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 to gain 25lbs before Draft Day

   16th February 2019 11:34 am

   How do 240Lb weaklings turn themselves into 300Lbs behemoths?

   College recruits arrive undersized, a pre disposition to bench press, with poor squats and power.

   They leave absolutely massive, a pre disposition to bench press, with poor squats and power. (The NFL combine loves the bench press, but doesn’t do a squat test, although you could say vertical jump and 40 yard dash assess lower body power.)

   2 Comments | Read More | nfl draft

2. Making a Difference?

   8th February 2019 2:01 pm

   I had to do a brief presentation last week on what I do and who I have worked with. Some coaches said some nice things about my work, but I questioned how much of a difference I make. Sometimes you make a huge amount, sometimes it is small, but worthwhile, Sometimes any Coach could be in that place and the athlete would still be successful.

   0 Comments | Read More | equestrian

3. IFAC Reflections Part 3

   24th January 2019 10:46 am

   Finding the failure point in athletes My final thoughts on IFAC, reviewing Jerome Simian’s leg strengthening exercises and progressions. “If the structure is weak, it won’t allow the nervous system to show what it can do.” Regular readers and our athletes will know about Structural Integrity, Simian uses a different phrase, but the meaning is […]

   0 Comments | Read More | athletics, Coaching, cpd, strength

4. IFAC Reflections Part 2

   22nd January 2019 3:43 pm

   A review of Jerome Simian’s workshops on physical preparation for sport. I had to choose between different “strands” of coaching topics at the IFAC conference in Loughborough. A difficult choice, not wanting to miss out on some excellent speakers. I chose to attend Simian’s because of a quote I heard on the HMMR podcast: “I […]

   2 Comments | Read More | athletics, Coaching, cpd, reflective practice

5. Breaking your New Year’s Resolutions already? 3 Tips to help.

   17th January 2019 8:42 am

   7 days in to the year and you may already be off track. Your good intentions have fallen apart due to work or other commitments. Keep going, here’s what I have found works:

   1 Comment | Read More | goal setting

6. IFAC reflections Part 1

   16th January 2019 12:28 pm

   A review of the middle day of the IFAC conference in Loughborough. I spent the first Saturday of 2019 at the EAAC event held at Loughborough University. Finding good conferences in the UK is hard, so I wanted to make the most of this opportunity. I shall give an overview of what I learnt, plus […]

   0 Comments | Read More | athletics, Coaching, cpd

7. How to Create Excellence In Coaching

   15th January 2019 11:23 am

   For a start, I am not sure I have achieved this, but there are a few things that you can do to help make yourself and your coaching better.

   0 Comments | Read More | Coaching, cpd, reflective practice

8. 12 coaching lessons learnt in 2018

   18th December 2018 6:12 pm

   Things I think I have learnt this year 1.Athletes, especially young ones, have so much happening in their lives that our influence is minimal. Coaches need to realise this. 2. Periodisation planning is flawed in group settings in all but the most controlled environments (see #1). Every athlete doing your sessions has eaten, slept, socialised, […]

   1 Comment | Read More | Coaching, reflective practice, Transformational Coaching

9. Why Parkour should stay out of the Olympics

   12th December 2018 11:36 am

   Parkour as an Olympic Sport? The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has included Parkour as a new gymnastics discipline to be included in the Olympics. This is a concern for all those who enjoy the freedom of expression and creativity that is at the heart of Parkour. Young men running and jumping through the woods is […]

   2 Comments | Read More | olympics

10. Creativity in Coaching

    6th December 2018 11:00 am

    So how do we become creative in our coaching? For those of you studying at University, you may be under the impression that there is only one way of doing things. Try to look outside of the parameters of the people who are marking your assignments.

    Here are some useful tips to get the ball rolling:

    Get some space between you and the daily grind- 15 minutes of non electronic communication\ noise time. It is difficult to be creative with your mind being full of bills\ work\ relationships.

    0 Comments | Read More | Coaching, cpd