Author: Vernon Gambetta
Making Connections
One of the key aspects of a good training or rehab programs is making connections. Recognize that the body is a kinetic chain and we always need to be aware of how we are making connections between all the links in the chain. Ask yourself if in fact you are connecting or are you disconnecting? Remember that the core is the relay center; it is the center of the action, but not the originator of the action so it plays a big role in connecting upper and lower extremities. We need to understand the end result we desire and how the links in the chain connect and time up. We must always take into consideration that we are bipedal land animals so to insure that all connections are made we must build from the ground up with gait as the cornerstone of function. It may seem basic but we need to know what we are connecting. Why are we connecting them? How are we connecting them? Then we need to understand how the exercises we use in training are connecting to the skill required in the movement or the sport. Is the movement similar or same? Does the athlete make the connection? When all connections are made the result is flowing, efficient, rhythmic movement that allows the athlete to flawlessly execute the desired movement.
Buyer Beware – EMG Studies and Muscle Action
Put a muscle at a mechanical disadvantage or isolate it and you will get high degree of muscle action on an EMG. Put that muscle into a movement where it is has to work with other muscles and now watch what happens. The pattern of activity will be quite different. In the first case the muscle is screaming at you to set it free to let it work to its fullest capabilities as part of a team. In the later case the muscle is singing because it is being the used as part of a team to work to move or resist movement of a body part. It is doing what it is designed to do work together with other muscles to produce smooth efficient coordinated movement. Muscles work in synergistic patterns, it is too easy to revert to reductionist thinking and forget that. What is convenient is not always right. Think movements not muscles in evaluation of movement and in designing effective training programs.
Big Picture Thinking
As you surely know by now I think the big picture is very important, so important that you should never lose sight of it. First to be able to think of the big picture you need a plan. The more detailed the plan the better. What is the big picture? It is an overview of the whole process and the objectives to be able to get to the big picture. What does it do? It lends perspective and context to what we are doing. It helps to keep us away from just doing stuff and train with a purpose. It is my experience and observation that the most successful coaches and systems of athlete development have a clear picture of what the end the product looks like and they never deviate from that picture, it guides everything they do. Big picture thinking tends to be a broad focus not a fixation on trivial details. The opposite of big picture thinking is reductionist thinking that breaks everything down to its smallest component and focuses on trivial details. We have been victimized by reductionist thinking that leads you down a one-way dead end street. It is focus on muscles rather movements, it is focus on small insignificant aspects of a movement, obviously big picture thinking is the opposite, it focuses on flow, linkage and rhythm. It allows the individual athlete to express him or herself; it creates adaptable athletes who train with a mindful approach. The actual implementation of any training program is the training session or workout, but for the session to be meaningful it must be part of the big picture. The key to this is to stress context. Also recognize that there are no magic workouts. For each workout there is an immediate, residual and cumulative training effect. The workout you do today is just a few pixels out of a huge picture. Workouts are only effective when they fit into the plan. Each small step must be in the direction of the ultimate goal. Part of big picture thinking is recognition that the body is a wondrous organism that has an amazing ability to self organize and self correct. We stimulate this by giving the body increasingly difficult movement problems to solve. We must recognize each individual’s adaptive response. No two people react the same way to the same stimulus. I have found it helpful to think of the big picture as a giant jig saw puzzle with thousands of pieces. You cannot force pieces to fit and you must constantly reference the picture on the cover of the box to see patterns and shapes. Training is the same.
Becoming An Athlete
This is a blog that I originally wrote in 2008, no need to reinvent the wheel, it is just as relevant today as when I wrote six years ago. Yesterday during training I had a some time to step back and observe the athletes, not just my athletes but the football players and wrestlers who were in the weight room at the same time. On my drive home from workout, about twenty minutes, I reflected on what I saw with more focus on my Volleyball players. (Daily that is my time to reflect on the just completed workout and begin planning for the next session). I realized that what I saw unfold before me yesterday was the growth process of an athlete. In my group there are ninth graders just starting the journey to rising seniors who will be play at a high level in college. They all workout, why don’t they end up in the same place? Well we know that many are called and few are chosen – Right? Actually wrong – many are called and few choose. Yes you read it correctly not many choose to excel. It is clear to me after all these years there are three stages in the growth process into becoming a real athlete. First Stage – You do the workout. Nothing more, nothing less, you get tired, you are satisfied. At this stage anything you do makes you better, so you see some improvement. Second Stage – You realize you must do something more to continue to improve so now you work the workout. You put more into it mentally and physically. You realize just doing it is not enough, you must have good technique and concentrate, you must push yourself. Third Stage – This is where the big dogs play – you have train the workout. That is a whole new level of commitment and concentration. You must prepare mentally and physically in advance for the workout. You have be at your best everyday. In my experience this is a select group. They see the results, the fruits of their labor because they consciously choose to train the workout In many respects the growth of a coach reflects the same three growth stages. I think we all choose where we want to be. To be the best means being uncomfortable all the time. Making sacrifices and doing things no one else is willing to do. Where do you choose to be? Chances are where you choose to be will be reflected in the athletes you coach.
