Interview with Vern Gambetta

I have known Vern for couple of years mostly from his writings and books, but luckily I was introduced to Vern last summer in Boston by Carl Valle. We had a small round table discussion on everything (mostly technology since Carl was thereJ). I have found common language in matter of seconds with Vern, mostly because we have read the same books. Our first discussion was constraints-led approach and ideas by professor Keith Davids (check the interview with professor Keith) while we were waiting for Carl, close to Harvard Football Field. 

Since Vern is really experienced coach and very knowledgeable guy, I decided to pick his brain with couple of questions. They say that common sense is not so common, but you will soon see how much common sense Vern possess. Vern was also kind enough to provide an extensive list of recommended reading at the end of the interview. Anyway, I hope I will have more opportunities to pick Vern’s brain, because I think this humble and very experienced coach has a lot to offer for up and coming young coaches. Enjoy the interview.

Vern Gambetta

Vern: Thanks for the opportunity I sincerely hope my answers will make people think and question the guruism and marketing that is so prevalent. I am not saying I am right, far from it, but please think and develop your own stem of training.

Mladen: Vern do you mind introducing yourself to the readers. You know, the basic stuff: who you are, what you do, and your short history/biography

Vern: I am currently the Director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems. I have coached 42 years at all levels of competition. I have authored over 100 articles and nine books on various aspects of training. I received my BA from Fresno State University and my teaching credential with a coaching minor from University of California Santa Barbara. I attended Stanford University and obtained his MA in Education with an emphasis in physical education. My philosophy is quite simple: coach the best to be better. I have worked with a wide range of sports, but my foundation is Athletics, that is where I spent the first 16 years of my coaching career. You can’t get far away from the basics of running, jumping and throwing that is why my background as an Athletics coach is so important to me.

·         Track & Field: Coached at all levels. National Hurdle Coordinator. Editor of Track Technique, USA Track & Field Technical Journal. Editorial Advisory Board IAAF Technical Journal New Studies in Athletics. Division I Head Coach, Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field, University of California, Berkeley. Nike Oregon Project

·         Baseball: As Director of Conditioning for Chicago White Sox he pioneered conditioning for baseball with model program. Consultant to Cincinnati Reds, Director of Athletic development, New York Mets

·         Basketball: Assistant conditioning coach for Chicago Bulls. Conditioning coach for Canadian National men’s team and women’s team. Consultant to Milwaukee Bucks.

·         Soccer: Conditioning coach for Tampa Bay Mutiny. Consultant New England Revolution. Consultant to Chicago Fire  Consultant University of Virginia Women’s Soccer. Conditioning coach 1998 US men’s World Cup team. Consultant Chivas of Guadalajara. Consultant UNC Women’s Soccer.

·         Swimming: Consultant on dryland training to: Mission Viejo Natadores, Cincinnati Pepsi Marlins, University of Michigan Women’s Swimming, Harvard Women’s Swimming, Kenyon College Men’s and Women’s Swimming, Carmel Swim Club.

·         Competitive Athletic Career: Played Football at Fresno State. Competed in decathlon as a post collegian.

I have had the opportunity to for 42 years to prepare teams and individuals for the highest levels of competition in amateur and professional sport. The key to success at any level is a five-step process:

Prepare for the demands of the sport & positions/events in the sport

Meet the needs of the individual player

Have a detailed plan

Have a system to implement the plan

Objectively evaluate the results and adjust accordingly

It is a simple paradigm, but if you study successful teams and nations all those elements are evident. Just to compete in 2011 and beyond, much less win, we must train the complete athlete.

Mladen: In the current information age, there is information overflow and abundance and it is harder and harder to filter the good from mediocre and even wrong. Who do you turn to for the right information regarding training/coaching and how do you decide and filter all the information out there?

Vern: Know the foundational principles of training, understand them and apply them. Look closely at those systems and coaches that have produced consistent results over time. Not a one off success or someone blessed with talent, but someone who does the most with what they have. Gary Winckler sprint and hurdle coach, Jack Blatherwick Phd condtioning coach for many US National Hockey teams, Jerry Clayton throws coach at Auburn University. Look at guys like Frans Bosch& Kelvin Giles who are outside the norm, who have the audacity to question conventional wisdom. Look beyond the self-promotion, hype and marketing that are so prevalent today. Is there any there really there? I am interested in and look for substance not style. I look for people who have had many experiences, who have made mistakes and admit their mistakes and learn from them. I am not interested in dogma and those who preach one way. Over the course of my career I have observed that those who are generalist have the most to offer, they seem to be able to connect the dots and make connections between seemingly unrelated areas. Simon Sinek said it quite well: “Knowledge is understanding based on what has been studied and learned. Wisdom is understanding based on what has been felt and experienced.” Look for people with wisdom and hang out with them. Some of it will rub off.

