Author: Vernon Gambetta
Training Information or Training Knowledge
Training information is easy to find, go anywhere on the internet and you will all kinds of information, some valuable, some trivial and some downright useless and misleading. How can you separate the wheat from the chaff? Maybe it just reflects my age, education and the era when I grew up. A good sound base of knowledge is so much more important than information. I think to be able to sort through the mounds of information that is available today it is necessary to have a good foundation in the principles of training and sport science. You do not have to be a sport scientist, but you should be able to understand the application of the concepts. For me it means going back to basics, which is something I try to do several times a year. Go to classical texts in biomechanics, exercise physiology, motor learning, read current research, seek out people who are doing applied research. Don’t chase rainbows, there are no secrets, virtually everything that I have seen touted as the latest and greatest in the last four years was twenty to thirty years old, everything old is new again! I would like to let everyone in on a little secret; training did not start in 1998. There were great athletic performances 30, 50, 80, 100 years ago. Wiser men than me have said learn from the past. I might add but don’t live in the past. I think it is sad that in our society we are so focused on now and instant results that we do not seem to want to learn from history and the people who paved the path for us. In short seek knowledge not information, read books, go to the library and read a journal. Ask someone to come to one of your training sessions and have him or her critique it. Knowledge is about self improvement in order to be the best you can be.It goes back to having a good working compass that is oriented to true north. That in essence is your bullshit filter that will enable you to sort the information, to find what is valuable.
“The Industry”
In response to my post on change and innovation Victor Hall wrote the following: I have followed your blog for over a year now, and am aware of your opinions on what the industry is doing WRONG. Conversely, I am very interested in what you see RIGHT with the industry. Can we highlight and capitalize on the progress the industry has made? Victor my perspective is quite different, I am a coach and coaching is not an industry. To me it is a profession and that implies professionalism. It is teaching and mentoring. Industries build objects. Nothing I see day to day is doing anything to dispel my viewpoint. In fact just yesterday evening a friend of mine who is a very good coach at a major Division I school called to tell me about a golf fitness seminar he had just attended. One of his statements was that everything in the seminar was geared to what you had to do so you could charge more. That is sad, I understand we all have to make a living, but isn’t it about getting people better. If there is a positive out of all of this it is that there is now a greater awareness of importance of training. Even that has somewhat of a downside because that awareness is based on sensational advertisements that lead people to believe that there are magic results at the end of the rainbow. Victor I wish I could more optimistic, but I cannot.
Innovation & Change
Innovation is probably one of the most overused words in our language today. Innovation is closely linked with change, as it should be. What I notice is that people and organizations seem to be willing to talk about innovation and change, but when it comes to decision making time it is back to the same old way of doing things. I think what people do not realize is that to stay the same requires change. Innovation does not have to be revolutionary; it can be an evolutionary process. Regardless if it is evolutionary or revolutionary it is not comfortable, to innovate requires stepping out of your comfort zone. The whole field of strength and conditioning and sports medicine needs change. The same people keep making the same mistakes with the same athletes year after year. Regardless if it is hamstring pulls, oblique strains or knee injuries why don’t people question what they are doing. I saw an article the other day where one top ten football team had three major injuries in the last eight minutes of practice – do think that was just bad luck? Vince Lombardi may have said that fatigue makes cowards of use all, but fatigue, especially cumulative fatigue from multiple practices in hot humid environments causes injuries. The simple fact of the matter is that if you do what you have always done, then you will get what you have always got. That is not very good English but very true. Is it really that innovative to get someone to look at their practice plan or even to plan practice with injury prevention in mind? Is it that hard to figure out that if you spend 15 minutes a day sucking in your abs in a prone or supine position that you are doing nothing to prepare for the demands of swinging a bat or throwing a ball. In essence you are setting the player up for an oblique strain. The first step to innovation or change demands that the people involved recognize a need to innovate or change. This demands more than words, it demands a sincere commitment. It demands recognition that there sometimes there will be regression before you see progress. It demands having a long term plan and a vision of the big picture. Change requires a move from an emphasis on training methods and a hang up on exercise or certain types of lifts to understanding movement and the fact that the body needs to be stressed in an appropriate manner based on the demands of the sport. It takes research, dedication, and work. There is not easy algorithm to follow, no computer program or book where you will find the answers. It demands a very dedicated performance team with everyone fully committed and on the same page. Based on situations that I have seen over the past four years my attitude is very pessimistic that we will significant change anytime in the near future. Ultimately the loser in this both figuratively and literally is the athlete. That is a sad state of affairs.