The Parable of the Buses
This parable was inspired by the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. There were two buses, both going to the same destination. One bus was a rickety old yellow school bus; the other bus was a beautiful new air-conditioned motor coach. The old yellow bus was driven by a veteran bus driver who was familiar with the area and knew the destination because he had been there many times before. The other was a modern bus driven by a young driver who had just passed the test to be certified as a bus driver. He was new to the area and had never been to the destination before. He was confident because someone sitting in the back of the bus had told him how to get there. Incidentally they were both leaving at 5:00PM, the height of rush hour, and they had to be there by 7:00PM. The old bus driver had an alternate route ready if he needed it, the new bus driver didn’t even think about it. On the yellow bus everyone was in assigned sets, the yellow shirts in the yellow seats, the blue shirts in the blue seats and the red shorts sat in the red seats. On the new bus everyone sat where they wanted, in fact two people were late and the bus waited for them. The yellow bus had a specific address and estimated time of arrival. He knew the route and the alternative route. The big new bus was depending on someone in the back of the bus for directions, that person had never been to the destination before. The driver was so confident he did not even have a map! He did not need to because he had had his GPS and he was fully certified in directional awareness by the GPS Company. The old yellow bus arrived at the destination with fifteen minutes to spare. The alternate route he had planned had almost no traffic during rush hour. The new modern bus was ninety minutes late. First they were stuck in rush hour traffic, and then the driver turned off on what he thought was an alternate route that turned out to be the opposite direction. They both made it. The moral of the story get everyone on the bus on time, make sure they are all in the correct seats, above all have a driver that knows the directions and preferably has been there before! In designing a training program, lesson plan or therapy plan remember this story. Be sure you know the destination and if you have never been there before talk to someone who has. Find out how they made the trip. Have a detailed roadmap and make sure it is current. Don’t over rely on technology, follow you instincts. Have a contingency plan if the first route proves unmanageable. Simply plan the work and work the plan. In conclusion which bus have you been on? The old yellow school bus may not be as comfortable but it will get you there with time to spare.
Training Balance & Balanced Training
What is needed in training is appropriate physical preparation to support and where possible enhance the quality of the sport specific technical and tactical training. They all go hand in glove. All aspects of training are highly interdependent and must be trained in varied proportions at all times of the training year. You can artificially try to separate them but to be most effective you need to recognize and take advantage of the interaction. Early in my career when I was just beginning coaching and also competing in the decathlon served as a powerful lesson for me about balancing training. I learned quickly that if I let my training get out of balance and emphasized one event or one physical component that it would quickly show up negatively somewhere else. It was clear that to make effective progress I had to balance all aspects of the physical preparation with the technical work on all the events. Obviously I could not give equal attention to everything, I had to balance it all out. I learned to eliminate blind spots in training. Good sound training is always a continual compromise, a give and take, a yin and yang to maintain the desired training focus.
The Thrill of Drills
Neat complex drills using a myriad of props have an innate allure. I must admit when I see a drill or an exercise I have not seen before I video it or write it down. But here is the problem and it is a big problem – the drills or exercises often have no connection with what actually happens in the sport. They look like it, but transfer is minimal. Transfer is king here if the goal is to make the athlete better at their sport. Drills definitely do not equal skills. For the drill to be effective it must be contextual, it must fit and lead somewhere as part of a teaching progression. The goal and purpose must be clear. Think progression from general>>>to similar>>> to same. Drill with a purpose.
Searching for Specificity
In my 44 years of coaching I have gone back and forth in regard to specificity. At times I have tried to make training as specific as possible going to ridiculous lengths to simulate the sport. At other times it was not even a consideration, we just trained with no regard to whether or not it had any resemblance to the sport. Obviously those are the extremes. With accumulation of experiences and better understanding of the whole process of training I have come to a more moderate and I must say sane approach. First of all instead of thinking specific my key word is to think appropriate. Are the training means and methods appropriate for the sport you are preparing for? What you are doing must prepare the athlete neurally, metabolically, mechanically and technically for the demands of their sport. Perhaps the biggest realization that I have come to and the one that has made the biggest difference for me is really quite simple – Instead of repeating the movements of the sport prepare for the stress of the movements. In other words I found that by trying to be too specific I was adding stress to stress instead of preparing the athlete for the stress of the sport. Remember the most specific training activity is the sport itself. Just think of the hours of training in the actual sport versus the time spent in physical preparation. The latter almost pales into insignificance. So why take that relatively small amount of training time available trying to strictly imitate the sport when that valuable time should be spent preparing them for the stress of the actual training and competition. This does not mean to imply that training should be just general it must be sport appropriate. Leave no stone unturned in the preparation. Address the individual needs of the athlete in regard to their sport. Look closely at the sports demands and prepare for those demands.