Mladen: Today, more than ever, coaches are available with the right information and usually for free (if they know where to look for). With all that quality knowledge out there, available to everyone, what do you think what is the thing that actually makes the difference between 1^st place and 2^nd place, elite and mediocre? Is it technology/equipment, training program, psychology, mindset, team culture, recovery, monitoring, injury prevention, gene pool? What is your opinion on this?

Vern: Coaching! A great coach trumps all else. Those other things you mention are factors but in the end it comes down to quality coaching and a systematic approach to training and athlete development. Look around today and look back in the history of sport performance. Great consistent success is never about facilities or science it is about coaching. Look at the former GDR, no one could be a national coach until they were forty years old! Why because it took that long to gain the experience necessary to work with international athletes. Growing and developing great teams is a process, it takes time and patience. It happens run-by-run, throw-by-throw; jump-by-jump that is guided by someone with knowledge and a vision that can communicate the knowledge and vision.

Mladen: What are the problems of planning strategies (and solutions to them) in modern sport games (football, soccer, basketball, rugby, etc) compared to more traditional individual sports? Most, if not all, training wisdom comes from traditional sports with 2-3 times longer preparatory period to competition period with strictly defined peaks, meets and competition dates. Some of the solution for these situations involve complex-parallel and block (sequential) training system organization, but how can someone approach problems in modern sport games where preparatory period is actually 2-4 times SHORTER than competition period, and where is the constant need for providing good quality of play over long period of time? How can one apply this traditional wisdom in those situations?

Vern: We are dealing with a new reality, that is for sure but that does not mean conventional wisdom cannot be of use. Use conventional wisdom as a starting point. Preparation periods are passé, most of the time in high level sport you will be lucky to have six weeks without competition. Training principles are training principles, the body has not changed, what has changed is the demands we are placing on the body.  Remember Roger Bannister prepared to run the first sub four-minute mile by training one hour a day due to demands of medical school. I think of it as dividing training into bite sized chunks, very digestible. It requires tremendous organization and laser like focus. It must be highly individualized based on the physical qualities of the athlete and their position/event and how they play the game. Training is cumulative, appropriate stress consistently applied will have profound training effects. We can complain about the problem or we can do something about it. I prefer to do something about it.

Mladen: There is a huge emphasis on high intensity conditioning these days. You know, shuttles, tabatas, suicide drills. What happened to aerobic training and low intensity? Do they really kill speed and make you slow and fat?

Vern: Aerobic training is necessary; it is just where in the program it is placed and the training means used to achieve it. Sustained “slow slogging” will dull speed; the research is irrefutable on this. In a properly designed program all systems of the body should be trained during all phases of the training year. We need to forget energy systems and think more holistically about how the systems of the body interact. I think we need to look closely at the work of Tim Noakes and his colleagues in regard to “Central Governor” concept. There are answers there. We need to get away from the antiquated concept of VO₂ max and realize and understand that the brain controls all. VO₂ max is convenient to measure but virtually meaningless. I have been privileged to coach world-class athletes in explosive events and also coach world-class 10K and marathon runners, it always comes down to speed. It is so important to train speed in, to preserve speed, don’t compromise speed. Work capacity will accumulate from year to year, it is a process that takes time.

Mladen: Back to sport games again. One of the aspects of success in sport games, besides being quick and powerful (from physical preparedness standpoint) one needs the ability to repeat the bursts of high power output. Researchers call this RSA – Repeat Sprint Ability. It is especially important to be able to deliver quality efforts in repeated manner in the last parts of a game. How do you train for this?

Vern: Simple train it by doing different variations of repeat sprint work. Don’t make this real complicated, because it is not. Some of the so called “small sided” games also address RSA depending on how you define the constraints and dimensions of the field. Don’t do all RSA work in a straight line. Run curves and S patterns and base it closely on the game demands and where they play on the field and how they play. I think we must be careful here not to add stress to stress. What are they doing in the actual sport practice will go a long way to determine how much RSA work we can and should do.

Mladen: Everyone is into screening and stuff these days, injury prevention, posture, etc. It seems that physical preparation coaches are more and more becoming physical therapists. I see a lot of people doing corrective and stabilization stuff and less and less I see ‘animals’ doing great quality squats, cleans, hill sprints, etc.  

Vern: We are really fucked up right now in this regard. We are doing “corrective exercises” based on flawed biased movement screens to the exclusion of actual training. My philosophy is that training=testing and testing=training. Coach’s coach and therapists do therapy. As a coach I need to understand what the physio does, what is their domain and their skill set. The physio needs to understand that the coach is the captain of the ship. It is the coach who is ultimately responsible for performance. The athletic body is incredibly adaptive, great athletes are great compensators. If we wait for everything to perfect and aligned we will never compete. Use common sense and coach.

