S06E123 BISON 15 - How to Revitalize Winning Vibes in CrossFit - Keith Andrews
We talk with CrossFit Bison coach Keith Andrews @keithandrews1 about what CrossFit can do to feel like 2018 again, starting at the affiliate level instead of waiting on HQ. We focus on building real community through shared goals, better class habits, and coaches who model the culture every day.
• team-first mindset from competitive sports and why it matters in a CrossFit affiliate
• setting a class goal at the whiteboard so everyone chases the same stimulus
• why early cleanup kills the room and how to coach the finish
• using Hero Week and the CrossFit Open as a blueprint for more shared moments
• building belonging through class identities, attendance battles, and gym-wide challenges
• treating members like family as the fastest way to create community
• coaches carrying responsibility even when they are not coaching
• Keith Keys as a simple tool for clarity, focus, and a lighter vibe
• staying positive and avoiding attitudes that spread through a team
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TRANSCRIPT
Sam Rhee (00:00.632)
All right. welcome to another episode of Welcome to another episode of Botox and Burpees. I welcome to another episode of Botox and Burpees. I'm here with superstar coach Keith Andrews. This is part of the Bison 15 series where we are talking to people from CrossFit Bison and Keith is
the brightest shining star at CrossFit Bison at this point. He is one of the newest coaches, but one of the most beloved coaches, qu in a really short time span. And today the topic that we're gonna talk about is what does CrossFit need to do to get back to its twenty eighteen self? Really amazing topic, and I think it's something that is well worth spending a little bit of time talking about and
Keith Andrews (00:30.028)
Wow.
Sam Rhee (00:55.758)
and analysing. So Keith, take it away.
Keith Andrews (00:59.362)
Yeah, so so I started CrossFit. I wasn't part of the like original run up of CrossFit. Like I would like you were CrossFit Sam, when did you start CrossFit? Okay. So like things were definitely trending upward at that point pretty pretty fast and and furious. so like before getting into the things that I think that CrossFit can do and things that we can do to get back to that, you know, I do think that bison
Sam Rhee (01:09.532)
Twenty like fourteen ish, yeah.
Sam Rhee (01:16.88)
Yeah. Yeah.
Keith Andrews (01:27.906)
does a lot of these already. And I I do truly believe like if there were ten thousand CrossFit bisons worldwide, you know, CrossFit would have a much different story right now.
Sam Rhee (01:37.509)
yeah. And Dave would love that too actually.
Keith Andrews (01:40.834)
Yeah yeah. And he yeah, and he's the owner of all of them, so he has to be all of them. so a context of kind of where my ideas stem from, I have like a a team first background, like inherently. I pretty much chose the college I went to based on where I could win a national championship. So like there was no NIL at the time, there was no athlete endorsement. It was about
Sam Rhee (01:45.53)
That's right. Yeah, that's right. He has to he has to be at everyone.
Keith Andrews (02:10.431)
winning and the entire team was was bought into that. so now being part of CrossFit, like who from twenty eleven to twenty eighteen was trending up and to the right every year, but now, you know, it's not I would CrossFit's no longer winning. Like they're no longer in the in the driver's seat like they were. And like quite frankly, it kind of pisses me off. Like being someone that just cares about winning and and you know, seeing the team succeed.
like one of the best atmospheres I've been in is the college weight room, like the the team lift environment where like it's loud music, you know, a lot of testosterone in one room, but it's a bunch of guys who care about winning and accomplishing a goal together. And if you show up like hung over or not ready to go, you're hurting the people around you from achieving that goal. Like you're not just hurting yourself, you're hurting other people because they're trying to achieve something together with you.
so getting back to CrossFit, like I think people are quick to blame CrossFit HQ and leadership for where CrossFit is trending. and rightfully so, probably. Like there's been a lot of changes, there's been a lot of maybe questionable decisions. But I think we as affiliates should look in the mirror a little bit more often to try to, you know, tighten things up and get things trending where we want them to trend, not you know, waiting for HQ to kind of fix things.
so how do we make CrossFit athletes feel like they're in it together? Like like they're trying to do something together. and coaches play a huge part in creating this culture. They are like, I think the coaches are the most important part of an affiliate. at the whiteboard talk, you know, make goals for the class to accomplish something together that day. An example of this could be like winning today.
looks like every person here hitting the same stimulus. so if you choose to go too heavy and not hit the intended stimulus, you're like not only did you miss the point of the workout, but now the class didn't achieve the goal that you set out for them. Like you you hurt the class. And like the the idea of most of my ideas for the fix are more like trying to get people to think
Keith Andrews (04:34.913)
Together. Like when you go to the gym, you're you're trying to do something with the with the class. I'm not just going there to, you know, get my work in and get out. And I I think if we can get more along thinking together, that's more so what's gonna help CrossFit. and I think it
Sam Rhee (04:51.085)
I love that I love that team concept. I wanna the first thing I wanna do before you keep going is I want you to give a shout out. You might be the only guy or athlete, period, at the gym, guy or girl, who's won a national championship in college, I think. give a shout out to your team and what year did you guys win?
