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 coaching books of 2014

   22nd December 2014 9:07 am

   My reading list for 2014

   So, I set out this year attempting to read 40 books. I have just finished my 56th. When looking at this list, I realise I need to get a bit more fiction on there for next year. I have just started another Henning Mankell novel to read over Christmas.

   Here is the list in full (top 5 books are highlighted).

   0 Comments | Read More | athletics, physiotherapist, red bull

2. Hepburn’s laws- training manual

   17th December 2014 9:37 am

   “The journey to becoming a champion of super strength begins with obtaining the right kind of knowledge.”

   Doug Hepburn’s book on strength training is an excellent text about strongman training from 1980.

   In it, he lists a few rules which he found to be essential when learning how to get strong.

   You may be thinking “what can I learn about strength training from that old geezer? He doesn’t even have a twitter account!”

   1 Comment | Read More | millfield, tommy baker

3. Roughty Toughty Athletes

   12th December 2014 9:30 am

   Why athletes get niggles

   • Working with a decathlete last week, I said that I was going to make him into a “roughty toughty track and field athlete“.

   He said that “There is no such thing as a roughty toughty track and field athlete.” He has a point.  A lot of athletes are continually coming down with injuries or “niggles”.

   3 Comments | Read More | weight loss

4. How to choose a skipping rope

   11th December 2014 1:44 pm

   Skipping is one of the basic exercise movements we encourage at Excelsior  for almost all our athletes. “What skipping rope should I buy?” is something I am asked every week.

   Here are 5 reviews of the most popular skipping ropes our athletes have used and some advice on how to use them. (Jump rope for people in the USA).

   7 Comments | Read More | athletic development, physical education, skipping

5. Do Warm Ups Affect Performance?

   9:57 am

   The goal of the warm up is to prepare the body mentally and physically for exercise or competition.

   We would therefore look for the following positive effects:

   • Faster muscle contraction and relaxation.
   • Improved rate of force development and reaction time.
   • Improvements in muscle strength and power.
   • Skill preparation and mental focus.

   Methods that are used include;

   3 Comments | Read More | warm ups

6. Dangers of sedentary work- and how to combat them.

   9:24 am

   Avoid the dangers of office life

   Recent research on US office workers has shown that taking frequent breaks from the desk leads to a smaller waistline and better heart health.

   0 Comments | Read More | coaches, swt

7. Grantham Sabre Camp

   10th December 2014 5:05 pm

   Sabreurs’ fitness 

   Last week I had the pleasure of working at James and Ian Williams’ summer sabre camp in Grantham.  There were about 30 fencers there, from aspiring juniors to top ranked seniors. My role was to support the coaches by delivering group and individual fitness sessions. 

   0 Comments | Read More | brain circulation, coaches, GAIN VII

8. Caffeine again

   9:19 am

   Does caffeine improve sporting performance?

   The recent post on caffeine and red bull attracted a few comments (thanks to everyone who did), so here is another recent piece of research looking at the effect of caffeine on non users and how it affected their