Mladen: What is your point on recovery methods, EMS, OmegaWave, HRV?

Vern: Do you mean recovery of recovery modes and monitoring methods? A lot of this depends on your circumstances and the support staff you have available. Most of the time I have been the lone ranger with no help so I had to keep it very basic. I strongly believe the younger the training age the less external means of recovery should be used. Recovery methods need to individualized and periodized. Some respond to ice baths others do not. We cannot apply recovery methods universally. This area has become a dark hole. First train hard enough to warrant recovery.

The key to management of the recovery process is a sound system of monitoring training to accurately assess the stress of training. Monitoring is analogous a compass that keeps training on the correct path.  It occurs on several levels, all of which are important.  The simplest level is just recording the results of the workout.  This is a dual responsibility –for the coach and the athlete, it is not an option, it is essential.  Monitoring does not always provide immediate feedback; it takes time for patterns to emerge even if you use the sophisticated technology you mentioned in your question.

Mladen: What are the good resources (books/DVDs) you can recommend to the readers of my blog?

Vern: Of course you should read my books (Shameless self promotion). Below is a list of reading that I recommend, of course there are many more, but this is a start. I read an average of two books a week and numerous research articles. That is something you must do as a professional. You must get off the Internet; just use that as a secondary resource and a guide. The Bosch DVD on Running is a must.

Bondarchuk, Anatoly P. Transfer of Training in Sports. Ultimate Athlete Concepts. Michigan, USA. 2007

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

Butler, David S. The Sensitive Nervous System. Adelaide, Australia: Noigroup Publications. 2000

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

Davids, Keith. Button, Chris. Bennett, Simon. Dynamics of Skill Acquisition – A Constraints-Led Approach. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishing Company. 2008

Drabik, Jo'zef Ph.D., Children & Sports Training, Island Pond, Vermont: Stadion Publishing Company, Inc. 1996

Dominguez, Richard H. M.D., and Gajda, Robert S. Total Body Training. New York, N.Y: Warner Books,1982.

Enoka, Roger M. Neuromechanical Basis of Kinesiology Second Edition. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics Books, Inc.1994.

Garret, William E. and Kirkendall, Donald T. (Editors) Exercise and Sport Science, Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 2000

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

Gambetta, Vernon A. The Gambetta Method – A Common Sense Guide To Functional Training. Sarasota, Florida: Gambetta Sports Training Systems, Inc. 1998

Gabbard, Carl., Leblanc, Elizabeth., and Lowy, Susan. Physical Education for Children-Building the Foundation, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1987

Gustavsen R, Streeck R: Training Therapy; Prophylaxix and Rehabilitation. New York: Thieme Medical Publishers 1993

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

Kreighbaum, Ellen and Barthels, Katharine M. Biomechanics - A Qualitative Approach for Studying Human Movement. Fourth edition. Boston, Allyn and Bacon. 1996.

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

Logan, Gene A. and McKinney, Wayne C. Kinesiology.  Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers. 1970

McArdle, William D. Katch, Frank I. And Katch, Victor L. (2007) Sixth Edition. Exercise Physiology – Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance. Baltimore, MD. Williams & Wilkins.

Newton, Robert U. Expression and Development of Maximal Muscle Power. Doctoral Dissertation, Southern Cross University, 1997

Radcliffe, James C. and Faentinos, Robert C. (1999) High- Powered Plyometrics. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishing Company.

Renshaw, Ian. Davids, Keith. And Savelsbergh, Editors. Motor Learning in Practice – A Constraints –led approach.  London, England: Routledge Taylor & Francis group.  2010

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

Schultz, R. Louis. And Feitis, Rosemary. The Endless Web – Fascial Anatomy and Physical Reality. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books. 1996

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

Todd, Mabel E. The Thinking Body. Princeton Book Company Publishers. Highston, NJ. 1937

Winters, Jack M. and Woo, Savio L-Y. Multiple Muscle Systems – Biomechanics and Movement Organization. New York, New York: Springer-Verlag. 1990

Recommended Historical Works – Game Changers

Bunn, John. (1955) Scientific Principles of Coaching

Dintiman, (1974) George B. What Research Tells The Coach About Sprinting AAHPER, Washington, D.C. 1974

Doherty, Ken. (1985) Track & Field Omnibook (Fourth Edition

Doherty, Ken. (1963) Modern Track & Field

Counsilman, James E. (1968) The Science of Swimming

Dyson,Geoffrey H.G. (1977) The Mechanics of Athletics

Hoffman, Bob. (1959) Better Athletes Trough Weight Training

Jesse, John (1977) Hidden causes of injury, prevention, and correction for running athletes. 

