Author: Vernon Gambetta
Fundamental Disconnect
In many sport development programs there is a fundamental disconnect from the inception of training. Development programs for youth, junior and emerging athletes cannot rely on content and practice of senior and elite athletes. That is the goal; it is not where you start. At the developmental level all components of performance must be progressively developed based on physical and psychological growth and development. The young athlete may look like a man or women but developmentally they are not. All physical limitations must be eradicated before they reach the senior level. If not, under the more intense training and competition demands the risk of breaking down is significantly increased. Fundamental movement skills must be mastered before there is an emphasis on specific sport skills. That does not mean that specific sport skills are ignored, it means that they are developed progressively in parallel with movement skills and physical development. The pathways need to be clear with mastery demanded at each step of the developmental process to earn the right to train and compete at the senior level. It takes time, effort, and attention to detail. There can be no fast tracking. Training is a cumulative process from day to day, week to week, month to month and year to year. Too much, too soon can ultimately stifle development instead of nurturing it.
Growing and Learning
I am always striving to learn and broaden my knowledge base. I thought I would share with you some ideas on growing and learning that I have been thinking about. Take new ideas, concepts and thoughts, as suggestion and food for thought, not as absolutes. Don’t be quick to try something because it is the newest new thing. Take the time to put it in context with what you already do, test the ideas, prototype them in your system and see if they work for you. Don’t force something new into your system, if it has to be forced chances are it will negatively impact the whole system. Look for connections, look outside your area of expertise, have someone else look at the problem; a different perspective or opinion can help. Make yourself better, not by copying ideas, by blindly accepting them, by immediately embracing them, or summarily rejecting them. Step back, take a broader perspective, use the filter of your experiences or lean on someone who has had experiences to lend advice or perspective. Then and only then decide. Recognize when the emperor has no clothes and say something. Be willing to ask the obvious question – Have you tried this? Does it work? How did you measure the training effect? When looking at a source of information evaluate their body of work. What have they really done? Get beyond the hype and promotion and get to the substance. Innovation is not constantly changing your ideas and approach to training, that is confusion. Innovation and change are constant and necessary, but it must be change with a purpose and goal. It is more than thinking outside the box, it is connecting boxes that are seemingly disconnected. It is being willing to look at the world with new eyes; in fact looking at things with a childlike perspective might be best. Above all define yourself, have specific measurable goals and act on those goals. Believe in yourself, if you don’t know one else will.
Athlete Centered Training
Effective training programs are athlete centered. You are probably thinking that is a really profound statement. Well in many ways it is. Sometimes we forget that it is about the athlete, not the training program or the technique. Too often coaches impose a training program or technique on the athlete, that does not fit the athlete and ultimately it fails. In essence they are hammering a square peg into a round hole, forcing a fit rather than finding a fit. If fails through lack of improvement or results in an injury. The rule of thumb is simple, fit the training to the athlete not the athlete to the training. I understand that sometimes in a group context it is difficult, but that is why we are coaches not supervisors. We need to account for individual differences in training age, chronological age, and level of technical development, injury history, body type and overall adaptability. One size does not and cannot fit all. Planning the progression and grouping the athletes so that the previously mentioned considerations are taken into account will go a long way toward fitting the program to the needs of the individual athlete. An athlete centered training program allows the athletes to thrive, not just survive.