Keith Andrews (05:09.472)
yeah. yeah. twenty fifteen Cortland. We won yeah, division three national championships.
Sam Rhee (05:15.941)
Pretty amazing. so I love that team concept. I love the fact that coaches are integral to the affiliate, to to making that class feel like it's a team concept. so keep going with that with the coaches.
Keith Andrews (05:34.538)
yeah. And you know, it's it's why Hero Week is is so great at the gym and it has such a great atmosphere. Like we're working out to honor someone. We're not thinking about ourselves and our and our performance. it's it's something bigger than all of us. And it's why the open is so great. You know, for three weeks we're all doing something together. But it's only three weeks out of the year, and I think we need to create more of these moments throughout the year. you know
Coaches working out in classes have a huge role in creating the culture as well. you know, classes should start and end together. That's how I feel. And there used to be a a poster or or a board in bison and it had like the rules of the gym. and it said on it, like one or two was like no cleaning up your weights or equipment until everyone is done. And like, I don't know where that board went, but like
It kinda bothers me when I see people like cleaning up before people are done. like how how I think about it is like we are not done yet. Like the as a group, we're not done yet. and like I saw Coach Liz yesterday, actually after the skills class, and she was so excited about how it went. She was like her and Adam were just like so excited. And and like she said it felt like old bison, how like
People would stop their workout to cheer someone else on. And like, my question is, why is that old bison? Like, why is that an old bison thing? And why did that stop? And I think it does happen still, but like, you know, it almost made me like sad. Like, that's how old bison was, but it's not how, you know, current bison is. so I think, you know, the coaches showing how the culture should be, not just telling people like they they should
Coaches in classes are so important to showing what the culture should be.
Sam Rhee (07:36.902)
So along that line, so I mean, sometimes like if it's an AMRAP, for example, and I'm just talking logistically, it's very simple for everyone to finish at the same time because everyone's working for a certain time. But there are certainly a lot of workouts where people are finishing at different times. And really good athletes obviously might finish five or even more minutes after.
before somebody else finishes. what do you do as a coach to help to try to encourage or what can we all do as coaches to help to try to encourage that sense of togetherness mindset and, you know, I just killed my workout. I'm I'm done.
Keith Andrews (08:24.215)
Yeah. you know what? I think even like bringing it up at the whiteboard, like, hey, there's gonna be people in this workout, and there are certainly workouts where like someone fin crush like the freaks of the gym, which there are plenty at bison, they're gonna finish this one in like seven minutes. There will be people finishing this one at like twenty minutes. And there's gonna be a huge gap. And like I think it's it's good to bring it up at the whiteboard where like, you know, if you're if you're done with your workout, you know
Please don't clean up. It can kinda it's it's just a vibe killer for someone that's still working out and trying to like, you know, if you're trying to finish your workout and you look over and everyone's finishing their like their cleaning up, they're kind of giving their scores and walking out. It's like, great. It's just like it c kind of kills your vibe. so I think, you know, letting them know like in those specific workouts, maybe give like a heads up, like, hey, you know, just you know, if you have if you have to get out, I get it. just let me know your score and and I'll clean up your your weights after you.
Like after class is done. but I I don't know, just cleaning up weights before people are done just bothers me. I don't it just kills me. I don't know why.
Sam Rhee (09:29.499)
No, I I I get that. And it just feels like you're not part of the class anymore, right? Like class should be done, but you suck so bad that you're still like grinding at the end. And I I've certainly been there. I don't love it when people are sitting there cheering me when I'm the last person to finish. I do appreciate it. I would ask that people actually not do it though, if you see me doing that.
But I agree. I think that finishing you know, cleaning up and like talking and just like, you know, not actually f you know, feeling like class is still going is is a tough one for a lot of athletes. And y I agree. It's it doesn't feel like a win for you, even though you might be doing great in your own workout, it you're right. It does take away a f from that sort of team feel, the group feel and and a winning feel. So I agree with you. Keep going.