Knotts, Dorothy E. and Voss, Margaret. Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation: Patterns and Techniques

O’ Shea, Patrick. (1976) Second Edition. Scientific Principles and Methods of Strength Fitness.

Wilt, Fred. (1964) Run Run Run

Recommended Readings on Coaching Excellence

Collins, Jim Good to Great Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t. New York: Harper Collins. 2001

Collins, Jim Why the Mighty Fail. New York: Harper Collins. 2009

Dweck, Carol. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House.2006

Esquith, Rafe. Teach Like Your Hairs on Fire. New York: Penguin Books. 2007

Farr, Steven. Teaching as leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 2010

Gardner, Howard. Five Minds for the Future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. 2006

Godin, Seth.  Linchpin. New York: The Penguin Group. 2007

Hargadon, Andrew. How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. 2003

Heath, Chip & Dan. Switch – How to Change Things When Change is Hard. New York. Braodway Book. 2010

Hsieh, Tony. Delivering Happiness – A Path To Profits, Passion, And Purpose. New York. Business Plus. 2010

Johansson, Frans. The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures.  Boston: Harvard Business School Press. 2003

Kelly, Tom. The Art of Innovation. New York: Doubleday. 2001

Leonard, George. Mastery – The Keys to Success and Long-term Fulfillment. New York: Penguin Books USA.1992

Leonard, George. The Way of Aikido: Life Lessons from an American Sensei. New York: Penguin Books USA. 2000

Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind – Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. New York: Riverhead Books. 2005

Pink, Daniel H. Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. New York: Riverhead Books. 2009

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Training for the „Broken“

So after writing down the Riding the Wave, a blog entry on cyclic nature of the training process, I decided to take a break from heavy lifting, grinding out and chasing PRs and obsessing with progressive overload. My SI (Sacro Iliac) joint started to nag me again, as well as my left shoulder. Nothing special, just a sign that I was overdoing something. Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing too. 

In the recent years there seems to be a certain pattern emerging from my training. I start easy, build up, start chasing and grinding PRs and then I get injured or burned out. So, this time to prevent this from happening I decided to take a week or two from that type of work and mindset and get back to the basics, enjoy & play a little and work on imbalances, mobility, stability, technique and anatomic adaptation.

A discussion on Monkey Island made me think about utilizing ISO Holds (Isometric Holds) as a method of achieving my goals for this transition period.  

In that particular thread you can find links to the studies supporting to a degree my idea that ISO Holds can help rehabilitation, because scar and injured issues utilize lactate as a form of fuel for repair (and in blood occlusion happening in ISO Holds there is going to be plenty of it, and plenty of it in extreme stretches) .  Besides, ISO Holds can work wonders for technique in the extreme ranges (bottom) and they are not so taxing and also work wonders for flexibility. So, I decided to give it a try, again.

The workouts are fairly random, because I don’t want to fixate over the minutiae  (I am obsessed with the details and sometimes this make me burnout once in a while), but rather go in the gym and lift (or pose if you think more about it, since with ISO Holds you are not lifting). Workouts can be full body or upper/lower, but I love full body better for this purpose and period.

Anyway, even if the workouts are basically full body, I will classify the exercises on upper/lower/core topology.    

LOWER BODY

Back Squat. You can keep it parallel or let the fatigue drift you ass to grass. Work on the strong arch, knee positions, upper body tightness  and weight balance (you can play and shift the weight from heel to forefoot and see how it feels). Also, a loop band can be used around the knees to help activate the glutes and hip rotators.

Good morning. Same as with back squats. Work on posture, arch and balance. Great for improving hamstring flexibility and low back awareness.

Split squats. I love these. You can do them regular, rear leg elevated, front leg elevated or both legs on the benches (to gain more ROM).

Glute Bridges.  Put a band around the knees, lift and hold. Great for the butt and hip rotatores.

The next exercises I found great to be included in this phase. They are done with slow tempo and maybe a short iso hold at the end position (1-3sec hold). These are small muscles often neglected when chasing the PRs.

Clams and hip abduction. Lie on the ground, put a band around your knees and do sets of 10-15reps.

Hip flexion. Can be done seated (Sahrman Hip Flexion) or with a band attached to a immobile object while lying down.

Hip PNF diagonals.  This stuff helped me when I had sport hernia symptoms. I do them lying down, with the core braced (flat back), then lifting one leg at a time in diagonal patter without moving my core. Great for abs too.

Calves. I love to do single leg eccentrics with slow lowering phase (around 5 secs). This helped me with my tendon issues every time I did them.

VMO. Can be done with the band wrapped around the knee, or like a Peterson Step Down. Maybe some controlled eccentrics if you had tendon issues in the knees in the history.

