What’s up? I just wanted to touch base with everyone on a couple of videos I have completed recently. I have dedicated to checking in with everyone bi-weekly. I hope you find these vid… Read More

Posture is not a static position. Posture is dynamic constantly changing and adapting to environmental demands in order to efficiently execute the desired movement. It is highly impacted by… Read More

This past weekend my good friend and professional colleague, Jimmy Radcliffe, came to Sarasota for his annual day and a half visit after the NCAA regional track meet. We spend the time eac… Read More

I am definitely not a betting man, but if I were to bet on the horses I would thoroughly investigate a horse’s pedigree before I bet on a horse. It is the same in coaching and teaching… Read More

Change will come not by finding new answers to old questions, but real change will come from abandoning the old questions, stop trying to answer them, leave them. Ask new questions and refra… Read More

Overspeed eccentric training has first been proposed by Louie Simmons as an alternative to more conventional plyometric exercises such as depth jumps and drop jumps. By overloading the eccen… Read More

To be a leader you must have followers. Carefully watch who real follows whom. Carefully watch the dynamics of a squad. The athlete who screams the most often and the loudest is often iden… Read More

Specificity (sport-specificity) is a fundamental concept in training and testing athletes. There is not a single physical attribute that manifests itself in sports in its absolute form, but… Read More

How often do you hear this – We train like the pro’s. We will make your kid better because he or she will be on the same program as the pro’s. My good friend, colleague and… Read More

To label work such at hurdle mobility drills, mini band series etc. as “ancillary work” is a misrepresentation of what that work is and what needs to be done. It is not ancillary… Read More

The sport coach sends the athletes to do S&C in the weight room without any idea of what they will do. There is little or no accountability of the S&C for the athlete’s perform… Read More

Lately I have many discussions with friends and colleagues about achieving working and life balance. The discussions reminded of a book one of my athletes gave me almost forty years ago &nda&hell…Read More

Since the first edition of the book The Strongest Shall Survive in 1976, Bill Starr’s “big three” – back squat, bench press and power clean – have often been re… Read More

Frankly I have never been a fan of the term cross training or the concept. I have seen it used too often as just another way to get tired. By definition Cross Training “… is whe… Read More

Why does the Newtonian, mechanistic reductionist approach that focuses on minutiae and the parts persist? Why not a quantum approach that focuses on relationships and connections, flow and r… Read More

Great if you do that then why do you have hamstring injuries and ACL tears. Why do your teams run out of gas in the fourth quarter or last part of the season? It’s not the exercise. It… Read More

Is your work working? How do you know? Look closely at what you are doing? Look even more closely at what you are not doing? Eliminate the fluff, the stuff that makes you tired but does not… Read More

Do not look for adversity, look for opportunity. Ask yourself what I can do each day to make the athletes that I work with better. Carefully study the movements of the sports – underst… Read More

Learn from legendary coach Dan Pfaff Athletic Lab Sports Performance Training Center is proud to host the third annual Proformance Strength & Conditioning High Performance Athletic… Read More

Overhead presses are thought to be  a necessary component in the training of elite level throwers. A better understanding of some of the fundamental aspects in lifting mechanics, howeve… Read More

I will hold to my belief that the concept of the 24-Hour Athlete is a valid concept that we should not comprise on. Conceptually and in reality, we need to get our athletes to lead lives tha… Read More

Respect is earned not bought Knowledge and wisdom eventually win out over hype and promotion Coaching is special because of the impact you can have lives and the daily lesson you learn I c… Read More

Let not overcomplicate this. You coach speed into the athlete by training speed at the appropriate time in the workout, using an appropriate method and dosage for the time of the training ye… Read More

It’s that time of year again for the High Performance Athletic Development Conference. This year’s edition has an incredible speaker lineup featuring none other than legenda… Read More

Talent is, with no reasonable doubt, a major factor contributing to the development of elite level throwers. Between the age of 9 and 14 years old – the “golden age of motor lear… Read More