Don’t Lose the Compass
Sound training is a journey. Just like any journey it is important to know your destination. If you are unsure of how to get to your destination then it is important to find someone who has been there before to give you some guidance. To insure that you get there it important to have a good compass that is oriented to true north and have an up to date road map. It helps to know how much time you have to get there. Do you have to get there in a hurry or can you take your time and stop along the way to get some rest. Recognize that there are many ways to get the destination, it you do not have the compass oriented to true north then it will be a chaotic and confusing journey. The true north of training is training that is principle driven, not method or exercise driven. Magnetic north changes constantly. The magnetic north of training are fads and weird exercises that look interesting but do not advance you toward your destination. Don’t lose the compass if you want to get to the destination.
Athletic Development not Strength and Conditioning
Do we really need strength and conditioning? Over the past several weeks I have seen and heard different situations that make me question the viability of the concept of strength and conditioning and underscore the need for athletic development. I am a firm believer that words create images and images create action. Strength and conditioning creates two images, heavy lifting all the time and running until you puke conditioning; the subsequent actions reinforce those images. It is difficult for me to understand why with all the knowledge, experience and sports science research that we have available that it is so difficult to move off this paradigm. Athletic development is a complete polar opposite of the above. Athletic development coaching builds better completely adaptable athletes. Athletic development addresses all components of the individual athletes and a team’s development based upon the needs of the sport, the position or the event and the qualities of the individual athlete. At the risk of offending people it is easy to get strong in the weight room and fit for a running test, but the real art and science is to apply that strength to the sport and the fitness to the game. Athletic Development demands a systematic long term plan with everyone on the performance team involved in the process. Today S&C works in isolation. The players go to the weight room, disappear for an hour or two and come out magically stronger and conditioned. Who knows what they do there, does it connect with what they are doing in their sport training, most of the situations I have seen there is no connection, S&C is an end unto itself. Athletic Development is all about mindful movements that connect to the sport. Why are you doing what you are doing and when are you doing it? I get criticized that I do not believe in lifting weights, or that I do not believe in Olympic lifting, that is totally wrong. I believe in strength training as part of a bigger picture. Olympic lifting MOVEMENTS are an integral part of a good strength training program, but remember Olympic movements do not have to done with an Olympic bar, it is the movement that matters and how it helps the athlete apply the strength gained to the sport. Remember a good strength training program should incorporate pulling, pushing, squatting and rotational movements. What about conditioning? What about it? A good sound athletic development program thoroughly analyzes the fitness needs of the sport and addresses those needs in a systematic manner. It all about getting match, game or race fit. Mindless running without a purpose does not mean you will be fit for the game. Game fit is a cumulative process that incorporates all elements into building the complete athlete. Arbitrary “fitness” tests that do not reflect the demands of the game have no place in a good athletic development program. To use a test to determine if someone is fit is an easy out. Most of the time the standards for these tests are arbitrary at best, I recently saw a situation where a player was one step from passing the “fitness” test; they did not pass so they had to do extra fitness work. That is absurd. Use the testing to determine where each athlete is and determine the workouts accordingly. Make conditioning specific to the game and to the position within the game and to the individual’s strengths and weaknesses. So where are we headed – I am afraid that we are heading down a one way dead end street. We need to wake up and rethink the approach to all of this. None of this is an end unto itself, it is all about preparing the athlete for optimum performance in the competitive arena. I think sport coaches and administrators need to wake up and reassess this field. More importantly those of us in the field need to shift the paradigm to developing completely adaptable athletes who have the ability to thrive in the competitive arena.
