Author: Vernon Gambetta
Some Basic (Mostly Obvious) Questions
I received this email the other day. I believe this sums many of the issues we face in athletic development today: "I recently attended a sports specific conference not a personal trainer type of one. Left disappointed. Conference presenters and attendees were primarily college and professional coaches not personal trainers. But, I ended up getting two days of hearing that bilateral squatting is bad for the back and that step ups cause knee pain (presenter), "we have everyone power clean" (presenter and attendees), we use the FMS (presenter and MANY attendees) and one presenter, in particular, was worshipped by many. I left disappointed. I felt like I just attended a personal trainer type conference! One attendee when asked what is the first thing he does with a new athlete said "I take them through the FMS." We also got to go through stations standing on BOSU balls, foam rolling, using the Core X, using some type of TRX band, etc. It was basically a personal trainer/boot camp circuit. Waste of time to me.” There are so many obvious questions that no one seems willing to ask. Maybe they are not so obvious. It seems we have arrived at a total monkey see, monkey do stage in the athletic development profession. If one guru says something then everyone is like a bunch of bobble head dolls quickly nodding their heads in affirmation without even stopping to think or question. These are my questions based on what I am seeing and hearing. Here goes: Why does everyone have to power clean? Aren’t there any viable alternatives? Why not back squat? With more emphasis on so-called “corrective exercise” why do we have more injuries than ever before? Why movement prep what is wrong with warm-up? What does the functional movement screen really tell you? Is the body fundamentally symmetric? I ask these questions not to be provocative or argumentative but to get legitimate answers, not the party line answers and platitudes. Why are you doing what you are doing? Are you doing it because it is what everyone else is doing? Is what you are doing best for your athletes? Does it fit the sport demands and the athlete’s level of development and training age? Folks there are years of experience by many people, not just myself, that lead to this questions. All you young coaches out there take a step back, look in mirror and ask yourself – Why? Ask yourself where is this information coming from? What are they trying to sell? Does it really work or are you doing it because some "expert" told you it would work. Think critically don’t just change the flavor of the Kool-Aid or buy the next DVD.
Waiting for Superman
This DVD was one of the most disturbing things I have seen a long time. If in fact our children and their education are the future it certainly paints a very dark picture of our future as a nation. What made this so disturbing was that all the arguments of what is wrong with education were gathered together in one place. He has nailed the problems and offered some solutions. The problem as I see it is that the solutions are incredibly uncomfortable. They demand creating a whole new paradigm. Children’s lives are at stake and the future of our nation, as we know it is also in grave jeopardy. We are failing our kids by allowing a substandard educational system! The system is not broken there is no longer a system! There is complete chaos with young lives being wasted. Watch “Waiting for Superman” now and do something. It has spurred me to look into what I can do.
Three Steps to Athletic Achievement
I would like to share my ideas on what it takes to grow as an athlete in order to be able to achieve at the highest levels. I hope you enjoy this. I would be interested in your feedback
Catching Up
One of the greatest rewards of coaching is being able to visit with former athletes and see their growth as people. Friday I had a wonderful two-hour visit with two former White Sox players – Kinnis Pledger and Ed Smith. I had not seen them for at least 17 years. I first met them in June 1987 at the draft mini camp in Sarasota. They had just signed with the White Sox after being drafted in the 1987 amateur free agent draft. Kinnis was a year older than Ed having attended a year of junior college. Ed was drafted out of high school in New Jersey. They were just kids starting a journey as professional athletes. For them as for all those kids it was rude awakening, it was now a job, no longer just a game you just played for fun. It was hot and expectations were higher than the Florida heat. They were young immature kids, Kinnis was a little cocky but as he admitted on Friday (something I recognized back then) it was a cover-up for his insecurity – he was an athlete who had not played much baseball. Ed was quiet and determined; he also had not played much baseball. He had been a football standout in high school. They both had to learn the game and they had to learn how to train – that is where I entered into the picture. They certainly were already very good athletes, but my job was to teach them to be better, how to warm-up, to stay injury free, to get stronger and faster. Just like most young players they did it without any particular buy in at first. But over the next several they began to understand that I was there to help them not punish them and they got bigger, stronger faster and more agile. Kinnis eventually broke the organization record in the 5-10-5 agility test. Ed improved his forty yard time two tenths of a second and his ten yard time down in the 1.66 second range. They also improved as baseball players. They were considered among the White Sox best prospects. Unfortunately they were unwitting victims of a failed experiment in teaching hitting. The White Sox owner was sold a bill of goods by a hitting guru who imposed a flawed style of hitting on the organization from top to bottom, from the major leagues to rookie ball. Players were forced to conform or they were not allowed to play. They might as well have taken the bats out of the players hands it was so bad. It was tough to watch. In retrospect Kinnis and Ed were probably hurt more than most by this failed attempt at cloning because they were power hitters who were robbed of their power. To their credit they stuck it out. Both ended up with other organizations sometime in my last three years there. They both advanced as high as Triple A – one step from the major leagues. Kinnis stuck with baseball and played until 2001 even being named MVP of one of the independent leagues along the way. Ed left baseball in 1995 seeking an improbable career change to professional football. The story gets real interesting here, it reads like a sport fantasy tale. Ed’s brother Erv was a standout tight end at Notre Dame and the first round pick of the New Orleans Saints. Ed became discouraged midway through the season when he saw his baseball career stagnating so he floated the idea of playing football by his brother. His brother encouraged him. He finished the season. Ed said he played some his best baseball ever because he felt like a weight was off his shoulders when he made the decision to play football. Not quite clear on the details of the chronology since was not taking notes, I was astounded at the story, but the bottom line it has been close to ten years since he had played high school football. This was not the typical career path to the NFL. He began preparation in earnest. He got his weight up to 254 and started looking for opportunities. It came in the form of a tryout with the World Football League (NFL Europe) who were already a week into training camp when he got the call. He started out as the fifth tight end and made the team. He played in Europe that year and then went to training camp with the St Louis Rams and was the final cut. He was picked up the Redskins and eventually landed a season or two later with the Atlanta Falcons were he was on their Super Bowl team. You could not write a better story, talk about grit! They were both in town for the annual gala hosted by Dick Vitale to raise money for the Jimmy V foundation to fight cancer. Dick Vitale invited Ed and Ed invited Kinnis as his guest. It was so great to see them, two young men I admire for their dedication and perseverance and two real good people. I am looking forward to staying in touch. Guy’s thanks for making my day on Friday I am still glowing from the fond memories and the stories.