Keith Andrews (10:26.635)
Right. so people wanna feel like like they belong. And like anytime they join a gym, that's like, you know, yes, they want a place where they can get fit and get healthy and like get things on track, but they wanna feel like they belong somewhere. So I think it's good to encourage like the different class identities that we have at Bison. Like people are proud to be six lambers and they love being part of the stable boys or the the dog pound or the puppy pound, whatever they call themselves.
Sam Rhee (10:27.226)
What else?
Keith Andrews (10:57.025)
But so like maybe having more events that will encourage people to have pride in the class they go to. Or like if you have five AM and six AM compete against each other in a week, like who will have higher attendance this week, five AM or six AM? And like it kind of you know, it's you're like you're celebrating like we wins instead of just like performance. so trying to create those moments where people are starting to think like more together.
And more about the group at large instead of just I get my workout in, I go home. I think that's important. and a lot of these are like we're trying to create something together. Like, or you could do a challenge where like an entire entire gym challenge where, like, for example, if in December, you know, we had 105 people on Built by Bison, and you know, the challenges were gonna be
You know, in July, we're gonna try to beat that. So make sure you play your part and get to the gym. you know, make sure you get here 15 times, and we're gonna do this together. Like, I think encouraging moments like that is what will create a culture where if every gym, every affiliate starts thinking that way, you know, Sam, you did CrossFit in 2018. How did people outsiders looking in at CrossFitters, what did they describe?
CrossFitters as like they just talk about it. Like what's like the word that they use? They they called it a cult, yes. And like it just like why is it why was it that way? Like they were all kind of like, you know, well, I'll ask you, like, what did the 2018 vibe of CrossFit have that made it explode like it did?
Sam Rhee (12:40.835)
I think we were really proud at that time. It we we had such a good sense of community, as you mentioned. I think we were so excited at that time to keep getting better, to keep pushing. I think you know social media really helped. Like we saw so much about CrossFit, like
if if you were into that and we were very, very together as a gym. I would agree with that. I think the the the f the sense of n encouragement and working together was very palpable at that time.
Keith Andrews (13:27.053)
Yeah, I'm like, I would love to create that again. And like, I guess that's the goal of you know, my my topic today was how can we, you know, not just wait for CrossFit HQ to whatever, come up with a great marketing plan to get more people, to get more and kind of take it amongst ourselves as affiliates to start, you know, building something that each affiliate can work on, creating a togetherness.
Like CrossFit uses the word community like a a ton. Yeah. During the open, that's all you hear is community, community, community. But like what does it actually mean? you know, how do you make a community? How do you make community better? And I think that, you know, these points are things that we can make the community feel like how it was in 2018 or better. so I I tried to I tried to keep my points at fifteen minutes and I I think it wasn't bad.
Sam Rhee (14:22.875)
I love that. Let me let me pick your brains. We're gonna probably run a little over fifteen because I want to pick your brains a little bit more about this. So I agree with you that coaches are extremely critical in terms of an affiliate's culture, what drives community. And I agree. CrossFit Bison does a great job with their coaching and what they do. I would say
You have become a you've had a meteoric rise as a coach. I remember how long have you been coaching for at this point?
Keith Andrews (15:01.416)
a little over well, I guess two and a half years, I think. Two and a half.
Sam Rhee (15:03.961)
Yeah. And I think probably clearly one of the best coaches out there, certainly one of the most beloved coaches. I don't think I've heard a single person who hasn't taken one of your classes just rave about how good of a coach you are. So let's break that down in terms of what you do as a coach and maybe we can apply a little bit of that to this. So when you first started as a coach, what have you learned or what was the most important skill
that you picked up that might be relevant to this topic in terms of building a sense of team or culture in your classes.
Keith Andrews (15:43.478)
well first of all, thank you for the compliment. and second, I think it was less so about like coaching and cueing and more so just flat out like if someone walks in, you treat them how you would treat your brother or your sister or your mom or your dad. And if you treat people like that, it makes them feel like, okay, like this is kind of a family here. and like
You know, when you're treated like that, you'll treat someone else like that as well. And and like when your relationships with people are that close and and that you know bonded together, that's a community. so I think just making sure like you treat people how you would treat your family. And if I can, you know, talk to everyone how I would talk to those people, and I promise I'd speak to them nicely, even my brothers.
Sam Rhee (16:37.797)
Yeah.
Keith Andrews (16:40.887)
You know, that's what that's what forms a community. Honestly, that's the most important part of like when I go to coach, it's it's yes, I want them to get better and become better athletes, but like I want them to feel like they belong and that they like feel like a family and a and a community here.
