Blog

Welcome to the Excelsior blog. It is a mix of current research and thoughts on Athlete and Coach Development, Strength and Conditioning and personal reflections.

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Thanks for taking the time to read it.

James Marshall

1. The best weightlifting book: a review

   8th October 2015 9:31 am

   What are the best books to read about Olympic Weightlifting? It depends on whether you are a lifter or a coach, and whether you are new or experienced. It might be that you are just interested to learn about the sport. You might be looking for technical information, or for a programme to follow. Here […]

   1 Comment | Read More | book review, weightlifting

2. Planned Performance Training: Bill Knowles

   21st September 2015 9:11 am

   Envelope of healing

   The upper limit of the envelope is for the elite athlete, but too much work leads to inflammation. Too little work is safer, but it is not causing enough adaptability.
   There are no time frames for the rehab procedures, instead criteria based progressions are needed

   5 Comments | Read More | rehab, sports injury, structural Integrity

3. Goal setting for sport: 4 secrets to success

   14th September 2015 3:48 pm

   Lots of the athletes I work with have done a goal setting for sport exercise with their various coaches in the summer. This can quickly become consigned to the dustbin of history once the first three matches of the season have been played.

   0 Comments | Read More | goal setting, motivation, planning

4. Improper Application and Interpretation of Sports Science Statistics

   11:13 am

   The latest craze in competitive sport appears to be the use of data to aid understanding of, and improvement in sporting performance. This has resulted in a glut of material, each item claiming to have established some new result which may have useful implications in the development and performance of human athletes.

   10 Comments | Read More | research, sports science

5. Getting fit for Archery

   13th September 2015 1:53 pm

   “Whatever’s wrong ain’t the bow and whatever’s right is the archer.”

   For the last 18 months I have been working alongside the Gloucestershire Archery Society and a number of local clubs as part of the. 

   2 Comments | Read More | archery, athletic development

6. The role of the coach: Insights from Boxing Champions

   7th September 2015 8:11 am

   Do you tell athletes what to think or how to think? The excellent “In This Corner” by Peter Heller is a collection of World Champion boxers across 7 decades. There is a lot of experience contained in those recollections and it is interesting to hear from people who have been there and done it. Tommy […]

   0 Comments | Read More |

7. Pioneering Sports Club

   2nd September 2015 9:06 am

   Pioneering Sports Club Excelsior ADC is now affiliated to British Athletics, British Weightlifting and British Gymnastics; the only sports club in the UK to do so. Access to coaching for children in the Culm Valley is limited, every Gymnastics club in Devon is oversubscribed, the nearest Weightlifting clubs are in Plymouth and Bristol, and good […]

   1 Comment | Read More |

8. The Agony and the Ecstasy: Excelsior athletes in Europe.

   1st September 2015 10:37 am

   Highlights of a Summer of Sport We have had lots of our athletes and ex athletes competing with a European flavour this summer, so here is a brief round up. Ex Excelsior athlete Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe won the European Modern Pentathlon Championships in Bath.  Jenny McGeever also competed here in the team relay. Part of […]

   0 Comments | Read More |

9. Are girls more flexible than boys?

   19th August 2015 10:34 am

   Are girls naturally more flexible, or is it training?

   We often get asked this question when training our athletes. At Excelsior mobility is one of the four pillars that form your structural integrity (posture, balance, stability being the others).

   4 Comments | Read More | flexibility, stretching

10. Are you fat or obese?

    16th August 2015 2:12 pm

    Recent comments from Health Minister  Anne Milton about Doctors telling people they are fat have generated much comment. I don’t have a problem with honest feedback- there is too little of it- as long as you then give some solutions to help the person concerned.

    5 Comments | Read More | sports nutrition