Author: Vernon Gambetta
Phenology
Yesterday when I was going through some files in preparation for GAIN and I found this article from the New York Times science section in 2008. The article was “Weather History” by Anthony DePalma. http://tinyurl.com/7xjrlzz There is a field of science called Phenology, the study of the timing of natural events. The premise is that natural events carefully and consistently recorded have scientific value for understanding the interactions between organisms and their environment. Naturally I immediately thought about coaching, teaching and rehab. The same is true. The more detailed the records that we keep, the more valuable that those records become as the years pass. I started thinking about a way to access the records of workouts, lesson plans and treatment notes of great practitioners, what a wealth of information that would provide. I know I have training plans and sessions from my first years of coaching buried somewhere, it would be very interesting to see the patterns, to see if the structure and content of the workouts has changed or the same threads are present. I am convinced that as we have become dependent on technology and “scientific analysis” that we have lost our power of observation. In essence we cannot see the forest for the trees. We are missing patterns that develop over time. Looking at training programs over the long term will give a window into the timing and application of the training stimulus and the subsequent adaptive response. It would even be valuable to be able to access the training logs of athletes, what an insight that would provide. I am going to take it upon myself to contact the coaches that I know that have kept records throughout their careers to see if they would be willing to share. I believe the principles and concepts of Phenology apply in coaching as well. Any ideas and input would be appreciated
Some Thoughts on Achieving a Fast Mile
I had the honor and privilege to consult with Patrick McHugh, (http://raiderathletics.blogspot.com/) Track & Field Coach and Athletic Director at North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka, Illinois to help him prepare his athlete Peter Callahan to run a fast mile his senior year. He did run fast – 4:05 off of an average of off 25 miles a week. By the way the school has no track! He was double Illinois Sate Champion in the 800 and 1600 in his senior year. This past indoor season as a junior at Princeton he ran under four minutes twice and was an All American at indoor nationals. The point of all of this is that he trained like an athlete. There is plenty of time to increase the volume gradually over time as he matures. Up until his senior year in high school he played soccer in the fall and basketball in the winter. His senior year he only played soccer and ran a limited indoor track schedule. Plenty of time to specialize! These are my thoughts to Patrick as Peter started his training for his senior year: Some Thoughts on Achieving a Fast Mile Train Athletically More is not better – Find his stimulus threshold Always Quality Quality Foot Strikes Quality Reps Speed First & Always Running fast is FUNdamental and Rewarding Take Care of Basics See attached Hip Drops and Hip Series Put a hill phase in late February and March – that is when the GH work should be done. Be careful with him running indoors with that foot – in fact if you can avoided it would be better Do heavy lactate production and lactate tolerance work on the bike! Save his legs from pounding. This can be cycled in once every 14 days Pool work after leg and total body strength training days. Also schedule a pool session as needed for a workout. Set you training up in six-week blocks – 2 x 21 day cycles. First 21 days preparation Second 21 days adaptation During Competition in spring go to three 14 day cycles, this is pure Bowerman.
Change & Transformation
Change and transformation are major themes in my coaching and hopefully yours. I want to emphasize that that big changes will occur if we start small. As Gandhi said: ‘We must become the change we want to see.” So to change in our lives, our teams, in our schools, the community and the world we must first change ourselves. Sometimes this is the most difficult change we will have to make. We must get out of our comfort zone. Start small and finish big. Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said.” Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” Start with yourself. Howard Thurman said: “ Don’t ask what the world needs. Rather ask – what makes you come alive? Then go and do it! Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” You must come alive and challenge yourself daily to be better and make those around you better. Get out and lead, don’t follow, think, don’t accept current trends and fads as dogma. Challenge yourself and challenge others. Be a change agent.
Big Picture Thinking
As you surely know by now I think the big picture is very important, so important that you should never lose sight of it. First to be able to think of the big picture you need a plan. The more detailed the plan the better. What is the big picture? It is an overview of the whole process and the objectives to be able to get to the big picture. What does it do? It lends perspective and context to what we are doing. It helps to keep us away from just doing stuff and train with a purpose. It is my experience and observation that the most successful coaches and systems of athlete development have a clear picture of what the end the product looks like and they never deviate from that picture, it guides everything they do. Big picture thinking tends to be a broad focus not a fixation on minute details. The opposite of big picture thinking is reductionist thinking that breaks everything down to its smallest component and focuses on trivial details. We have been victimized by reductionist thinking. Reductionist thinking leads you down a one-way dead end street. It is focus on muscles rather movements, it is focus on small insignificant aspects of a movement, obviously big picture thinking is the opposite, it focus on flow, linkage and rhythm. It allows the individual athlete to express him or herself; it creates adaptable athletes who train with a mindful approach. The actual implementation of any training program is the training session or workout, but for the session to be meaningful it must be part of the big picture. The key to this is to stress context. Also recognize that there are no magic workouts. For each workout there is an immediate, residual and cumulative training effect. The workout you do today is just a few pixels out of a huge picture. Workouts are only effective when they fit into the plan. Each small step must be in the direction of the ultimate goal. Part of big picture thinking is recognition that the body is a wondrous organism that has an amazing ability to self organize and self correct. We stimulate this by giving the body increasingly difficult movement problems to solve. We must recognize each individual’s adaptive response. No two people react the same way to the same stimulus. I have found it helpful to think of the big picture as a giant jig saw puzzle with thousands of pieces. You cannot force pieces to fit and you must constantly reference the picture on the cover of the box to see patterns and shapes. Training is the same.
