Author: Vernon Gambetta
Historic Literacy/The Classics
As part of my education I studied the classics. I read Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey. I studied Shakespeare’s plays and read his sonnets. I read Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer for insights into the culture and time they were written. I must admit that at the time I sometimes struggled with what I perceived as the lack of relevancy of some of the classics. I get it now, clear as could be. In coaching there were classic works that I read when I was starting my career. Some of them I read because they were assigned and I had to read them. Much like the classics is literature I see their relevance more now through the prism of time. Some of them were not classics at the time, but to younger coaches today they would be considered so. Many in my generation are concerned that historical illiteracy is a huge threat to progress. This transcends coaching. There is an ignorance of key events, ideas and basic concepts. Whether you like it or not the past determines contemporary choices. You certainly can’t over rely on the past, but it is important to use the past as a reference point. Be aware of it, not trapped by it. Why repeat mistakes from the past, learn from them. Frankly without understanding the past you will be starting from scratch, you will make unnecessary errors. Take advantage of the experience of others to build your experiences upon, you don't have ti reinvent the wheel. In a later post I will share with you my recommendations of classics you must read to be considered literate as a coach and why I consider them important? It is going to take me a few more days to compile the list.
Some More on ACL Injury Prevention
I thought I would share with you several pictures of my athletes doing what I consider essential exercises the female athlete must do for lower extremity injury prevention. This is in not intended as a comprehensive list, that is for another time and place. Consider it a snapshot of some of the movements that must be done. All of these movements are never presented to the athletes as “injury prevention”, they are woven into the workout and the warm-up. In my experience this insures better intensity, concentration, effort and as well as compliance. I also believe some of these basic movements are daily diagnostics, tests if you must, to provide feedback as to adaptive response as well red flags indicating excessive soreness or fatigue. I look for amplitude of movement, rhythm and constantly assess overall quality. I believe testing = training and training = testing. I have one other observation regarding ACL injuries in the female athlete. In my experience (I have seen this five different times now first hand) the athletes at greatest risk are those that “play out of control.” They are reckless and take unnecessary risks. I don’t have a solution for this, just an observation. Enjoy the pictures; I hope they trigger some ideas for you.
Specialization in Coaching
We certainly do live in an age of specialization in all fields of endeavor. I would argue that in coaching, specialization is a negative not a positive trend. I look at the coaches who have mentored me and great coaches I been around during my career. They were all generalists. Even though they were very successful in their chosen sport and discipline within the sport; most coached multiple sports or multiple areas at a very high level. The trend toward specialization has stifled development and innovation, not enhanced it. Look outside your sport or specialization for ideas and inspiration. If you are a swimming coach talk to the track coaches, if you are a throws coach in track & field coach go talk to the gymnastics coach. All of us should look at martial arts for concepts regarding attention, focus and body control. Athletic development coaches should go to dance instructors to learn rhythm and tempo. I am a big believer in going outside the world of sports for ideas, look at art, architecture, design, music, and film. Some of my best ideas on long term planning and project development have come from reading and talking to people in business. Creativity transcends disciplines. There is so much to be learned if you get outside your narrow area of specialization. Challenge yourself by exposing yourself to different ideas and approaches; believe me it will open up a whole new world for you. Specialize in being a generalist; there will never be a dull moment. You will make connections and see things you never thought existed.
