, 15 toes to bar, five wall walks, 12 toes to bar, four wall walks, nine toes to bar, three wall walks, four hundred meter run, and then a crap load of more like toes to bar wall walks.
Liz Tanzola (07:53.175)
I remember it.
Ha ha ha.
Liz Tanzola (08:04.169)
Mm.
Liz Tanzola (08:13.611)
Yes, okay, yeah, I remember.
And then do it again.
Dr. Sam Rhee (08:18.651)
Yeah, I I did this yes. And then you do it all again and cap it with an eight hundred meter run again. Yeah, I I did that w workout. So how'd you prep or what'd you what were you thinking about that workout when you coached it?
Liz Tanzola (08:23.852)
Yeah.
Liz Tanzola (08:28.961)
So you're starting with a long run. So I guess in my mind, it's you are gonna be very warm by the time you get to your toaster bar, which some people I think they need a little bit more before they open up to a fifteen toaster bar. So that was great to have that run to start off with. you kind of knew their lats were gonna go, their core was gonna go. So those are the two things that you focus on the most. But then just from my experience with wall walks, I really wanted to drive home.
the standard on the wall walk. You see a lot of people get tired on a wall walk and, you know, they go up the wall, they come down to their knees, and then that's a rep. And it's like they never lay on the ground. Like, but in the open, you know they'd get no reps. So I started it off with just something I learned from Pamela's seminar actually, having them start on the ground, go to their knees, then get their hips up. So they're a little bit more stacked, thinking arms in line with ear, and then feet on the wall. And we did that a couple times. I had them practice it actually in
the warm-up. So I wasn't blowing their lats out, doing a million wall walks, but it was also getting them, you know, upside down, some body weight on their shoulders. But they were also learning the start and the end of the movement, which I thought was important. So that was like my teaching component, I would say. I learned that you can't, you know, drive home everything and teach everything in the one hour. So you have to pick some things. And that was the one I chose to do for that day was wall walks.
Dr. Sam Rhee (09:52.069)
Now this is such a shoulder intensive workout and what did you help people with if they had to scale and they're like, My shoulder's just killing me? 'Cause I was really worried. Like I was like, this is all toastabar and Wall Walks. Like, how the how the heck am I gonna keep my shoulder protected on this?
Liz Tanzola (10:02.188)
Yeah.
Liz Tanzola (10:07.591)
I'd say divide the workload in half. So if we always tell them to work on one thing, pick one thing to work on. So if you're really adamant about working at toes to bar, you're like, I'm so close, like I gotta keep hammering these. Okay, maybe we do a scale for the wall walk, right? And that frees you up a little bit for the toes to bar, gives you little bit more standard in the shoulders, alright, to last a little bit longer on that. And we could scale down something else in the workout, which just so happened to be the wall walks. I think the running was important because it was the break away from the shoulders.
So I was hesitant to scale that and say, Okay, just run like a four hundred meter because you'd be back in the gym so fast. but yeah, I think it gives them time to work on one or the other, or they could work on the wall walk and you just bring to the floor and still do some core work with V ups or alternating V ups and still get the core work in, but then they could work on wall walks for that workout instead.
Dr. Sam Rhee (10:53.636)
the yes.
Dr. Sam Rhee (10:59.527)
Great strategy. So how do you pick music for your workouts? So I know like a lot of people love your music. You get a lot of praise for it. Like, how do you figure out what music to play and how do you pick it?
Liz Tanzola (11:04.535)
Ha
Liz Tanzola (11:10.975)
I like a beat. Like I feel like there has to be some kind of beat, not very slow draining music, unless the workout kind of calls for it in the sense of lifting can be a little bit slower sometimes. Coughlin, when they're hanging from the bar, I was like, they don't need this loud. Like I took advantage of a slower song there. but they have on Spotify, there is a release radar, they call it, and it pops up and it when there's new songs out.
Dr. Sam Rhee (11:25.207)
right, for six minutes.
Dr. Sam Rhee (11:32.549)
Mm-hmm.
