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. Planning your Training: Periodisation for Young Athletes

   23rd August 2014 8:46 am

   What is Periodisation?

   Periodisation is the term given to the practice of breaking down an athlete’s  conditioning plan into specific phases of training.

   5 Comments | Read More | overtraining, periodisation, planning, Young Athlete

2. 30 years of strength training

   21st August 2014 5:12 pm

   45 today!

   I first started strength training when I was 15 years old. My Dad had given me his old power bar and I started using that in my bedroom doing curls, presses and squats. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was doing something. I worked at my part time jobs for six months to save up for a set of plastic spinlock dumbbells and a flimsy bench with bar rack.

   0 Comments | Read More | strength, tommy baker

3. Sabre fencing camp

   10:03 am

   Sabre camp

   It was good to be back on the James and Ian Williams’ sabre camp in Grantham, working with very experienced coaches, Army PTIs and an excellent physiologist (Leo Faulmann). 

   2 Comments | Read More | fencing

4. The Importance of Posture

   9:02 am

   What is posture?

   ‘Good posture is the state of muscular and skeletal balance which protects the supporting structures of the body against injury or progressive deformity irrespective of the attitude in which these structures are working or resting.’  (1)

   2 Comments | Read More | posture, structural Integrity

5. Pre-season speed training

   13th August 2014 2:03 pm

   “Don’t run the speed out of you”

   Speed kills, and every coach wants a faster team. The best way to get a faster team is to recruit faster players. Failing that, get your existing players to run faster.

   Your team needs to be able to run fast at the end of each half, not to be able to jog aimlessly. around.Traditionally pre-season training has started with long slow runs and then worked towards trying to get faster.

   4 Comments | Read More | pre-season, speed

6. Is the juice worth the squeeze? Strength & conditioning quotes

   11th August 2014 2:35 pm

   What is your training priority?

   At the recent GAIN conference there were plenty of great insights from the delegates and faculty.

   I have put some of my favourites here.

   2 Comments | Read More | gran slam tennis

7. 4 steps to get more agile in pre-season.

   6th August 2014 4:12 pm

   Its better to run round people than through them.

   The ability to run “through spaces not faces” is very important in most field/court sports. You want to be agile enough to:

   • Avoid being tackled
   • Be able to get into position to stop your opponent
   • Get to the ball.

   Is your pre-season agility training helping you achieve this?

   7 Comments | Read More | agility, pre-season

8. “The true Art to what, how and why we do”: Jim Radcliffe

   21st July 2014 3:16 pm

   What it takes to be a successful strength and conditioning coach.

   “People in support positions should be seen and not heard” 

   Jim Radcliffe at the beginning of his presentation on successful S&C coaching.

   2 Comments | Read More | agility, Coaching, speed

9. Why most hamstring exercises don’t work for running.

   15th July 2014 2:54 pm

   The Great Hamstring Saver?

   A recent article in the New York Times hailed the Nordic Hamstring Exercise as the saviour of all athletes involved in explosive sports. Citing several published papers, the NYT suggests that this single exercise could put an end to the dreaded hamstring tear.

   11 Comments | Read More | running, sports injury

10. Strength and conditioning coaching course reflections

    7th July 2014 9:06 am

    “Plyometricky: an exercise that purports to be elastic, but is performed slowly”

    a new phrase coined last week on the level 2 Coaching Strength and Conditioning for Sport at Oxford Brookes University.

    The candidates came up with that term when we were discussing the myriad of “power” exercises that are just slow jumps.

    0 Comments | Read More | jack Dempsey, recovery, strength and conditioning qualifications