ACL Tears in Female Athletes – The Problem & Some Solutions
This article http://nyti.ms/hUy9pi and some of the information (misinformation) in article in Sunday New York Times sports page is disturbing. The topic of the female athlete and ACL injuries is complex and sometimes controversial. It is a real problem and a crisis given the economic and human cost. Let’s look at a couple of the points of emphasis in the article and then I will look a bit more globally and offer some solutions. The following is often offered up as a solution to prevent ACL injuries: “bend at the hips and knees to softly absorb the load, keeping their knees behind the toes, striking the ground toe to heel.” Watch a game or practice you will see it is impossible to keep the knees behind the toes and still play the game. You may do it a completely controlled artificial environment, but in the real world at game speed the knee will go where it has to go. It will go into extreme valgus and varus positions. The knee will go way out beyond the toe. The key is that the knee goes where it needs to go with control. As far as foot strike, it is completely dictated by the movement requirement, landing from a rebound could be a different foot strike than on planting and cutting. This strategy will robotize the player by taking instinctual and reflexive movements and making them cognitive, conscious and mechanical. In my opinions (I emphasize it is my opinion) we may actually be predisposing the athlete to injury with these types of prevention programs. It is certainly not time well spent. Here is another solution from the article: “The knee should be in a neutral position; ideally, … said, the center of the kneecap should be aligned with the second toe.” Neutral is a position the knee passes through in a millisecond. In an artificial controlled environment you may be able to align the kneecap with the second toe, but it won’t happen at the speed you must play in order to be able to execute jumps, stops, starts and turns. It is a dynamic, ballistic environment that is not sterile and controlled. Once again the result will be robotic movement. The information in both quotes represents what is thought to be cutting edge research, but it does not represent what must be done in the real world in the competitive arena. These types of so-called prevention programs and strategies are fundamentally unsound. If in doubt my rule of thumb is to go back to common sense. If these strategies worked then why aren’t they preventing ACL tears? Everyone is doing some variation of these programs; in some cases devoting up to thirty minutes a day to them, still the rate of ACL tears has not dropped, if anything it has increased. It begs a simple question: Do these players have the physical competencies and fundamental movement skills necessary to compete? We know they have the basketball, soccer, or specific sport skill, but do they have the underlining physical competencies and movement skills to give them a fair change to avoid injury? Part of the solution is quite simple – identify and assess the physical competencies. Then train those competencies in parallel to the sport skill. The dark hole is what is being done in the off-season, preseason and in- season in regard to strength training. In many situations strength training is only done in the off-season, reduced in pre-season and almost nonexistent in-season. For the female athlete a commitment to year around strength training is a requirement, not an option. It must continue in-season through the championship season. Unlike her male counterpoint that has a great percentage of muscle mass and higher testosterone levels, the female cannot afford to take off from strength training. Obviously the greatest investment should be on leg strength. The great majority of ACL tears are noncontact and in most of those cases they are a deceleration injuries (As are ankle sprains). It stands to reason then that we should focus on training the decelerators. Stop focusing on the knee and think kinetic chain, emphasize the linkage of ankle, knee, hip and the trunk. The knee is stuck in the middle; it is at the mercy of the joints above and below. The sports that put the knee at greatest risk are sports that require quick starts, stops and changes of direction off one leg onto the other leg. This dictates that the training emphasize work on one-leg and reciprocal movements. The single leg squat is the cornerstone (True single leg squat, not some of the permutations labeled as such), lunges in all planes and step-ups at various heights. Double leg squats are important, starting with bodyweight and progressing to appropriate loads based on developmental level and sport demands. Dynamic balance should be part of daily warm-up, as should a mini band routine to work the intrinsic muscles of the hip. Once a foundation of leg strength is established then progressively add agility work that starts with known programmed movements and progresses to random chaotic movements. Incorporate jump rope as a means to teach good coordination and foot strike. Progress to multi dimensional jumps and hops. The clincher here is that this must be systematically addressed in the female athlete starting just before puberty. Think of it as preparation to play the game that runs parallel to skill development. In most cases it should slightly precede skill development. The two must go hand in glove, not either or. The functionally strong young female athlete will be more receptive to skill learning and be better able to apply the skills to the game. TRAIN TO PLAY, DON”T PLAY TO TRAIN! Select movements that link and connect the ankle/knee and hip as a functional unit to reduce and produce force. Include exercises that have a high proprioceptive demand. Above all train on your feet! A simple rule of thumb, if you lying prone or supine or seated you are not preparing to attenuate the ground reaction forces that are demanded in the game. You must train with you feet on the ground to effectively learn to shock absorb and use the ground. Don’t say it can’t be done, it can. It takes organization, focus and commitment. You don’t need a lot of equipment or huge time blocks. You need to be consistent and relentless. Training can be done anywhere; it can be on the field or on the court if necessary. Apply the “weight room without walls” concept. Make it challenging mentally and physically to prepare for the stress of competition. The bottom line is that to prevent ACL tears you must train the body for the rigors of competition. The prevention program should be a transparent component of training.
