Author: Vernon Gambetta
Strength Training Considerations – Basics & Beyond Part One
What do you hope to achieve with a strength training program? What are your goals? What sport are you preparing for? A tennis player should have a different program than a football player. Conversely within a sport like football a quarterback should have a different program than a lineman. What kind of resistance do you have to overcome? Is added muscle mass needed for armor and protection? Or do you just need to overcome bodyweight and gravity? These are all important considerations. One program is not suitable for all sports and all athletes. A sound strength training program should be based on principles. How the principles are applied gives detail to specific programs. It is important to understand how programs differ based on the objectives. It is possible for the exercises to potentially be the same, but manipulation of sets/reps and rest and load can significantly change the training effect. As a step toward designing the optimum program ask the following questions: What are strength requirements of the sport? What muscle groups are used in the sport? What are the movement requirements? What is direction of the application of force? What is the range of movement? What are the common injuries in the sport? Once you have answered those questions then consider the qualities of the individual athlete. Carefully consider growth and development factors. Has the athlete gone through puberty? Biological and chronological age are often quite different. Is the athlete an early or a late developer? Cognitive and emotional development should also be considered, as they are quite important in the ability to learn exercises and routines as well as accept coaching. Also consider genetic endowment that does not demand a DNA test, just look at the rest of the family. This will help the athlete be realistic in their goals. There is no doubt that the pre-pubescent athlete can weight train. Research and practical experience has shown no ill effects from weight training, however my bias is to avoid any heavy loading of the spine until after puberty. To avoid this I limit the amount of overhead work that the young athlete does and put the emphasis on body weight exercises. This will serve as excellent preparation to safely more forward on the strength continuum after puberty. It is important not to lose sight of the big picture. There must be some thought and consideration given to the athletic lifespan progression. As the athlete matures and increases in training age the amount of work done with external load will gradually increase. Gender is an important consideration in the timing of beginning a strength training program. Despite certain societal myths that still prevail strength training may be more important for the female athlete than the male. The female athlete has a lesser percentage of their total body mass as muscle. The female matures earlier than the male athlete therefore it is important to begin strength training earlier. It is imperative that the female athletes begin strength training earlier and continue strength training throughout the training year and the career. It has been my observation (not supported by research) that the female athlete who begins a sound well rounded strength training program before puberty tends to be leaner after puberty. From a coaching and teaching perspective it is important to take into consideration the ability to manage the program. Can you teach the exercises and supervise them properly to insure safety as well as proper training. Consider the “weight room without walls” concept where strength training is integrated within the confines of the actual practice session in the same venue as the practice. This is accomplished using the natural environment, bodyweight exercises, dumbbells, medicine balls and stretch cord. This may seem like a compromise, but can very effective in sports that do not require external resistance like soccer, tennis and swimming.
The Training Session – Some Thoughts
The individual training session is the cornerstone of the entire training plan. A long-term plan is a succession of linked individual training sessions in pursuit of specific objectives. Because the session is the cornerstone of a training program, it should occupy the most amount of attention in planning and management of each session. At the conclusion of each workout, the session must be carefully evaluated and the following sessions adjusted accordingly. The long-term plan is a general guide; a broad over view so to speak. It is the individual training session where the long-term plan is actually implemented. Therefore it is important to understand the necessity of adjustments and flexibility within the context of the plan, especially at the level of the daily training session. Contingency planning is a very important, and a necessary part of the planning process. It is especially important to have contingency plans ready for individual training sessions based on the athlete’s readiness for the training session. 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 is not an end in itself, it is however a means to an end, therefore it must be put in the context of the whole training plan, so it is important to not let the individual training session get blown out of proportion. The present session should flow out of the previous session and lead into the next session. Management considerations sometimes dictate the workouts. Management issues include training time available, size of the facility relative to the number of athletes training, equipment available, coaching personnel available as well a the number of athletes that will participate in the actual training session.
Fictional or Functional?
Fictional training is characterized by exercises that have no connection to reality much less to a sport or an activity. They look very intriguing, but on deeper analysis there is no there there. They make you tired and they may even make you puke, but they don’t connect. There is no connection between body parts or to reality in terms of transfer to performance. They are often an end unto themselves and produce highly adapted athletes. Functional movements on the other hand focus on training movements that do connect. They may not be fancy and use equipment that beeps and has flashing lights but the movements get results. They enhance linkage and connect body parts to produce coordinated movements that transfer to the competition arena. They are not an end unto themselves; they are a clear means to an end – a better injury free athlete who is highly adaptable.
