Michael Boyle's Strengthcoach.com Blog

There was an interesting exchange on Charlie Weingroff’s Facebook page that I wanted to share with you between Charlie and Vern Gambetta. For those of you that don’t recognize Vern’s name he was a pioneer in our field in the eighties. The text is below. Let me know what you think.

Charlie- I wish people would listen to all of Mike Boyle’s message and not just hear bits and pieces. I think his message is a relentless seek and find for best practice for his training environments. Best practice as anyone would define it is indeed absolute at that moment. My best practice is not the same as Coach Boyle’s, but I think green folks can do a lot worse than copying him. As we know, I do many things differently than and even contrary to Coach, however, at the core of it all, we are in the same camp.

Vern- All I seem to hear is absolutes. What is his real message? Let me explain – I have respect for people who are consistent in their message and hold to their core beliefs. You must have your compass oriented to true north, not magnetic north that changes all the time.

Charlie- Coach [Gambetta], your statement’s brilliance is on the figurative nature of magnetism. My magnetism is to be the greatest at what I do that has ever lived. If I happen to see an unexpected new tool on the way to my true north, my compass draws me to pick up this tool. If I have to remove a tool I am already carrying, then at least I know where I left it if I need to go back and get it.

Vern- I am all for seeking a better way, that is something I have been trying to do for 41 years in coaching and some 8 years before that as an athlete. I am concerned about “experts” creating confusion for profit. We all need to raise our standards and expect more from each other. I am not attacking anyone, I learned a long time that it gets you nowhere, but I will call someone out if I think they are off base.

I only post this to illustrate how a guy who showed many of us how to reorient our compass in the 80’s now is critical of those of us who continue to do it. Vern was the father of functional training. He moved many of us, me included, away from a powerlifting and bodybuilding mentality. Now as we continue that move we get criticized for creating confusion for profit. Funny thought coming from one of the first guys to do seminars and videos for profit. I think Vern created the industry he now criticizes. What do you think?

This entry was posted on June 12, 2010 at 1:19 am and is filed under Random Thoughts, Training, Uncategorized with tags Charlie Weingroff, Michael Boyle, Vern Gambetta. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.