Learning to Coach – Part Five
The UCSB Track What a place the UCSB track was in the 70’s. Sam Adams, the head coach at UCSB had an open door policy as far as allowing non-collegians to train. There was a thriving community of decathletes training there attracted by then world record holder Bill Toomey. Hansreudi Kunz was a Swiss decathlete that trained there in winter and spring of 72. He was doing graduate work in biomechanics at Federal Technical Institute in Zurich. He really opened my eyes to the application of sport science. He got me to think more about why and he made all my reading come alive. The lesson I learned from him, that was confirmed by observation of the other European athletes that trained there, was that it was not about max strength and the weight room. Don’t get me wrong they used the weight room, but their emphasis was on what we now call multi-throws and multi-jumps. Very high intensity, low volume, explosive and ballistic with everything measured. In contrast we were investing large amounts of time in the weight room lifting heavy. TuS 04 Leverkusen the German (West Germany at the time) track club would come for a month in the spring to train. Gerd Osenberg was the coach. Once I figured out what they were doing and what I could learn by observing him coach, I called in sick from teaching and followed him around for two days observing and taking notes. Everything was timed and measured, very methodical. He worked with three athletes every hour from 9:00 AM in the morning until late afternoon with a break for lunch. He coached all events, no specialization here, although later his greatest success as a coach came with high jump. I spoke no German and he spoke no English but verbal communication was not necessary, just watching and listening was enough. It was efficient training that stressed quality. There was a clearly defined system. The warm-ups were choreographed, active and dynamic. The pattern of the warm-up I learned from them is the basis of the warm-up I still use today. “Pete” Petersen was the coach of Club West, the track club that Toomey had founded and many of us competed for. He was coaching quite a talented group of middle distance and distance runners. I learned a lot about changing tempos and the actual application of Igloi’s effort descriptors. It was my first exposure to "effort” based training. He used descriptors like swing, medium, medium hard, hard and race to describe the effort he wanted on the various intervals. It was simple and made sense, it was something I incorporated in my training and continue to use today. Greg Brock, a very successful distance runner at Stanford was training there (Fifth in 1972 Olympic Trials Marathon) and also getting his masters in exercise physiology at UCSB. We had some great discussions on training and he had a big influence on my philosophy of training for middle distance and distance. Later I used his ideas and concepts and the effort concept I learned from Petersen for endurance development in other sports. What an eye opener it was watching Jan Merrill who ran 4:02.61 at the 1976 Olympics and her coach Norm Higgins. They trained at UCSB in the spring on 1976. The training they did was nothing like I had ever seen before or since even from the African runners I have seen train. The intensity was off the scale. Everyone would stop and watch her workouts. She did unbelievably high intensity short rest intervals’ that she cranked out like a machine, day after day. I don't think easy or ecovery was on their radar scope. Seldom have I seen an athlete with the focus and concentration that she had. For three summers the San Francisco 49er had training camp at UCSB. It was great watching those practices. It was a different time and place, you could get right next to the drills and hear the coaching. The 1972 Olympic Trails in Eugene Oregon was a pivotal experience in my coaching career. There was a great clinic featuring a who’s who of American track coaching at the time. For me the meet, the warm-up area and the coaches in the stands were also like a big clinic. I was all eyes and ears, soaking up everything I could. Everyone and everything was much more accessible than today. I remember watching Bud Winter coach – The lesson was relaxation, relaxation, relaxation, let your eyelids flop and Dr. Leroy Walker work with Larry Black on his turn technique in the 200 and on and on. AAU Learn by Doing Clinic organized by Fred Wilt at Sacramento State in July 1972 after the Olympic Trails. It was five more days of more of total immersion in track & field technique and training with the greatest coaches in the world as teachers and many future greats as fellow pupils. I would have to say that what I saw and learned in the month of July 1972 was like graduate school. Some of the lessons I was not able to immediately apply, others had an immediate impact, but as I look back I can’t believe the experiences that were packed into that month.I can't believe how fortunate I was to be there at that time.
