Author: Vernon Gambetta
Common Training Mistakes Relating to Poor Planning
It does not have to be hard to be good – Each workout is part of a larger picture. If you put their backs to the wall in each training session you will quickly lose sight of the big picture. Everything must be in context. Remember that different physical qualities adapt at different rates, so they need to be stressed differently. One workout cannot make an athlete but can break an athlete. Too much, too soon – You can’t hurry the adaptive process. The younger athlete can handle a lot both in terms of volume and intensity, but if you lose sight of the big picture, it is important to remember that by not following proper progression and individualizing can stifle long-term development. Overloading the spine, too often and too young – Even with the mature athlete the spine just cannot take the heavy repetitive loading that is imposed on it by too much heavy back squatting and dead lifting. That does not mean you don’t use those exercises, just use them wisely. Too many exercises or drills in a training session – This just leads to confusion from an administrative perspective and poor adaptive response on the part of the athlete. This results in a loss of focus. They get tired but they do not get better. Repetitious Exercises – This usually overloads one area or one component; the result is a poor training response. I always say hunt with a rifle, not a shotgun. Training to failure – This leads to failure. Each workout becomes an end unto itself, and the athlete starts holding back anticipating the failure thus dulling the ultimate adaptive response. Over reliance on one exercise or training method – This creates a one trick pony. Highly adapted instead of fully adaptable. You are what you train to be. Reliance on a machine in training or a modality in rehab – You adapt to that environment; it is an artificial “safe” environment but not the environment you need to perform in. Sport performance occurs in an information rich dynamic environment. Quick fixes – There are none! I have learned that a quick fix is an easy come, easy go proposition. Crash programs – Crash programs eventually crash, probably sooner rather than later you can’t hurry the process. Adaptation takes time and the time frames for the various components are quite predictable.
Coloring Outside the Lines
Do you remember when you were a child, and you got your first coloring book and box of crayons. Remember the instructions to color inside the lines because that was the way you were supposed to it. You were praised for staying inside the lines. I didn’t get much praise. It just did not make sense to me as a child, and it does not make sense to me today as an old man. Just look at all the space outside the lines. Why not use that space to improve and expand the picture. Always explore outside the lines. There is so much more there without any restraints. There is more room to grow and expand your knowledge and grow creatively. It may not be as clean and comfortable as staying within the lines, but real learning and change occur outside the lines. Join us at GAIN 22022 where this year’s theme is: Coloring Outside the Lines. Go to https://thegainnetwork.com/events/gain2022/ to apply for GAIN. We hope to see you there in Jun e for a transformative week of painting outside the lines.
GAIN 2022 – Join US
Join us at GAIN 2022. GAIN is the global leader in coaching and athlete development. https://thegainnetwork.com/ If you want the most impactful professional development experience that will challenge your thinking and improve your practice join the GAIN community of professionals. The emphasis at GAIN is on sharing ideas and challenging each other to grow. No dogma here, jut learning how to ask better questions. We learn from the faculty and from each other. The participants are diverse, across sports and disciples. The characteristic is the willingness to share and challenge each other to be better. GAIN is a special experience. It is career changing, it has been for me as the founder and those who have attended. This is not your typical clinic – it is plain and simple an experience in total immersion in learning. There is a blend of active learning opportunities, formal presentations, group discussion and informal discussion over meals and in the evening. Johnny Parkes of IMG shares his thoughts on GAIN: "GAIN has literally been a life changer for me. GAIN is way more than just an educational platform, it is a connection to world class knowledge and practioners. There is obviously value in any presentations you watch, however the power of GAIN is in the networking both at the event and way beyond. It has become my source of learning in connecting with experts in all realms of sports performance . . . GAIN is certainly no echo chamber, where cognitive diversity is welcomed with open arms. Challenging convention respectfully, while being open-minded provide an incredible nucleus for accelerated learning and development GAIN has helped me navigate the evolution of my coaching. I have been both a sport and athletic development coach, but more heavily on the sport coaching side. This platform helped me navigate a niche for myself in the tennis world by going all in on athletic development leadership, teaching and coaching for the sport I am most passionate about. I have learned how to apply my knowledge more skillfully for what matters in the transfer to successful outcomes for the athletes and populations I am serving." GAIN is about challenge. It’s fun to be surrounded by people that agree with you, but you need to find people that challenge you to truly improve. That’s why Greg Gatz (Director of Olympic Sports S&C @ UNC) keeps coming back and hopes you will too: “GAIN has always set itself apart from any other conference I’ve attended. Vern, along with the GAIN faculty and members, foster the ability to step back from the status quo and challenge the traditional thought process of training and coaching. It is an invaluable resource that is surrounded by career-long professional relationships.” See the schedule for the structure of the conference. To apply go to https://thegainnetwork.com/events/gain2022/#registration Don’t wait, apply now as enrollment is limited. Looking forward to seeing you at GAIN