Focus
We have more evidence everyday that multitasking does not work in everyday life. It is inefficient and leads to shoddy results. The same is true in training. For training to be effective there must be a clear focus. There must be a plan and the plan must be executed. Each session must be evaluated in the context of the plan and the objectives of the plan. The athlete, the coach, in fact the entire performance team must never lose sight of the objectives of the plan. The training session is the smallest building block of the plan. There will be good training sessions and bad training sessions, frankly that is part of the rhythm of adaptation. Each session must be kept in context. There should be no overreaction to great or bad sessions. I have seen situations where there was a bad workout or a poor competition result and the coach wanted to abandon the plan and start something new. It is too easy to bounce around grasping at straws, trying something new all the time. This may yield instant gratification in terms of short-term results, but in the long term it will lead to poor or inconsistent performance. Invest the time up front to devise a great detailed plan based on thorough evaluation of the demands of the sport, qualities of the athlete(s) and competition performance. Then decide on measureable markers that will provide objective feedback on incremental progress toward the long-term goals. Devise contingency plans that anticipate obstacles or roadblocks. Once you have done all of this then you coach, you need to be there at the training sessions, there is no substitute for your eyes and ears to monitor progress both intra and inter workout. Your presence and focus will lend stability to the athlete and ensure execution of the plan. Build the athlete incrementally training session to training session, week to week to week, month-to-month and year-to-year. It is a journey, training is a cumulative process, keep the focus, stay the course, and the results will follow.
Half Truths and Lies
If you don’t know something or have the facts just make it up, just create your own set of facts to support your argument or point of view. You create a seperate meaning for the whole truth. It seems that this is acceptable in today’s world of hype, instant results and marketing. It is true in politics, government, and business and in athletic development. False or questionable facts unchecked take on a life of their own, just look around in the field of athletic development, you see it everywhere, exorbitant claims made for questionable training methods or equipment. I am from a different era and place in time, but I was raised and taught and that if you did not know something you just admitted it, you did not fake it. If you made a mistake you learned from it and moved on, you did not repeat it or try to find a proof that it was right. If you made a claim for something there was substance or proof for that claim. Today, to use a Steven Colbert term, we rely on “Proofiness”, manipulation of questionable statistical methods to prove cause and effect. We also use “scienceness”, the use of shaky scientific studies or scientific studies out of context to explain or refute an idea or a concept. In essence we create alternate realities that have no bearing to what really happens in training or competition. As professionals we should be aware of this alarming trend and when see it call people on it. In athletic development we cannot let this continue to grow unchecked, it is stifling the development and confusing to young coaches. Worst of all it is hurting the athletes who are subjected to questionable training methods. In no way am I claiming to have all the answers, I have very few, but I have many questions and so should you. I hope I know enough to ask probing questions that will alow me verify or refute an idea or a method. Ask questions, don’t just drink the Kool-Aid, and above all use common sense. Look at the method or concept with a critical eye, get behind the hype and find out who is selling and what they are selling. Ground yourself in sound principles of training, sport science and make yourself aware of best practice as basis for evaluation. Beware of false prophets bearing gifts, especially gifts you have to buy. If you want to be challenged a bit more on this, read Proofiness – The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception by Charles Seife, it will get you thinking.
George Packer
Last night I attended an outstanding presentation by George Packer, staff writer for the New Yorker. The topic was: Is America In Decline? It was quite a wide-ranging discussion in a Q&A format. I went for two reasons 1) The topic appealed to me 2) I wanted to see George after 36 years. I knew George when he was 14 years old. Kenny Kring, a decathlete I had coached and trained with at Stanford lived with the Packer family. The summer after I got my masters George used to come out to the track with us when we trained. We taught him to hurdle. At the same time I was working on my first book (Actually a booklet) Hurdling and Steeplechasing for Runners World. I needed a young athlete to demo the “sticks and bricks” teaching progression so George was the model. It sure was great to see him. I am a big fan of his writing. After all he has accomplished it was neat that he remembered that summer when I went up to him after the presentation. If you get a chance check out his writing, it is thought provoking and informative.
Time or Timing
Periodization or Planned Performance Training as I prefer to call it is not about time it is about timing. Essentially it is the timing of the application of the training stresses. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that different physical qualities have different times to adaptation. The art and science of this is to manipulate all the components so that they interact positively to achieve the desired adaptation. The length of the training periods (microcycle, mesocycle, block) needs to reflect the varied times to adaptation of different physical qualities based on the current emphasis in training. The ultimate goal is to prepare the athlete for competition and we should never lose sight of that. Even in a so-called training to train phase we must keep the competition goals clearly in the sights. In my experience when you do what you do trumps all else, so pay close attention to timing and make time secondary.Time may be money but timing is everything in training and in life.