Author: Vernon Gambetta
Process
It is so easy in coaching to get caught up in the outcome – The win in the game, a personal best run jump or throw. Sometimes we tend to forget that the outcome is a result of the process and the process takes time. The devil is in the details on the daily preparation and the focus in training. I do not mean to imply that that just by taking care of and focusing on the process that the outcome is assured. Far from it, the two are linked. You can’t put the cart before the horse. You cannot expect results in competition (outcomes) without taking care of the process. To make the process meaningful there must be a goal, the desired outcome. It is not real complicated but for some reason it is easy to have a disconnect between the two. Define the desired outcome and refine the process to achieve the desired goal.
We
If it is to be it is up to me we. Success is not about me, it is about we, it is about collaboration, working together with other people to achieve a shared goal. You can’t do it alone. You need a support team. That support team can be as big or as small as you need it to be. For me my support team consists of friends, professional colleagues, mentors, and above all family. The Lone Ranger had Tonto, Holmes had Watson, Butch had Sundance, Jobs had Wozniak, Watson had Crick just a few example of famous teams. Make sure your team is not composed of ‘yes men” people who always agree. Dissent is healthy in fact it is productive. Otherwise you have intellectual incest where the same ideas are continually passed around and no progress is made. Successful people have colleagues or affiliations, it very tough to go it alone. Build your team to be the best you can be.
Reading
This is from today’s NY Times Opinion Page. http://tinyurl.com/aj3ktca Although the article is about Mexico, it could be about the United Sates. This is a powerful statement that needs our attention as a nation. We are turning out generations of dolts who can check boxes on standardized tests and text like crazy on their so-called smart phones, but they are functionally illiterate. “We have turned schools into factories that churn out employees. With no intellectual challenges, students can advance from one level to the next as long as they attend class and surrender to their teachers. In this light it is natural that in secondary school we are training chauffeurs, waiters and dishwashers.” “This is not just about better funding. Mexico spends more than 5 percent of its gross domestic product on education — about the same percentage as the United States. And it’s not about pedagogical theories and new techniques that look for shortcuts. The educational machine does not need fine-tuning; it needs a complete change of direction. It needs to make students read, read and read.” This does not bode well for the future of our society. As many of you who read this blog regularly know I am a serial bibliophile. Thank God my mother encouraged and facilitated me to read. Any success I have had in my professional life has been due to this. As professionals we need to speak out and get our leaders to recognize the importance of reading. NY Times Op-Ed Contributor The Country That Stopped Reading By DAVID TOSCANA Published: March 5, 2013
Foundations of Functional Training
The body is a link system; this link system is referred to as the kinetic chain. Functional training is all about linkage – it is all about how all the parts of the chain work together in harmony to produce smooth efficient patterns of movement. Most conventional academic preparation in Exercise and Movement Science focuses on studying individual muscles based on classical anatomy. This is where the confusion begins as to what is functional movement. First of all we must remember that we do not function in the anatomical position. The anatomical position is static; it provides us with the perspective of mental convenience to arrange of all the individual muscles for ease of study and observation. In many respects learning about individual muscles is easier than learning about movements because it is simpler. In order to truly understand functional training we must get away from the focus on muscles and focus instead on movements. It is important to emphasize that the brain does not recognize individual muscles. It recognizes patterns of movement, which consist of the individual muscles working in harmony to produce movement the desired sport movement. In over ground movement like running and jumping gravity is a major player. In order to completely understand function we must understand the role that gravity plays. The fact that we live, work and play in a gravitationally enriched environment cannot be denied. Gravity has minimal effect on the body in the anatomical position, but maximum effect on the body in movement. It helps us to load the system. Therefore we must learn to overcome its effects, cheat and even defeat it occasionally. Over reliance on machines for training will give us a false sense of security because they negate some of the effects of gravity. Gravity and its effect must be a prime consideration when designing and implementing a functional training program to prepare the body for the forces that it must overcome. Always carefully look at he movement that you are trying to enhance. What are the forces involved? What is the dominant plane of motion? Movement occurs in all three planes of motion simultaneously: Sagittal, frontal, and transverse. Therefore it is important to train movement in all three planes. It is imperative to understand the movements and then design the training program accordingly. How does that muscle fit in as a link in the whole kinetic chain?
