Excelsior

2010-02-12T16:42:00.001Z

Blog redirect

2010-02-12T03:23:00.002Z

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

2010-02-10T03:41:00.000Z

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

2010-02-08T03:25:00.002Z

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

2010-02-05T04:10:00.001Z

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

2010-02-03T07:29:00.001Z

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

2010-02-02T11:50:00.001Z

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.

How to get big for rugby

2010-02-01T08:36:00.000Z

I was working with a group of young players this week- pretty new to physical training. I outlined the plan over the next 10-12 weeks. " We are going to work on efficiency of movement, becoming more robust and develop your athleticism."
I then asked what did they think that involved... "getting bigger" was the immediate response.

Getting bigger without having a solid foundation of movement (or the 4 pillars) will result in an immediate short term (about 12 weeks) improvement. In other words the hypertrophy will take about 12 weeks to take effect and then another 12 weeks can be improved upon as well. So, at the end of nearly 6 months training you will be bigger.

Then, if you are a rugby player you can look forward to: shoulder and hamstring injuries because they are the 2 most common ones, and a season of rehab.
Is it any wonder that the RFU injury audit shows an increase in rugby injuries? http://www.scrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/108283.html

Hypertrophy work- getting bigger- is a goal in itself, but should not be the first thing that young rugby players work on.

Rafael Nadal Tennis Injury

2010-01-29T07:16:00.000Z

So Rafael Nadal has withdrawn injured from a Grand Slam tournament - again. Andy Murray marches on to the final, relatively injury free.

this isn't the first time that the trainers and physios have had an impact on the outcome of an important match, this report from last year's U.S. Open:
"INJURY DAY: Juan Martin del Potro ran into a wall. Gilles Simon tweaked his knee. Jose Acasuso had "left knee pain." And when Rafael Nadal flopped to the ground to receive treatment on his abs, his opponent, Nicolas Almagro, figured he'd call the trainer, too. Injuries ran rampant at the U.S. Open on Sunday. None appeared to be too serious.

Simon and Acasuso each retired from their matches while trailing. Del Potro was fine _ just a little flesh wound _ while Nadal, who missed Wimbledon with bad knees, said he was getting sick and tired of talking about injuries, but that the strained abs that have been bothering him since last month won't keep him out.

"I saw Rafa call, so I prefer to call at the same time," Almagro said of the dueling injury timeouts in Ashe Stadium.

Trainers came out and worked on his back and 20,000 fans got to watch both tennis players laying on the ground, getting massages.

What a difference a rubdown makes?

"My tennis was the same, before the trainer, after the trainer," Almagro said. "

This year's Australian open also showed that the 5 set epics such as this one: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100120/sp_afp/tennisopenausdelpotro can also be decided by the trainer.

Potential causes of this could be:

poor scheduling of the tournaments
players playing when already injured due to financial pressures
tournament sponsors wanting their pound of flesh with big names having to attend
poor conditioning- lack of foundation training from an early age
gamesmanship- the opportunity to halt momentum and refocus mentally

The male tennis player Grand Slam champions of the future could be the ones that manage to remain injury free, the ones with staying power. This makes Roger Federer's recent accomplishments all the more remarkable.

The 4 pillars of athletic wisdom

2010-01-27T06:58:00.001Z

Working with Andy Larmour from Ocean physio last week screening some athletes, he uses a phrase describing the 4 pillars that are necessary for athletes to succeed physically:

Posture
Strength
Flexibility
Control

Andy reckons that if the athletes have these 4 pillars well formed, then their foundation is solid and we can build on that for performance.

Healthy Diet - advice

2010-01-25T13:05:00.000Z

This advice from the 2nd World War is pretty good.

Most of the time, dietary advice isn't about the latest supplement. It is about getting the basics right, and then forming good habits.

Confucius quote

2010-01-22T05:09:00.000Z

"It is better to light a candle than to rant against darkness"

Quiet a good motto for developing Coaching practices.

How to make an athlete efficient

2010-01-20T06:51:00.002Z

ef·fi·cien·cy (-fshn-s)n. pl. ef·fi·cien·cies

a. The quality or property of being efficient.

b. The degree to which this quality is exercised: The program was implemented with great efficiency and speed.

a. The ratio of the effective or useful output to the total input in any system.

b. The ratio of the energy delivered by a machine to the energy supplied for its operation.

This is a word used by the physios I screen athletes with. If the athlete is moving efficiently, then they can utilise their energy systems to provide work for tactical moves at key times. If they are inefficient, energy is wasted on compensating movement patterns and maximal efforts will not be produced.

The key is to work the athlete as a whole, with the kinetic chain working together. The athlete is not a series of micro managed individual muscle actions - so the training should reflect this.

Making athletes robust

2010-01-18T07:10:00.001Z

ro·bust (r-bst, rbst)

adj.

1. Full of health and strength; vigorous.

2. Powerfully built; sturdy.

3. Requiring or suited to physical strength or endurance: robust labour.

4. Rough or crude; boisterous: a robust tale.

5. Marked by richness and fullness; full-bodied: a robust wine.

[Latin rbustus, from rbur, rbus, oak, strength; see reudh- in Indo-European roots.]

ro·bustly adv.

ro·bustness n.

This is a word I use a lot in working with young athletes- giving an idea of a goal to work towards in the short term before we develop them further. Unfortunately, a lot of them don't know what it means!

Haiti Earthquake Appeal

2010-01-15T13:09:00.004Z

This Disaster puts everything else into perspective. People in the UK can help by donating here:
http://www.dec.org.uk/

I saw a huge pile of fresh food being thrown out at a public school yesterday as waste. Meanwhile, 100, 000 people are dead and 3 million are homeless in one of the poorest countries in the world.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Roy Williams - Hard Work - Book Review

2010-01-15T08:38:00.000Z

I got this book for Christmas on the back of a Vern Gambetta recommendation.
Williams is the Head Coach of the North Carolina basketball team and is in the College basketball Hall of Fame. His book recounts his life from an early age and gives a detailed insight into his background and what has driven him to be a successful coach.

It is interesting to read about his attitude to recruitment, preparation, analysis and goal setting with his players. These seem to be the foundations of his Coaching success, along with the title of the book- Hard Work.

For me, the "good ol' boy" writing style is a bit schmaltzy, but it appears to be a genuine reflection of Williams as a person. Worth a read to learn from someone who is one of the best in his business, and for me, outside of my peer group or knowledge base.

Indian Club Swinging

2010-01-14T05:48:00.000Z

You may have noticed the 2 new videos here:http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=excelsiorgroupsport#p/a/u/0/EAcOl5boVrc

and here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=excelsiorgroupsport#p/a/u/1/hMkn8NoA-8E

The first demonstrates some exercises with Indian Clubs. These were a common tool in use at schools at the beginning of the 20th century across the UK. Classes of children used them in their Physical Training lessons in large formations before school started. Back then the schools realised the benefits of getting children physically active before starting lessons.

I use Indian Clubs as either a warm up before weight training, or as a specific exercise to help strengthen wrists, elbows and shoulders. This is important for many athletes I work with including: wheelchair basketball, golf, throwing events, swimming, fencing and martial artists.

This type of work can be used as a compliment to the sagittal plane lifting obsession of rugby weight training programmes too.

Thanks to Martin Fricker for showing me how to use them (although he is much better at it than me!)

The 2nd video shows some more dumbbell exercises that I use- there are a lot more to go, but it does show that there is more to weight training with dumbbells than bicep curls.

Soundtrack provided by local band http://www.leavebeforedawn.com/ One of the members - Scott Broomfield trains with me.

How do I Use My Heart Rate Monitor?

2010-01-13T06:12:00.003Z

So, you got a new Heart Rate Monitor for Christmas, well here are some tips on what to do with it:

Heart Rate Training

Monitoring your heart rate is a useful way of measuring the intensity of your training sessions. As exercise intensity and duration progresses, so does the number of heart beats per minute.

The higher number of beats per minute, the harder your session is likely to be. The heart beats faster in order to deliver oxygen in the blood to the muscles that are working during exercise, including the heart itself, and to other vital organs such as the brain.

Wearing a heart rate monitor can help you measure your heart rate, alternatively count the number of beats manually in a 10 second period and multiply by 6.