Making Shapes
Looking at shapes will give you a different perspective on viewing, analyzing, and effecting change in movement. Look closely at the shapes your athlete must make while performing in their sport. Then look at the shapes they can make. Then look at what they must do to reconcile the shapes they have to make with the shapes they can make. How quickly and efficiently can they change shapes? What is limiting their ability to make the required shapes – it is strength, flexibility, lack of body awareness or something else? With the young developing athletes making shapes is an emphasis. I make it playful and set up tasks that require them to make as many shapes as possible and the challenge each other to change shapes almost like a big improvisational dance. It is very FUNdamental. For the mature senior athletes, I now structure a three to five-minute session of “shapes’ where they have to challenge themselves much like the junior athletes. I find myself increasingly speaking the language of shapes – big, tall, small, round, wide – It has given me a better perspective on reconciling coordination with sport skill. No more robots, just a dance of connected shapes!
Looking Back to help you to Move Ahead
Looking back to gain perspective may at first seem counterintuitive but stay with me on this. Think of the rower in a single scull, their back is to the finish line, they are looking back from where they came from on the previous strokes to stay aligned and moving in the direction of the finish line. We can also gain perspective by looking back on where we have been – that perspective comes from experiences good, bad, and indifferent. Perhaps it is a function of my advancing age, but I find myself looking back on past experiences more often these days, not to be nostalgic but to gain a clearer perspective on what I am doing now. I do not think it is coincidence that I keep discovering people, events, ideas, and concepts that have shaped what I am and what I do. Some of these ideas and people I have let fall to wayside, but reflecting has enabled me to revisit ideas, dust them off and use them today because they are just as relevant and, in some cases, more so.
Consequences
For every exercise, drill, and training session there are intended consequences and unintended consequences. Often it is the unintended consequences that you don’t see or can’t predict that come back to haunt you or even sometimes yield surprise benefits. Try to be aware of all consequences to get optimum return from training.
Get Beyond the Numbers
In today’s world of high performance sport we have the potential to bury ourselves in numbers. There is not much we can’t analyze, measure or monitor. In many ways this is a positive step forward and it some ways it can be negative. The key is keeping the numbers in context. If you are letting the numbers dictate everything you do and don’t do then it is time to reconsider. This is where I weigh in on the human element in coaching. We coach people who do the sport not machines, there is a huge about of individual variability to the same training and competition stress not to mention the emotional and psychological factors that weigh in. Talk to your athletes; closely observe their body language when they come to training and during warm-up. Find out about the rest of their lives, remember they are athletes only two to four hours a day the other hours of the day can and do have more of an impact than the training – the twenty four hour athlete. In short sharpen your observation and communication skills. It will add a dimension to the numbers, sometimes it will validate the numbers and other times it will dictate throwing out the numbers and following your coaching instincts. I cannot help but think how we did it before we had the ability to gather the numbers we have today. After all in high performance sport the only number that counts at the end of the competition are those numbers on the scoreboard.
Game Speed Versus Testing Speed
Testing speed is the time in a 10, 20, 30, or 40 meter or yard sprint. Game speed is a cousin of testing speed. Game speed is the speed you can transfer from testing into the actual game or match. I have been fascinated reading the comments on Super Bowl MVP, Cooper Kupp. The pundits are marveling at what he can do, and yet he can only run 4.63 for forty yards. To me it is not mysterious, he has game speed, he can adapt his speed to the game. He can, decelerate, stop if necessary, and reaccelerate more efficiently. I read a comment from him that said that is what he works on each offseason. Powerful message here – you can chase testing speed times and not be a better player unless you can transfer that speed to the game. Work on planting and cutting, decelerating, and reaccelerating.