Liz Tanzola (11:38.016)
It'll filter them into there. So when I'm driving around or when I'm, you know, home doing something or from outside doing yard work or whatever, I'll put it on. And then if I like a song, I will add it to a playlist that makes sense on my Spotify. So I'll have like a lifting playlist. Like I remember Dave laughed at me once. He was like, she literally labeled this straight up lifting, but that's what it is. Like it's not like a lifting running workout. It's just lifting. So yeah, I like a little bit more of a beat.
Dr. Sam Rhee (11:56.956)
Ha ha.
Dr. Sam Rhee (12:01.991)
How many playlists how many playlists do you have like for coaching? Really?
Liz Tanzola (12:07.663)
t too many, Sam. yes, I like it actually gives me some anxiety when I go through and I can't it takes me a while to actually find the playlist that I want. it is on my list of things to do to clean it up, but it's a lot. It's like s I started labeling my years. So it'd be like, you know, two thousand. This is my two thousand playlist. then it would be new, but then my next new playlist would be new two or new three. So it's a lot.
But I like to have a variety.
Dr. Sam Rhee (12:37.041)
So now that is and it shows. I mean, I think universally your music is and people obviously steal your playlist to other coaches because it's super helpful. so speaking of other coaches, you were promoted to head coach and now you're in charge of everyone. So what was that like to go from being a coach to being the coach where now you're in charge of all these other people?
Liz Tanzola (12:41.08)
Ha ha
Liz Tanzola (12:47.382)
Yeah, absolutely. It's great.
Liz Tanzola (13:06.773)
It was it was nerve-wracking at first, like I won't lie. but I think I had this comfort that it's how we hire people. So we hire good people and we hire the person and then train them how to coach for the most part. And I feel like when you have good people, you know that it's gonna work itself out. Like you know they're gonna respect you, you know? Like, and that was my biggest thing is just we've all kind of just been friends and working together and it's been fun. And like, what if I have to
you know, write you up. Or what if I have to say, you know, you didn't do your cleaning this month? Or what if I like how are they gonna respond to that? And like, I know that I had to kind of push myself into that role a little bit. 'cause it's it's not exactly comfortable for me. But at the end of the day, you just have to remember like this is what we have to do as a team. And when s you know, someone's not doing what they're supposed to do, it makes the team feel a little bit heavier because everybody kinda has to pick up the slack. So if everyone's doing a little bit, it just makes everything
lighter feeling. And I feel like we're at that point. but yeah, it was it was. It was nerve wracking. But now I feel like it's it's fine.
Dr. Sam Rhee (14:06.129)
Mm. Mm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (14:14.721)
I think you do a very good job in terms of giving feedback to coaches 'cause obviously we're all you know, everyone could be better. There everyone has points of improvement, just like a CrossFit athlete. Like no matter how good a CrossFit athlete is, there's always something that can be pointed out and worked on and so forth. And so how do you give like you said, how do you give that feedback to an to a coach, especially when I mean
There are some of us who just feel like we're doing awesome and you know, we don't need any feedback at all.
Liz Tanzola (14:50.155)
Yeah, I feel I do feel like every coach is awesome in their own way. And then there's something that almost all of us kind of struggle with. Right. And we'll use Ramsen, because Ramsen is, you know, he's the greatest, right? And it's hard. He told me he wanted me to find something for him to work on. And I was like, ooh. I was like, whoa, that's you know, I really had to dig for that. But it was more like not something he was doing wrong or not something he could do better. It's I was trying to come at it with what could he add to his classes.
Dr. Sam Rhee (15:01.083)
He's an awesome coach. Yes, he's one of the best.
Dr. Sam Rhee (15:07.558)
wow.
Dr. Sam Rhee (15:11.686)
Uh-huh.
Liz Tanzola (15:20.065)
his experience to make their experience better. And one of them I said to him was demos, like using the members, getting them involved, you know, to demo things. Like I used, I think it was Abigail and Rafi on a squat. They're both in depth, but how different their squats were. Like I use you all the time, how upright you are as opposed to like me or like it's just different. And to see it visually sometimes I think you can reach, like we were talking about the beginning of this, a different group of people.