A lot of stretching.   A lot! Hip flexion, hip rotators, quads, hams, calves. A lot

UPPER BODY

Push up. Get into a perfect push up position (normal or leg elevated, later with weight vest), pull yourself to the ground and hold. Work on posture and arms/shoulder position.

Declined row. Get under the bar, pull yourself  up and squeeze the shoulder blades and hold.  You can also do chest supported DB row and hold. Also, barbell rows can be used here too.

Pull-up/chin-up  hold.  Touch the bar with the chest, squeeze and hold. This is tougher than you think.

Bench press.  Work on technique and thingness of the shoulder blades. Can be done with DBs too.

Chest Flys.  Great for stretching the pecs, especially if you combine with the rows.

The next exercises I found great to be included in this phase. They are done with slow tempo and maybe a short iso hold at the end position (1-3sec hold). These are small muscles often neglected when chasing the PRs.

External rotation. A lot of external rotations, and Ws for the lower trap.

YTWLs. A lot of this stuff.

Rowing. A lot of rowing variations.

Delt Flys. I plan doing some delt flys in scapular place or maybe L-flys. Progress to DB Overhead press. Maybe wall slides before all this if your shoulders are “broken”.

A lot of stretching.   A lot! Did I say a lot? I was playing with the jump stretch bands stretching. You can find some stuff by Dave Tate on this here.

CORE

Side bridges. Do them. Use weight west to progress or play with legs (lift the top leg for count of 5, lift the bottom leg for count of 5).

Pallof press.  Can done in squat position or even split squat position.

Hip flexion.  Hanging hip flexion or on the dip station. Lift above 90 degrees and hold.

Various exercises for the low back.  I use some exercises from corrective gymnastics as we call them here in Europe.

Each ISO hold is done for 30-60sec utilizing barbell or even bodyweight only and progressing from there. Work on the posture and relax. 3-5 sets can be utilized with short rest (around 1 min).

Before or after I will do some steady state or variable (fartlek) running or cycling. No brainer. Love to be outside because of nice weather and change in the environment (can’t stand to be inside the gym all the freaking time). Maybe I should do the stuff outside on grass barefoot like a real Paleo Man (this was a joke).

It’s Monday. The soccer season is over. I am giving my brain and body a little rest for a week. Going to train.

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Random thoughts: Riding the wave

It is the end of the season, and usually my brain starts to do reflections on what was done both in team training and in my own training (if we can call it that way). The concept that emerged in my head was the concept of riding the wave. This concept has a lot in common with the sport form (shape) or the phase of quasi stable results/performance. We have caught certain wave and we have ridden it for certain amount of time (the question is for how long). If we keep pushing, we will certainly hit the rocks (injury, burnout). We need to stop, swim away and catch a better one and appreciate what we have learned by riding the previous. Hence the importance of cycles and periodization. This is well know key concept - cyclical nature of training process.

We need time to move away from the situation. To see the full forest we need to get out of it.

This cyclical nature refers both to physical and psychological. We just can't keep riding the same wave forever. For example, Bret Contreras  in the new blog entry  refers to the same concept, but unfortunately for him, injury made him do it. It made me do it too, couple of times. We need to take a break from everything, go back to the basics, improve technique, start easy, work on mobility and stability and stuff. This is why I find concept of Anatomic Adaptation (Tudor Bompa) more and more important. And usually, we will surpass our old PRs, fix injuries and maybe the most important, fix our mindset. The new training process/system will be established.

In team sports, we are riding the wave we caught/established in the preparatory period. We just can't change a lot of things during the in-season (sometimes you have to, to save the situation). We need to catch better wave next preparatory period and ride it during the in-season.  This not only relates to the methods/exercises, but also team culture, atmosphere, everything. I mean, we can change things during the in-season, sometimes we have to, but it usually have penalties to be paid.

So, this concept goes well with the following periods:

Transition period: Get off the wave, swim back to the open sea and prepare to catch a wave

Preparatory period: Catch a wave, let it develop


Competition period: Ride the wave

Make sure to catch a good wave during the preparatory period (relationship with players, expectations, team culture, responsibilities, rules, training system, nutrition, recovery modalities, rapports...) because you are going to ride it for a long time during the competition period. 

This cyclical nature of training process reminds me of the mythical Phoenix, who burns down to emerge as better over and over again.

In my own training I identified certain trend where I start easy, work on technique, no rush, progress, hit PRs and if I keep pushing it I end up injured or burned down. Then I de-train and start all over again. This can be prevented by purposefully stopping, reflecting and catching a better wave. You know the feeling. You start to be achy in the joints, need to push yourself for progressive overload and you feel emotionally worn out to go and train. Usually, you forgot to enjoy the ride and you fixate on the goals (PRs, continual progression). You can keep pushing it, or you can relax, recycle and catch a new and better wave. This is why I am about to do Anatomic Adaptation phase, start easy and new PRs anytime soon. Maybe I am wrong, but I guess Matveyev was right when he wrote about cycling nature of training. You just can't avoid it.