Sam Rhee (16:56.411)
Do you feel that the coach the coaches outside of coaching play a role in terms of the gym's culture? Like for example, when you take a class, when you are present, how do you or are you just another athlete that's just taking taking the class? Do you feel there is some sort of added responsibility when you're actually not coaching at the gym?
Keith Andrews (17:23.371)
Yeah, I think there's definitely days where you kind of just want to get your workout in and just be like an athlete that day. But I do think that coaches should be the epitome of what bison culture should be. And like that's something that they should never never take a day off from doing, even when they're not coaching that day. so like I like like I mentioned, like cleaning up your weights, you know, waiting for everyone to be done, cheering people on, like how you want the culture should to be, that's
How the coaches should act on a daily basis, whether they're coaching or not, whether they're just working out. like if someone new walked in, they should look at like if Coach Liz was working out that day, if they watched Coach Liz work out that day, they should be like, Okay, that is what the culture here is, is how this co how this coach is acting in class working out. it is a big responsibility because you know, you're not working that day, but you do have a big responsibility to
Create the culture that you want the gym to have.
Sam Rhee (18:24.687)
How do you keep it lighthearted? You are someone who thinks of things that sort of keep the workouts positive. I think the biggest feedback that I got from a lot of athletes, and they even gave you a little memento, were the Keith's keys, where you started basically writing what you thought were some of the important parts of a workout, and you called it Keith Keys. And I think
Was it the five A.m.ers who gave you like actual keys? Yeah, so what w what is that? Like how does a coach come up with that sort of thing?
Keith Andrews (18:57.697)
Yeah, yeah, magnetic keys.
Keith Andrews (19:07.745)
You know, I guess it stemmed from like just I I think as I was like you know what? I had the year-end meeting with Liz, which like all of our coaches meet with Liz to do like an evaluation. And she kind of gave like a you know, what do you think you need to do better at? And I thought and I thought my thing was I need to do a better job explaining what I think like the stimulus of the workout is and like some important parts that they should know about it. And so I wrote on the whiteboard one day after that, like a
key, like a key to the workout. And then I forget who, but someone maybe it was like Rafi and he wrote, This is Keith's key. And like that's kind of where it stemmed from and I haven't stopped doing it. But like I I don't know. I just think like if they can see something, I like a lot of times I'll notice that people will after class be like, you know, one of that that key that you had up there, that key, not Keith, was like I was thinking about the entire workout. And like sometimes it's nice to think about something
Sam Rhee (19:45.422)
Yeah.
Keith Andrews (20:07.351)
That's not just like I'm just like suffering right now because it's so easy to to to get into those mindsets sometimes. you know, what w whatever it is, like I can't even think of an example, but whatever the key's key is that day, like if they're thinking about that rather than thinking about like I am just an absolute zombie right now, you know, then to me like that's a win. And and it was worth it was worth calling that out at the whiteboard.
Sam Rhee (20:32.303)
What are your future challenges as a coach? where do you see yourself in terms of your growth, your potential? and how does that relate to the gym as part of a team? Because you are growing and developing, but you're also probably mindful, just thinking about what we talked about, about the team's growth, which is the gym itself. How does that work for you, or what are you thinking about?
Keith Andrews (21:00.761)
yeah, I think it's two parts. One being like actual, you know, cueing and progressing someone, like a beginner to becoming like an intermediate, to becoming, you know, just continuing to progress and being able to like I'll watch some of the more like veteran coaches like, you know, Dave and Bobby and you know, Adams, e everyone. I mean, I'm really one of the young newer, younger coaches at Bison along with like Kristen and Tara.
So like I have a lot to learn in terms of actually progressing a CrossFit athlete from where they start to where they want to get to. And then second fold would be more of what I was just talking about, like trying to make the the group feel more like together. And I think, you know, I kinda shook off the maybe the first whatever months nerves that I had from coaching that all people I think all people get when they start.
And then you can start co like thinking about what you just said, like what can I start working on and and how can I become better? because you have to always try to get better as a coach, especially at Bison. there's just like there's just high standards here. Like you look around and there's just like, you know, that person's a great coach. That person's a you just can't not be a great coach when you're here. So you have to keep thinking of things to get better. so I think, you know, the coaching aspect and also the interpersonal aspect, like I need to
learn more about each athl athlete and more about their lives if if they're willing to share. I think that's what builds communities together a bit more.
Sam Rhee (22:38.567)
last question, what name a workout or movements that is your favorite and the movements or a workout that you find really challenging or difficult.