The manual pulse can either be measured at: the wrist (radial), turn your palm face up, place two fingers from your opposite hand on the outside part of your wrist, just below the hand; or the neck (carotid), place two fingers below the jaw next to wear the Adam’s apple is in men.

Try to measure your heart rate at rest (RHR), most athletes will range from 40bpm to 70bpm. With training your RHR will decrease due to an increase in the amount of blood pumped by the heart during each beat.

At what speed should your heart rate be beating, when training? This is commonly expressed as a percentage of your maximum heart rate (MHR) So 50% of your heart rate would be expressed as 50%MHR.

The commonly used formula to estimate Maximum heart rate (220 –age) is only that, an estimate. Using this formula and adhering to it without checking yourself what your MHR is, could lead to training too hard or too light.

An alternative method is to measure your HR over a few training sessions, record it and also write down how hard you felt that you trained. This will give you a correlation between your HR and the intensity of the training session that is specific to you. For example: if your HR is 180bpm and the session is hard, you will be able to use that information to program interval training sessions, where you might want to work until your HR reaches 185bpm for 30 seconds, then recover until it drops to 150bpm, then work hard again.

Another method is to complete a regular training session several times, recording your HR at peak effort, at the end of the session and also 2 minutes and 4 minutes after the session. If HR is lower during the session, you are better able to cope with the work, if it is lower after the session, your recovery ability is improved. You can then look to increase the intensity, duration or distance of the training session, to provide your body with new stimulus.

At what HR should you be training to achieve various goals such as fat burning? Predicting so-called ‘fat –burning’ zones is prone to error, as each individual as a different metabolism, and different Maximal Heart Rates. High intensity, anaerobic work outs should generally be at 85% plus of your MHR. But aerobic benefits can be gained from training at a level as low as 50% of your MHR.

In summary use your HR to gain an objective record of your improvements and reactions to specific training sessions over time. It will be a useful measure of intensity, and then you can plan future sessions based on your own results.

Why your child should do household chores

2010-01-11T06:20:00.002Z

The advert on the left should really read "Chores- safeguards childrens' health".

The recent bouts of snow and the related activities have shown me that children can be active and physically working- I saw 2 teenage girls repeatedly trying to walk up a snow covered slope and sliding down on their backsides- giggling, laughing and working quite hard for 30 minutes. I asked them if they liked P.E. at school and they said no!

If your child is doing chores such as dusting, cleaning, vaccuuming, gardening and putting the rubbish out, then they will be working on aspects of conditioning that will help them at their sport.

Think of doing that first before ferrying them in the car to another "Talent ID camp" of early specialisation and early maturers getting put through over rehearsed tactical drills.

Gene Hooks an athletics coach has written:

“The mechanisation of modern life has robbed our youth of the manual chores which once developed strong bodies. Unless something is done to change our way of life, further athletes will be increasingly weak. …Coaches must realise that improved strength will help an athlete, not hurt him”

Hooks, Gene, Application of Weight Training to Athletics. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1962).

This was written nearly fifty years ago, and I think he has been proven right.

Training in the snow

2010-01-08T06:54:00.002Z

I had a few athletes cancel their attendance at training this week, being in a rural community it is getting onto the main roads that is difficult as you can see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MPRmOU

Well done to all who attended the training.

Beginners Guide to endurance training

2010-01-08T06:18:00.001Z

In response to Pete's comments here: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3981630712735193543&postID=3427498121896209778

here are some tips for the middle age office worker who wants to start getting fit for sport:

As long as you have no underlying health issues then the sooner you start the better. BUT, if you chuck yourself in at the deep end, then you will either become: injured; or disillusioned. That seems to be the point of your comments and you are not making progress.

Strengthen joints: running is an impact activity, especially if you are carrying excess kilos. Ankle raises, squats, lunges and step ups onto a low bench are good places to start. Try doing 10-20 repetitions of each exercise twice a day.

Lose weight first: burning calories, and watching what you eat are essential to prevent injury before embarking on running. Walking, cycling and rowing are good ways of doing this- see here also http://excelsiorgroup.blogspot.com/2010/01/5-ways-to-lose-weight-in-new-year.html

Walk/ run: You don't have to do the fatty shuffle as you labour around your local park or streets. A+ for effort for these poor souls, but they don't have to be a martyr, I wonder how many can keep that going. Instead try walking fast for 2 minutes, then jogging for 30 seconds. Do 10 sets of that. That way you can maintain a decent running form without deteriorating into an injury inducing shambolic lope.

Set a goal: It may be to enter a 3 km race in February, or to run 2 miles straight, or to be able to run for 15 minutes without stopping. By having that goal, you will know how to work backwards from there- you don't have to reach that goal tomorrow- but you do have to have a date for achieving it.

I apply all these principles to the athletes I work with- it doesn't matter who you are, the underlying training principles don't change- it is just that everyone starts from a different place and has a different goal in mind.

LTAD in the snow- what to do when school's out.

2010-01-06T11:15:00.005Z

One good thing about the snow break is that there are no cars on the roads, and all the villagers are out walking for a change.

With the children out of school, they are free to run, jump and play in the snow. This type of unstructured play is rare nowadays and is exactly what is needed for juniors to develop their physical literacy and overall movement vocabulary.

Using sleds, building snowmen and igloos, shovelling snow and throwing and dodging snowballs are all great for enhancing sporting activity.
Most of all it is FUN, so, teachers, think of that next time you put your class of teenage girls on a row of crosstrainers.

For further information on how to increase your child's sporting ability see here: http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/child_latd.html

Healthy Eating in the New Year- Useful recipes

2010-01-06T07:17:00.001Z

Healthy Eating- 65% CHO, 30% fat, 15% protein, anti oxidants, low glycemic index, high glycemic index- you have probably heard it all before- but what do I actually buy at the shop and how can I cook it?

These two books were given to me for my birthday last year (Thank you to the Benedicts) and are pretty useful for the type of athlete I work with- young students who are either living at home or at Universty, but may not be good at cooking.

It will take a bit of planning at the beginning of the week to have a look through some recipes, compile your shopping list and then buy the stuff. That is the hard bit, the easy bit is the cooking (if I can do it, then it can't be too hard!) and the best bit is the eating.

Lots of these recipes allow for bigger portions to help fill your freezer, and I find that useful for the Friday night slump when you just can't be bothered to cook.

At £4.99 a book that is 202 recipes for less than a tenner- pretty good value in my mind.

Shoulder pain- how to get it better

2010-01-05T06:05:00.001Z

In response to Tommy's question about persistent shoulder pain.
If you have shoulder pain, then there are a few things you need to do:

Diagnosis- what is actually wrong with it? Going to the GP and being told to rest and given some anti inflammatories may work in the immediate future, but not necessarily in the long term. Similarly if you have a serious tear or rupture, then doing any exercise will make it worse- so you need to understand how severe it is first.

Start to work on low level movement and control exercises. This includes extended press ups either against the wall or on the floor, shoulder rolls, shrugs, and protraction exercises.

Isometric contractions are also useful in strengthening a specific weak point under control. So for a thrower/ striker/ racquet sport player, that might mean getting into your sport stance close to a wall and then pushing against that wall for 3-5 seconds quite hard. Rest for 10 seconds, then repeat 3-5 times. See how that react the next day and then you can increase that.

If you have chronic shoulder pain, then it may mean you have to do these exercises on a daily basis as a preventative tool. (The same applies to chronic low back pain). Five minutes a day, every day will help stabilise that joint.

From there you can start to add in multi joint exercises that use the shoulder in more functional ways- dips, press ups (lots of variety here), pull ups, dumbbell presses, and throwing lighter implements for short distances.

Remember: Diagnose, move, stabilise, strengthen, function and consistency.

However, this does not apply to healthy athletes- if it ain't broke- don't fix it.

Do not participate in sport until you are pain free.

Beanie winners - your feedback

2010-01-04T08:58:00.004Z

Hi,
thanks for all the feedback and questions to this post: http://excelsiorgroup.blogspot.com/2009/12/your-feedback.html

The lucky winners of the free beanies were:
Tommy, Pete, Tim, Chris, Matt and Charlie, with the free pedometer going to Nick.