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Problems of the periodization of training in mixed sports. Part 5

Model of the competition microcycle

On the following picture there is a model of competition microcycle (Sunday, and Wed-Sun model, although there are couple of models)

 

One thing that is rather obvious is block organization of the competition microcycle. I call this macro~micro, where the micro elements have similarity with macro elements (like atom and galaxy, microcycle and macrocycle).  

Besides macro~micro concept, competition microcycle can have weaknesses~strengths organization, where in the first part one works on weaknesses showed in the previous games (make sure to keep to your general plan and not to jump bandwagons after every game), and work on strengths and lifting confidence of the team before the next match. Another concept can also be variable~stable where one is breaking up the performance and work on it in the early part of the microcycle, and later provides stability of the performance (which also increases confidence). There is also general~specific concept, where you get more and more specific as the match closes by (field, conditions, equipment, time of day, specific game-like drills, etc) .

Also note that the recovery part of the microcycle can be extended to 1-3 days , while the taper and intensity parts somehow blend together. Anyway, we are left with the small amount of time (1-2 day) to work on our physical preparedness.  Depending on the PI  (Peaking Index) and number of days between games and travel factors this time period in which we can utilize development loads can even be shorter and the load utilized even smaller. Time crunched we are. 

So, what should we do in that case and how it should be organized? Let’s deal with hat should be done first.  

First off, maintenance (lower priority of development) of maximum strength (MxS) is off highest importance, since if the strength levels fall, the power will fall, power endurance will fall and injury risk will be higher. Thus, we need to find time for 1-2 (depending on PI, days between games and travel) strength training sessions. The key point here is to keep the intensity high (doesn’t need to be done to failure though, but in terms of percentage and weight used) and volume low. Also, another key thing to remember is that keep doing the exercises you have introduced in the preparatory period – don’t make drastic changes (weight, number of sets, exercises) because you might induce soreness and heavy legs. I made this mistake couple of times. I will be back on this concept.

  

Second important thing is speed and power because it has the shortest residual training effects (based on Vladimir Issurin). Thus, you need to keep doing it. Doesn’t need to be general, but you can rather utilize sport specific drills (especially in agility). You can also use this in the taper part of the microcycle in the smallest amount. We also call this training session toning session  where you tone CNS (whatever that would be) with high speed, short duration and long rest drills, or even some strength training (complex training). This session can even be done morning before the game.

  

And last but not the least comes conditioning. Since we are time crunched and there is plenty of research on it, in my opinion we should rely more on higher intensity training, both for aerobic power and glycolytic power/capacity and RSA, since it is time efficient and provides good stimuli for maintenance. During the recovery part of the microcycle we can utilize more low intensity prolonged type of activities (water running, bike, non-specific and no-pounding activities).

Now the question is how to organize this, both in terms of (1) microcycle organization and over the (2) whole competition period.

 

For the microcycle organization we can utilize Tudor Bompa’s principle of energy system rotation, where each training day is stressing certain energy system. For example, one day we will do speed, power, agility and strength since it stresses ATP/CP mechanism. Other day we will stress aerobic/lactic system. This is not written in stone and I have seen successful programs doing strength and conditioning in the same day, same session, everything. I guess it depends on your situation, constraints, and context.   I highly suggest checking the following books: Block Periodization , Periodization in Rugby and Total Training for Coaching Team Sports since they cover microcycle organization.

Regarding the whole competition period – I have couple of concerns I am trying to solve myself.

Platoue effect. As I have pointed out in the last part, most high intensity conditioning gives effects pretty quickly, but also shows platoue of the effects reached pretty soon. The question is why to keep doing them since they are not bringing anything new to the table and they are grueling?  Well, in my opinion for couple of reasons. First, you don’t need extreme training effects with mixed-sports anyway. Second, it is show that higher-intensity conditioning maintains training effects when the overall training volume is reduced, like during the competition period (see Mujika, Bangsbo el al.  and Baker). Third, if you stop doing the high-intensity intervals for certain period of time, and then reintroduce them later, you might get adaptation stiffness, a term coined by late Charlie Francis. Basically, it means you will get sore, heavy, and maybe strained with minor injuries happening.  Again we come back to the concept of keep doing what you have done in preparatory period, but with different emphasis/volume. Always keep a thread of something, because if you reintroduce it in full volume later you might get negative effects (nothing special to worry about, but it can be problematic in competition period). 

