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 training the Central Nervous System helps you become a better athlete

   16th March 2011 10:00 am

   The Sporting Brain: Understanding how the mind helps us play sport

   Top cricket batsmen have been reported to hit balls within a time window of 2 to 3 milliseconds, that’s the same speed as a house fly’s wing flap!

   6 Comments | Read More | sport science

2. The Positive Choice: Dennis Pursley quote

   23rd February 2011 2:17 pm

   Dennis Pursley is the Head Coach of the British swimming team and recently said this:

   Every successful coach understands the importance of creating a positive training environment. Our thoughts, choices and decisions will be influenced by the environment around us.

    A commitment to excellence is extremely difficult to sustain even under the best of circumstances. It becomes almost impossible to sustain if we are surrounded by negative influences, or by those that promote self indulgence or mediocrity.
   

   0 Comments | Read More | football world cup, kit

3. The Complete Keys to Progress- Book Review

   14th February 2011 9:33 am

   I shall be reviewing a few of the books I have read so far this year on this week’s blog.

   The first is by John McCallum and is a compilation of articles first published in Strength and Health magazine from 1965-1972. (For students, this is before your expert lecturers in S&C were born).

   0 Comments | Read More | book review

4. Developing the young athlete

   8th February 2011 10:13 am

   One of the best projects I have been associated with is the South West Talent group. The idea is to look at developing athlete’s backgrounds, pick the ones with a varied sporting background who are later maturers, and then support them with training and measurement over a few years.

   
   

   The athletes come from many different sports in the South West. Whilst some have fallen by the wayside- mainly from thinking it was another free t-shirt without realising the commitment required- the ones who have been training regularly have progressed immensely.

   
   

   4 Comments | Read More | garage

5. Selling the sizzle not the sausage

   2nd February 2011 8:19 pm

   Are you all sausage and no sizzle?

    As a coach it is important to sell the sizzle to both the athletes and the funders.

   To the athlete it is important because it is only a rare breed that thrive on training, most like to play.

   0 Comments | Read More | equestrian

6. Can you become the next Michael Phelps?

   31st January 2011 11:42 am

   Bob Bowman is an experienced swimming coach.

   
   

   It didn’t take Bowman long to realise what he had when an 11-year-old Michael Phelps joined his swimming program in 1996.

   
   

   Immediately the coach knew he had something special, mainly because the youngster had already broken national records but was still very raw in technique.

   
   

   1 Comment | Read More | football world cup

7. Jack Lalanne – R.I.P.

   24th January 2011 10:39 am

   I am sorry to hear that Jack Lalanne has died. For those of you that don’t know Jack, he was a legend in the 1950s and 1960s, producing a series of TV slots that still resonate today.

   Here is an example of Jack talking about unhappy people. Please spare 3 minutes of your time to see what he has to offer.

   0 Comments | Read More | strength training

8. CBEs- why all Excelsior athletes get them in the New Year.

   19th January 2011 8:37 am

   CBEs- Character building exercises.

   I am not a believer in beasting people, rather in getting them to beast themselves.

   Sport and life require you to deal with adversity. Training in situations which are challenging and demanding will help the young person deal with pressure when the time comes that they need it.

   As a coach you can help by creating an environment that seeks out challenge and guides the young people into working harder than they are accustomed to, or indeed believe they can.

   0 Comments | Read More | athletic development

9. When the weights get heavy I get disciplined!

   14th January 2011 7:20 am

   Performance Sports Training

   We got back into the swing of things yesterday, watching a couple of athletes train. The diversity in athletes that James trains was obvious, having watched an American football athlete followed by a GB blind footballer.

   5 Comments | Read More | cns, tommy baker

10. 12 Days of Christmas Workout

    17th December 2010 5:49 am

    How to make a festive finisher for your young athletes

     When dealing with young people before Christmas, it is important to change the pace and style of delivery to keep them fresh and engaged.

    Here is an example of a finisher I have done with some athletes over the last week.

    “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

     

    1 L- Pull up (or bear crawl, or 400 m run or 200 m row). Something hard for the person concerned.

     On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me..

    4 Comments | Read More | planning