Being Skeptical
Sometime being skeptical is good and other times it can be harmful. I find that in today’s world of instant information and marketing hype that turning on the skepticism can be a good way to filter the information. I saw the following not long ago, I think it is a good template. I am not sure of the source so I cannot give credit to the author. (If someone knows please let me know)
Thoughts on Planning a Training Session
The individual training session is the cornerstone of the entire training plan. The individual training session is the point of implementation of the long-term plan. A long-term plan is a succession of linked individual training sessions in pursuit of specific objectives. The training session should occupy the greatest emphasis in planning and execution. Each session should be carefully evaluated and subsequent sessions adjusted accordingly. Each training session should a have general theme. This general theme in turn should be supported by objectives for each component in that session; those should be very specific and measurable. When planning an individual training session carefully consider: How does that session fit into the bigger picture? What time is available for training & recovery? Every component in the workout must be in pursuit of the specific objectives of the workout and follow the general theme for that particular session. The workout must be put in the context of the whole training plan. The actual design of the session should carefully consider: Progression /Sequence Training time available & time allocation Integration of skill with work to develop physical capacities Size of the facility or training area relative to the number of athletes training Equipment available Coaching personnel available as well as the number of athletes that will participate in the actual training session. Session emphasis Teaching Training Stabilizing Testing Remedial Component – Make sure that there is always an injury prevention component in each workout; this is most easily addressed in the warm-up. Intra Workout Recovery – Consideration needs to be given on how to incorporate recovery given the constraints of most situations. Self-massage, shaking and stretching as well as intra workout nutrition in the form of hydration is the most basic and practical form of recovery intra workout recovery. Team or Group Training – When training a group, carefully plan to meet individual needs in a group context. Everyone will not progress and learn at the same rate. Multiple Workouts – This allows the workout to be even more focused and shorter in duration. Multiple sessions are a necessity for the elite athlete.
Anything There?
I just bought a book (quite expensive I might add) by one of the current guru’s because I am always trying to learn and increase my knowledge base and it was highly recommended by a young coach. It was full of marketing, buzzwords, pseudoscience and general mumbo jumbo. Yet this is one of the current bibles that many young coaches are going to. Why? Think critically. Know your science, know your practice, understand and apply sound training principles. Make sure before you follow someone that there really a there there? Beware of intellect incest, the phenomenon of passing ideas within the same group without any critical analysis. Think!
Evolution of Strength Training – A Personal Perspective Over Fifty Years (Summary & Conclusion)
Looking back over the past fifty years there were many influences on my strength training: Olympic Lifting Power Lifting Gymnastics Martial Arts Rehabilitation Techniques Wresting & Grappling Body Building I have learned many times over that a sound comprehensive strength training program incorporates elements of all the above as needed based on sport demands, the qualities of the individual athlete and the time of the training year as well as the stage of the athlete’s career. I have begged, borrowed and adapted from all to develop an eclectic system that I could adapt to the sport and athletes I was working with at the time. Based on my experiences I derived the following principles to guide my strength training: Train movements not muscles Train postural (core) strength before extremity strength Train bodyweight before using external resistance Train strength before strength endurance Train power before power endurance These principles have guided and will continue to guide me regardless of the sport. So, where are we today? Where are we going? What have we learned? In some ways I feel we really have not progressed very far. Many of the methods used in the sixties and seventies are being used today without any consideration for what we have learned and a completely different talent pool. It is relatively easy to get “weight room” strong but the key is how that strength is transferred to the sport. I have learned that you don't need fancy equipment and huge air conditioned weight rooms to produce champions, in fact some of the most functionally strong athletes I have seen have come out of a "weight room without walls" environment. Use the the time, personnel, and space you have to get the athletes prepared. Outside of track & field and a few isolated pockets in other sports there is not a good understanding that the key is the nervous system. That is what Sam Cunningham was trying to tell me in my first year of coaching. Just because he could not lift more weight that is not what is most important. It is how you can recruit and fire the muscles in a coordinated pattern that is most important. Strength training is about intermuscular coordination and neural drive; it is training the command and control system. That is why it is so important to train movements not muscles! This is where we have to go in order to progress to do a better job of integrating strength training, making it specific in order to develop athleticism. Some prefer to call it functional training, I prefer to call it sound training where all elements of training are integrated so that strength training is always in context with it’s proper place the training spectrum. We need to keep striving for a balanced approach based on coaching experiences and sound sports science research. I continue to strength train at least three day a week myself. It is something that I do to stay healthy and to keep learning. I keep experimenting, trying different combinations and sequences and methods in a continual search for a better way. Certainly strength training coupled with the aging process offers many possibilities for experimentation and continued learning. I hope to be around to write an update on this post in ten and twenty years. Good luck in your training, remember strength training is a means to an end, not an end unto itself.