Footwork
The feet don’t work independent of the rest of the body! What a brilliant statement, you say I already knew that. If we already know that why do so many people talk about “quick feet” and “foot speed” as if the feet were independent of the rest of the body? There is no question that the feet are extremely important in sport because it is the feet that are in contact with the ground in movement. All movement is initiated off the ground. Ultimately it is the feet that must absorb shock on ground contact and then use those forces to propel the body or the ball in the desired direction. The purpose of footwork is to get the player and the ball to the right place at the right time. This is too big a job for two feet to do alone. The feet need to have help! They get their help farther up the kinetic chain in the hips. It has always been my contention that quick feet are actually loose and supple hips. I have never seen an athlete who was tight in the hips have good footwork! Control of and positioning the center of gravity is the major objective of proper footwork. This consists of keeping the hips over the base of support if stability is desired or shifting the C of G outside the base of support to initiate movement and change direction. Improving footwork is in essence speed work. Therefore it should be done when the athlete is fresh to obtain optimum results. In a typical training session there will seldom be more than eight minutes devoted to footwork drills. Remember that the drills do not have to be done all at one time; they can be distributed throughout practice to complement soccer skills. Be sure to allow enough rest between drills so that quality is maintained. In the beginning stages technique is more important that speed. Learn to execute the action correctly then add speed. Design sport specific footwork drills that are derivatives of the generic footwork drills. This will ensure that the improved footwork will transfer to the game. Remember the objective of good footwork is to position the body to be more effective in performing the specific sport skill.
Minestrone Soup
Italian endurance coach Renato Canova in his talk at the Podium Education Project last Wednesday in ST Louis presented a great metaphor to illustrate the construction of a training program. He compared constructing a training program to making minestrone soup. The ingredients that are constant are the broth and the pasta; the ingredients that vary are the vegetables. You use different vegetables depending on the time of the year when they are ripe. Very simple, clear and effective, know the key constants in your training that must be there all the time. Introduce different elements and emphasis of training as the body adapts and is ready for them. It is not more complicated than that.
Coaching – Art & Science
In my travels and observations the consensus opinion among experienced coaches is that the current younger generation of coaches have some significant gaps in their preparation and skill set. The most significant gap is in the area of pedagogy, the ability to teach and organize. We have several generations of coaches who are well versed in science but very weak in teaching skills and organization. They never were taught to teach. This is the art of coaching and the art is what ultimately makes the difference. Science and technology are nice but that only represents one part of a much bigger picture. Statements like the following which appeared in a recent New York Times article about heart rate monitoring really concern me, because even though it may have been said in jest, it does represent what I have been seeing; “I joke with people.” —– said, “that someday I’m just going to be able to sit in my office and drink a two-liter bottle of soda and eat a bag of chips and be able to look at my computer and shout through a microphone like the Wizard of Oz and tell them what they ought to be doing.” No doubt science can give us insights as to why and even sometimes how, but it is the coach relating to and with the athlete that makes the difference. Numbers from HRV, lactate or force measurement are just that numbers but without a coach to work with the sport scientist to translate those numbers into action those are just random numbers. It takes a good coach with basic scientific knowledge but more importantly emotional intelligence to turn those numbers into action to make the athlete better. Look, listen, turn off the iPad, and sometimes even put down the stopwatch and just coach. Look closely at the athlete; and understand that each athlete has a unique movement signature that represents how they solve various movement problems. Every athlete is a case study of one. Don’t be restrained by science, expand your coaching with imagination and creativity, be an artist. Coaching is a skill you can learn, and just like any skill you get better with practice. Get out from behind the computer and get out on pool deck, on the court or on the field that is where it is happening. Great coaches are great teachers. Great teachers are great communicators. Great communicators listen more than they talk. They observe and show. They understand it is not about them; it is about the learner, in this case the athlete. Know the science, but don’t be limited buy the science. Know how to ask the key question of the scientist. Work with them so they are an effective resource for you. Frank Dick, former Chief Athletic Coach of Great Britain is fond of quoting Winston Churchill on the role of the scientist: “scientists should be on tap, not on top.” At the end of the day it is you the coach and the athlete that are accountable and responsible. Keep a balance between the art and science of coaching. From the athlete’s perspective Chris McCormack, Ironman champion, summed it up best: "We’re athletes. We’re not integers in a formula.” Coach the athlete.
Reap What You Sow
My father was a gardener and he was a good one. I observed that when he planted tomatoes a month or two later he harvested tomatoes. He didn’t harvest carrots after he had planted tomatoes, he got tomatoes and it took a certain amount of time for the tomatoes based on the soil, fertilizer, season of the year and water. That time varied slightly, it was never exactly the same. He just seemed to have a feel for it. One of the things that I earned early in my coaching career was that coaching wasn't too different than what my dad did, you harvested what you planted and it took a ceratin amount of time based on different parameters. I learned quickly that you are what you train to be. If you train slow, you will be slow. If you train for strength, chances are you will get strong. If you train for flexibility, then you will get flexible. Certainly it is appropriate and sometimes demanded that certain qualities are emphasized over other qualities. If there is a need for speed, then speed must be emphasized, but the key is to balance the training so that when speed is emphasized the other qualities are stabilized and not allowed to erode. If this is not done then the emphasis on the needed quality will be minimized and there will be a leveling effect. In essence all qualities will erode toward the mean. The blending of the various training components is some science but it is mostly art. The objectives of training must be clear and defined. You must know the athlete. Each workout must be carefully sequenced so that one workout leads into the next. This is why they call us coach, this is coaching, and it is the difference between the short order cook and a chef at a five star restaurant. You learn to blend through practice, observation and good record keeping. You don’t learn by copying workouts of the champions off the Internet. It is a process and the process takes time. Look, listen and feel, use all your senses. Be a COACH not a trainer so that you can harvest what you plant.
My Office Mate “Feel the force!”
A gift from my wife to inspire my work. Some words of advice from Yoda to guide me:"Do or do not. There is no try"