Functional Path Training

Lessons from 2012 – Part Two

We may think we are training the body but we are really training the brain – To borrow Tim Noakes terminology the brain is the “Central governor” it controls everything we do.

Talent development is not survival of the fittest – It is not about ten years or 10,000 hours it is a process that involves deliberate practice. It is understanding growth and development, individual rates of maturation.

You cannot separate excellence in sport from excellence in life – You can’t be a chump outside of training and a champ in the game. You may get away with for a little while but eventually it will catch up with you.

When working on skill or acquiring a new technique – Once someone gets it right – STOP (Allow the brain to retain what it learned) Vin Walsh

Important to learn how to ask the right questions – This is the key to learning. Asking questions that are insightful and on point.

You must train the way you want to play – Yes it is about specificity, but it is more than that. All aspects of training must line up with the demands of the sport. Train fast to play fast; if you train slow you will not be able to play fast.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained - No gain without risk. Mistakes are learning opportunities.

Coach the athlete you have not some mythical hypothetical model – Know your athletes, their strength & weaknesses, individualize to the greatest extent possible.

Know the basic technical models of your sport - Master them and build on these.

You must train the female differently – There is a whole different endocrine hormonal environment. Strength training is much more important during all phases of the training year. My rule of thumb with the female athlete is more volume of intensity.

Those who achieve at the highest levels are seldom if ever concerned what other have to say about them or judge them to be – High achievers are confident and will stand out from the crowd regardless of criticism.

Lessons from 2012 - Part One

Being ready to deliver on the day – The ability to have your athletes ready to perform at their best at the required time is most important. That can be the final of the Olympic games or a high school state championship. Everything is directed to this goal.

Coaching is a careful blend of art and science – No more explanation is necessary

Emotional intelligence is the key to effective coaching – It is all about people and how we as coaches grow and develop ourselves and the people we work with.

An overemphasis on injury prevention will lead to injuries – Good injury prevention is a transparent part of a sound training program. What is happening today is an emphasis on so-called corrective exercise and special injury prevention exercises that normal training is being ignored. When training is ignored then the athlete is predisposed to injury because they are not ready to perform.

The ability to race is different than the ability to be paced to a fast time – Anyone with ability can hang on and be pulled to fast time the medals are won by those who can race. Those who are race hardened, who understand tactics and are fully adaptable to variety of race situations.

It is imperative to develop and refine physical literacy in parallel with skill development – Physical literacy slightly leads skill and technical development; it is impossible to have one without the other.

We must take a giant step back and look at what we are doing with recovery – I think we need to learn to use recovery methods more judiciously. Not necessary to ice bath after every workout. We need to understand that the inflammatory cascade is part of the adaptation process. Must educate the body to take advantage of this not interfere with this all the time.

Little things count – Big things are a given, they are hard to overlook but it is the little things that quickly add up.

Coaching men and women is different. “Men battle to bond. Women bond to battle.” Nigel Redman – I think this is pretty self-explanatory.

Athletes Bad Behavior – No Excuses

It used to be I looked forward to reading the sports news as a break from the regular news. Today it seems every time I log onto ESPN.com or read a sports page it is about some athlete being arrested for some indiscretion. What is going on? I know sport is not independent of society and in many ways a reflection of society, but this is getting ridiculous. Are these athletes a product of the system that coddles and enables this aberrant behavior? In my opinion I do think so. It starts very young when a star is anointed and appointed and learns very quickly that they will not be held to the same standards of behavior and accountability as the kid sitting on the end of the bench. Lets wake up and reestablish behavioral standards starting out at the youth and high school level. Lets teach some values through sport and respect for authority. Oh and by the way some respect for women.

CSCA Presentation - Foundational Strength

This is the outline of my presentation to the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association in Orlando. I will be presenting tomorrow afternoon. If you are at the convention I would love to visit and talk about training. I will be there just for the day tomorrow. 

Foundational Strength

Building The Athlete From The Ground Up

Goals

Bullet proof the athlete - Eliminate movement deficiencies

 “Farmboy Strength” - Compensate for inactive lifestyle

Develop ability to handle bodyweight through full ranges of motion with speed and control

Build structural strength to eliminate any later limitations

Prepare for heavier and more intense loads to follow        

Develop tendon strength and dynamic joint stability

Enhance linkage and connections

Strength Training Definition (Adapted from Frans Bosch)

Coordination training with appropriate resistance to handle bodyweight, project an implement, more or resist movement of another body, resist gravity and optimize ground reaction forces.

