The Real Work: Building SEL Awareness in the Weight Room

If you’ve ever coached or taught in a weight room, you’ve seen it: the student frozen with self-doubt, the athlete comparing themselves to peers, the energy shift when someone enters frustrated or disconnected. These aren’t just “off days” — they’re social-emotional moments in a physical space. Module 1: The Real Work – Building SEL Awareness in the Weight Room reframes what it means to coach and teach in school-based training environments by addressing the mental and emotional barriers that often go unnoticed but hold back performance, motivation, and confidence.

This module positions Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) not as an afterthought, but as the first rep every student must take. You’ll learn how to teach and coach the whole student — not just the movement — using CASEL’s five core competencies as your foundation. Whether you’re a physical education teacher, strength coach, or college student preparing for fieldwork, you’ll leave this course with a scalable, classroom-ready approach to emotional intelligence, behavior management, and mindset training in the weight room.

Students will not only define SEL — they will feel it, track it, and apply it. Through group norms, mindset contracts, daily check-ins, and reflective journaling, your students and athletes will learn to train with more intention, respond to emotional challenges, and grow their confidence one session at a time. This is how we build safe, resilient, and motivated training cultures. The iron doesn’t care about your mood, but your ability to manage that mood is what determines your performance — and your growth.