Keith Andrews (22:53.081)
I like workouts that don't have any weight in them. So like if there's no weight then it's no problem for me. I could I could at least hold my own. If it's like something with like two dumbbell thrusters, that is like my Achilles heel. Like bad shoulders, bad front rack, bad thoracic mobility, and like weak legs.
Sam Rhee (22:56.933)
Ha ha ha
Okay.
Keith Andrews (23:20.365)
So like this Thursday's workout when I was on vacation I saw it and I was like, man, I'm so happy I'm not there for that one
Sam Rhee (23:26.885)
That was the pharma carry one or no, that was the which one was that?
Keith Andrews (23:31.499)
No, I was on vacation, but it was like two two dumbbell thrusters, maybe it like double unders in it.
Sam Rhee (23:37.69)
yes, the w open workout. Yes. Double unders, double dumbbell thrusters, and toes to bar. Yeah, that was an open workout. You actually probably did it. I'm gonna look you up and see what you're you're right. The the double fifties, but it was only four, so it was one where everyone felt like they could take a shot at going a little heavier than normal. and then it was like what, twenty-eight double unders and then like six toes to bar. It's obviously you're really good at the rig.
Keith Andrews (23:40.023)
That looked terrible.
Keith Andrews (23:45.325)
Well
Sam Rhee (24:07.227)
and then any body weight work, you know, movement you do really well in either whether it's running, you're always first out in in the door. or you know, burpee, you know, any any kind of cardio. And I w I wouldn't sell yourself short on the on the strength or heavy aspect. first of all, I know you just your mobility and your movement patterns are excellent. just because you aren't
You know, two hundred and forty pounds does not mean you you know, r you're not moving real weight. Like you you really do. So I I think you're very modest. I appreciate you being modest. That's that's a nice attribute to have for most CrossFit athletes. I know too many of them who think too highly of themselves. But but I would say that's you are being hard on yourself. You are you you move weight excellently. And I would like to see you do that double dumbbell thruster.
double toaster bar. I'm you we're gonna do that. I did it on Thursday. We're gonna do I'm gonna grab you on the weekend open gym and we're gonna do that together at some point. Anyway, any other thoughts? So advice to it could be anyone, new athletes, coaches, yourself, Dave, for example, me to finish.
Keith Andrews (25:16.429)
All right, I'll I'll do it with you.
Keith Andrews (25:31.554)
no, I I mean I think you know, if if we want CrossFit to to get into the direction that we want CrossFit to get into, which I think we all do, that's you know we we work here, you own a CrossFit affiliate and like I think we need to, you know, not wait for HQ to, you know, fix things or get leadership the way that leadership, you know, should be. And I think that we should create the culture that we want and
You know, just kinda like, you know, look in the mirror and improve every day on on what we can improve on, w what we can control. that's really all I got, Sam.
Sam Rhee (26:12.815)
That's really good. I it ru you know, I've been talking to a bunch of people and it reminds me I just of previous week's episode with with Maureen Boak Mo. she said something very similar about, you know, being the change that you want to see. I've heard that before, and that is basically the opposite of a passive or victim's mentality. And she said the same thing when it it was actually off.
Keith Andrews (26:23.458)
Yeah.
Sam Rhee (26:41.731)
recording. I really w I'm mentioning it now because I really wish we had recorded that too, because it's the same thing you're saying. She said, because I I said afterwards, you you are always so positive and cheerful at the gym. You never have a a frown on your face when you're working out, no matter how terrible. And she said, Yeah, I learned that from my lacrosse coach in college. He said, don't be the cancer on the team or we'll cut you out. And
Keith Andrews (27:07.563)
Yeah.
Sam Rhee (27:07.673)
She said like a bad attitude can be infectious. It can like s you know, you complain about a workout or or a practice and and it can spread. And and I think when I see you and others, again, never never looking terrible, never looking complainy, never looking no matter what's going on in your life, you're always right there, like s super positive. And I think
You and Maureen Mo i epitomize that. Like be the change, be the positivity, what you know, be the person that you want everyone else around you to be. And and that goes for affiliates. So thank you so much, Keith. I really appreciate it. thanks for taking the time today. Did you work out yet? It's Sunday. Have you worked out already?
Keith Andrews (27:59.253)
No, I'll probably go later or just stay for tomorrow, but not not yet. I was preparing.
Sam Rhee (28:02.361)
Yeah. Thanks. I appreciate it very much. Thanks for taking the time and I'll see you soon. Thank you got it.
Keith Andrews (28:09.677)
All right, thank you, Sam. I'll see you soon.