Movement Constants

Body                          

Gravity                          

Ground

Full Spectrum Strength Training

Multiple Planes                 

Multiple Joints        

Full Range of Motion

Proprioceptively Demanding                 

Mindful

Doherty Strength Power Index

S ₁₀  S ₉  S ₈  S ₇  S ₆  S ₅  S ₄  S ₃  S ₂  S ₁       S = Strength

V ₁   V ₂  V ₃  V ₄  V ₅   V ₆  V ₇  V ₈   V ₉  V ₁₀     V = Velocity

Principles

Train movements not muscles

Pull                  

Push                  

Squat        

Rotate         

Brace

Body weight before external resistance

Strength before strength endurance and power before power endurance

Basic Concepts of Foundational Strength

“Let the volume do the work”

Training accumulates

Session to Session                  

Week to Week

Month to Month                           

Year to Year

Volume is achieved through more sets, not necessarily through more reps

Foundation Strength Training Rules

Get the Reps – No failure!

Handle the load - Load is determined as % of Bodyweight

Up to 30 % of BW for males & 25% of BW for females. After those thresholds are reached progress to normal loading and speed guidelines

 Handle the rest (Active Rest)

 Handle the tempo (Intra set and inter set)

Lower Body - 1 reps/sec up to a resistance threshold

Upper Body 1 – 2 reps/ sec up to a resistance threshold

Full range of motion @ prescribed speed with control

Progress to multiple planes of motion

Sagittal        

Frontal                  

Transverse

Vary the limb involvement

Bilateral        

Unilateral                 

Reciprocal

Vary the muscle action after first time through program

Isometric        

Concentric                 

Eccentric

Achieve mastery before progressing to next step

Compatible Components (How it fits with other training components)

         Starts and Acceleration

         Basic Technique & Skill Development

         Plyo’s - In-place & Short Response

         Extensive Tempo Endurance

         Mobility

The Workout

Get it right the first time

Expect Success - Teach routine – Good Habits        

“Total Involvement” - Rest is “active”

Everything MUST be in pursuit of the goal of that workout and the program overall

Focus on “Need to do” exercises, eliminate the nice to do

Program Planning & Design

A sound well-developed plan allows you to know where you are

at all times

Six week block or two six weeks blocks depending on:

Training age                  

Level of development

Gender                          

Sport

Recycle “Foundation Strength” during the training year as needed

 Progression from year to year throughout a career

No need to start at step one each subsequent training year

Assessment

         Testing = Training and Training = Testing

         Landmark Workouts

         Leg Circuit Test

         Dumbbell Complex Challenge

Acknowledgements

Coach Nick Garcia & the Athletes at Notre Dame High School, Sherman Oaks, California

Kristen Batt & Meagan Wallin (Pro Beach Volleyball Players) who have lived this program the last four years

Venice Girls Volleyball 2008 -10,  Venice High School,  Venice,  Florida

University of Michigan Womens Swimming,  Harvard University Womens Swimming,  Kenyon College Mens and  Womens Swimming & Carmel Swim Club

References/Suggested Readings

Bosch, Frans., and Klomp, Ronald. Running – Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology Applied in Practice. London. Elsevier Churchill Livingstone. 2005

Cardinale, Marco. Newton, Robert. And Nosaka, Kazunri. Strength and Conditioning – Biological Principles and Practical Application. Wiley-Blackwell. 2011

Cometti, Gilles. el entrenamiento de la velocidad. Barcalona, Spain. Editorial Paidotribo. 2002

Cometti, Gilles. La Preparacion Fisica En El Baloncesto. Barcelona, Spain. Editorial Paidotribo. 2002

Curwin, Sandra. & Stanish, William D. M.D. and Mandel, Scott. Tendinitis: it’s Etiology and Treatment, New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Gambetta, Vernon A. The Gambetta Method – A Common Sense Guide To Functional Training for Athletic Perfromance. Sarasota, FL: Gambetta Sports Training.2002

