Tag Archive for: Learn from History

Martin Bingisser

GAINcast Episode 194: The trailblazer (with Betty Atwater)

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Sports biomechanics came to age in the 1960s and 1970s with scientists like Betty Atwater at the forefront of this new field. A lot has changed in sports science over the last 50 years, but many of the foundational findings still hold and there is a lot we can learn from the analytical and technical processes used by the trailblazers of biomechanics. On this week’s GAINcast Atwater joins to discussion some of her landmark research on pitching and sprinting, as well as the work that led to it. Read more

Martin Bingisser

GAINcast Episode 120: Fifty years on

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Fifty years ago this week, Vern finished his last college exam and the world was changing all around him. It was the summer of 1968. On this episode we take a look back at the country in 1968, learning to become a coach, and take a stab and predicting what the next 50 years have in store for sport. Read more

Martin Bingisser

GAINcast Episode 48: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

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Knowing who came before us and what they did is a key factor in becoming a better coach. After all, everything old is new again. On this week’s episode Vern runs down a list of some of the giants whose shoulders he stands on, providing a great starting point for those wanting to learn more about this history of training. Read more

Vern Gambetta

A Journey Continues

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI started the day today the first day of my 45th year of coaching with a dryland session with the Sarasota Sharks at 4:55 AM. I began coaching in January 1969 (An El Niño year of near record rainfall – 40 plus inches, fortunately we had just gotten a new asphalt track so we never missed a workout. Amazing what 440 yards of bad road can enable you to do when you don’t know any better) at Santa Barbara high school in Santa Barbara California my hometown. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Evolution of Strength Training – A Personal Perspective – 51 Years of Experiences (Conclusions/Lessons)

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As I wrote this series of posts and reflected on the lessons I learned I wanted to summarize with some practical conclusions so that young coaches and athletes starting out would not make the same mistakes I made. There is no form of human motion that does not require some expression of force; therefore all sports will derive benefit from sport appropriate strength training. The physical quality of strength is the underpinning for the optimum development of other biomotor qualities. That being said it is crucial to have an in-depth understanding of the strength and power demands of the sport you are preparing for and design the program to meet those demands while also considering the qualities of the individual athlete. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Evolution of Strength Training – A Personal Perspective – 51 Years of Experiences (Part Six)

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In the last twenty years as have had the opportunity to work with a variety of sports and I was exposed to many theories and methods, but basically I found that at the end of the day it all came back to executing the basics of sound training principles consistently. It is so easy and somewhat trendy to copy the latest and greatest strength-training program of a great team or athlete, the monkey see, monkey do syndrome. If it is good for them and they just won the national championship then it is good for us. There is a prevalent attitude that the greatest testament for a piece of equipment or a particular training method is the affirmation of winning. What I have seen through my experience is that success is often achieved in spite of, not because of the training and that superior talent and genetics sometimes prevail. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Evolution of Strength Training – A Personal Perspective – 51 Years of Experiences (Part Five)

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Things began to change rapidly with the advent of the full-time professional “Strength Coach.” In the seventies very few colleges had strength coaches and if they did most of their attention was centered on football. In professional sport there were few fulltime strength coaches. In 1976 Bob Ward who was the track coach at Fullerton College in California, was hired by the Dallas Cowboys. He had a full time year around program that was backed by management so that the player’s had to comply. This was the exception, not the norm. Superior talent and genetics continued to prevail even into the late 1980’s. Not all the teams in professional football had fulltime strength and conditioning coaches. The advent of the strength coach in college and professional sport was like a good news bad news joke. The good news was that now there would be someone who whose sole responsibility was to condition the athletes. The bad news was that was that with the exception of those who had a track and field background they seldom got out of the weight room. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Evolution of Strength Training – A Personal Perspective – 51 Years of Experiences (Part Four)

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Another key milestone in the evolution of my ideas on training in general and strength training in particular was the 1972 AAU Learn by Doing track & field clinic in Sacramento, California. Many of the top track & filed coaches in the country were in attendance. The opportunity to interact with them was invaluable. Two of the “Learn by Doing” stations were devoted to Plyometric training that was new and revolutionary at the time. Each evening there were presentations by Polish triple jump coach Tadeusz Starzynski who was the coach of Joseph Schmidt, three-time Olympic Gold medalist; he presented the whole spectrum of his training program for triple jumpers. It obviously involved a lot of jumping exercises, but it included medicine ball work and some very specific weight training and virtually no heavy lifting. There was nowhere near the extent of weight training we were having our athlete do and the weight training that was done was much more specific. This experience had profound influence on my thinking going forward and how I trained my athletes for explosive power from that time on. I immediately incorporated his concepts and ideas in my personal training, as well as with the athletes I was coaching. The results were a tremendous increase in explosiveness and speed. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Evolution of Strength Training – A Personal Perspective – 51 Years of Experiences (Part Three)

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That spring, in my first track coaching assignment, I got the opportunity to coach one of the best athletes I have ever coached, Sam Cunningham. He became California State Champion in the Shot put that year and also an All American football running back. He was 6’3” tall, weighed 225, he could run the 100 in 9.7, but by my thinking he was “weak, “ because he could not lift much weight in the weight room. Yet he had tremendous explosive power. This led me to begin to ask the question: How much strength is enough? A question I continue to ask. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Evolution of Strength Training – A Personal Perspective – 51 Years of Experiences (Part Two)

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Through articles in Strength and Health and watching the track team at Fresno State weight train I quickly realized that the sport of track & field was very advanced in the use of weight training. Herb Elliot, who dominated the mile up through the Rome Olympics, and his coach Percy Cerruty made extensive use of strength training. Perry O’Brien, the first man to throw sixty feet in the shot put was an avid weight trainer. He was fast enough to lead off a sprint relay, so it obviously did slow him down! Dallas Long, the first man to throw over sixty five feet and Randy Matson, the first man to throw over seventy feet were all avid weight trainers. Read more