Dr. Sam Rhee (15:22.794)
Mm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (15:42.396)
Mm-hmm.
Liz Tanzola (15:48.885)
if you come from a visual standpoint as opposed to just saying what they need to do over and over. So that was my last advice to him on that. Like Dan Coda challenged me as well. He wants me to sit in on some of his classes and give them some different kind of feedback as well. So that is like my next step is trying to figure out like how to do that for them as well.
Dr. Sam Rhee (16:07.559)
That's awesome. Yeah. I use demos a lot, but mainly not because of a better teaching point. It's just because people can generally do it better than I can. And there's some things I'm like, yeah, there's a bar muscle up. Do it like that. Like, like don't, don't, I'm not even gonna try to demo that. So but yeah, so at this point, what are your goals in the future, both as a coach? Like what do you think you need to work on or can get better at or or add, and also as a head coach, like where do you see yourself?
Liz Tanzola (16:16.491)
Yeah.
Ha
Dr. Sam Rhee (16:37.167)
in terms of the future, your goals at this point.
Liz Tanzola (16:42.186)
Loaded question there. I feel like I really need to work on the leading aspect of it all. Like I'll take any feedback on my classes, how to make them better. Or I think I could get better with like, you know, a game here and there in my classes and like try to mingle people a little bit better. But I think we also use like the zone board for that as well, like trying to mix people. But I think where I really have to focus is leading the team and figuring out
Dr. Sam Rhee (16:43.31)
Ha ha ha.
Liz Tanzola (17:09.696)
Like how to do that. And it's not always just a text message where hey, you didn't do this, or hey, you didn't do that. It's like, how can I get everyone to work as a team? So when we do our coaches meeting, the staff doesn't even know this yet. Dave and I are gonna have them watch a movie. And the movie is about a team that was just never a team. And one of the greatest quotes was, you know, no man is an island, and you can't steer the boat alone. Like you need the team, and how
just like little changes can make everything super smooth. So that's kind of like my focus is like I think we have people trading now for shifts and stuff and it makes it easier. Like they're not just like Dave, I need to cover, Liza I need to cover. Like we're working together and I'm starting to feel it and see it. And it does open us up to do more things like, hey, I gotta go to dance class and, you know, physically be there for three classes and watch what he's doing and how he's doing it and not just, you know, hear it on the camera and be like, all right, he's doing great. Like what can I find to make his class better?
So I do feel like that's where my focus kind of is right now in that sense. If that answers your question.
Dr. Sam Rhee (18:13.755)
Yes. So the other thing is let me ask one last question. I mean, so first of all, I I would say when Sasha was here, she was here for a couple of weeks before she had to leave for the summer to work, but she always took your classes. She loves your classes and that's high praise. She's very picky. and s and I feel like universally she ranked all the coaches. I won't say where where everyone's rank was.
Liz Tanzola (18:39.713)
Ha ha wow.
Dr. Sam Rhee (18:41.883)
Yeah, we were bored one day and we're just talking about it. But you were you're number one, sorry, for everyone else, but you were for her. and so when you are now looking, and I'm not saying that the gym is looking for new coaches, but I also know everyone's always looking to identify Dave, you future potential stars, just like Dave looked at you or Ramsen or or anybody else. So
Liz Tanzola (19:05.217)
Yes.
Dr. Sam Rhee (19:10.075)
When you are evaluating people, what makes you think, hmm, I wonder if this person might be a good coach at Bison someday?
Liz Tanzola (19:19.497)
I look at the person, not necessarily what they can do on the rig or, you know, can they run? But I know that's part of it, in the fitness sense, but they're at CrossFit Bison, so obviously they want to work on that. But somebody that relates to different people. So can they talk to like the 65 year old new person who walks in and hasn't been fitnessing in 10 years? Can they re kind of relate to that person and make them feel
comfortable because everybody's been there where they walk in the gym and they're like, whoa, like there's a lot of people. I don't belong here. I don't even know what I'm doing here. I don't know what I signed up. Like they have that feeling, everybody does. And I like to see them like find their way and then find their people and then find their class. And it's how can you make that comfortable for them? So if it's somebody who, you know, I'm not saying they have to say hi when they walk in, but just people that acknowledge other people, acknowledge their presence, acknowledge, you know, who they are.