As I reflect over the past 49 years of coaches there were some things that were cornerstones of a productive system sport that do not exist today. I hope you all realize that I am not living… Read More

“A lot of things weren’t firing — his glutes, his hips, thighs,” (Training Guru to the star players – name deleted to protect the guilty) told the newspaper. &l&hell…Read More

The following is a list of some mistakes that I have made in coaching and teaching. If you learn from your mistakes I should be a genius, but unfortunately some of the lessons were only le… Read More

I join a gym and my coach asks: do you sleep well at night? Because you will. He was right. The first month I started working out I slept like a baby. Not that I did anything for it, my body… Read More

Here is some advice for young coaches from my experiences. I originally posted this in 2012 but it demands to be reposted. This advice reflects lessons that I learned, no need to make the sa… Read More

Numerous individuals around the world go for running regularly. It is so popular that Nike practically built a sportswear empire around it. Which makes sense, as comfortable and stable shoes… Read More

[This is a guest post by Luke Mitchell. Luke S. Mitchell is an MS Undergraduate in Sports Journalism and manager of ExerciseBikesExpert. He is interested not only in the mind-body relationsh… Read More

Why does periodization or as I prefer to call it Planned Performance Training (PPT) have to be either linear or undulating? Frankly in my application of the principles of planned performance… Read More

Throughout my career I have observed athletes disappear into dark holes never to reappear or if they did they were a shadow of their former selves. What is an athletic dark hole? It is biase… Read More

Strength Training is coordination training with appropriate resistance to handle your bodyweight, project an implement, move or resist movement of another body, resist gravity and optimize g… Read More

Throwing in track and field is a skill, and like any other skill in sports, it requires a certain degree of strength. Stronger, more powerful throwers can handle a greater amount of force (G… Read More

Functional training is a label for a concept. As with any label it is subject to various interpretations. I originally conceived it as multi lateral training integrating various training mod… Read More

Every year I post this because there are many new readers to the blog and followers on Twitter @coachgambetta and friends on Facebook http://tinyurl.com/lezv8tr and Google Plus who… Read More

Life is a marathon, not a sprint – according to the famous saying. For British athlete Mo Farah, it’s fair to say that both have been equally important to the success of his… Read More

In today’s world of high performance sport we have the potential to bury ourselves in numbers. There is not much we can’t analyze, measure or monitor.  In many ways this is… Read More

The bottom line is that for a long time our “non-system” has served us quite well. What has happened? The first thing that changed was the erosion of mandatory physical educati… Read More

Eccentric squats have long been considered as a fundamental component in the training of elite level athletes. Eccentric training per se does improve motor units recruitment and synchron… Read More

It is important to be clear on one thing regarding drills. If you use a drill or drills know why you are using the drill. In my experience drills are most effective in closed skill activitie… Read More

Ask yourself we do we spend so much time teaching and perfecting drills? Wouldn’t the time be better spent coaching skills? No doubt drills are seductive, some even look like the skill… Read More

For most athletes, there’s no getting away from the fact that success relies primarily upon intensive training and a sustained focus on getting the fundamentals right. Take one look at… Read More

I know the term deliberate practice is the current buzzword but I don’t think it is getting the job done. Words create images and images create action, so I use the term meaningful. Me… Read More

When it comes to sport, many see skill and talent as being the driving forces behind success. While these are important aspects of a sportsperson’s rise, their physical attributes are… Read More

Growing the athlete is an organic not a mechanistic process. For years I used the metaphor of building the athlete but over the past few years I have become uncomfortable with that character… Read More

In course of day to day coaching it is easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. Good or bad training sessions can easily get blown out of proportion. The same is true with exercises… Read More

Use Gravity – Don’t abuse it Defy it – But you can’t deny it Enhance Gravity – Don’t chance it Resist Gravity – It will persist You can cheat Gravit… Read More

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 looking at attending to the finer poin… Read More

Observe laws of motor learning and principles of skill acquisition. Consider all types of muscle action – Eccentric/Concentric/Isometric is designing a strength training program. Struc… Read More

