Abby McCormick: How CCP Beats a Four-Year University Degree

Abby McCormick spent four long years completing her exercise science degree at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. While she said she’s appreciative of all she learned during university, it pales in comparison to the OPEX Coach Certificate Program (CCP).

“CCP exceeded my college education. By a lot,” said 26-year-old McCormick. “CCP really gave me a new perspective: To be less dogmatic. In university, they teach you the way things are, but they don’t do a lot of explaining about why this is the case, or why this might not always be the case.”

CCP taught McCormick about thinking critically and about considering context. And while her college education was helpful for students who wanted to work in a clinical setting, the CCP was way better at teaching how to help people in the real world gain greater health and fitness, she explained. Get an introduction to coaching people in the real world in this free coaching course.

“Even the practical application we did in school didn’t really apply to real-world people. It didn’t really teach you how to help them,” she said. During the CCP, however, McCormick said she learned how to actually “connect the dots” and put it all together in a practical sense.  

By the time she finished her CCP, McCormick knew she wanted to open an OPEX Gym. In the meantime, she spent some time coaching group classes at a Globo gym that offered CrossFit, and doing some personal training. This experience convinced her the individual program design was definitely the way to go. 

“It was so frustrating coaching group classes and not being able to help clients. It wasn’t fulfilling to be coaching and writing programming for a group,” she said. 

McCormick added: “So even though I always knew I wanted to go the OPEX route, getting exposure to coaching group classes only solidified to me that (individual program design) is the only way to truly help people as best as I’m able. …And it’s really the only model in coaching methodology, I think, that allows you to meet the client where they’re at right from the start.”

So a little over a year ago, McCormick opened OPEX Bethel Park in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

One year later, McCormick has two coaches working for her and 42 of her own clients, each of whom pay US$225 a month for an individual program and monthly lifestyle consults.

McCormick said she feels blessed to be working with a business model that allows her to simultaneously help her clients, her coaches, and her business get exactly what they need to be successful.

“The (OPEX model) is invested in the coach’s success, the client’s success and the gym owner’s success, and I think that’s what really separates it from anything else out there,” she said. “Based on my own experience, and hearing from others who have worked in different systems—either at a CrossFit gym, as a personal trainer or at a Globo gym that offered CrossFit like I did—this is the only system that has the big picture in mind.”

She added: “OPEX is fitness the way is should be.”

Get an introduction to the same coaching principles taught in CCP and take the next step in your coaching career by signing up for The Free Coach’s Toolkit.