Being flexible. Why would we need to follow prescribed template (feed forward) anyway? During the competition period players should have more time to do individual training, and based on their strength~weaknesses and positional demands (there should be a nice complementarity between the two, with emphasis changing) they can do additional training aimed at improving lagging characteristics or adapt to positional demands (using feedback to modify training or as would late Mel Siff call it Cybernetic Periodization). If we keep testing and monitoring players we can also put some more volume of training to a certain quality that has been falling down. For example, if we see the player is losing aerobic capacity (via tests, monitoring like OmegaWave, HRV or basic morning HR) we can put some more easy low intensity activity. If their power is falling we can put some more power training or strength training (depending on the strength levels). Again, we should not be short-sighted and linear like this – because we first need to know whether the player is losing performance due de-training or fatigue (under-recovery, life style factors, etc). I guess that open communication and regular monitoring is the key here.

Boredom. The competition period is rather long and sometimes we are sick of looking the same people, being on the same place and especially doing the same training drills all the time. So, here come variations of the same basic stuff. Slightly different games, teams, training schedules and locations, different intervals (with the ball and without, with different work-rest ratios, etc), different warm-up, etc  to provide variety, while doing the same stuff without causing adaptation stiffness. Coach should be wise to trick the players from the boredom of the routine (by using some fun games to bring them into training state), manipulating and reading their emotional states, and stopping training or modifying it, developing good team ambient, communication, etc. I think that this psychology of training is often overlooked aspect of coaching. I certainly need to work on this one myself.

 

So, in my opinion the key to competition period is:

- Keep doing the stuff you did in preparatory period (concurrent training), but with less volume (keep the intensity), keeping other things priority (performance on the game, injury prevention, freshness)

- When in doubt reduce volume, not intensity

- Try to avoid adaptation stiffness by keeping threads of things all the time 

- Be more flexible, utilize Cybernetic Periodization and prescribe more individual work based on individual characteristic and positional demands

- Be wise in terms should the athletes need more work or more rest, because under-performance can be due de-training, but also due under-recovery

- Prevent boredom by introducing variations

One solution I was writing about couple of years ago was summated microcycle from Total Soccer Fitness by Ian Jeffreys (I have made similar solution in this old article: Planning the competition period in socccer). The point is to rotate microcycles with different emphasis. This can be interesting solution in the situation where there is even less time for concurrent training. The key is to keep the thread of non-emphasized qualities (very low volume). Interestingly, if those emphasis microcycles are prolonged or repeated in series, we can get something very close to block/sequential approach.

For example, if we have three days (or training sessions) to work on certain qualities, we can make the following solution:

Block A (strength)

1 training sessions aimed at strength and speed (low volume, or done in taper phase of the microcycle)

1 training session aimed at aerobic power (high intensity intervals)

1 training session aimed at strength

Block B (speed)

2 training sessions aimed at speed

1 training session aimed at strength and aerobic power (high intensity intervals)

Block C (conditioning)

2 training sessions aimed at aerobic power (or Glycolytic power/capacity and RSA or a combination)

1 training session aimed at strength and speed

The duration of the block can be mathematically split into equal duration of 3 weeks, or you can have different durations based on emphasis and biology of adaptation (in which case Block C would be shortest). Based on your sport you can make different number of blocks, combination of qualities and their duration.  The key here is to keep a thread of all qualities all the time to avoid adaptation stiffness.

Another solution, which is more along the “Keep It Simple Stupid” line, is basically complex-parallel with variations and individual work.  For example:

Competition Block

1 session aimed at speed, agility and power (can be combined with strength session)

1 session aimed at strength (Total body, or two session Upper-Lower, or two Total body with one being really easy)

1 session aimed at aerobic power (high intensity intervals and small-sided games)

1 individual session based on individual characteristics~position demands.

Variations in aerobic power can be created by utilizing different intervals or their location, different organizations of small sided games, etc. Dan Baker provided example of in-season variations in strength training in this article.  It is also important that in this complex-parallel solution there is a smart way of timing and sequencing of training sessions along with manipulation of overall training volume (see Baker). Also, being prepared for complex-parallel training is important, but we have done it in the prep period anyway.

Well, that is it. Please note that I am not an expert on all this and I am still trying to understand mixed sports and their planning/programming problems along with team player and group psychology (which I find under-rated in modern internet writings).  I want to give special thanks to guys from Monkey Island forum  especially to Arthur Smith and Steven Bubel for acquiring me full research papers on demands. Thank you bro!