I shall be answering all the questions either on the blog or in my upcoming ebook which will be available by the end of this month.

This type of feedback is useful as it shows me what questions are on your minds, or on your athletes' minds.

5 ways to lose weight in the New Year

2010-01-04T07:09:00.004Z

Get a pedometer and measure your daily activity levels. If you are doing less than 10,000 steps a day- get there first before buying any new exercise equipment or joining a gym.
Eat less food.
Eat breakfast
Watch less tv- watching sport on tv is not an activity- it is still watching tv.
Get off facebook.

Be honest with yourself- there is no point attempting fad diets or fad exercise crazes unless you are brutally honest about what you are currently doing. Most people who moan about being overweight eat too much food and do too little activity. The people who moan about not having time to exercise spend hours on facebook or watching tv.

Start moving now.

1st blog of the decade - bring it on.

2010-01-01T16:59:00.000Z

So, a fresh start psychologically, a New Year and a New Decade. Although these are arbitrary points in time they are a good starting point (if you didn't get a head start in December!) for many people.

I have noticed over the last year that when presented with a new idea or new opportunity people can be roughly categorised into either:

"Why Not?"
or
"Why Bother?"

If you want to achieve your goals for the New Year, have a look around your peers; which category are they in? If they are in the "why bother?" group, then you may struggle to achieve what you want.

If they are in the "why not?" category then have a go at what you want to do and enlist their help, support and advice.

If you try something and it doesn't work, at least you have tried. The easiest option in the short term is to do nothing, but in the long term that is soul destroying. If you want your life to be exactly the same this time in 10 years, then now is a good place to start changing what you are doing.

Good luck and Happy New Year.

Last blog of the decade

2009-12-18T05:29:00.002Z

So, this time 10 years ago we were all anticipating a Y2K collapse, with planes falling from the sky. Those of us in London were persuaded to go and see the "river of fire" on New Year's Eve, which turned out to be a damp squid.

What happened next?

The web kicked off, emails became a burden rather than a way of communicating, young people can not actually speak in proper sentences, or spell, or pay attention to something for more than 45 seconds.
Everyone wanted something for nothing, abdicating personal responsibility for what they ate, what they borrowed or what they did. I am not sure whether we have suffered the full consequences of all that yet.

The last 10 years have been eventful for me:
Set up this company;Completed an MSc; Competed in European and World Championships;Got Married; Moved house 4 times; Had two children- the best things that have happened definitely.

Highlights of the decade generally?
Movies: generally poor, apart from Gladiator right at the beginning and the 3 LOTR movies, a generally poor showing from Hollywood as the lowest common denomonator and multiplexes were catered for. 2009 offered a glimmer of hope with The Wrestler, Star Trek and Gran Torino.
Books: Lots of text books, e books, and journals to read. Gambetta, Bosch, Kurz and John Jesse I still refer to a lot.
Stephen Ambrose's history books, athough with a heavy US bias, Richard Dawkins is always good, Michio Kaku and Martin Rees to broaden the mind, just discovered Henning Mankell's crime novels for light reading.
TV Series- Thank you HBO: The Sopranos, The Wire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Generation Kill and Band of Brothers, also in the UK- The Office.
Travel: Money and family have limited my travel escapades compared to the previous decades, but I have discovered the local area in more depth. Devon, Cornwall and Somerset have a lot to offer and I try to make time each week to go somewhere new in the vicinity. Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas is an obvious highlight because of our wedding, but that is an obvious get away from it all place. The best thing about the Cay was that we spent a week with friends and family there. Brittany too was new to me and we will be visiting there again. I also went to Japan three times for training/ competing purposes. Tokyo is a different world, but enjoyable, Hakone park is great for feeling part of rural Japan.

I am having a 2 week break from blogging to make sure I spend more time with my family and friends. That is what Christmas means to me, the chance to chat, relax and share some new experiences with people who matter.

Have a very Happy Christmas, a great New Year, thanks to everyone who reads this blog, who comments, who has bought services from us, or who has supplied the company with expertise.

Your feedback- free prizes

2009-12-18T00:05:00.002Z

Hi, I am a bit short of comments on the blog at present, despite readership being higher than ever.
All comments are welcome (except abusive ones) and it leads to me improving my service because I get to see things from your perspective.

One example of this was me uploading free resources on LTAD here: http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/child_latd.html

So, to kick things off - I would like to hear the top 5 questions that you have to ask about training, competing and coaching. That way I can tailor the blog to your needs.

As a prize, I have 5 Excelsior beanies and a pedometer to the 6 people who submit their questions first.

Thanks

New Year's Resolutions- Healthy Eating

2009-12-16T06:43:00.000Z

I always like to get a step ahead of my competitors by ensuring that I start training before they do.
December is an ideal opportunity to do this as most people are switching off and over indulging. They then have a longer uphill struggle in January.

I have uploaded a useful guide on sports nutrition here: http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/papers/UKA_Eat_and_Drink_Like_A_Champion.pdf

If you are trying to lose weight, maintain weight or improve body composition, then it is better to be consistent, then trying to do it in a hurry. Much easier to cut down on mince pie intake than trying to burn them off later (but still have the odd one otherwise you will be a weirdo who has a psychotic episode later on in life).

What matters now- free ebook - fresh ideas

2009-12-15T02:55:00.000Z

Download this free ebook featuring ideas and thoughts from a variety of people here:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/files/what-matters-now-1.pdf

Nice to see a group project come together and useful to read stuff from outside of your usual scope.

One of the problems with Coaching nowadays is "groupthink", the Coaches are coming from a limited gene pool of ex players or from certain Clubs and Universities and rehashing what they were taught or experienced 5 years previously.

A fresh insight at least allows you to challenge what you are doing and reflect upon it. As we are coming up to the end of the decade- why not start thinking afresh now?

New Year's Resolutions- Reasons to Avoid

2009-12-14T07:07:00.001Z

So, we have just over 2 weeks to go this decade. Are you thinking about what you might start in the New Year? If so, I can pretty much guarantee that it won't last.

If you really want to change something, or start something new- you would do it today, right now.
If not, then you are waiting for an external event or influence to do it for you. This may not be obvious at first, but it is an underlying trend.

I had the conversation with one of my Excelsior colleagues 2 weeks ago- he says that he is always being asked by people to help him get fit, or give them free advice. He clears 80% of the time wasters away by asking them to eat breakfast at home for 4 days in a row, then he will talk to them again. Only 20% of the people can manage to do this.

I have the same point of view when asked about exercise, or buying new equipment, or which gym to join- I say to the non exercisers to walk for 15 minutes a day and see how they get on. This immediately puts up barriers as I have put the monkey on their back.
"What, I actually have to do something to get fitter\ lose weight\ improve my health? Can't I just spend some money and my new purchase will do it for me?"

My point and my colleagues is that a change in your well being requires you to do something, if you can't stick to a healthier eating habit for 4 days, or find 15 minutes a day to start walking, then no amount of purchases will do the work for you.

If you wait until the New Year to start your new lifestyle, then you have wasted 17 days.

Recovery - travelling is not resting

2009-12-11T13:09:00.003Z

Working with several different athletes this week, from fencing, modern pentathlon and basketball, who looked very tired.
When we talk about what is making them tired, it doesn't appear to be a heavy training load, their nutrition could be improved (whose couldn't?) but the key factor is the amount of travel that is required to attend their training or competition.

When you add the stress of work or school and study on there, you can see why they become ill or get injured.

Travel is not rest, so how can you make it less stressful?

Make sure you have warmed down, showered, eaten and rehydrated before getting on your journey post competition.

Take a form of relaxation on the journey- reading, music, or sleep (difficult if you are the driver).

Ensure that you have regular stops and move around on those stops, park as far away from the toilets as you can to make sure you get more walking done.

Avoid the service station food, instead eat and drink regularly on the journey.

As a Coach, factor travel time under additional stressors, and realise that a 3 hour round trip to do a 1 hour training session may not be conducive to achieving peak performance. Your athlete may be better off at home and working on individual skills and getting more rest.

How to Create Excellence In Coaching

2009-12-09T06:23:00.004Z

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.