Training Session Management
In coaching there are three management functions 1) Training Session Management 2) Competition Management 3) Injury management In this post I will give you some ideas on Training Session Management, later in other posts I will talk about the other two. Training session management is the cornerstone of the coaching management functions because it occurs so much more frequently than the other two. Make sure that the session fits in the context of the whole plan in regards to the microcycle, block and yearly plan. I think it essential to have a theme for each session; it can be as simple as just one word that you and the athletes can focus on to set the tone for the workout. This is not to be confused with the objectives of the workouts. Objectives are very specific and measurable outcomes that you hope to achieve in the workout. I usually try to have no more than three objectives per workout, more often it is two. On the workout sheet I list the equipment I need and when and where in the workout I will need it. I make sure it is all working. If it requires electrical power make sure the batteries are charged and the outlets work. Also list the personnel you will need, where and when they will be needed, make sure they are fully briefed before the workout begins. The next step is to have a detailed plan for the entire workout and a contingency plan in the event of inclement weather or facility unavailability. Keep it simple; I know I have a tendency to make workouts too complicated with the end result confused athletes. Start with introduction of the theme and special instructions to the group. Plan complex movements and high skill demand activities early. Speed development should be planned for early in the session before there is any fatigue. If possible try not to mix high neural demand activities with high metabolic demand activities in the same session. If there will be groups in the workout be sure to assign the groups and leaders. Make sure that transitions between segments of the workout are set up to allow flow from one segment to the next with minimal time loss. Be sure to allow for intra workout recovery and nutrition breaks if necessary. Within the workout focus on the sequence order and timing of the exercises you chose to accomplish your training objectives. If you have a digital timer to keep track of the time of segments that is very helpful in managing the workout. Be sure to carefully record results and observations for future reference. At the end of the workout be sure to evaluate the workout in the context of the objectives. Were the objectives of the workout achieved? If not, why not? What were the highlights? Were there any particular individuals that needed special attention or were unable to accomplish parts of the workout? What stood out about the workout that was particularly effective? I hope these thoughts and ideas will help you to better manage your workouts.
The Parable of the Buses
This was inspired by the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. There were two buses, both going to the same destination. One bus was a rickety old yellow school bus; the other bus was a beautiful new air-conditioned motor coach. The old yellow bus was driven by a veteran bus driver who was familiar with the area and he knew the destination because he had been there before. The other was a modern bus driven by a young driver who had just passed the test to be certified as a bus driver. He was new to the area and had never been to the destination before. He was confident because someone sitting in the back of the bus had told him how to get there. Incidentally they were both leaving at 5:00 PM, the height of rush hour, and they had to be there by 7:00 PM. The old bus driver had an alternate route ready if he needed it, the new bus driver didn’t even think about it. On the yellow bus everyone was in assigned sets, the yellow shirts in the yellow seats, the blue shirts in the blue seats and the red shirts sat in the red seats. On the new bus everyone sat where they wanted, in fact two people were late and the bus waited for them. The yellow bus had a specific address and estimated time of arrival. He knew the route and the alternative route. The big new bus was depending on someone in the back of the bus for directions, that person had never been to the destination before. The driver was so confident he did not even have a map! He did not need to because he had had his GPS and he was fully certified in directional awareness by the GPS Company. The old yellow bus arrived at the destination with fifteen minutes to spare. The alternate route he had planned had almost no traffic during rush hour. The new modern bus was ninety minutes late. First they were stuck in rush hour traffic, and then the driver turned off on what he thought was an alternate that turned out to be the opposite direction. They both made it. The moral of the story get everyone on the bus on time, make sure they are all in the correct seats, above all have a driver that knows the directions and preferably has been there before! In designing a training program, lesson plan or therapy plan remember this story. Be sure you know the destination. If you have never been there before talk to someone who has been there and find out everything you can about their expereince. Find out how they made the trip. Have a detailed roadmap and make sure it is current. Don’t over rely on technology, follow you instincts. Have a contingency plan if the first route proves unmanageable. Simply plan the work and work the plan. The old yellow school bus may not be as comfortable but it will get you there with time to spare.
