Tag Archive for: Featured

Vern Gambetta

Evolution of Strength Training – A Personal Perspective Over Fifty Years (Part Two)

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After graduating from Fresno State I went to University of California Santa Barbara for my teaching certification. While there I was fortunate to take a class from Sherman Button on Fundamental of Conditioning. He was way ahead of his time with the material and concepts that he presented.( I appreciate that even more as look back at what he taught us) It was a great class because of his comprehensive approach to conditioning built around weight training. The two textbooks for the class were especially helpful. Pat O’Shea’s book “Scientific Principles and Methods of Strength Training.” and “Foundations of Conditioning” by Falls, Walls and Logan. As a class assignment we had to design a yearlong comprehensive training program for our chosen sports. I put together a program for track and field that incorporated all components of training. It was an initial attempt at periodization, but most importantly it forced me to look at strength training in a new light. I was now a coach as well as an athlete. I was responsible for other people’s performance. I had to teach them skill and have them ready for competition, so I had to pay attention to the big picture. Strength was only one part of the equation, although a most important part. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Evolution of Strength Training – A Personal Perspective Over Fifty Years (Part One)

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I thought it would interesting to share with you a personal approach to the evolution of strength training as I have seen it using my experiences as an athlete and coach who has been involved in strength training for 50 years. When I began weight training in 1963, it was not commonly accepted as a method of training, in fact weight training was discouraged. There were concerns that you would become “muscle bound,” that it would slow you down, or it would interfere with you coordination. It was considered acceptable to do hard manual labor to develop muscle, but weight training was frowned upon. With all these thoughts in mind we had a guest speaker come to my high school to speak to all the athletes. The speaker was Lynn Hoyem, a backup center for the Dallas Cowboys, who spoke to us about the benefits of weight training. He had gained 50 pounds of lean mass through weight training. He gave us advice as to how to start a program, explained some of the basic physiology of muscle growth and strength gain. He offered tips on how to gain weight, as most of us were football players who were trying to gain weight. It was a very impressive presentation that was very different from we were being told at the time. I knew that if I were going to have any chance of playing college football, my sport of choice at the time, I would have to get stronger and bigger. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Achievement Triangle

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I developed this five or six years ago as a tool to make my athletes aware of what they needed to do to be the best, to be a peak performer. A conversation the other day reminded me of this so I thought it would be worth sharing again. One thing that I have observed since I developed this is that those at the peak of performance are completely comfortable with being uncomfortable all the time and they often make those around them uncomfortable. If you want to play where the big dogs play then forget a comfort zone. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Mach Sprint Drills – A Personal Perspective

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I have had many questions lately regarding sprint drills. Whether or not I use them, how I use them etc? The following is an article I wrote several years ago for the the Australian publication Modern Athlete and Coach. I think it will shed light on the why and how of the Mach drill system. I have used this drills extensively over the years with great success, of late I have also incorporated some of the Bosch drill system. The combination of the two if used properly are of great benefit. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Lessons from 2012 – Part One

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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. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Lessons from 2012 – Part Two

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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. Read more

Vern Gambetta

The Spectrum Squat™ Workout

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The idea behind this workout is to move across the spectrum of muscle actions and to take advantage of the size principle of muscle fiber recruitment to target the fast twitch muscle fibers. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Positive running

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When I was in Holland Frans Bosch introduced the concept of Positive Running to me. I thought it was thought provoking and should be put on the table for discussion. Frans was kind enough to translate some of his remarks on his idea into English. Read more