Author: Vernon Gambetta
The Measureable Strength Trap
A common question you hear between athletes is: what’s your max in the bench? Or clean? Or snatch. Or squat. What you can lift or how many foot-pounds of force you can express on a dynamometer are often meaningless numbers outside of the environment where the numbers were produced. Quality of movement, rhythm, synchronization and connections are more important than a one-rep max. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that the goal of strength training that is transfer the strength developed in whatever mode of strength training used to the actual sport performance. How is the force expressed in your sport? Can you produce and reduce the force in the time required? Force production is all about acceleration, but often the key to movement efficiency and staying injury free is the ability to decelerate and stabilize in order to position the body to execute the desired movement. A good functional training program will work on the interplay between force production, force reduction and stabilization. Choose whatever mode is appropriate for the sport. The end result should be functional strength, which is strength you can use. It might not show up the weight record board but it will show up in the record book of your performance.
Gambetta Method Systematic Sport Development Principles – Principle One
The body is a link system – a kinetic chain. Training is all about enhancing linkage and connections with all the parts of the chain working together in harmony to produce smooth efficient patterns of movement. Most Traditional academic preparation focuses on studying individual muscles based on classical anatomy. This classical anatomical approach focuses on learning about muscles in isolation and how those muscles work at one joint. This is where the confusion begins, it is neat, clean and convenient but it does not accurately portray what happens when you move. The anatomical position is static; it provides us with the perspective of mental convenience to arrange all the individual muscles for ease of study and observation. For example in textbook anatomy the hamstrings main function is defined as a flexor of the knee. In actual movement the hamstring helps with flexion of the knee but that is not its primary job. Its primary job is to work eccentrically to decelerate the lower leg and extend the hip. The function changes with the orientation of the body to gravity and the ground. Selecting an exercise for the hamstring based on traditional anatomy would lead you to select an isolated movement like a hamstring curl that works the hamstrings as a flexor of the knee. Instead, if you select an exercise that involves the hamstring based on its function in movement you would select a lunge in multiple planes or a step-up that works the hamstrings at the knee and the hip. In order to understand movement and to effectively train to improve movement efficiency we must get away from the focus on muscles. The brain does not recognize individual muscles. The muscles are slaves of the brain. The brain does not recognize isolated muscles; it recognizes patterns of movement, which consist of the individual muscles working in synergy to produce movement. The Central Nervous System is the command station that controls and directs all movement. The CNS calls for patterns of movement that can be modified in countless ways to react appropriately to gravity, ground reaction forces, and momentum. Each activity is subjected to further refinements and adjustments by feedback from the body’s proprioceptors. This process ensures optimal neuromuscular control and efficiency of function. Movement does not occur in the anatomical position and only in one plane of motion. According to Dr Roger Enoka “the function of a muscle depends critically on the context in which it is activated.” As part of one movement a muscle can perform a certain way, in another movement it is capable of doing the exact opposite. Movement is complex requiring the interaction of multiple muscle systems involving synergists, stabilizers, neutralizers, and antagonists all working together to reproduce efficient triplanar movements. It occurs in reaction to gravity, ground reaction forces, and momentum. The cornerstone of all training and rehabilitation is to train movements, not muscles. Training isolated movements, individual muscles, has the potential to create tremendous neural confusion. This is something to avoid at all costs. It may be more convenient to train an individual muscle, but it is not correct. It complicates the process of getting that muscle to work as part of an integrated whole. Integrated movements are simple and efficient. To effectively train movements think of connecting, linking, and syncing to enhance coordination.
Gambetta Method – Systematic Sport Development Principles
I was inspired to develop a system by my early mentors. It was easy to see, even at the beginning of my coaching career, that coaches that were successful had a clearly defined system. So over the course of my career I have evolved a system that has worked for me in a variety of sport disciplines at all levels of sport from the developmental level to the elite. The system is general and eclectic therefore it is very adaptable to any sport discipline and rehabilitation environment. The basis of the system is the foundational principles that I use to guide the design and implementation of the training programs. The principles are derived from my interpretation of sports science research, sound pedagogy, observation and analysis of other systems and my coaching experiences.The system is general and eclectic therefore it is very adaptable to any sport discipline and rehabilitation environment. I label it the Gambetta method not be egotistical or to stake some ideological high ground, but simply because it is a system that has worked for me. It is mine but because it is principle based it will work for anyone who invests the time to learn and apply the principles. Over the next several weeks I will explain the principles and how I apply them in my system. They are all directed toward the development of the complete athlete so that at the end of the journey all physical limitations are eradicated and the athlete is ready technically, tactically, physically and psychologically to compete to win in the competitive arena. It is a process that takes time and coaching. The principles are: Train movements not muscles Dynamic postural alignment and dynamic balance are the foundation for all training Train fundamental movement skills before sport specific skills Train core strength before extremity strength Train body weight before external resistance Train joint integrity before joint mobility Train strength before strength endurance, power before power endurance Train speed before speed endurance Train Sport Appropriate – You Are What You Train To Be Train to build work capacity appropriate for your sport or event Tomorrow I will explain the concept and application of first principle – Train Movements not muscles.
Training to Train?
I saw something the other day where someone said they were in the training to train stage of their preparation. Stop and think about that for a minute – Why would you train to train? Training should never be an end unto itself. You may be month’s away form the competitive season, but you should never take your eye off the ball so to speak. The goal of training is preparation for competition. Training is process and it is a process that is ongoing and cumulative. It is the competitive goals that give training a purpose and direction. Through training overall work capacity should increase and consequently readiness for more quality training will also increase, but you should never lose sight of the goal. The goal is preparation for competition.
