Top 5 sports performance blogs of 2014

“If you want to get faster, fitter and stronger for your sport, look no further”

Thanks to everyone who has read and/or contributed/shared this blog this year (including Dan Henderson for above quote).

There have been many different posts mainly focussed on how to improve your sports performance in some form.

There are also my regular asides on my sports coaching experiences and what I have learnt from working with my athletes or attending conferences (especially GAIN). 

The top 5 posts (on hits) published this year are:

1. How to prevent hamstring injuries Updated post by Matt Durber on the best exercises to help you stop getting hamstring injuries. It also explains why the research behind Nordic Curls is fallacious.
2. How to get fit for badminton Duncan Buckmaster and I look at lessons learnt from working with top Badminton players. An analysis of the fitness requirements and how new rules changes have affected this.
3. The fundamentals of acceleration mechanics  A review of Vince Anderson’s lecture at GAIN that will help you run the 100 metres faster. A detailed biomechanical breakdown and thought son the correct coaching cues.
4. How to take charge of your fitness training My detailed overview of how to design your sports performance training plan in the gym. Takes a look at how to become a better athlete, rather than follow the generic strength and conditioning herd.
5. The Talent ID bun fight A look at why young people who are good at sport are in danger of injury and burnout. The system in the UK that has National Governing Bodies scrabbling for funding by increasing “participation” leads to a nightmare for parents.

The post that always has the most comments is: How to make pre-season training interesting, relevant and more fun 

Our perennial favourites are these 5:

1. Is it better to drink Lucozade or Water?  By far the most popular blog of all time, Matt Brookland’s overview of the benefits of water and the claims from Lucozade. Was number 1 on Google for a long time: forced Lucozade to counter act!
2. How to choose a skipping rope A review of 6 different ropes, plus some tips on how to start skipping or “jumping rope” in the USA.
3. Fitness training for Field Hockey pt1 Duncan Buckmaster’s analysis of Hockey fitness that leads into part 2 which describes some of the work we do to get hockey players fit.
4. What’s the difference between the yo-yo tests Matt Durber’s descriptions of the 3 different tests, and how they might be used to measure your team’s fitness.
5. 5 tips on how to get started in strength and conditioning coaching People offer shortcuts to be an S&C coach all the time: good luck, I am still learning after doing it for more than 20 years. Some lessons that I have learnt and aim to help those who want to coach athletes.

This video was the most watched of the ones I uploaded in 2014:

If you have any topics you would like covered, or have your own favourite, please leave a comment below. Thanks to all readers and have a very Happy New Year.