Gambetta, Vernon A. Athletic Development – The Art & Science of Functional Sports Conditioning. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishing Company. 2007

Issurin, Valdimir. Principles and Basics of Advanced Athletic Training. Ultimate Athlete Concepts. Michigan, USA. 2008

John, Dan and   Tsatsouline, Pavel. Easy Strength – How to Get a lot stronger than your competition and dominate in your sport. St. Paul, MN. Dragon Door Publications, 2011

Komi, P. V., Editor,(Second Edition) Strength and Power In Sport, London: Blackwell Scientific Publications. 2003

Lederman, Eyal. Neuromuscular Rehabilitation in Manual and Physical Therapies – Principles to Practice, Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone – Elsevier. 2010

Murer, Kurt and Bucher, Walter. 1000 exercises d’athletisme. Paris France. Vigot. 1985

Olbrecht, Jan. The Science of Winning – Planning, Periodizing and Optimizing Swim Training. Swim Shop, Luton, England. 2000

Radcliffe, James C. Functional Training For Athletes At Levels – Workouts For Agility, Speed And Power. Oakland, California. Ulysses Press. 2007

Scholich, Manfred. (1986) Circuit Training. Berlin: Sportverlag

Starzynski, Tadeusz. And Sozanski, Henryk. (1999) Explosive Power and Jumping Ability for all Sports. Island Pond, VT: Stadion Publishing Company.

 

Thoughts on Training for the Masters Athlete

Here are some do's and don'ts I have learned from my own personal experience and observation of the master’s athlete:

Find a routine; be consistent in the time of day and the place you train. If you can find a training partner or a group to train with that will help with routine.

Look at your driver’s license. Yes you are getting older, so train accordingly. Use your age and your experience to your advantage. Trying to be a teenager again will only hurt, not help.

Don't get athletic amnesia.  Forget what you did in college or in your 20s, be realistic in your expectations and what you are trying to achieve now, it is futile to try to repeat workout you did in your twenties. Most of the time this will result in injury.

Do things you like. This really depends how competitive you want to be. If you want to be a national class or international class master’s athlete then you still are going to have to some uncomfortable workouts. If you are training to be athletically fit then being uncomfortable is not necessary

Compete against or measure against yourself. This is true at any age. Measure your progress against yourself. I know I have a certain lifting workout I use as a benchmark to gauge my overall strength and ability to handle my bodyweight. The same is true for biking, I have a particular route I test myself on four times a year to gauge progress. For me and I think it is the same for most people it is about goal achievement, not goal setting.

Allow adequate time for recovery. As you age it takes longer to recover from the stress of hard workouts. Build in more rest days.

You must strength train regularly. More frequent strength training is the closest thing there is to the fountain of youth. Leg strength and core strength will have a significant positive impact on posture. For both the male and female master’s athlete the endocrine hormonal benefit is tremendous. A well designed strength training program can stimulate growth hormone and testosterone production which will help maintain lean muscle mass. In addition it can slow the loss of type II muscle fiber.

Stretch daily! We lose elasticity in the muscles and tendons as we age. Some researchers have identified the subsequent loss of flexibility as a factor in degenerative joint disease.

Respect old injuries - they will come back to haunt you. Just like training, injuries are cumulative. The small niggling injuries that you could ignore when you were in your twenties will now cause you to miss days of training and if ignored weeks of training. Learn to read and listen to your body.

Don't listen to the naysayers - you can do what you want to do!

Strength Training Considerations - Basics & Beyond Part One

What do you hope to achieve with a strength training program? What are your goals? What sport are you preparing for? A tennis player should have a different program than a football player. Conversely within a sport like football a quarterback should have a different program than a lineman. What kind of resistance do you have to overcome? Is added muscle mass needed for armor and protection? Or do you just need to overcome bodyweight and gravity? These are all important considerations. One program is not suitable for all sports and all athletes. A sound strength training program should be based on principles. How the principles are applied gives detail to specific programs. It is important to understand how programs differ based on the objectives. It is possible for the exercises to potentially be the same, but manipulation of sets/reps and rest and load can significantly change the training effect.

As a step toward designing the optimum program ask the following questions:

         What are strength requirements of the sport?

         What muscle groups are used in the sport?

         What are the movement requirements?

