Author: Vernon Gambetta
Some Thoughts on Testing – Part One
Testing and training go hand and glove. Evaluation through testing is an ongoing process that will determine the direction and content of training. Therefore it is important to build testing into the training plan. The traditional approach has been to schedule specific days for testing, usually at the beginning or the end of a yearly training cycle. This testing usually consists of criteria tests that profile the athlete with respect to the biomotor capacities in a particular sport. They are usually scheduled two times during a yearly training cycle. Over the past several years I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this approach. Using testing only two times in a yearly cycle gave me good baseline information, but it did not give me information on the ongoing progress of training that I needed to make the day to day and week to week adjustments in the training to obtain optimum adaptive response. The more varied the sports that I have worked with I have seen the necessity of incorporating testing into the actual training process on a day-to-day basis. The concern would be how can you do that and not fry the athlete and still train. The solution is that testing equals training and training equals testing. At various points in each training session there are distinct windows of opportunity to get feedback as to the effect of training. It is imperative in those periods to look for and utilize the feedback. Build testing in the training. We must keep in mind that training is cumulative so it is important to keep the big picture in mind. Ongoing evaluation enables us to keep everything in perspective. We need to train all the qualities throughout the training year; therefore we must monitor the progress of the various components on an ongoing basis. When you are testing it is important to consider all of the following: Know what you are looking for, there are periods of training where you should see marked improvement and other times when you should see stabilization or even slight regression on certain tests. Remember the tests should reflect the training. Know what you are going to do when you find it. If you see regression then what adjustments will you make, conversely if you see unexpected improvement what will you do? Regular monitoring is necessary to determine strength and weaknesses and progress of training. The goal in training is minimize weaknesses and to maximize training, testing can be a valuable guide to this process. Testing helps to individualize training. There is much individual variability in adaptive responses to various training stimuli. Two individuals could have the opposite response to the same training session or training cycle. Testing can identify how each individual will respond and allow training adjustments to be made accordingly. Testing will give constant feedback to the athletes and coaches as to the effects of training. Do not wait until competition to ascertain training response, use testing to be proactive. Testing must dovetail into training. It is an integral part of the whole training spectrum.
Thoughts on Training for the Masters Athlete
Here are some do's and don'ts I have learned from my own personal experience and observation of the master’s athlete: Find a routine; be consistent in the time of day and the place you train. If you can find a training partner or a group to train with that will help with routine. Look at your driver’s license. Yes you are getting older, so train accordingly. Use your age and your experience to your advantage. Trying to be a teenager again will only hurt, not help. Don't get athletic amnesia. Forget what you did in college or in your 20s, be realistic in your expectations and what you are trying to achieve now, it is futile to try to repeat workout you did in your twenties. Most of the time this will result in injury. Do things you like. This really depends how competitive you want to be. If you want to be a national class or international class master’s athlete then you still are going to have to some uncomfortable workouts. If you are training to be athletically fit then being uncomfortable is not necessary Compete against or measure against yourself. This is true at any age. Measure your progress against yourself. I know I have a certain lifting workout I use as a benchmark to gauge my overall strength and ability to handle my bodyweight. The same is true for biking, I have a particular route I test myself on four times a year to gauge progress. For me and I think it is the same for most people it is about goal achievement, not goal setting. Allow adequate time for recovery. As you age it takes longer to recover from the stress of hard workouts. Build in more rest days. You must strength train regularly. More frequent strength training is the closest thing there is to the fountain of youth. Leg strength and core strength will have a significant positive impact on posture. For both the male and female master’s athlete the endocrine hormonal benefit is tremendous. A well designed strength training program can stimulate growth hormone and testosterone production which will help maintain lean muscle mass. In addition it can slow the loss of type II muscle fiber. Stretch daily! We lose elasticity in the muscles and tendons as we age. Some researchers have identified the subsequent loss of flexibility as a factor in degenerative joint disease. Respect old injuries – they will come back to haunt you. Just like training, injuries are cumulative. The small niggling injuries that you could ignore when you were in your twenties will now cause you to miss days of training and if ignored weeks of training. Learn to read and listen to your body. Don't listen to the naysayers – you can do what you want to do!