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Problems of the periodization of training in mixed sports. Part 4

Competition period

Before I start with the characteristics of the competition period, I need to mention one thing first. In the research papers (see Lyle’s series Methods of Endurance and a review of Tabata study) it was shown that higher intensity endurance training (VO2max intervals) brings up the effects pretty quickly, but they  also soon reach ceiling in terms of training effects. If we look at the training of endurance runners (see the excellent review paper by Seiler), we can conclude that: 

“training characteristics of nationally or internationally competitive endurance athletes training 10 to 13 times per week seem to converge on a typical intensity distribution in which about 80% of training sessions are performed at low intensity (2 mM blood lactate), with about 20% dominated by periods of high-intensity work, such as interval training at approx. 90% VO2max. Endurance athletes appear to self-organize toward a high-volume training approach with careful application of high-intensity training incorporated throughout the training cycle. Training intensification studies performed on already well-trained athletes do not provide any convincing evidence that a greater emphasis on high-intensity interval training in this highly trained athlete population gives long-term performance gains. The predominance of low-intensity, long-duration training, in combination with fewer, highly intensive bouts may be complementary in terms of optimizing adaptive signaling and technical mastery at an acceptable level of stress.”

This excerpt is taken from abstract of Seiler S. (2010). What is best practice for training intensity and duration distribution in endurance athletes? Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2010 Sep;5(3):276-91.

Yet, we see a lot of improvements utilizing higher intensity intervals with team sport athletes (see Helgerud et al.). I wonder what’s the cause of this. Well, (1) team athletes are not elite endurance level athletes (with 55-65 ml/kg/min VO2max) and (2) most of their training is lower intensity (speaking of technical training of soccer in this case, see Castagna et al.), thus those higher intensity intervals brings results (which brings me back to the concept of doing in conditioning what is not done in skill sessions in terms of energy system development). 

Regarding platoue effect of higher intensity training (VO2max, glycolytic conditioning, RSA). Well, I guess we need more research to back this up (and thus avoid over-doing it when it is not bringing results – I am going to get back to this concept later), and in the mean time we don’t need to be too much concerned regarding this, since we are doing it for short period of time anyway (6-8 weeks in the preparatory period) in the full volume, and in the small volume during the competition period to maintain achieved adaptation with minimal time investment. 

Ok, let’s get back out characteristics of competition period from previous parts:

- Because of the duration of the competition period, there is no need to be in top shape and to peak (except for very important games, play-offs and international competitions), besides it is not possible to do so due de-training (thus maintenance principle is not an option). Players should be injury free and playing at appropriate high level of play, without allowing de-training to happen.

 One concept I like to use all the time is peaking index developed by Tudor Bompa. 

Peaking Index	Preparedness level	Fatigue	Weekly training workload	Willingness to train	Muscle soreness
5	<50%	Low	Low	(progress) Low to High*	(progress)  High to Low*
4	50-60%	High	Very high, Progressively	Low-Medium	Medium-High
3	60-80%	Medium	High	Medium	Medium
2	80-90%	Medium-Low	Medium	High	Low
1	90-100%	Low	Medium-Low (Taper)	Extreme	None

* Willingness to train is low and the muscle soreness is high during the Peaking Index 5 because of the fact that competition season is over and athletes need rest and recovery.

You can read mode on this in soccer articles  and in Usage of Subjective indicators article. 

The point of this peaking index is that most of the competition season is played in PI2 and PI3 with occasional games(s) (play-offs, very important matches) in PI1. Why can’t you play in PI1 all the time?

Players are unable to be in PI1 for long period of time (maybe 1-3 weeks) because due too low training load de-training will happen and the preparedness will suffer even if we have un-masked it by decreasing fatigue. Since the workload is minimal during the taper (although the intensity should be kept the same to prevent de-training) or during PI1 phase, the load should be brought up afterwards, which increases fatigue before athletes get their normal work-capacity back. Thus too long PI1 cause de-training, and later increase in workloads to bring preparedness back cause fatigue. This way, we create huge peak, but the huge hole will follow (see Joel Friel’s 7 Basic Training Assumptions, especially #7).

Compared to PI1, PI2 and PI3 are easier to hold on for long, long time, because you are still training and still improving (the workload is based on the game importance, time available in days before the game and travel factors), although the priorities are different, namely:

- Be injury free and fresh for the game

- Avoid de-training and continue working on all aspects of performance including physical preparation (this is related to injury prevention)

To achieve those goals, we must deal with couple of things. First one, to be fresh for the game you need to decrease training load, both before the game, and after the game (to recover and deal with minor injuries). And second, we are thus left with the small amount of time (and energy) to provide stimulatory training (talking about physical preparedness). Injury prevention will basically be dependent on maintaining force capabilities (max strength), flexibility, hydration and tissue quality, but will also be dependent on the total volume/stress being done (games included, along with training, especially monotony of it).

 

So, in simple term, during the competition period we are dealing with time crunched athletes (see Lyle’s excellent article). Thus, the question is what to do in the situation where you don’t have too much time and energy to spend and you have need to be injury free and fresh for the frequent games over prolonged time?

Stay tuned for the next part and hopefully the last one…

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