         What is direction of the application of force?

         What is the range of movement?

         What are the common injuries in the sport?

Once you have answered those questions then consider the qualities of the individual athlete. Carefully consider growth and development factors. Has the athlete gone through puberty? Biological and chronological age are often quite different. Is the athlete an early or a late developer? Cognitive and emotional development should also be considered, as they are quite important in the ability to learn exercises and routines as well as accept coaching. Also consider genetic endowment that does not demand a DNA test, just look at the rest of the family. This will help the athlete be realistic in their goals.

There is no doubt that the pre-pubescent athlete can weight train. Research and practical experience has shown no ill effects from weight training, however my bias is to avoid any heavy loading of the spine until after puberty. To avoid this I limit the amount of overhead work that the young athlete does and put the emphasis on body weight exercises. This will serve as excellent preparation to safely more forward on the strength continuum after puberty. It is important not to lose sight of the big picture. There must be some thought and consideration given to the athletic lifespan progression. As the athlete matures and increases in training age the amount of work done with external load will gradually increase.

Gender is an important consideration in the timing of beginning a strength training program. Despite certain societal myths that still prevail strength training may be more important for the female athlete than the male. The female athlete has a lesser percentage of their total body mass as muscle. The female matures earlier than the male athlete therefore it is important to begin strength training earlier. It is imperative that the female athletes begin strength training earlier and continue strength training throughout the training year and the career. It has been my observation (not supported by research) that the female athlete who begins a sound well rounded strength training program before puberty tends to be leaner after puberty.

From a coaching and teaching perspective it is important to take into consideration the ability to manage the program. Can you teach the exercises and supervise them properly to insure safety as well as proper training. Consider the “weight room without walls” concept where strength training is integrated within the confines of the actual practice session in the same venue as the practice. This is accomplished using the natural environment, bodyweight exercises, dumbbells, medicine balls and stretch cord. This may seem like a compromise, but can very effective in sports that do not require external resistance like soccer, tennis and swimming.

Some Lessons from Australia 2011 – Part Three

I concluded my stay in Canberra with two days of professional development with Dean Benton, Performance Director of Brumbies in Super Rugby, his staff and the coaching staff. I have worked with Dean for sometime and it has been great to see his professional growth. He has put together an outstanding program, the eny of any program I have seen in professional or collegiate sport in the US! When I spend five days with him in 2007 I thought what they were doing with the Brisbane Broncos  (Australian Rugby league) was cutting edge but what they are doing now with the Brumbies is light years ahead. He has taken the concepts of Frans Bosch and adapted them and applied them to enable his players to make huge performance gains. He has worked closely with head coach, Jake White to integrate all the athletic development with the rugby. In my opinion this is crucial and a lesson that we need to learn in the US. The performance director and head coach need to work together hand in glove. In addition he has tapped into the resources of the AIS to give the program the latest cutting edge sport science support. This is a very unique situation. It will take them a couple of years to rebuild the program but they will soon be a force to reckoned with in super rugby.

I then moved onto Perth, Western Australia, It was my first visit to that corner of the world. What a beautiful city. I was really impressed with the fields and facilities available around the University of Western Australia. While there I taught a two-day workshop for the Western Australia Track & Field Coaches Association. Perth is definitely an area I want to go back to. It reminded me of southern California forty years ago.

I then spend four incredible days in Melbourne with Phil King. I first met Phil in 1996 when he was concluding his tenure at the head coach for Australian Athletics. Phil is a heck of coach, leader and organizer. He coached his wife Debbie Flintoff- King to the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles in the 1988 Olympics. He is now coaching Jana Pittman, world champion in the 400-meter hurdles in 2003 and 2007. Phil’s philosophy is to gather a team of experts and act as the CEO coordinating their services all designed to make Jana the best she can be. I was privileged to provide my input on some aspects of the program and closely obverse and participate in the training. Phil has a background in aquatics and he has made excellent use of the aquatic environment in Jana’s training. I must admit that I was skeptical until I saw what they were doing, but I was made a believer. They use the water to mimic land workouts that is not unusual but what I did find unique was the use of the water for lactate production workouts. It was interesting to see how it was sequenced and how it has worked. Getting to spend four days with Phil was informative and motivating. The main lesson I learned was that it is not technical expertise that is the difference; it is people skills and communication ability that is the key to coaching and leading. A very simple concept but yet quite complex in application, because no two people are alike, it was theme that was repeated over and over.

