Functional Path Training

Injury Prevention

Every sound training program should incorporate an injury prevention component. It has been my experience that the best “injury prevention” programs are almost completely transparent. If the training program is well designed to meet the demands of the sport and takes into account the qualities of the individual athlete then you should see no difference between injury prevention and performance enhancement. Another way to put it is that many of the exercises and drills serve a dual purpose. I have always used the warm-up as my main injury prevention period, do I call it that, absolutely not! It is carefully sequenced to prepare the body for the workout. Each segment of the training or practice session should incorporate lead up drills or sequences that serve a dual purpose. In the event that the athlete has a history of a particular injury then I will design a special module that that athlete either does pre-practice or latter on their own Mind you that the routine is thoroughly taught and it is individualized for that athlete.

No matter what is done to prevent them, injuries will occur. If you train hard and compete hard you will be on the edge. It is our job to minimize injuries to the best extent possible. The best way to that is by having a system that addresses injury prevention as part of the big picture. I have found that a focus on injury prevention often has the opposite effect. Everyone becomes so fixated on injuries that they are tip toeing around walking on egg shells and the athletes are more susceptible to injury. Focus on performance enhancement with the injury prevention element carefully blended so that it is transparent.

Coach What Happens

So often we get caught up in coaching something we think happens rather what actually happens. In today’s world there is no excuse for this. We have sophisticated game analysis information and biomechanical analysis to break down individual skill so that we know exactly what happens. It is important to recognize that each individual has a style that is his or her expression (interpretation if you will) of technique. If you look closely at these individuals that look different you will see that at the moment of truth they will be in a position to optimally reduce or produce the appropriate force to complete the intended task. Coach that individual and what they absolutely need to do to be successful. Don’t try to get them to be something they are not. Know what happens and coach that.

Twitter Coaching

I must admit when I first heard about Twitter I thought it was frivolous. My thought was how dumb, what could you possibly say in 162 characters? Now I get it. Get to the point, be precise and concise and get the message across. The same holds true for coaching. Start your workout with a brief clear message that clearly outlines the theme and the objectives of the workout. During the workout make you instructions and corrections short; phrases are better than sentences and sentences preferable to paragraphs.  Use action words that elicit the action you want to see. Coaching is teaching and teaching is communication. Get to the point. Remember it is not what you say it what the athletes hears so make the message clear. Be like John Wodden. (There are only 262 words in the Gettysburg address!)

Stop and Think!

What exactly are you doing in your training?

When are you doing it?

How are you doing it?

Why are you doing it?

Who are you doing it with?

Is the training mindful and meaningful or is it just a collections of task the athletes need to get done in order to end the workout?

Do the training tasks connect to the competetive demands of the sport?

Are you coaching them or just keep them occupied and entertained?

Is it a partnership with your athletes or a dictatorship?

Are you athletes getting better because of or in spite of the training?

Does the training journey have a clear vision of the competitive destination and a well-defined path with road signs to provide direction toward that destination?

The Measureable Strength Trap

A common question you hear between athletes is: what’s your max in the bench? Or clean? Or snatch. Or squat. What you can lift or how many foot-pounds of force you can express on a dynamometer are often meaningless numbers outside of the environment where the numbers were produced. Quality of movement, rhythm, synchronization and connections are more important than a one-rep max. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that the goal of strength training that is transfer the strength developed in whatever mode of strength training used to the actual sport performance. How is the force expressed in your sport? Can you produce and reduce the force in the time required? Force production is all about acceleration, but often the key to movement efficiency and staying injury free is the ability to decelerate and stabilize in order to position the body to execute the desired movement. A good functional training program will work on the interplay between force production, force reduction and stabilization. Choose whatever mode is appropriate for the sport. The end result should be functional strength, which is strength you can use. It might not show up the weight record board but it will show up in the record book of your performance.

Gambetta Method Systematic Sport Development Principles – Principle One

The body is a link system - a kinetic chain. Training is all about enhancing linkage and connections with all the parts of the chain working together in harmony to produce smooth efficient patterns of movement. Most Traditional academic preparation focuses on studying individual muscles based on classical anatomy. This classical anatomical approach focuses  on learning about muscles in isolation and how those muscles work at one joint. This is where the confusion begins, it is neat, clean and convenient but it does not accurately portray what happens when you move. The anatomical position is static; it provides us with the perspective of mental convenience to arrange all the individual muscles for ease of study and observation. For example in textbook anatomy the hamstrings main function is defined as a flexor of the knee. In actual movement the hamstring helps with flexion of the knee but that is not its primary job. Its primary job is to work eccentrically to decelerate the lower leg and extend the hip. The function changes with the orientation of the body to gravity and the ground. Selecting an exercise for the hamstring based on traditional anatomy would lead you to select an isolated movement like a hamstring curl that works the hamstrings as a flexor of the knee. Instead, if you select an exercise that involves the hamstring based on its function in movement you would select a lunge in multiple planes or a step-up that works the hamstrings at the knee and the hip.