Learn- observe, participate, read, practice. Not just from the usual key texts, if all you do is read the same 3 books as everyone else, you will do the same as everyone else. Look outside your usual sphere of influence, try different things, listen to what your athletes are telling you.
Analyse- look at what your athletes do when they move, don't come with a prepared programme to hand out, see what they can actually do. Look at what the sport requires in the game, using both top performers and beginners as benchmarks. Don't take an exercise as gospel because "Tiger Woods does it". Try to understand why he might do something, and then see if you need to do that.
Share- share your ideas and opinions and thoughts with others. Physiotherapists, biomechanists, physiologists, coaches will all see the same thing as you, but from their perspective. This will add colour, depth and clarity to your own vision. This should help prevent group think, but also be aware of summating that information into a workable package for your athletes.
Review- constantly, all the time, after every session, every day, every week, every month, every year. The mini reviews will help you adjust things before your next session. But the bigger reviews require time and no distractions. Take the time out away from the immediate pressing issues of the day and sit down with a blank piece of paper and a clear mind. Revisit where you want to go, think what you need to get there. Think what you have done and then match the two. Where there are gaps, look to improve.

'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit’. Aristotle (384 – 322 BC).

Thanks to John Hogan for that last quote.

Level 2 S&C Course Taunton, Somerset

2009-12-07T14:29:00.002Z

I will be running a Level 2 Coaching Strength and Conditioning for Sport Qualification In March 2010 at Taunton RFC, Somerset.

This is an excellent opportunity to develop your professional skills and help improve your team.

The course will run from Saturday 27th March to Monday 29th March 0900-1630.
The assessment day will be on Saturday 8th May 0900-1630.

The cost is £350. There is a requirement to do pre course reading, and you will need access to athletes to practice your coaching.

The booking deadline is 25th February, payment is required in full by that date. You can secure your place with a £100 deposit made payable to "Excelsior" or using paypal on the home page: http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/

You will then be sent the reading list and pre course instructions.

Further information on the course structure can be found here:
http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/qualifications.shtml

Jack Lalanne diet- pre Christmas

2009-12-07T06:19:00.001Z

I used this video on the level 1 course last week to show that some things have been common knowledge for a while- it is just applying them that is difficult: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJVEPB_l8FU

Jack talks common sense, and I wonder how many people could stick to his plan for 5 days- well I decided to have a go- and succeeded. I might well do this on the first 5 days of each month. It is easy to slip off into bad habits and this could be a useful reminder each month as to look after myself nutritionally.

(If you like what Jack has to say- read my interview with him here: http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/papers/Oct_2007.pdf)

Level 1 course- "It's common sense"

2009-12-04T06:11:00.001Z

Last weekend I had the privilege of working with a group of Coaches who attended the Level 1 strength and conditioning coaching for sport course I was running in Taunton.
A varied bunch, with some being new to the field, some having a fair bit of experience, but all contributed in some way.

I think everyone had their eyes opened when we did the speed work, and that was new to all- I owe that to the Frans Bosch seminar I went on earlier in the year, and the research and practice I have been doing as a result.

A repeated quote, when we discussed various training principles, and how to apply them was "it's common sense". But then we would all be able to highlight varied examples of bad practice that we have either witnessed, been subject to, or done ourselves.

A lot of Coaching is common sense- but where organisations go off track is when they don't take the time to review their practices objectively. How often do people take the time to critically assess what they are doing, and why?

I will be assessing this group at the end of January, and I said as long as they read, practice and ask questions they will be successful.

Thanks to Taunton RFC for hosting us- excellent conference facilities and service.

Book Review - Insomnia

2009-12-02T07:14:00.001Z

Insomnia- Your Questions Answered by Dr. Dilys Davies.

Quite a comprehensive book, but very easy to read, it covers the different aspects behind insomnia- causes, solutions and adaptations that can be made.

Davies is a clinical psychologist, but does cover other aspects such as nutrition and physical activity in this book.

The book gives a detailed analysis of sleep patterns and covers the stages of the sleep cycle. It looks at how the overall lifestyle contributes to insomnia, it isn't just a matter of what happens from 10pm to 6am.

I like her solutions for curing insomnia, or dealing with it, especially about looking for less overall sleep. She debunks the 8 hours myth quite well, and if you are an insomniac you may recognise the pressure of having to get "8 hours". This then leads to more distress and the cycle continues.

Recommended for every insomniac.

S.A. I. D.- training principle

2009-11-30T01:03:00.001Z

Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand.

This is a very basic training principle, but can be overlooked. Screening a young footballer for the first time yesterday, I asked what his fitness regime was- 90 minutes of fitness work once a week with his football coach which consisted of boxing and core stability.

The boxing was minute intervals of hitting stationary pads, the core stability was different versions of the plank.

If that was 10-15 minutes of the session I wouldn't be too worried, but that was the sum of it.

So, a footballer who has low 10metre speed, poor change of direction times and a poor vertical jump is not going to improve his game with padwork and planks. he does no proper resistance training, no flexibility work, no balance work.

He is pretty much wasting 90 minutes work each week on things that will have no impact on his footballing ability. He is however, becoming better at hitting pads and doing the plank.

My two major priorities with this guy will be:

Injury prevention- improve balance, single leg strength, increase flexibility.
Improve underlying strength- resisted rotational core work in standing and moving, bilateral leg strength.

I will then reassess in 6 weeks time.

Sylvester Stallone Diet tips

2009-11-27T06:05:00.000Z

Browsing through his book "sly moves" in the library, I came across his tips on diet and nutrition:

"Common sense, a little bit of willpower, and simplicity."

Couldn't agree more- so why is it so difficult to get that message across and for athletes to comprehend that?

Vasily Alexeyev Interview

2009-11-25T03:18:00.000Z

Have a look at this interview if you are interested in developing strength and winning in sport:
http://www.elitefts.com/documents/science_of_winning.htm

Note how he disdains mirrors in gyms because they stop the athlete from concentrating on their own performance and instead look at their image.

Note also how he had a background in other sports, but began resistance training at 12 years old (see http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/child_latd.html)

He also advocates using complexes which ensure the weight is in the grasp for 2- 3 minutes at a time (see http://excelsiorgroup.blogspot.com/2009/04/istvan-javorek-interview.html.

He has a real competitive mindset and as a multiple Olympic champion, may have a point.

Thanks to Jon Bartlett for sending it to me.

Free Resources Youth Coaches and Teachers- LTAD

2009-11-24T05:30:00.003Z

Following some useful feedback I have uploaded some more resources here for those of you interested in: developing physical literacy; enhancing athlete development; and preventing injuries in youth athletes:
http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/child_latd.html

The #1 Recovery Supplement

2009-11-23T05:24:00.001Z

As you can see from the picture, if it was sold in a can, marketed and advertised in all the health and sport magazines, this would be much more talked about.

Instead, it is free, so no one makes any money from it.
It also requires some good habits and that other free supplement (self discipline) to ensure that you get a good night's rest.

There are many reasons why sleep is not easily available- environment, new babies, poor diet, hard evening training sessions, caffeine, stress, anxiety- and these require attention and sometimes outside help to improve these areas.

But simply staying up late to play computer games, sit on facebook for hours at a time or going out nightclubbing are not good reasons to forgo sleep.

Similarly, all the supplements, special clothes and extra massages, will not help recovery without sleep.

Just because it is free doesn't make it any less worthwhile. Shakespeare called it "Tired nature's sweet restorer" and you can't argue with that.

Thanks to Brian Ellicott for the picture

Andrew Strauss quote- breeding mental toughness

2009-11-20T01:17:00.000Z

According to Jim Loehr (http://excelsiorgroup.blogspot.com/2007/11/toughness-training-for-life-review.html) the environment in which one trains is very important for developing mental toughness.

Andrew Strauss makes a similar point in an interview with the Financial Times last weekend:
"You start playing cricket in England and you think 'Ok, I'm Barry Big Pants' and you've got your shiny tracksuit and your bats... the system doesn't produce battle-hardened cricketers. It's one of the issues that prevents us from being the best side in the world."