And if you see somebody kind of on the side, it's, you know, do you go up and just you know, maybe you're just saying something as you're putting weights away. But it's just their demeanor. it's what they bring to the class and how they just make it all kind of mesh together. I don't even know how to explain it, but you know there's not every person is the same. And, you know, we have age group from Sasha all the way up. You have like fifty year olds, you have moms, you have people with their babies, like
You know, I've seen people pick up somebody's baby in the middle of a workout and give up their workout so that they can finish the workout. It's like to have that level of care for somebody else is to me is crazy. But you can't train that. That's something that, you know, is just embedded in them. You can train them how to coach, but you can't train them how to care about somebody, you know, even a little bit more than themselves.
Dr. Sam Rhee (21:07.909)
Yeah. I mean, I think one of the phrases that's been kicking around in my head for a long time recently is service leader. And I would say you embody that both as head coach and coach. Like I have seen, you know, over the years your ups, your downs personally, whether you're injured, whether you're healthy, and yet every coach c every class you coach, that fades away and you're just focused on helping those people in front of you.
Liz Tanzola (21:15.266)
Yeah.
Liz Tanzola (21:24.642)
Yeah.
Dr. Sam Rhee (21:35.717)
making sure that their experience. I have seen you be that person to say hello to every new person, you know, touch point for everyone there. you're that beacon that like always seems to be shining regardless of like, you know, what it is or who's around you or or how, you know, lousy that day was. Like that is what a service leader sort of embodies. And so
I would say you you are that person at Bison. I mean, there are others, but you are, you know, one in a leadership position who really does that. So I I really appreciate everything that you've done. I appreciate the time you took to talk about your experience as well. it was so funny. I do remember like that, you know, when you first started, first of all, and we've talked about your start story, so I'm not gonna go in it, but like I remember Dave watching you.
Liz Tanzola (22:09.421)
Thanks, Sam.
Liz Tanzola (22:17.003)
Thank you.
Dr. Sam Rhee (22:33.529)
like lift and run and being like holy cow she's like phenomenal like sh you know and then like watching you like grow into the gym and saying to you know hey this person might be a really good coach and I was like wait who am I like I'm chopped liver here what no I'm just kidding like I agreed a thousand percent like
Liz Tanzola (22:55.149)
Ha ha
Dr. Sam Rhee (23:00.517)
And I remember how apprehensive you were like to step into that role. And I think I remember a few of your first c classes. And like everyone else, like you're just stepping into it and like learning for the beginning. I mean, my first classes were probably the the worst ever as ever. So and now like I would say like if not not that we would, because I know it's like terrible to be recorded, but I would want to record your classes.
Liz Tanzola (23:05.185)
Yeah.
Liz Tanzola (23:19.286)
Ha ha.
Liz Tanzola (23:28.043)
Yeah.
Dr. Sam Rhee (23:29.389)
And sort of show them to everyone to be like, this is what a coach needs to do every time for every class. And just hearing about your prep work and what you're thinking about and and how you're bringing athletes along, like it just epitomizes the best ethos, I think, that that CrossFit has to offer. So yeah. So that's right. As long as we can all sort of work to get better, I appreciate that. So thank you so much, Liz. I
Liz Tanzola (23:48.673)
Thank you, Sam. That's my goal. The whole team does it.
Liz Tanzola (23:55.445)
Yeah. Thank you.
Dr. Sam Rhee (23:57.989)
I am a morning person, but I look forward every time I like have a a lazy day and I come and then I'm able to come in and and work midday or or or afternoons with you. And I look forward to seeing you soon with that. All right. Thank you, Liz.
Liz Tanzola (24:10.743)
Thank you, Sam.
Dr. Sam Rhee (24:15.505)
That was awesome. That was awesome.