In order to understand movement and to effectively train to improve movement efficiency we must get away from the focus on muscles. The brain does not recognize individual muscles. The muscles are slaves of the brain. The brain does not recognize isolated muscles; it recognizes patterns of movement, which consist of the individual muscles working in synergy to produce movement. The Central Nervous System is the command station that controls and directs all movement. The CNS calls for patterns of movement that can be modified in countless ways to react appropriately to gravity, ground reaction forces, and momentum. Each activity is subjected to further refinements and adjustments by feedback from the body’s proprioceptors. This process ensures optimal neuromuscular control and efficiency of function.

Movement does not occur in the anatomical position and only in one plane of motion.  According to Dr Roger Enoka “the function of a muscle depends critically on the context in which it is activated.” As part of one movement a muscle can perform a certain way, in another movement it is capable of doing the exact opposite. Movement is complex requiring the interaction of multiple muscle systems involving synergists, stabilizers, neutralizers, and antagonists all working together to reproduce efficient triplanar movements. It occurs in reaction to gravity, ground reaction forces, and momentum.

The cornerstone of all training and rehabilitation is to train movements, not muscles. Training isolated movements, individual muscles, has the potential to create tremendous neural confusion. This is something to avoid at all costs. It may be more convenient to train an individual muscle, but it is not correct. It complicates the process of getting that muscle to work as part of an integrated whole. Integrated movements are simple and efficient. To effectively train movements think of connecting, linking, and syncing to enhance coordination.

Gambetta Method - Systematic Sport Development Principles

I was inspired to develop a system by my early mentors. It was easy to see, even at the beginning of my coaching career, that coaches that were successful had a clearly defined system. So over the course of my career I have evolved a system that has worked for me in a variety of sport disciplines at all levels of sport from the developmental level to the elite. The system is general and eclectic therefore it is very adaptable to any sport discipline and rehabilitation environment.

The basis of the system is the foundational principles that I use to guide the design and implementation of the training programs. The principles are derived from my interpretation of sports science research, sound pedagogy, observation and analysis of other systems and my coaching experiences.The system is general and eclectic therefore it is very adaptable to any sport discipline and rehabilitation environment. I label it the Gambetta method not be egotistical or to stake some ideological high ground, but simply because it is a system that has worked for me. It is mine but because it is principle based it will work for anyone who invests the time to learn and apply the principles.

Over the next several weeks I will explain the principles and how I apply them in my system. They are all directed toward the development of the complete athlete so that at the end of the journey all physical limitations are eradicated and the athlete is ready technically, tactically, physically and psychologically to compete to win in the competitive arena. It is a process that takes time and coaching.

The principles are:

Train movements not muscles

Dynamic postural alignment and dynamic balance are the foundation for all training

Train fundamental movement skills before sport specific skills

Train core strength before extremity strength

Train body weight before external resistance

Train joint integrity before joint mobility

Train strength before strength endurance, power before power endurance

Train speed before speed endurance

Train Sport Appropriate - You Are What You Train To Be

Train to build work capacity appropriate for your sport or event

Tomorrow I will explain the concept and application of first principle - Train Movements not muscles.

Training to Train?

I saw something the other day where someone said they were in the training to train stage of their preparation. Stop and think about that for a minute – Why would you train to train? Training should never be an end unto itself. You may be month’s away form the competitive season, but you should never take your eye off the ball so to speak. The goal of training is preparation for competition. Training is process and it is a process that is ongoing and cumulative. It is the competitive goals that give training a purpose and direction. Through training overall work capacity should increase and consequently readiness for more quality training will also increase, but you should never lose sight of the goal. The goal is preparation for competition. 

Cut to the Chase - Coach Them

Coach them don’t just train them. Don’t get caught in nuance and semantics. Follow these simple steps:

Determine the Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) for your sport.

Assess exactly what needs to be assessed to determine the status of the individual athlete relative to the KPI’s.

Train what needs to be trained by coaching the elements of the Key Performance Indicators as they apply to that individual.

Assess to determine progress to towards the goal.

Modify the training to reflect the adaptation.

At the culmination of the process you will have a highly adaptable athlete without any physical, psychological, technical or tactical limitations completely prepared to compete to win in the competitive arena.

Training Mini Cycles

It is tempting to look at one training session in isolation but that is often a distorted picture almost like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. Training results today are directly impacted by what you did yesterday and profoundly affected by what you did last week. Conversely tomorrow’s workout is directly impacted by the previous two workouts. I have found that it helps to think of a series or group of workouts usually three  sessions that are directed toward a particular theme in pursuit of specific objectives that result in the desired adaptive response. I almost think of this grouping of training sessions as mini cycles, a smaller very manageable chuck of time. Looking back and analyzing training records I recognized this pattern resulted in consistently positive training adaptations. It was something that I fell into, it certainly was not a conscious attempt to structure it this way. However now I do consciously plan the workouts in groups of three sessions usually over three days but it also can be done it two days. I conceptualize it as using one workout to set-up the next workout. If it is done in two days then I set it up so that there are two sessions on day one usually no more than 4 hours apart and the third session on day two at least 12 hours preferably 15 hours after session two. Day three then is a very light recovery day. This training sticks, I find it very manageable and it solves the density dilemma (Too much crammed into one session). It has worked for me see if it works for you.