It will be real progress when …
There has been much attention in the media regarding the Phoenix Suns executive who came out this past week. I believe that real progress will occur when he no longer has to “come out.” When he accepted for whom and what he is – a human being. It is the same with race and religion, another headline about so and so as the fifth XYZ category to be hired as a head coach is not progress in my eyes. Real progress will be when these things are not news. I guess I view the world differently, I have seen prejudice and known prejudice, but I do not judge people by their skin color, sexual persuasion, religion or political beliefs. We will have made real progress when all people are judged on their merits not some convenient category that allows us to pigeon hole them. As a certified idealist and dreamer that is a dream I would like to see come true in my lifetime, not just in sport but in society.
Great Workouts?
It was great workout! Yes it was now what? The workout is not an end unto itself. You can do a great workout and end up really hurting, really feel the burn, but does make it a great workout? Did you win the workout? Will you be able to come back tomorrow and train? Doing the workout and leaving totally knackered is not the same as winning the workout. The workout is piece in a giant jigsaw puzzle. It must be carefully placed in context of the other workouts in that microcyle and of course the whole plan. In my career I have seen great athletes perform unreal workouts. Early in my coaching career I watched Bill Toomey then the world record holder in the decathlon and 1968 Gold medalist run 3 x 200 in 21.6, 21.2 and 20.8 on a soft dirt track! Not long after that I remember watching Marcello Fiasconaro, a South African/Italian 800 meter runner and 800 meter world record holder run 2 x 330 on the old hard Stanford stadium track in 32.1 and 31.8? Both of the workouts were with full recovery, I mean full recovery, in Toomeys case 15 minutes in Fiaconaro's case almost twenty five minutes. Amazing workouts, but what did they mean. They were veteran athletes’ at the top of their game but of course as a young enthusiastic coach as I watched those workouts I thought that was what you had to do so I tried to imitate them. Not for long. It was a hard lesson in context. They had an accumulation of years of training. I was coaching young athletes at the start of their career. Those workouts were only a snapshot of a whole training year and in Toomey’s case a career. So what does all this mean? Be mindful of the process, one workout cannot make an athlete, but one workout can surely break an athlete. Focus on the process; make sure the workout is placed in the context of the whole training plan. Make sure you know who you are coaching and design the workout so it is appropriate for their level of development. Don’t copy what elite athletes are doing! If you see a workout and you don’t know why they are doing what they are doing file the data in the curiosity file. Monkey see, monkey do will get your athletes hurt not better.
Complexification
It is so easy to make something complex and so hard to make something simple. True genius lies in the ability to take the complex and make it simple and understandable. Over the last ten to fifteen years I have seen an alarming trend toward complexification. It is almost as though to use small words and clear concepts is not cool. If you don’t speak in some complicated coach babble then it as if what you say is not important. Lets get past that and focus on the basics, the essentials, sound training principles consistently applied in a systematic manner. Human movement and the various permutations that occur through the demands of sports are complex enough without making it more complicated. Look at the basic movements, see how movements connect and then train to improve the quality and efficiency of those connections. There is no doubt in my mind and my experience that simplicity yields complexity. Build on basics and the complexities will follow. It is not like we are in unexplored territory with 99% of what we do in coaching. If you look closely you will find that someone has been there before and they have either succeeded or failed. In either case learn from their experience and build upon it. Don’t reinvent the wheel, make a better wheel or in some cases just put air in the tires. Approach coaching with a beginners mind, as Shunryu Suzuki said: “In the beginners mind, there are many possibilities. In the experts mind there are few.” If you think you an expert try to remember what it was like when you didn't know anything. That is a good place to be, there is joy and amazement in discovery.
Some Coaching Thoughts & Ideas
Here are some thoughts and ideas on training I have been thinking about. Hopefully this will stimulate you on to step back and look differently at your coaching. If nothing else it should make you think. Consistency in training is rewarded many times over. Big wins come from a succession of small wins. Take care of business everyday and you have a change to win in the competitive arena. If it is a choice between volume and intensity, I will always ere to the side of intensity. It is easy to do more but hard to do more better. Planning and having a plan are not one and the same. The key is turning the plan into action – work the plan. Always ask yourself – Am I building adaptable athletes or adapted athletes? The competitive arena is unforgiving so it is the adaptable athletes who will thrive there. Training accumulates – Session-to-Session, Week-to-Week, Month-to-Month, and Year-to-Year. Take and advantage of the accumulation and grow accordingly. All components of training must be trained at all phases of the training year – just the proportion and emphasis varies with the stage of the training year and the career. Get rid of the fluff, don’t be cute, and emphasize the basics. Basic training and basic concepts will yield consistent training results. Consistent training results will give you a chance to win in competition. All you can ask for is chance to win. The basics of starting and acceleration mechanics are three reflexes: 1) Startle Reflex 2) Stumble Reflex and 3) Extension Reflex.