Heart Rate/Smart Rate
Sarasota Florida where I live is an area rich in circus tradition. Many circuses and circus performers still winter here. When I read all the nonsense regarding heart rate monitoring and it’s various permutations I am reminded of the carnival barker at the sideshow here at the circus. Just imagine that we are at the strength and conditioning circus walking around looking at all the freaks when you hear the side show barker call out: “Pick a number, any number, we will find a meaning for it! We can teach you to fool anyone with the numbers we can generate on our magic machines. Come on folks, step right up and we will hook you up. See the magic beating heart. Step right up and pay the pretty lady.” In the best Barnum and Bailey tradition we now have the fully integrated heart rate side show complete with freaks and clowns. It is amazing what marketing and hype can do. Is heart rate a valuable training metric? It certainly is not as valuable and important as some are making it out to be. It really depends on what you want. What are you looking for? You can do whatever you want with the numbers, just look around and see what people are doing. It is borderline ridiculous. It’s a convenient measure, relatively easy to monitor even without technology, but is it really meaningful as a measure of training intensity or workload? As coach I have been fooled by it. I over relied on it; I took it out of context. I learned the hard way that it is not a stand-alone measure or even something to use peripherally. I certainly would agree that HRV is intriguing. It seems to make scientific sense, but so did simple heart rate at one time. I respect the sport scientists, who have commented positively on it, but I am still skeptical; I want to see more real world evidence and valid scientific studies. Not pseudo scientific studies sponsored by a companies that manufacture monitoring technology or anecdotal reports from a coach or scientist who is being paid by a company. Before you jump on the heart rate bandwagon study all the research and then draw your own conclusions to see if you think it can be a useful measure for you in the sport you are working with. I have done that and for 95% of the sports and situations I work with it or have worked with, it would not enhance my ability to more effectively monitor the training and coach the athletes. Pass up the heart rate sideshow and go watch the lion tamers.
You Can’t Hurry Love or Training
I don’t mean to be disrespectful by taking some lines from the great Supremes song and reinterpreting them, but that song speaks volumes about training the athlete. Here are some lyrics of the song as the Supremes sang them. You remember momma said: You can't hurry love No, you just have to wait She said to trust, give it time No matter how long it takes You can't hurry love No, you just have to wait She said love don't come easy It's a game of give and take Now here is the coaching version sung to the same tune. You remember the old coach said: You can't hurry training No, you just have to wait Adaptation takes time He said to trust, give it time No matter how long it takes You can't hurry training No, you just have to wait He said success don't come easy It's a game of give and take Developing an athlete takes time, don't be in a hurry. Time is on your side, make time your friend by using it efficiently. Next time you are tempted to hurry things up or look for a quick fix remember what the Supremes said.
Eat Your Spinach
Spinach is good for you or so I have been told. When I was kid I was constantly admonished by my mom to eat my spinach so I could have muscles like Popeye, but I didn’t like spinach, I did not like the taste of it. I tried closing my eyes and holding my nose, that didn’t work. I tried mixing it up with stuff on plate that I liked but that did not make it any more palatable. Finally my mom gave up and we all moved on. Certainly there were no dire consequences. Today I actually like spinach. Why? Yes I know it is good for you if prepared properly so that all the good nutrients are not cooked out of it, no that is not the reason. It is simple I acquired a taste for it. I found different ways to prepare it and ways to mix it with other veggies. It is much better in a salad that boiled. So what does this have to do with training? Pretty simple actually. There are many “spinach like” elements in training, things that we just don’t necessarily like to do, but must be done. Sometimes it is mundane things and other times more significant things. The difference from spinach is that if these things are not done there are consequences; some are dire like increasing potential for injury and some just manifested as performance decrement. You certainly can’t wait to acquire a taste for these things. They must be on the plate and eaten with regularity. The secret is to sequence them with other components that are compatible. They must be put in the plan and supervised. They must be measured so that the athlete can see the importance. In training so much of the “spinach” is doing the little things, like thorough post training static stretching or a complete warm-up. Not eating the training spinach means cutting corners. Sometimes it is only eating what you like on the training plate and ignoring everything else, for example an overemphasis on one component that you are good at and ignoring something else you not good at and don’t like. The solution is simple, mix it in a salad, flavor it with a salad dressing you like and eat the whole salad!