A word about Melbourne, I had never been there before but on all my other trips I had been told it was the sporting capitol of Australia. I thought oh sure they are just saying that. Well when I got there I know learned first hand what they meant. The training and competition venues are amazing. There is a passion there for sport that you can feel. Walking on the “tan” a dirt path around the Botanical Gardens was like being on hollowed ground, this is where John Landy and Ron Clarke trained! It is a sports paradise and you can bet I will return for an extended stay.

I concluded my visit to Australia in Sydney with an old friend and colleague, Lachlan Penfold, performance director for the Sydney Rooster in Australian Rugby league. I did a day of professional development with his staff and an enjoyable day exchanging ideas and sharing ideas with Lachlan. He is a consummate professional. I first met Lachlan twenty years ago at the NSCA convention in the US; when he was a young coach hungry to learn. He came and spent time with me on two different occasions when I was with the White Sox and another visit later on. It has been fun to watch him grow as a professional and to see that he is just as passionate about learning as he was twenty years ago.  He has done some really interesting and unique work using and interpreting GPS data that I am keen to follow it as he develops it further. I found it interesting that they (He and the rugby coaching staff) are working to incorporate some the University of Oregon and Jack Blatherwick “overspeed” concepts to improve game speed.

I am just now getting over the jet lag and trying to absorb everything that I saw and learned but in summary it was an motivating and uplifting three weeks. It made realize how fortunate I am to have the freinds and netowrk that I have. Being invoved in sport is very special, it goes beyond the technical aspects, the training, it is about friendship and people. The visit to OZ only reinforced this, but you don't have to go to Austalia to interact with other professionals. In some cases if you are at a university or with a pro team walk down the hall and talk to someone else open your eyes and ears to the possiblities to learn and grrow that are around you everyday.

My New Book

My new book “Following The Functional Path – Building and Rebuilding the Athlete” is now available on my website http://bit.ly/rfB1bJ. The price is $24.95. This book is an edited compilation of five years of my daily blog where I share my thoughts on coaching and training. The posts reflect my years of coaching experience and my continuing learning journey. You will gain insight into my philosophy and the impact that others have had in its development. It will challenge you to think and question. My hope is that this book will help you on your own functional path to more effective development of your athletes.

Some More on ACL Injury Prevention

I thought I would share with you several pictures of my athletes doing what I consider essential exercises the female athlete must do for lower extremity injury prevention. This is in not intended as  a comprehensive list, that is for another time and place. Consider it a snapshot of some of the movements that must be done. All of these movements are never presented to the athletes as “injury prevention”, they are woven into the workout and the warm-up. In my experience this insures better intensity, concentration, effort and as well as compliance. I also believe some of these basic movements are daily diagnostics, tests if you must, to provide feedback as to adaptive response as well red flags indicating excessive soreness or fatigue. I look for amplitude of movement, rhythm and constantly assess overall quality. I believe testing = training and training = testing.

I have one other observation regarding ACL injuries in the female athlete. In my experience  (I have seen this five different times now first hand) the athletes at greatest risk are those that “play out of control.” They are reckless and take unnecessary risks. I don’t have a solution for this, just an observation.

Enjoy the pictures; I hope they trigger some ideas for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACL Tears in Female Athletes - The Problem & Some Solutions

This article http://nyti.ms/hUy9pi and some of the information (misinformation) in article in Sunday New York Times sports page is disturbing. The topic of the female athlete and ACL injuries is complex and sometimes controversial. It is a real problem and a crisis given the economic and human cost.

Let’s look at a couple of the points of emphasis in the article and then I will look a bit more globally and offer some solutions.

The following is often offered up as a solution to prevent ACL injuries: “bend at the hips and knees to softly absorb the load, keeping their knees behind the toes, striking the ground toe to heel.” Watch a game or practice you will see it is impossible to keep the knees behind the toes and still play the game. You may do it a completely controlled artificial environment, but in the real world at game speed the knee will go where it has to go. It will go into extreme valgus and varus positions. The knee will go way out beyond the toe. The key is that the knee goes where it needs to go with control. As far as foot strike, it is completely dictated by the movement requirement, landing from a rebound could be a different foot strike than on planting and cutting. This strategy will robotize the player by taking instinctual and reflexive movements and making them cognitive, conscious and mechanical. In my opinions (I emphasize it is my opinion) we may actually be predisposing the athlete to injury with these types of prevention programs. It is certainly not time well spent.