When, as an adult, he returned to play in Australia, he was struck by the contrast. "Almost by default they think you're crap unless you prove otherwise. I've never been sledged as badly as I was playing club cricket out there. Though the one thing that really got me was that they weren't interested in excuses. Whereas in England you go "the wicket wasn't playing very well today" - and your teammates would go "Yeah, it was pretty tough, I don't know how I veen got the runs"- the Aussies would go "He was crap, he should have got a hundred", or something along those lines. It's a very different kind of mindset."

Have a think about that next time you see some players and coaches wandering around in their shiny tracksuits, squandering big budgets on external fripperies and allowing mediocrity and excuses for failure to become embedded into their culture.

Garnet Mackinder- England under-20s

2009-11-18T03:28:00.000Z

Garnet has been selected as part of this year's RFUW under-20s squad. I have worked more on speed training with Garnet than with any other athlete.

She is featured on this sprint training video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gca72B0_9UE

Good luck this season to her.

Coaching quote

2009-11-16T06:10:00.000Z

"When Coaches read new philosophy on training they tend to overreact in the short term and under react in the long term."

Very true, brings me back to the analogy of Coaches being like 6 year old soccer players- they all run to the ball and chase it mindlessly.

Thanks to John Hogan for that one.

Louise Helyer wins Swiss Open

2009-11-13T07:52:00.000Z

Louise Helyer has won the Swiss Open Modern Pentathlon Competition with 5648 points. I have been working with Louise the last 2 months, specifically on running technique and training drills to enhance that.

We have also set up an endurance training programme that is designed to prevent the injuries that have beset her in previous winter training.

Louise is 24 and has an extensive training background, when discussing goals we thought it best to try and work on her specific needs, and isolate one aspect in detail. She is currently ranked 35th in the World, but is aiming to improve that this year.

This result is a good start. Well done Louise.

Long Term Athlete Development Page

2009-11-11T08:50:00.005Z

You may have seen the new page on the website outlining the basis of LTAD training that we offer:
http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/child_latd.html

More and more work we do is intent on offering support to parents, coaches and teachers in helping the young person develop in a systematic, fun and effective way.

It seems that the more people who are calling themselves "S&C coaches" the more work we have to do at Excelsior in helping mend broken athletes!

The clue is in the phrase "Long Term" as a parent I am sure that you are keen to ensure that your child is a well rounded athlete in the long term, rather than get broken at the whim of a Coach who must win this Saturday.

Fencing Champions

2009-11-11T02:00:00.000Z

Excelsior clients Chris Hay and David Stewart Watson finished 1st and 2nd in fencing at the recent UK School games. Chris has been training with me for the last 6 months and is developing into a decent athlete, DSW has been training for about 3 months (that's the difference between 1st and 2nd!!).

Fencing is a very one sided sport, so we are making sure that the athletes are working on bilateral skills to develop their overall co ordination and athleticism as well as specific exercises for fencing fitness.

Well done to both of them, I think the next year will show a big difference in their performance.

Free Coaching HandBook for Youth Coaches

2009-11-09T05:35:00.000Z

Hi,
it may be teaching some of you to suck eggs, but there are some useful points, especially on running parent orientation meetings. There are also some useful templates in the appendices for handouts to players and parents.

You can download it here:
http://www.americancoachingacademy.com/manifesto.pdf

For those of you who are interested in implementing some of the ideas featured and want to set up a good youth athlete development programme, contact me here: james@excelsiorgroup.co.uk
and I will happily get you started.

New Arrival

2009-11-03T09:24:00.004Z

Jack Arthur Marshall was born last week weighing in at 3.76kg, and 51cm long. Him and Mum are doing ok, Dad and his big sister also doing well.

Will be a bit busy this week, so won't be blogging until next week.

Coaching Resources

2009-11-02T06:02:00.000Z

As a coach you may be asked to do things outside of your sporting expertise, such as writing contracts, dealing with the media or organising volunteers.

A good place to start looking for advice is here: http://www.ausport.gov.au/supporting/clubs/resource_library/resource_library_-_topic_listing

Golf fitness training

2009-10-30T06:45:00.000Z

A lot of studies looking at golfing fitness recently have shown that high level golfers have a good aerobic capacity, good rotational strength, and surprisingly strong bench press results. I am not sure whether this is because that is a staple of most of their training programmes, or a result of the golf playing- I would presume the former.

The important thing to remember when designing golf fitness programmes is that although chest and rotational strength are essential, this does not mean hypertrophy. Levers are that too big will have too much inertia and the club head speed will be too slow.

Strength has to be developed without too much increase in size.

Benefits of circuit training

2009-10-28T09:29:00.004Z

Circuit training has been around for a while and used to be popular in schools, the Armed Forces and sports clubs. Recently, this has not been the case for various reasons, one of them being an apparent lack of specificity. It is also due to the fact that certain fitness qualifications or accreditations focus on barbell platform lifts, and so the people who pass those courses tend to do those type of exercises with other people.

However, as part of the Long Term Athlete Development Process whereby generalisation of motor skills is essential before specialisation, and as an easy to use, cheap, and very varied exercise mode, circuit training should be considered with the right populations at the right time.

A recent study from Turkey (http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2009/09000/Effect_of_Circuit_Training_on_the_Sprint_Agility.25.aspx)
showed an improvement in sprint agility and anaerobic endurance following a circuit training protocol of 3 days a week for 10 weeks. The subjects were healthy PE students, average age 24, so may not have been that fit to start with.

This information is useful for all most intermittent type field sports as an improvement in sprint agility and anaerobic endurance could prove useful.

Book Reviews- Youth Strength Training

2009-10-26T05:21:00.001Z

Total Training, by Tudor Bompa, and Strength & Power for Young Athletes by Avery Faigenbaum and Wayne Westcott.

I got these two books out of the library recently, both were published in 2000, but are very relevant today. It appears that both books are aimed at parents and P.E. teachers. They offer a good rationale behind the training programmes included, in an easy to understand fashion.

For S&C coaches, the Total Training book is probably more suited, as it offers guidelines across the whole spectrum of athletic training: motor skills; flexibility; endurance, strength, speed and so on. It has good diagrams showing the various exercises, as well as block charts showing different stages of development and what aspects of performance are best trained when.

The strength & power book says it is for young athletes, but the impression I get is that it is more suited to an overall health programme, rather than sport specificity. It has an excellent insight into Coaching young people, and especially those who may not be naturally "sporty". It is here that young PE teachers and Coaches who expect everyone to be able to do things easily may benefit most. It has a comprehensive list of exercises, but too much emphasis on machine exercise training, with not enough different dumbbell exercises for my liking.

For Coaches and PE teachers who are going to be training young people, both of these books would be a good start in expanding your knowledge.

I have seen all of these authors present at conferences, and the books are a good reflection of their philosophies.

Rugby Weight Training

2009-10-23T09:20:00.005+01:00

Simon Shaw was widely quoted in the press on Wednesday, talking about the number of injuries suffered by players:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/6400017/Simon-Shaw-Shorter-season-would-reduce-injury-toll.html

About one third of the elite player squad are unavailable for selection for the Autumn Internationals due to injury. Shaw blames an excessive emphasis on "gym culture" for the injuries, with a "Jonny Wilkinson" syndrome of overtraining with not enough rest.

I agree with there not being enough rest, and I agree that there is too much emphasis on physical development at the expense of skills - just look at the number of scrums needed due to knock ons!
But the situation has developed at the Senior level due to the lack of professionalism at Junior level.
Here are a few of the problems:
Too much playing of rugby at an early age (see this post for more: http://excelsiorgroup.blogspot.com/2009/10/ltad-usa-versus-uk.html) which does not allow for physical development over time.

Instead, the players get to about 16 and are told to put on massive amounts of weight in a short time.

This leads to an over emphasis on hypertrophy, rather than athletic development, conditioning and skill rehearsal. That is why University age players tend to be chubby, stiff, unfit and less athletic than their 16 year old counterparts.

The Academies skimp on resources at the under- 16 level, so that those junior players are given poor advice ( if any) - such as "don't do any weights before 16" or "here is the programme the first team are doing- do that".

Hiring people who are still at University and offering them free kit instead of a wage, is not a recruitment policy for getting expert advice to the most vulnerable and important group of players.

The 18-21 year old player goes from 40- 50 matches a year to 10-12 and so does spend too much time in the gym. When they get to a certain size, they start to play 30 matches a season again, but do not have the underlying fitness to cope with that. They may also try to maintain certain fitness targets set by their S&C Coach which were achievable during limited playing time, but lead to breakdown during a full season.

