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.

Comments are welcome (please leave your name) and you can subscribe by clicking on the RSS feed.

Thanks for taking the time to read it.

James Marshall

1. Istvan “Steve” Javorek’s top 4 training tips

   15th December 2010 8:06 am

   Istvan “Steve” Javorek is famous for his book and methodology of training with complexes.

   Here are 4 nuggets of training advice that I gleaned from a 2 day workshop with him 3 years ago:

   1 Comment | Read More | dumbbell, pliometrics

2. Peaking for fencing competitions

   7th December 2010 3:19 pm

   At the H&W competition last weekend, one current Excelsior athlete (Chris Hay) came first, and one alumni (Louise Helyer) came 2nd in their respective categories. 

   Well done to both. Other athletes remarked on their own inability to produce results on the day, despite just coming back from a winter training camp in Hungary.

   0 Comments | Read More | competition, fencing, peaking

3. Using Beetroot Juice to run faster.

   16th November 2010 4:50 pm

   

   Does Beetroot Juice help you get fitter?

   We all know one of the unfortunate side effects of eating beetroots, but drinking their juice may help you improve your sporting performance too.

   Matt has done some research on the evidence to date, and this does seem to be relatively true. There is certainly some evidence for its use in improving oxygen utilisation during exercise.  Here it is in more detail.

   6 Comments | Read More | beetroot supplements, sports nutrition

4. Breaking the jaw alignment myth: why Ronaldo should save his money.

   4th November 2010 9:17 am

   

   Has Ronaldo fallen for the latest fad?

   Suggestions to improve human performance are crucial in the ever-increasingly competitive athletic environment. So when a new mouth guard is invented that aligns the jaw and claims to improve:

   1 Comment | Read More | football

5. Innovative catching drill

   25th October 2010 7:13 am

   What a great idea for basketball, netball and rugby coaches, you can get all your players practicing this when they go to music festivals next summer. 

   Harry Carson was a running back with the New York Giants in the 1980s. He has made the transition to coach well, and this is a great example of Innovation.

   0 Comments | Read More |

6. Transformational Coaching Course

   11th October 2010 9:05 am

   I attended the first meeting of the new intake of the Transformational Coaching course at Bath Uni on Friday night. Organised by Paula Jardine and led by Will Roberts, this course is designed to help challenge, educate and develop coaches from across the South West of England.

   It was a productive meeting for me, with my thoughts and ideas being challenged and stimulated- despite it beinglate on Friday night.

   4 Comments | Read More | beetroot supplements, south west talent

7. Female athletes and boiling frogs part 2

   7th October 2010 9:15 am

   I am enjoying working with a group of female athletes on Monday mornings at 0730 at Millfield school. Coming from 3 different sports, this group of 6 are being introduced to resistance training and overall athletic development gradually.

   One concern with working with young females when they feel their legs aching and the flow of blood to parts previously untouched is the “ I can feel my bum getting bigger!” quote.

   I took the time and effort to explain to this young group, that what they were feeling was probably blood flow, rather than an immediate increase in mass.

   0 Comments | Read More | muay thai

8. Complexes

   6th October 2010 9:14 am

   I use complexes as part of warm ups, as part conditioning work or used as preparation before commencing a strength or power training block.

   They involve several different exercises performed as part of a sequence, building on one to the next.

   For example, using a barbell one could work from the ground up: deadlift, bent over row, hang lean, front squat, military press and then back squat.

   Popularised by Javorek, they are not a catch all answer to everything, but they are time efficient and can get a lot of areas covered in a short time.

    

   0 Comments | Read More | toddler fitness

9. Pumping up your tyres- How to improve performance.

   28th September 2010 11:22 am

   I had a great session screening a couple of young multi event athletes last week. The coaches were present which made exchange of information very clear and easy for all concerned.

   2 Comments | Read More | Transformational Coaching

10. Motor skills development- spatial awareness and catching.

    23rd September 2010 9:44 am

    I am using a block of Autumn training as a motor skill development with endurance training period.

    I am using tennis ball drills: catching, dribbling, turning, evasion and throwing for one set of development.

    The other set is using the 4 limbs to perform different tasks whilst standing and then moving in different directions.

    Most of the athletes can do 2 different things simultaneously, but not many 3.

    1 Comment | Read More | athletic development, LTAD