Here is another solution from the article: “The knee should be in a neutral position; ideally, … said, the center of the kneecap should be aligned with the second toe.” Neutral is a position the knee passes through in a millisecond. In an artificial controlled environment you may be able to align the kneecap with the second toe, but it won’t happen at the speed you must play in order to be able to execute jumps, stops, starts and turns. It is a dynamic, ballistic environment that is not sterile and controlled. Once again the result will be robotic movement.

The information in both quotes represents what is thought to be cutting edge research, but it does not represent what must be done in the real world in the competitive arena. These types of so-called prevention programs and strategies are fundamentally unsound. If in doubt my rule of thumb is to go back to common sense. If these strategies worked then why aren’t they preventing ACL tears? Everyone is doing some variation of these programs; in some cases devoting up to thirty minutes a day to them, still the rate of ACL tears has not dropped, if anything it has increased.

It begs a simple question: Do these players have the physical competencies and fundamental movement skills necessary to compete? We know they have the basketball, soccer, or specific sport skill, but do they have the underlining physical competencies and movement skills to give them a fair change to avoid injury? Part of the solution is quite simple – identify and assess the physical competencies. Then train those competencies in parallel to the sport skill. The dark hole is what is being done in the off-season, preseason and in- season in regard to strength training. In many situations strength training is only done in the off-season, reduced in pre-season and almost nonexistent in-season.

For the female athlete a commitment to year around strength training is a requirement, not an option. It must continue in-season through the championship season. Unlike her male counterpoint that has a great percentage of muscle mass and higher testosterone levels, the female cannot afford to take off from strength training. Obviously the greatest investment should be on leg strength. The great majority of ACL tears are noncontact and in most of those cases they are a deceleration injuries (As are ankle sprains). It stands to reason then that we should focus on training the decelerators. Stop focusing on the knee and think kinetic chain, emphasize the linkage of ankle, knee, hip and the trunk. The knee is stuck in the middle; it is at the mercy of the joints above and below.

The sports that put the knee at greatest risk are sports that require quick starts, stops and changes of direction off one leg onto the other leg. This  dictates that the training emphasize work on one-leg and reciprocal movements. The single leg squat is the cornerstone (True single leg squat, not some of the permutations labeled as such), lunges in all planes and step-ups at various heights. Double leg squats are important, starting with bodyweight and progressing to appropriate loads based on developmental level and sport demands.

Dynamic balance should be part of daily warm-up, as should a mini band routine to work the intrinsic muscles of the hip. Once a foundation of leg strength is established then progressively add agility work that starts with known programmed movements and progresses to random chaotic movements. Incorporate jump rope as a means to teach good coordination and foot strike. Progress to multi dimensional jumps and hops.

The clincher here is that this must be systematically addressed in the female athlete starting just before puberty. Think of it as preparation to play the game that runs parallel to skill development. In most cases it should slightly precede skill development. The two must go hand in glove, not either or. The functionally strong young female athlete will be more receptive to skill learning and be better able to apply the skills to the game. TRAIN TO PLAY, DON”T PLAY TO TRAIN!

Select movements that link and connect the ankle/knee and hip as a functional unit to reduce and produce force. Include exercises that have a high proprioceptive demand. Above all train on your feet! A simple rule of thumb, if you lying prone or supine or seated you are not preparing to attenuate the ground reaction forces that are demanded in the game. You must train with you feet on the ground to effectively learn to shock absorb and use the ground.

Don’t say it can’t be done, it can. It takes organization, focus and commitment. You don’t need a lot of equipment or huge time blocks. You need to be consistent and relentless. Training can be done anywhere; it can be on the field or on the court if necessary. Apply the  “weight room without walls” concept. Make it challenging mentally and physically to prepare for the stress of competition. The bottom line is that to prevent ACL tears you must train the body for the rigors of competition. The prevention program should be a transparent component of training.