Losing Championships
This is the time of year when championships are won and lost before a game or match is ever played. This is the infamous “pre-season” training period where teams will practice twice even three times a day to get ready for the season starting in late August. I maintain that more games and matches are lost during this period because coaches overwork their athletes during this period. It is too late to positively affect any significant conditioning gains for the fall. The money must be in the bank before the pre-season training begins. That is why summer and off season training is so important. I go by the adage that one workout cannot make an athlete but one workout can break and athlete. This is the time to sharpen tactics and strategy, to work on specific game fitness, not to get them fit. The error often starts with the testing to begin fall camp – often this is fitness testing. Now what do you do if they don’t pass the fitness tests – run them more? Those players have made a choice. Perhaps a seat on the bench next to the coach would be appropriate. The people who win championships during this period are those who approach training intelligently, have a long term plan and closely monitor the athlete’s response to each session. They understand it is a period to be specific. Talent + Intelligent Training + Coaching wins championships.
Odds and Ends
Finally off the road, I have been away from home 23 out of the last 40 days; it is good to be home. I already have gotten in a good bike ride, a swim and a pulled pork sandwich from Choo’s Choo’s barbecue, what could be better. We start volleyball next week, can’t wait. This will be a so-called rebuilding year after losing seven seniors, but I think we will surprise people. These kids have put in the best preparation I have ever had a high for a high school team, in fact their effort and intensity rivals the best teams I have worked with at any level. I ended the road trip in Madison Wisconsin, one of my favorite places to visit. It is always great seeing Steve Myrland and family. Spend last Thursday doing a staff in-service for the ATC’s and PT’s at University of Wisconsin Sports Medicine. Friday morning I went to “Movement Madness” at 6:00 am in the Middleton high school gym. Instead of working out I took pictures and video of the session, it was spectacular. There were all ages and abilities working out together, former Olympians to a fourteen year boy getting in shape for football. This is something that Steve Myrland started years ago when he was at University of Wisconsin; it was a noon workout group with 10 to 12 people. Steve led the workouts. When he left the University he moved it to different locations until they settled on the high school. This is a community effort, not for profit. They have it Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6:00 am. Steve writes up the workouts, he leads them when he is there. The people donate a small amount each week that goes to the high school booster club so they can use the gym and purchase equipment. It is a great concept, an idea that would help community fitness if employed anywhere. If you are ever in Madison and need something to do at 6:00 am in morning on Monday, Wednesday or Friday stop in, you won’t find a nicer bunch of people anywhere. Is it just me or has our society turned even more violent. I saw a video clip of elementary school kids doing mixed martial arts, it was alarming to me. Martial arts and the discipline required is one thing but this adulteration called mixed martial arts bothers me. Just this past week a couple of teenagers in our community pummeled another teenager to death. Have we become so desensitized that this violence is accepted. It is all over television because people watch it, that is scary to me. Where are we headed as a society? Can the Christians and the gladiators be far behind? If you get a chance go see the movie Swing Vote. A good entertaining movie with some threads of truth, it made me think how absurd the whole presidential election process has become.
Where are the coaches?
This is the makeup of the coaches coaching our Olympic teams in Beijing – 22 are foreign born and 26 are US born. Nothing against foreign born coaches, but does this signify a crisis in coaching in the US? I think it does? Where are our coaches being trained? Where are they coming from? What is the career path to become a coach? We had better start training coaches and PE teachers or we will be in a bigger crisis than we are now, four and eight years from now. Just because you played a sport does not mean you can be a coach. You must be trained in the principles of coaching, sports science, practice organization and planning. Where in the US can someone who aspires to be a coach learn this? There are not many places anymore where you can learn to be a teacher or a coach. Online courses do not make it, last time I checked coaching is high touch with a lot of personal interaction. I am so thankful for the courses I had in college and the instructors that I had that drilled us on the basics. Dr Harabedian’s PE 30A and 30 B course at Fresno State in the spring of 1965 is an essential for everyone who thinks they want to coach. Not available anymore. We better start thinking where the next generation of coaches is coming from.