Training Mistakes
The following is a list of some mistakes that I have made in coaching and teaching. If you learn from your mistakes I should be a genius, but unfortunately some of the lessons were only learned after I repeated of these mistakes several times. I hope that by sharing these with you, it will help you to avoid making the same mistakes I have made. It does not have to be hard to be good. – Each workout is part of a larger picture. If you put their backs to the wall in each training session you will quickly lose sight of the picture. Everything must be in context. Remember that different physical qualities adapt at different rates, so they need to be stressed differently. Too much, too soon – You can’t hurry the adaptive process. The younger athlete can handle a lot both in terms of volume and intensity, but once again if you lose sight of the big picture it is important to remember that not following proper progression and individualizing can stifle long term development. Overloading the spine – Too often and too young – I think this is obvious so I don’t know why it took me so long to figure it out. Even with the mature athlete the spine just cannot take the heavy repetitive loading that is imposed on it by too much heavy back squatting and dead lifting. Too many exercises or drills in a training session – This just leads to confusion from an administrative perspective and poor adaptive response on the part of the athlete. This results in a loss of focus. They get tired but they do not get better. Repetitious Exercises – Usually overloads one area or one component, the end result is a poor training response. I always say hunt with a rifle, not a shotgun. Training to failure – This leads to failure. Each workout becomes an end unto itself and the athlete starts holding back anticipating the failure. Over reliance on one exercise or training method – This created on trick ponies. You are what you train to be. Reliance on a machine in training or a modality in rehab. You adapt to that environment, but not the environment you need to perform in. Quick fixes – There are none! I have learned that it is an easy come, easy go proposition. Crash programs – Crash programs crash, you can’t hurry the process. Adaptation takes time and the time frames for the various components are quite predictable.
Training the Maximum Speed Zone
Following the start and acceleration phases of a sprint the athlete reaches the phase where their velocity is maximal. This usually is reached in 4-6 seconds and usually can be maintained for another 3-5 seconds. This is the phase of highest stride frequency and optimal stride length. Slower athletes reach top speed sooner and are not able to hold it as long. There are definite skills associated with this zone of sprinting. For the specialist sprinter the maximum Speed Zone is a key element to success. Maximum Speed has definite implications for the athlete seeking to improve their Forty Yard times. The maximum speed zone of the forty can be as long as twenty yards for some players. Football players are usually quite good at starting and acceleration and not real proficient at maximum speed, because it seldom comes into play in Football except for fly patterns and possibly kick returns. Traditionally in preparing to improve 40 yard dash times an inordinate emphasis has been placed on improving the start and acceleration. That is fine but it only solves part of the problem. What about the rest of the Forty? The maximum speed needs to be trained. In order to train it effectively good sprint mechanics are necessary. This entails a good upright posture, efficient arm action and control of the stride all coupled with relaxation. The football player should train maximum speed. The skill position player should put more emphasis on this than the linemen, the reason being that the linemen are at greater risk of injury in this phase because it something they seldom if ever do in games or practice. There are three simple drills to work on improving maximum speed. One is devoted to mechanics and the other two are devoted to feeling the rhythm and relation of the sprint. Hit Drill – The athlete alternates periods of hitting and floating. Hitting refers to short bursts of greater intensity of effort that lead to higher stride frequencies and velocities. The ‘Hits’ are alternated with intervals of relaxed running referred to as ‘floating’. ‘Hits’ are the intense initial efforts that initiate these intense intervals. Floating in sprinting is the skill of running very fast and relaxed. When a sprinter floats they are trying to maintain their current speed with little effort. They are literally floating over the track. Skilled sprinters perform this skill to such a refined degree that only the highly skilled eye can determine the difference between floating and flying. That is the goal for the football player, when that occurs the athlete is relaxed and ready to run fast. Use an approach run long enough to build up to top sped, usually 25 to thirty yards. Hit the start at top speed, hold this speed for ten yards and then float ten yards. Alternate this for three hits and three floats. Allow at least three minutes between sprits. Use this drill for 4 -6 repetitions one day a week. Lineman should probably not do this drill. Flying Sprints – Use an approach run long enough to build up to top speed, usually 25 to thirty yards. Hit the start at top speed and maintain top speed for the entire distance. Gradually slow down; do not stop abruptly as this is where you are most susceptible to muscle pulls. Start with a ten yard flying sprint and build up to 30 yards over a six week period. Do this twice a week for six repetitions; no more is necessary; remember the emphasis is on quality. Stress relaxation and feel like you are floating over the ground. You should not feel like you are pushing back against the ground. Run like the ground is hot! Rest at least three minutes between sprints, this will ensure quality. Stair Running – Run up a stadium hitting each stair. Use no more that ten to fifteen stairs. The time should not exceed 10 seconds. The stairs force good upright posture and the foot strike under the center of gravity. This is considered technique work. Perform ten repetitions. The linemen should do this drill twice a week and the skill positions only once a week. Maximum speed plays a greater role than we previously thought in multidirectional field sports. Dean Benton, Performance Director with the Canberra Brumbies in Super 15 rugby states the case quite clearly: “In observation of field sports, many of the sprints appear to commence with a jogging, striding or fast-striding start. This can have a profound effect on these athletes’ velocity profiles. If sprints were commenced in such a way, then it is conceivable that maximum velocity, or near maximum velocity could occur at much shorter distances. Additionally, as a generalization, research has shown that athletes who possess a low maximum velocity (e.g. field sport athletes) tend to reach maximum velocity in less distance, than athletes who reach high maximum velocities such as track athletes. Hence, the amount of maximum velocity sprinting in field sports maybe greatly underestimated.” This certainly is an area that has potential for improvement in sports like soccer and lacrosse. Soccer, rugby and lacrosse players could certainly profit form the three previously mentioned drills.