Tag Archive for: Training Sessions

Vern Gambetta

Practice Breaker – Laps

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6a00e5521cccd08834019b026eb7cd970d-320wiHere are two of my favorites: “Let’s go – take two laps and then we will get started with training.” “If you miss this shot then you will have to run.” Think about it, you see this all the time at all levels of sport, talk about a practice killer! Practice time is precious; it is a daily opportunity to improve skill, tactics and sport specific fitness, and wasting time slogging laps to “warm-up” or extra sprints for punishment does not optimize the opportunity to improve. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Practice Maker – Refinement

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Refinement is fine tuning the practice after the basic technical model has been mastered. When that is robust then and only then should you think about attending to the finer points in a skill. Often we are in a hurry and try to do this too early in the process and the whole technical model erodes. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Practice Maker – Repetition

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Repetition is the mother of learning. We are what we repeatedly do. I doubt anyone would argue with those points. The task then becomes to carefully choose what we repeat. It is necessary to have a clear idea of the technical model you wish to achieve and a plan to achieve the desired technique. We know that practice makes permanent so repeating incorrect or flawed movements will ingrain the faults. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Practice

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The key to getting better is practice. Up to a point when an athlete is beginning their career virtually anything they do will make them better, in fact the more they do the better they get. Then there comes a point when practice must be guided and have a specific purpose. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Practice Maker – Routine

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Edwin MosesThe first consideration in effective practice is routine. A set routine is the basis for consistent practice. Great athletes and great teams have set routines for training that do not vary. In fact with individual athletes training routines sometimes border on ritual. Routine allows the athlete to focus on the task at hand. I have found that there is security in having a routine. It gives an anchor point to build the training session upon. Start on time, have specific objectives and stay on task, then practice will be meaningful. When I think of routine I think of the great hurdler Edwin Moses. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Workouts

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Everybody wants workouts. Can you send me the workouts you do with your swimmers or a volleyball player is a common request I get. Why? Workouts are only good for the people they are designed for. Sometimes (hopefully more often than not) they work and sometimes they don’t. If you work with football at Central Nowhere High school does what State University does in training have real relevance to what you are doing with you ninth graders? Workouts are all so contextual. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Favorite Exercises

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I always get a good chuckle when I am asked what are my favorite exercises and I answer I don’t have any. Why don’t I have any favorite exercises, really it is quite simple. I have a big toolbox of exercises accumulated over my years of coaching; I must know how to use each of those tools appropriately as demanded by the needs of the athlete and the sport and position. Read more

Vern Gambetta
Vern Gambetta

WOD – Fundamentally Flawed

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WOD is an acronym for workout of the day. Is a cornerstone of a popular fitness craze that needs to be totally re-examined in light of the injuries caused by it and the number of people put in the hospital with Rhabdomyolysis (That is for another blog at another time) Let’s look at WOD in the light of what training should be. The workout, the individual training session is the building block of a comprehensive training program. No one workout is an end unto itself; each workout is a means to an end. Yesterday’s workout should seamlessly flow into today’s works and today’s workout should set up and connect with tomorrow’s workout. That is sound training – simple and effective. In addition each workout is not designed to be as hard it can be. There is a rhythm, a flow of alternating hard and easy workouts all designed to achieve adaptation to the desired training stimulus. Read more

Vern Gambetta
Vern Gambetta

Thoughts on Planning a Training Session

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The individual training session is the cornerstone of the entire training plan. The individual training session is the point of implementation of the long-term plan. A long-term plan is a succession of linked individual training sessions in pursuit of specific objectives. Read more

Vern Gambetta

Learning to Train – A Giant Step

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Watching the swim workout Saturday with the Sarasota Sharks reminded of how important it is to learn how to train. It also reminded what a big step this is in the development of the athlete. The group ranged from junior level world-class swimmers to fourteen year olds just finishing their fourth month with the senior group. The contrast in the workout was amazing to watch. Everyone did the workout. Read more