Go to http://thegainnetwork.com/ and scroll down and download the PDF’s of these GAIN White papers. More will be coming over the next several months. I hope you enjoy and fin… Read More

[This is a guest post by Antonio Squillante. Antonio Squillante is the Director of Sports Performance and Training at Velocity Sports Performance, Los Angeles, California. He graduated… Read More

I recently gave several talks at the Florida Association Coaches Association. I rarely speak at track & field specific clinics any more but that’s what this one was so I put togeth… Read More

Eccentric focused strength training has become a focal point for many coaches in the past couple years. The research supporting its use for injury reduction and performance enhancement are i… Read More

[This is a guest post by Nic Shea. Nic is a PhD student in Integrative physiology at Georgia Tech.  Nic works in the exercise physiology lab researching hydration and thermoregulation a… Read More

[This is a guest post by Antonio Squillante. Antonio Squillante is the Director of Sports Performance and Training at Velocity Sports Performance, Los Angeles, California. He graduated… Read More

In 2017 (and to be honest 2016 too) I was pretty absent with my blogging. My plate was full and didn’t have much time to write. But now that 2018, has rolled around I’m going to… Read More

The following are foundational beliefs that make up the pillars of my coaching philosophy. I early in my career as a coach I learned that philosophy is the guiding light, the beacon that gui… Read More

Testing and training go hand and glove. Evaluation through testing is an ongoing process that will determine the direction and content of training. Therefore it is important to build testing… Read More

January 2018 marks the beginning on my 49thyear of coaching. It has been an adventure every step of the way – a journey of continual learning and discovery that started with Santa Barb… Read More

[This is a guest post by Antonio Squillante. Antonio Squillante is the Director of Sports Performance and Training at Velocity Sports Performance, Los Angeles, California. He graduated… Read More

Mattress shopping is one of those tasks that take longer than it should because of the huge range of options. That is the bad news. The great news is you can decrease the time you spend shop… Read More

[This is a guest post by Nic Shea. Nic is a PhD student in Integrative physiology at Georgia Tech.  Nic works in the exercise physiology lab researching hydration and thermoregulation a… Read More

This framework first articulated by Frank Dick many years ago is elegant in its simplicity. Follow this process and you will produce athletes who have a chance to be champions. Please note t… Read More

In July of 1986 I flew into Tucson to visit Anne E. “Betty” Atwater, a professor of Biomechanics at University of Arizona, in order to pick her brain about throwing. This was an… Read More

2017 has been busy! I took on the role of webmaster for a local track and field site, pushed halfway through a master’s program, my track team finished top five at state for the fourth… Read More

Focus clearly only on what needs to be done to get training results that translate into competition performance. This demands a laser focus on the training tasks that are meaningful. Elimina… Read More

I have become obsessed with practice. What is a good practice? What is an ineffective practice? What are you doing in practice? Do you know why? How much of your practice is composed of unre… Read More

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine what can make a star athlete improve even more. These are people who have worked their whole lives to become professionals, and who are accustomed to the… Read More

Hopefully with age comes wisdom. I don’t think I am any smarter today at age 70 that was at 30 or 40; I think I have learned from many experiences, some good, some bad, some successes… Read More

Focus clearly only on what needs to be done to get training results that translate into competition performance. This demands a laser focus on the training tasks that are meaningful. Elimina… Read More

Body is a complex adaptive system, not a bio-machine or bio-computer. Given that the body is a kinetic chain and all systems of the body work synergistically to produce efficient movement th… Read More

This is a post by Warren Young, PhD,([email protected] ) Coordinator of Master of Strength & Conditioning, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Australia. In my opinio… Read More

As a follow-up to my previous post these are the principles upon which a sound program is based. You MUST observe these principles to achieve optimum adaptation to training. They are ver… Read More

Reactive strength may be one of the most powerful indicators of athleticism, as it represents the ability to effectively make use the stretch shortening cycle (SSC). It is an expression of t… Read More

