Blog redirect

Hi,
this will be the last post on this hosting site.

The new Excelsior sports training website is launched on Monday 15th February, please take the time to visit.
The Excelsior blog festival starts on Monday 22nd February, with a series of guest bloggers including: Istvan Javorek, Frans Bosch, Wayne Goldsmith and Kevin Bowring- don't miss it.

http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/blog

Specific FitnessTraining for Sport

I recently did a presentation at a sporting college and used the following links to show what is required from the sporting environment and what often happens in the gym.

Very few people reach this level of achievement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TflnHlQMt8 or this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26K6HU6Cz_E

but do you think Barry Sanders or Michael Jordan spent their time in the gym doing training sessions like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6qFk7YkeoM ?

Then why do most young male athletes train like that? Where are they getting their session designs from?

For female athletes, if they think strength training is like that, then they won't get involved. But here is an example of a consummate female athlete: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W405QgBa04
Jessica Ennis obviously does some conditioning in the gym.

Equestrian Fitness

I am wrong. Not often I say those words, but I am happy to admit it on this occasion. I have previously had a very negative experience working with an equestrian rider, and it tarnished my view of the whole bunch (and their domineering mothers).

Recently, despite grave misgivings, I have been working with 3 equestrian riders who are a credit to their sport, to female athletes and the younger generation as a whole. They would stand up well in any sporting environment as far as dedication, work ethic, intelligence and willingness to learn is concerned. They are also very engaged in the whole business of becoming fit for horse riding.

For those of you who aren't sure what exactly equestrianism involves here are some clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9EEsV2Djds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crc3JJHM900
and in case you think they are soft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA6tm2Xh-5k

Book Review: Winning Running - Peter Coe

Winning Running by Peter Coe (Seb Coe's Dad and Coach) is a useful guide to 800 metre and 1500 metre racing and training.

It is a relatively short book at 128 pages, but is easy to read and has some useful information in there. The author is very much of the "spare the rod, spoil the child" school of Coaching and probably parenting too. He thinks that the young child who has to finish their chores before they play and who is of the early to bed, early to rise school, will do better as they are gaining self discipline.

(I tested that theory with a group of select athletes last night, and all but 1 get up before 7am every day- compare that with the slothful teenage norm, or worse still the University "athlete").


Two of the best chapters are on Health and Mental Conditioning. Coe recognises the balance between work and rest and the influences that outside stress as on the athlete. He also stresses the importance of competition over participation and the desire to win. Winning becomes a habit, so does the training required to get there.

Coe makes an interesting point about the shortened mesocycles of 3-5 weeks used in the West are a result of truncated US College seasons. This makes sense where a lot of recent research is US based, and they rely on college students for their subjects. So this shorter periodization may not be the most beneficial. Instead, Coe talks about longer mesocycles of 7-8 weeks, that were more common in Eastern European countries.

For me, who is new to training middle distance runners, this book opened up my mind to some useful ideas.

Power bag training- Excelsior beanie

A couple of Excelsior clients have supplied these photos: the first is a home made powerbag which costs next to nothing. Charlie Tokeley used a sandbag and then wrapped up the centre part with some masking tape to make it more robust. He uses this as part of his rugby fitness training and it replicates the awkward nature of lifting other people's bodies in the contact area.

The 2nd photo shows Arthur Lanigan O'Keeffe (2nd from right) wearing his Excelsior beanie in front of the Berlin Olympic gate. Arthur was on a training camp with the Irish Modern Pentathlon team over Christmas, and needed the beanie due to the cold weather.

Strength and Conditioning qualification - passes

Well done to the following candidates who passed the Level 1 strength and conditioning qualification:
Stevie Griffiths, Paul Setter, James Cattigan, Dave Taylor, Phil Barton and Matt Northwood. Well done also to Helen Chu who passed her level 2 exam. All of these coaches contributed greatly to the courses I have recently run and made it a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience for me- and I hope them too.

Thanks to the external verifier Malcolm Hanson who came up with some useful feedback and gave me some constructive criticism.

Thanks to Taunton RFC for hosting us and providing an excellent venue.

I have 2 places left on the next Level 2 course which starts in March.