The problem is, it is too much, too late.

Forty Today

2009-10-21T07:55:00.001+01:00

Forty Today.
It is interesting to see other people's reactions to this. Those who are keen for other people to fail seem to want to hit me over a head with the fact and that I should stop keeping fit and being healthy and get fat!

Hey ho, one of my neighbours recently said that having 3 children wasn't an excuse for getting fat, and was getting back to her pre baby weight- which she has achieved - well done.

In this age of instant gratification, credit card debt and absence of personal accountability "it isn't my fault that I am...." the nay sayers just encourage me more to look after myself and my family.

Age isn't an excuse for obesity, life's responsibilities have a habit of getting bigger, and children mean a diminished amount of time for personal activities, but no one forces me to have an extra biscuit!

I noticed from about 33 onwards that I could train hard, but I needed more time to recover. The last 2 years it has been sleep deprivation that has hampered my training- and made me vulnerable to illness when I have trained hard. Recently, with sleep being plentiful, I have got the balance right again and feel quite fit and healthy.

With a baby due imminently, I am more concerned about my wife's well being, but I am implementing my "chunks training" of 20 minute workouts and repeating them throughout the day to allow me to adapt to unscheduled interruptions!

Remember:

"Excuses are there for those who need them."
"The best supplement you can take is self-discipline."

Things I learnt in my thirties.

2009-10-20T09:08:00.004+01:00

With only 1 day left to go in this decade, I thought it might be useful to reflect on some things I know now, that I didn't 10 years ago.

Running your own business is very rewarding, in the short term it often hurts, but in the long term the good outweighs the bad by a tonne.
Strength and Conditioning Coaches are like 6 year old soccer players- they all follow the ball and chase each other around in circles.
Karate is for women and children. Its original purpose has been bastardised and dressed up as something useful, when in reality is just a form of pyramid selling.
My daughter is a brilliant teacher, watching her adapt to new surroundings and environments is a reminder of self exploration for children and young people as they develop.
Group Think is as endemic amongst sports coaches as it is amongst business people. The language is different, but the lack of independent thought, analysis, self reflection and genuine innovation is frightening. You can dress up garbage behind powerpoint presentations and fancy facilities and kit, but it is still garbage.
I hate driving. The worst part of my work, in London I thought the public transport was bad, but at least you could read something.
A real conversation with a real person is far more rewarding than 10 phone calls, 50 text messages, 100 emails or 1000 facebook posts.
Sleep is the key to recovery. Without it, you really struggle to be effective at much of anything.
There is no point trying to work with people who are on a completely different wavelength. Life is too short to try. Better to work with fewer people, but with ones who are trying to achieve things that are similar. You can disagree all you like with how you get to somewhere, as long as you know where you are going is the same place.
Time, health, friendships, relationships are precious. As soon as you take something for granted, it could be taken away. I try to make the most of them all at every opportunity. Spending time with material goods gatherers is entertaining for me, because it reinforces my own views about the pointlessness of it all.

Jenny McGeever- National Champion

2009-10-19T02:13:00.001+01:00

Excelsior client Jenny McGeever has recently won the National Epee championships at under-20 age group. She is now going to fence in the European championships next month.

Jenny has been training every fortnight with Excelsior for the last 6 months, except for a rehab spell after she broke her arm falling off a horse!

A follow up treatment with Excelsior physio Sarah, along with some postural analysis and ergonomic tips for daily living has also helped.

Jenny works very hard at her training, working on her fencing fitness and tactics. We are currently refining her plans for the next 4 weeks as she has a busy fencing schedule.

World Class Performance?

2009-10-16T07:45:00.002+01:00

I am currently working with an Athlete who is on a "World Class Performance Programme". She is one of the top athletes in her sport, and is supposed to get "World Class" advice.
She recently had a meeting with a nutritionist who told her to lose weight. Not fat, but weight. Why, I asked, did she have to lose weight? So that she could run faster. He gave her a nutrition programme listing what foods to eat and how many calories a day to consume.

What is wrong with the above picture?

Well here are some of my immediate thoughts:

How can a nutritionist analyse a running performance without seeing the athlete run?
As it is not a weight category sport, then weight is not an issue, but body fat may be. So body fat targets may be more useful
Before a diet can be given and an athlete told to eat less, two things must be known: what they are currently eating, and how many calories a day they are expending.

So the athlete was in a tailspin about body image, and weight loss, rather than concentrating on her training and recovery. Talk about sitting on an exercise bike for hours and doing slow long runs for fat burning is completely irrelevant and distracting for a performance athlete.

My solution? To ignore the nutritionists advice on running- this athlete needs to be stronger in the right areas, and to improve her running efficiency through quality drills and sessions. Also, we are using an online diary to monitor calories expended and consumed over the next 2 weeks, then we will establish what, if any changes need to be made. I ditched my plans for that day and spent an hour trying to boost her confidence again through some positive actions.

Simply chucking out arbitrary advice and comments can be extremely damaging, especially with female athletes and weight issues.

Exercise to Music

2009-10-14T04:11:00.000+01:00

Is exercise a means to an end, or a purpose in itself? Do athletes engage in the session they are involved in, or is it something they endure? What are they concentrating on? Why is the gym different from sports practice?

These are questions that should be answered before considering the use of music when training.
Part of people's general disengagement from their environment can be linked to their obsession with ear phones- it is my space I will do my own thing. The difference between running and using senses to stimulate one's own mind and body by properly observing the environment and being part of it and just sticking to earphones an internally reflecting is massive. One is healthy, one is anti social.

Some practical considerations:

Safety- running with earphones outside is plain dangerous, it minimises awareness of traffic, and for female exercisers especially, the potential for attackers. In the gym if an athlete has earphones in they can not hear the Coach's instructions, nor respond to other users.
The volume of music is often so loud that the Coach has to shout to be heard, this is not safe.

Engagement- if music is loud, and athletes are dancing in the gym (not in my sessions but I do witness what can only be described as "chimps tea parties" where the athletes are concentrating on dancing rather than training) then they are not thinking about performing the exercises correctly.
When running or lifting a heavy weight- your attention is better focussed on the movement pattern and feedback from your body, music distracts from this.

Now I know some geeky sports psychologist will point to some study they have conducted on recreational athletes that shows that music is a motivator and aids performance- well done, you have conducted a study that has allowed your name to appear in a journal. But the athletes don't listen to music when they compete, so why when they train?

I am not talking about warm ups/ cool downs and such where the ability to use music as an aid to arousal control is helpful, as well as blocking out distractions from Coaches, competitors and spectators.

Why create a different environment for training than from competition?

I like music, but as background, it is quite nice during rest periods to have music on, but I use that time to rehearse other aspects of performance. Those who "have to have music on" are probably not aware of their training priorities, or the sessions they have to do are so dull and monotonous that they do need a distraction.

As to mirrors, well they are worse for an entirely set of different reasons....

Aerobic Exercise can lower colon cancer risk factors

2009-10-12T05:16:00.000+01:00

A study in previously sedentary individuals has shown that more than 250 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise (60-85% HRMax) per week can lower markers that indicate likelihood of colon cancer.(Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(9). September 2006).
Individuals who exercised more than 300mins per week made further reductions.
A couple of things are interesting in this study, apart from the obvious.

It was conducted on a sedentary population, but there was 80% compliance with the exercise regime. Having a time, place and suitable qualified staff to conduct the exercises sessions obviously helped with this. People who try it on their own are almost doomed to failure.
The more people exercised as a result of this study, the more they appeared to change other behaviours such as dietary intake. So, the once things started to be measured and recorded the behaviours of the subjects changed. It is important to understand the need to record and measure one's own behaviour. A simple log of diet and exercise will automatically help improve your habits.

Thanks to Anton for sending me this.

Good Luck Ryan Fricker- Abu Dhabi Golf tournament.

2009-10-08T06:27:00.000+01:00

Excelsior client Ryan Fricker has qualified for the Daily Telegraph Junior golf championships in Abu Dhabi next month: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/sport/juniorgolf/

I have been training Ryan for the last 2 years, and will be training him for the next year too at least.