[This is a guest post by Nic Shea. Nic is a PhD student in Integrative physiology at Georgia Tech.  Nic works in the exercise physiology lab researching hydration and thermoregulation a… Read More

One of the biggest mistakes I have seen in training design is biased one sided training that emphasizes one component of training to the exclusion of others. Effective training demands that… Read More

Clay is the former football coach at Enterprise High School in Redding California. He is the winningest football coach in Northern California history. We have been privileged to have Clay as… Read More

What exactly is tactical periodization? Is it the newest buzzword or a new name for what great coaches have always done? Before you jump on the bandwagon and try to understand some of the po… Read More

[Chris is currently pursuing his Master’s in Kinesiology from UT Tyler while working as a Strength and Conditioning Coach in Houston, TX. He is a certified strength and conditioning sp… Read More

Hey guys!!! Massive NEWS! World Speed Summit is back and jammed with the Sprinter’s Compendium coaching favorites like Dan Pfaff, Mike Hurst, Håkan Andersson, Tony Veney, and Bro… Read More

[By Sean Ward, Founder of Naturally Boost Testosterone, a men’s health blog dedicated to providing natural ways for men to boost hormone levels. Check out www.naturally-boost-testoster… Read More

[Nick Voth is currently finishing his degree in Exercise Science from Bowling Green State University, where he competes on the Cross Country team. He is an Applied Sports… Read More

Guys, Years ago I was offered an opportunity to write here at Elitetrack.com by Carl Valle and Mike Young. Even though Mike and I met just one time briefly at a USATF Level II school he trus… Read More

[Tony Kauth is a senior studying Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and an Applied Sport Science Intern at Athletic Lab.] A simple Google search of the phra… Read More

[DJ Hicks was formerly an assistant coach at Valparaiso University and is a graduate of Houston Baptist University and the Athletic Lab Coaches Mentorship.] Typically, in programs… Read More

[Christopher Connelly earned his Masters Degree in Exercise Science and Nutrition from Sacred Heart University where he competed for the D-I Track & Field / Cross Country team. Chris com… Read More

[This is a guest pass R.Brown – the founder of Runabees.com where he offers tips on choosing appropriate footwear mainly for athletes but also for people of all walks of life. Visit hi… Read More

[This is a guest post by Alex Eriksson. Alex is the founder of Anabolic Health, a men’s health blog dedicated to providing honest and research backed advice for optimal male hormo… Read More

There is a stampede toward evidence-based practice in medicine and sport science, but as I take a step back and look at this I have some very profound concerns. The biggest concern is what i… Read More

You know John Wooden, you know Geno Auriemma at UConn or the late Pat Summit but how about Jim Steen? While the coach at Kenyon College the men’s team won twenty­-nine consecutive… Read More

I abhor the term “mental toughness” and all the implications and baggage that comes with it. It is not part of my coaching vocabulary or practice. I want to help my athletes be m… Read More

This piece is a must read for all those interested in coaching athletes. thttp://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/the-unregulated-world-of-strength-coaches-and-college-footballs-killi… Read More

[DJ Hicks is a recent graduate of Houston Baptist University and the Athletic Lab Coaches Mentorship at Athletic Lab. DJ is currently an assistant coach at Valparaiso Universi… Read More

Anyone who knows me or has regularly read this blog or followed me on social media knows that I am vehemently anti-drug. So, it may seem strange to have a post on a primer for drug use and h… Read More

[Lauren Cowley is currently a senior at the University of Mount Olive and will graduate in May 2017. She is an Exercise Science Major, and a former NCAA DII Soccer Player. She… Read More

[Christopher Connelly earned his Masters Degree in Exercise Science and Nutrition from Sacred Heart University where he competed for the D-I Track & Field / Cross Country team. Chris is… Read More

More than ever, players are getting criticized for resting during the regular season. Players hear it from all angles; from fans, from the analysts, and even former NBA stars. The key differ… Read More