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. How much protein does an athlete need?

   25th November 2013 8:06 pm

   One of the most common questions we are asked by young athletes. Before you take your protein shake you need to know what is in it, and how much you need.

   What is Protein?

   Protein is a necessary component of the diet and has many roles in the body, such as being a structural component of muscles and other cells. It also acts as a catalyst for biochemical reactions in the body and serves as transporter of molecules.

   2 Comments | Read More | protein, sports nutrition, supplement

2. How to start coaching strength and conditioning

   4:03 pm

   “How can you demonstrate if you have never done the exercise?”

   was one of the questions I asked the candidates on the Level 1 strength and conditioning course at the weekend.

   8 Comments | Read More | strength and conditioning qualifications

3. Fitness for fencers: part 4

   21st November 2013 9:55 am

   “Should fencers run to get fit?” 

   Is a discussion I have with fencing coaches a lot. Nearly all say “yes”.

   Running is a basic locomotor activity that we have developed as humans over thousands of years.

   6 Comments | Read More | brain circulation, SportsTraining system

4. Worst Cool Downs….Ever

   8:50 am

   Effective cool downs?

   You have just finished a tough training session or competition, preparing for the next bout starts immediately. Here are some cool downs to avoid.

   6 Comments | Read More | caffeine, GAIN

5. 3 Tips for Athletes’ Winter Training

   14th November 2013 4:31 pm

   “A lifetime of training for just 10 seconds”

   Jesse Owens

   Winter for track and field athletes is the ideal time to work on conditioning without the focus of peaking for competition.

   Here Assistant Coach (and erstwhile sprinter) Matt Durber highlights 3 ways you can improve your winter training.

   Improve your off season training

   

   1 Comment | Read More | athletic development, athletics

6. The Uncertainty Principle: From the Big Bang to Dark Energy Review

   7th November 2013 9:23 am

   “Physics is uncertain. There is an overall predictability of patterns, but individual prediction is hard”

   Hitoshi Murayama, Tokyo University.

   I took this 5 week course due to having an interest in Astronomy and the big ideas of the Universe.

   0 Comments | Read More | cpd

7. DARE to be different: Vern Gambetta lecture

   5th November 2013 3:03 pm

   “Dissect, Appraise, Reflect, Examine: Evaluate yourself constantly”

   Vern Gambetta giving sound advice to the MSc Strength and Conditioning students at the University of East London last night. 

   Vern gave two lectures, the first on planning training and the second on coaching. It was a small group of students, plus myself, course leader Nick Bourne, and some football coaches. 

   1 Comment | Read More | periodisation, planning

8. Body weight circuits

   28th October 2013 9:48 am

   Some people scorn on these, or fail to find new ways to make them challenging.
   I did one this morning: 5 different exercises 20 repetitions of each, then 30 seconds rest. Repeat 5 times. Then do a different 5 exercises, same structure, and finally another 5 exercises.
   So you are doing 5 exercises, 20 repetitions, 30 seconds rest, 5 sets, three times. A total of 15 different exercises, at 100 repetitions each.

   The 30 seconds rest seems quite long at the beginning, but by the 10th set I needed the rest.

   0 Comments | Read More | ACL

9. Circuit Design

   9:47 am

   Starting off with circuits is quite easy. Do an exercise for about 10 repetitions, then move on to the next one. Beginners can rest between each exercise and then each set.
   To make the circuit harder, do more sets round or reduce the amount of rest between sets and then exercises.
   Harder still is to do all the reps of an exercise before moving to the next. So instead of doing 5 sets of 10, do 1 set of 50. Good fun until you get to the burpees, tuck jumps and pull ups.

   0 Comments | Read More | ACL

10. Benefits of circuit training

    9:46 am

    Circuit training has been around for a while and used to be popular in schools, the Armed Forces and sports clubs. Recently, this has not been the case for various reasons, one of them being an apparent lack of specificity. It is also due to the fact that certain fitness qualifications or accreditations focus on barbell platform lifts, and so the people who pass those courses tend to do those type of exercises with other people.
    

    0 Comments | Read More | ACL