Cut to the Chase – Coach Them
Coach them don’t just train them. Don’t get caught in nuance and semantics. Follow these simple steps: Determine the Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) for your sport. Assess exactly what needs to be assessed to determine the status of the individual athlete relative to the KPI’s. Train what needs to be trained by coaching the elements of the Key Performance Indicators as they apply to that individual. Assess to determine progress to towards the goal. Modify the training to reflect the adaptation. At the culmination of the process you will have a highly adaptable athlete without any physical, psychological, technical or tactical limitations completely prepared to compete to win in the competitive arena.
Training Mini Cycles
It is tempting to look at one training session in isolation but that is often a distorted picture almost like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. Training results today are directly impacted by what you did yesterday and profoundly affected by what you did last week. Conversely tomorrow’s workout is directly impacted by the previous two workouts. I have found that it helps to think of a series or group of workouts usually three sessions that are directed toward a particular theme in pursuit of specific objectives that result in the desired adaptive response. I almost think of this grouping of training sessions as mini cycles, a smaller very manageable chuck of time. Looking back and analyzing training records I recognized this pattern resulted in consistently positive training adaptations. It was something that I fell into, it certainly was not a conscious attempt to structure it this way. However now I do consciously plan the workouts in groups of three sessions usually over three days but it also can be done it two days. I conceptualize it as using one workout to set-up the next workout. If it is done in two days then I set it up so that there are two sessions on day one usually no more than 4 hours apart and the third session on day two at least 12 hours preferably 15 hours after session two. Day three then is a very light recovery day. This training sticks, I find it very manageable and it solves the density dilemma (Too much crammed into one session). It has worked for me see if it works for you.
More Thoughts on Coaching & Experience
Think! Experience the world by having experiences, not one experience many times. See things, try things and look for new experiences. Look at the world through different eyes, be a kid again. Ask why? Wipe the slate clean and use a beginners mind. Stop talking for aminute and listen and watch. You will be amazed atwhat you hear and see. It is interesting that when you seek new ideas how you keep stumbling on old ideas, concepts and thoughts that have been forgotten. Everything old is new again. Whatever you do put an ! point on it! Don’t settle for being average from yourself or your athletes. STANDOUT – be willing to rise above the crowd and be special and remember to be special you need to do special things. Simple is not easy! Watch someone coach for a few sessions and you will learn about that person. Dial in – eliminate static and noise. Results lie in clarity and focus. “Anyone can make a toaster toast. Very few people can make a toaster something you covet.” Cal Fussman, Ford's chief designer
Training Camps and Twice a Day Training
It seems every year I write on post on this subject. This is the time of the year when American football is in the midst of their training camps both at the collegiate and professional level. In addition it is training camp time for volleyball and soccer. Old traditions and beliefs die-hard. These training camps generally start with some sort of “fitness” tests. My question always is what do you do if results on these tests are poor? You are at most three weeks away from the start of the season, so now what? You do not have enough time to make any significant impact on their fitness. Then they go immediately into two practices a day for eight to ten days (New NFL CBA has now mandates only one practice may be padded). It has been done this way so long by so many sports that no one seems to question it. By the fourth or fifth day the players look like they are moving in slow motion. Despite the advent of ice baths and other recovery modalities the player’s susceptibility to injury do to cumulative fatigue is high. Lets look closer at this whole thing. There are very few sports today that do not have some sort of organized off-season training programs so the players should come into camp prepared and “fit” to play. Those off-season sessions usually last around two hours on the outside. Now you go to training camp and add a second session, conservatively you are increasingly training time by at one third and some times fifty percent depending on the length of practices. Then you factor in the increased intensity and you have problems. Training camp should be a time to get specific. It should be a time when the number of practice sessions and make-up of the practice sessions should be carefully controlled and manipulated based on the players recoverability and proximity to the first competition. So the goal of training camp should be specific preparation for the competitive season. The goal is to transition the team from the off-season to in-season ready to compete. Sharpen conditioning, do not dull it. Instead tradionally as the workload accumulates, fatigue increases exponentially and is often carried deep into the completive season. Is there a better way? Absolutely! I have designed several training camp plans in international basketball (an eight week training camp), DI women’s soccer and an elite high school soccer team. They gradually built up the training times and progressively cycled the load to address speed, strength, fitness, technical and tactical components with planned recovery that was both active and passive. The following are some of the things that were included: Morning Wake-up Session – Ten to fifteen minutes before breakfast of loosening and dynamic flexibility work Morning Technical/Skill Session – Two to three players working on specific aspects of their skill. There was about three minutes of verbal instruction and then anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes of physical work. This was followed by a short sharp speed acceleration session or light agility session’s mostly emphasizing footwork (No hard change of direction because they were going to get that in their practice sessions.) Players were rotated through the morning sessions so that they did not have these sessions every morning. If they were not on the field for these sessions they would have a video session. If there were on the field then they went to pool for ten minutes after for a recovery session. Tactical Session – This was scheduled mid afternoon for up to forty-five minutes in duration. This was usually small sided games or in basketball three on three. This was followed by a strength training session that lasted from twenty to thirty minutes depending on the emphasis that day. Evening Team Session – This was the whole team working whole filed or full court in basketball putting it al together. This session could last from 30 minutes to one hours depending on the stage of training camp. Extensive static stretching followed this. Recovery Sessions – Sleep is most important. A post lunch nap is essential for recovery. I do not believe in daily ice baths, instead I try to cycle them strategically throughout the camp based on the workload and the individual player's needs. It does not have to be a boot camp or a replay of Bear Bryant’s Junction Boys. The training camp should insure a seamless transition from the more general work of the off-season to specific preparation for the competitive season. Get them sharp, ready and eager to compete.