He is one of several golfers who have had good success in playing in conjunction with the Excelsior training programmes.

Good luck Ryan, and updates to follow.

Excelsior- Trading Standards Approved

2009-10-07T08:12:00.004+01:00

Excelsior has now been registered and approved with the Devon County Council Trading Standards Authority.

This is part of the National "Buy with confidence "scheme.

More details here:

http://www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk/introduction.php

Level 2 Coaching Course.

2009-10-06T08:16:00.001+01:00

I had the pleasure of delivering a Level 2 S&C Coaching course for 3 days at Henley In Arden College last week. The 8 Coaches there were all keen and eager to learn- it does make a difference when they have paid for the course themselves.

As usual, we went off on a few tangents, but quite relevant ones, and some interesting things seemed to keep cropping up:

Whilst we worked a fair bit on the four lifts that they will be assessed on Coaching- the squat., deadlift, bench press and incline bench press, they realised that there are limitations to these liftss. They are an aid to sport practice, not the goal. The problem with all of these lifts is that they are easy to measure, so therefore S&C coaches can get caught up in a numbers game, forgetting why they are doing them in the first place.
The pelvis is a crucial part of athletic movement, whether in throwing, jumping or running. We seemed to be able to link a lot of exercises around developing that area, and working on drills to help strengthen the correct movement patterns.
Elasticity and reactivity of muscle- tendon complexes were worked on, with some of the Coaches finding this hard to do in practice. Generating force in the gym is one thing, applying that to sporting movements is another.

Overall, an enjoyable 3 days, I hope they gained as much from it as I did.

The next one I will be running is probably Easter next year.

Level 1 Strength and Conditioning course- Taunton, Somerset.

2009-10-05T13:22:00.001+01:00

The booking deadline for this course is October 14th. I currently have 2 places left.
The quickest way to book is through paypal, otherwise send a cheque.

All details are on here: http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/qualifications.shtml

I will send out more details and the reading list to all the candidates once the course has filled.

LTAD- USA versus UK

2009-10-05T08:48:00.002+01:00

I had the pleasure of meeting Mauro deGennaro, Director of Athletics at Hoboken High School, last week. We were talking about his schedule of training for his football team this autumn, and he was saying that they were going to be training easy in the week because of the amount of contact in the game. How many games a season do they play?

9. That's right 9. His 14 year old Freshman play 9 football games a season, then move to another sport next term.

Speaking to another Coach in the UK last week, whose 14 year old son plays rugby for the school, club and district teams, he said if all the macthes go ahead, then that child will play 50 rugby matches this season.

50, that's right- FIFTY.

That is a prime example of why Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) is just another acronym or poster presentation in a folder on a shelf somewhere in this country.

The research is out there, there are rules in place, but coaches and parents will always find a way to ignore these- until the player breaks, or quits at 16. Those that survive will then be put onto a sagittal plane hypertrophy programme and told to put on 10kg each off season (about 5 weeks currently here).

This is not some secret that no one can understand, but it does seem difficult to implement.
Why play our junior players to death, (but don't do weights under -16 because of the likelihood of injury) and then expect them to cope with a barbell lifting programme designed for adults, that reinforces all the negative movement patterns they have developed from overspecialising at a young age?

Here are some pointers for parents and coaches alike:

Have a quick check as to whether this is happening in your governing body, club, district or school.
Have a look at who is delivering and designing programmes for your youth athletes. Are they experienced, knowledgeable and conscientious?
Is the programme designed for development?
Is there a long term approach? What will your child be looking like and how they will they be moving in 3 years time?
Will they still want to play the sport and be healthy at 18?
Is someone co ordinating the overall plan for your child- between all sports and all teams?

Don't wait until they are broken.

New York visit

2009-10-01T06:42:00.002+01:00

Nice break in New York, good to catch up with a lot of friends. Was visiting for one of my oldest friend's wedding. Stefan and I have known each other for 18 years, and have been in contact despite our various travels.
Nice to be able to mooch around in between the busy wedding itinerary and chill in NYC. I enjoyed the break from routine and the chance to meet up with some of Steve's friends.

This is me in Central Park.

Congratulations to James Buckingham

2009-09-30T13:44:00.002+01:00

James Buckingham, who has been an Excelsior client, then colleague and friend is the proud father of Connor Buckingham who weighed in at 8.2lbs this morning.

Connor is now on a breast milk/ creatine hybrid shake.

James is featured in this video: http://www.youtube.com/user/excelsiorgroupsport#play/uploads/9/Sw-33U6Hj6I which you may have already seen.

When I saw James last month, I was warning him about trying to continue training at the same volume and intensity as normal during the first 6 weeks of a new arrival when he will be sleep deprived. Having suffered from that, and expecting the same next month, I know it is best to scale back (not to give up) in the short term.

Good luck to the Buckinghams from all at Excelsior.

blogging absence

2009-09-25T06:05:00.000+01:00

Off to New York for a few days, so won't be blogging from there, then returning to deliver a 3 days course, so blogging will be sporadic. Hope to catch up on some reading during the travelling.

The case for exercise- W.A. pullum

2009-09-23T12:52:00.001+01:00

Have a look at this article from 1954 : http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Pullum/h&s1954/case.htm in which Pullum advocates the case for exercise.

Despite being 55 years old, it is very relevant today. With the British National Pastime being a combination of shopping and watching sport on TV, the worsening case of youth health and adult obesity is very apparent.

Also, I was recently told that Strength and conditioning is a young profession. Well, compared to some maybe, but it definitely has not been invented in the last 10 years.

Where have all the girls gone?

2009-09-22T08:58:00.004+01:00

We actually had a weekend at home where it was sunny, so I took my Daughter down to the park a couple of times each day to play. There were lots of kids down there playing: football; cops and robbers; bike races; some sort of medieval battle with toy axes , swords and bows and arrows; some climbing trees. Generally larking around, with various running, climbing, crawling, skipping and jumping movements being part of playing.

Yet the whole weekend I only saw one girl in this under -13 (I am guessing) age group of 30 odd kids in their various groups. I would understand post pubescent girls being body image conscious or doing other things, but these were boys of 5-12 years old. When I was growing up, boys and girls played outside equally- sometimes together, sometimes apart, but nowadays they seem to spend all their time indoors, or being ferried to organised activities.

Up to about 12 years old, motor skill ability is predominantly due to environmental factors such as opportunities for play, how much activity your parents do and any other sports you might participate in. After that genetics ability and environmental considerations seem to be important. This forms part of the LTAD theory.

No government initiative, no Harriet Harman style social engineering for equal sports in the 2012 Olympics will make up for the fact that a generation of girls is missing out on basic skills and activity levels that will prevent them from being able to participate in sport to any decent standard. If they don't go out and play, there is no point trying to force teenage girls to take up aerobics or street dance when they have not learnt how to co ordinate their bodies from an early age.

Cops and robbers may not be a girl's idea of fun, but surely skipping, frisbees, hide and seek and hopscotch were all good enough previously and would be of great benefit to them as well as being fun. Time for the parents to step up and take responsibility on this one I think.

how to look beneath the headlines.

2009-09-21T06:02:00.001+01:00

I got this idea from the Bad science blog- but a lot of the same principles apply to looking at research in sport and headline banners about amino acids making your testicles grow larger.

This article is an excellent read by Dr Alicia White and the points should be borne in mind when perusing the "men's healthy fitness " type magazines.

http://www.bazian.com/pdfs/HowToReadANewsStory_vers03_26Nov08.pdf

Tour of BritainStage 7 - Willand

2009-09-18T12:11:00.006+01:00

The tour of Britain passed through my village again 15 minutes ago. This was part of stage 7, the riders are on their way to Yeovil. There was no clear leader at that time, with a tight bunch being held together.
The most exciting thing was seeing all the police outriders hurling abuse at the local drivers!.
The stage coverage is on ITV4 tonight at 7pm.

Ice Cream Training

2009-09-18T03:46:00.000+01:00

You go to a conference, you see a presenter, they may do a session that leaves everyone feeling warm and fuzzy. They get invited back because the feedback was excellent, so they do another session like that. Coaches then go away and copy that session, then implement it with their athletes.