Foundation
If you are going to build a strong, long lasting stable structure you must build a sound foundation. You are thinking, well that is obvious. Well if it so obvious why do we persist in fast tracking our athletes, specializing them early without giving them the proper foundation? If the building materials we use to build the foundation is of poor quality or an ingredient is omitted it will show up later as deficiencies in the final structure. Look at it from the positive side; great athletes who have flawless technique and are injury free have foundations built on fundamental movement skills and basic physical conditioning. Nothing fancy, just the basics well taught and mastered. Without this foundation sooner or later the structure built on the weak foundation will fail. Most often it will fail under stress. The stress can be increased training load or tougher more frequent competition, but failure is inevitable. The message is clear, build a solid foundation made up of good construction material. Develop fundamental movements so that the athlete has the movement vocabulary to progress when appropriate to basic sports skills. The same with physical conditioning give the athlete the basics of strength, speed, endurance and flexibility and then progressively build on that. No need to be in a hurry, move step by step, insure mastery of each step before proceeding to the next step. As part of the foundation teach good training habits and routine. Encourage learning through discovery. Time and effort dedicated to building a strong stable foundation will insure the probability of long success.
It’s the System
Despite what the current fad is in terms of exercises and training methodologies it’s the system. The system determines how the exercises and methodologies are applied. It is the system that lends order, which produces measureable results in a systematic manner at the appointed time. If you don’t believe me look around. Systems beat fads and exercises. What is your system?
Timing
The other evening I was watching a piece on public television about comedy. There was a section on Bob Newhart where the commentator talked about Newhart’s strength being timing, a raised eyebrow, a shrug of the shoulders, a frown, a well-timed word or one liner. His sense of timing is what made him funny. I started thinking that as coaches we need to develop our sense and awareness of timing, not to be funny but to be better coaches. There is no doubt that learning what not say and what not to do may be as important as preaching a sermon to our athletes. Sometimes a well-timed look, a pause between words, or a shrug of the shoulders can convey all that needs to be conveyed. We can be better coaches if we are better communicators, if we improve our emotional intelligence so work on your timing, be more like Bob Newhart.
Change
In life change is a constant, you not the same person this instant that you were an instant ago. You can resist change or embrace it and manage it. I am continually amazed at how people resist change. Coaches are change engineers, our mission is to change behavior and help guide, prod, cajole, and lead the athlete toward their goals. I have found that changing physically by changing workouts, putting in a new training system, and adding new exercises is the easy part, the hard part is changing mindsets and in a team environment changing culture. Changing culture is changing attitudes and habits that are sometimes ingrained and deeply entrenched. In this situation you often here things like “we already do that” or in meetings phrases like, “let me be the devils advocate” when new ideas are discussed. In my experience there is no simple solution for changing culture. From a leadership or management perspective it requires many uncomfortable decisions. Changing culture requires everyone to share common goals, to sacrifice together to use the past to gain perspective to move forward. Certainly disagreement and debate is acceptable if the spirit is to problem solve and achieve a consensus with everyone on the same page moving forward together to achieve a common goal. Turning losers into winners does not happen overnight. I have found that losers, both individuals and teams are comfortable being where they. They have all the excuses and revel in being downtrodden. Change requires dedication, commitment and focus on the goal ahead all the while realizing that it will take time. Many are called but few choose the path toward excellence. It is simply about choices. Make the choice to change or make the choice to stay the same.
Fault/Reason/Correction
In skill teaching and skill development it is often fairly easy to identify the faults. The key to making the athlete better and improving your proficiency as a coach is identifying the reason or the cause of the faults and then to devise an appropriate correction. Once you do indentify the cause then you need to know what buttons to push to achieve the correction. The first step is to develop “action words,” verbal cues that elect the correction. These cues must be words that elicit action; they must be something that the athlete can relate to. Find out what works for your athlete, get them involved in devising cues so they have ownership. That is only one step; you must also provide visual feedback in the form of video or still pictures of them doing the skill. Also show them proficient performers doing the skill so they can have a clear picture of where they are heading. The most important step is the kinesthetic, get them to feel it, put them is the desired position or posture. Touch all the elements visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Find which elicits the desired response and focus on that for that athlete. Think of this axiom that I learned early in my coaching career: Talk it. Chalk it. Walk it.
LSD
Long slow distance was a term coined to describe running at a steady pace to develop the aerobic base. Unfortunately as it evolved the emphasis was on SLOW. This is a huge mistake. The result was proficiency at running slow for a prolonged period. This has little carryover to racing, remember the goal of training is to prepare to race. The emphasis in this method should be on long steady distance. Select a degree of effort that allows the runner to run a steady effort for the duration of the distance with good running mechanics. This type of training needs to be a means to an end. Unfortunately for many runners it has become an end to itself.