Everyone feels nice and cuddly, the athletes get something different, the coaches have an easy session and the presenter pockets some cash.

I call this ice cream training. We all like ice cream, it gives us a short term warm and fuzzy feeling, and generally we eat it when we are on a break from the mundane aspects of life.

STOP- we can't subsist on this ice cream diet.

Doing one off training sessions, copied from senior athletes to junior athletes, without thought of process and context leads to activity not productivity. It is very lazy coaching and does the junior athletes a disservice. Yes, everyone temporarily feels good about each other, but in the long term it does no good.

I get worried when a coach asks me for new ideas- why has he not looked at the problems himself? If he needs input into a problem- no worries- but just new ideas for new ideas sake is dangerous.

Stop doing ice cream training and get back to your meat and potatoes.

Eddie Izzard Marathons

2009-09-16T11:12:00.003+01:00

Eddie Izzard finished his sequence of Marathons yesterday ( see him finishing here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=IApazPbKL8M)

Running 43 marathons, 1100 miles in 7 weeks is some achievement. Consider the fact that he had 5 weeks preparation for it too. His last marathon was his quickest in just over 5 hours.

His body had too adapt to this workload as the weeks progressed, and no amount of sports science could help with this one. It was pure evolutionary adaptation to outside stressors.

Very impressive, and an example of what can be done if it needs to be.

Patrick Swayze quote

2009-09-15T08:51:00.003+01:00

Patrick Swayze died today, he of Dirty Dancing, Road House and Ghost fame. Listening to a quote from him this morning on how he dealt with his cancer and going to work, he said he didn't want to moan "like some kind of girly loser man".

He got up 3 hours before he had to start filming just to get his systems moving, then worked a full day.

Compare this to some people who whinge and moan at every opportunity. I am carrying a set of "man up" pills around in my bag at present to dish out to those who need them.

Swayze provided a lot of entertainment for a lot of people, sorry to see him go.

Fitness Targets

2009-09-14T08:18:00.001+01:00

A couple of simple targets I have been working on with some athletes:

100 rope skips in 30 seconds- a basic start to show competency.
Then try to do 200 skips in 1 minute.

If you are turning the rope at that frequency, it becomes a useful conditioning tool. This is a simple number that the athletes can go away and work towards.

One for myself is a 2 mile running trial. I did a 6:15/ 6:14 split last week at the first attempt. Not being a fantastic runner, and with an underlying chest infection still present from last year's pneumonia, this was an ok baseline.

My goal is to improve this time not through any conditioning practice, but from working on my biomechanics and the underlying strength and elasticity of ankles, hips, hamstrings, and trunk. This is a challenge to aid my understanding of these mechanics better.

I will see where I am in 6 weeks time with that one.

Simple goals, but clear and easy to comprehend.

Caster Semanya gender testing

2009-09-11T12:09:00.001+01:00

This is an irresponsible report from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8249948.stm
The headline states that the gender testing result has been confirmed, when in fact it is quoting from an Australian newspaper on the likelihood of testing positive for male gender tendencies.

The poor woman has been subjected to sexual and racial bias in the media, the BBC is adding to this.

On sugarholics

2009-09-10T10:29:00.002+01:00

Have a look at Jack Lalanne's video from 40 years ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJVEPB_l8FU&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.co.uk%2Fvideosearch%3Fq%3Djack%2Blalanne%26oe%3Dutf-8%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF-8%26ei%3Dx&feature=player_embedded#t=18

this backs up what we have been talking about in the comments section of Monday's post.

This preceded the obesity epidemic which we have witnessed.

Garbage Yardage

2009-09-09T05:40:00.000+01:00

This is a phrase given to me by a swimming coach - Alan reed- I work with. It refers to work being done with little or no end result except work. There is no purpose to the session, any results or transference to an improved results are purely by chance, rather than design.

This term isn't used much outside of swimming, but it certainly could be. Someone said to me last week that S&C coaches and medical staff have to jump through hoops to justify and account for the work they are doing, but coaches can just turn up within team sports and put a series of totally irrelevant sessions together.

Coaches are pretty good at doing team runs, tactics and unopposed drills, but are they putting a sequence of sessions together that have an end result in 6 months , a year or heaven forbid, 3 years time?

Or is it more garbage yardage?

Caffeine again

2009-09-07T05:54:00.001+01:00

The recent post on caffeine and red bull attracted a few comments (thanks to everyone who did), so here is another recent piece of research looking at the effect of caffeine on non users and how it affected their NFL combine test performance: http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2009/08000/Effect_of_Caffeine_as_an_Ergogenic_Aid_During.1.aspx

The effects were negligible.

Someone made the comment about the caffeine/ insulin response on the previous post, and hormonal responses to diet and exercise have probably been under looked in the big scheme of things.
In small doses, these things do not appear to have an effect, but in larger doses, too much sugar and fructose or caffeine will have a detrimental insulin response. This, in combination with stress (and its corresponding cortisol and adrenaline releases), could lead to lack of concentration, a feeling of lethargy and disruption of sleep patterns. Not only that, but this will then interfere with the release of growth hormone and testosterone, two agents necessary for repair and growth.

Once again, moderation is called for, and I have not seen conclusive research on this. Some people claim it has more of an effect, but they often have something to sell.

Weight training for sprinters

2009-09-04T02:07:00.000+01:00

Following on from Frans Bosch's seminar on running biomechanics, I have been paying a lot more intention to actions within the gym.

The sagittal plane, double knee bend society will tell you that all you need to do to get faster is lift more weight on a platform. They will quote research that shows that weightlifters are very quick over 10metres and have great vertical jumps.

However, the research is often done by their friends and peers and they quote each other to justify the results.

Bosch was saying that co ordination of the drive and push off phase during acceleration is more important than pure power. That is why some little people can run very fast, despite not having much power.

As you can see from the photos above, a step up on a bench can be performed in many different ways, and a coach is necessary to highlight the optimal way of transferring that co ordination to linear running mechanics.

The photo on the left shows a step up with a "high knee", but look at the foot position and lack of hamstring control. The photo on the right shows a much better action where the emphasis is on the hip control and foot position in relation to the backside.

So, just giving a piece of paper with "step ups" written on it, because Usain Bolt does step ups, will not make your athlete faster. Instead, translate the mechanics of the run to the gym and look at ways of enhancing them.

For more in depth analysis of your weights and speed programmes- contact me on: james@excelsiorgroup.co.uk

Strength and conditioning courses

2009-09-02T10:32:00.002+01:00

There is one place left on the Level 2 course in Henley In Arden in October. (last opportunity to book this week).

There are 5 places left on the Level 1 course in Taunton, Somerset in November ( book now to secure your place).

These courses are an ideal opportunity for Coaches to improve their knowledge and understanding of athletic development and strength and conditioning.

More details can be found here: http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/qualifications.shtml

Krysten Coombs - World Champion

2009-09-02T01:57:00.000+01:00

Excelsior client Krysten Coombs recently won the World Dwarf Games titles in Table Tennis, Badminton and 200 metres, 100metre relay and the football.

I have been training Krysten for 10 months now. he has just returned from a 3 week break, and is currently doing a month of preparation work.

It is hard enough to win one title, let alone 5! Krysten will be hoping to qualify in his disabled class to represent Team GB over the next few years.

Maximal or Optimal Training 2

2009-08-31T14:32:00.000+01:00

The annual "should we do 2 a day practices?" debate has been raging across the US this summer:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/21/heat.football.practice/index.html

Well, over here it may seem a bit academic as we haven't had a summer for the last 3 years, but the sense should be that optimal training is preferable to maximal training in the heat.

Saying that, the point being made about people being less acclimatised to the heat due to permanent air conditioning may be relevant.

Or, people like to being seen to be doing something "tough". One local rugby club here was proud of the fact that they had been training for 5 weeks without touching a ball, but were getting beasted running up and down hills.

I don't think they have heard of skill based conditioning, but if players are puking and sweating, then it must be good for something- right?

Cut out the Bull (Red that is)

2009-08-28T06:57:00.002+01:00

Many young people like to have a red bull on them for a buzz- I have questioned the need for this legal, but particularly distasteful drink for a while.

This study: http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2009/07000/Effect_of_Sugar_Free_Red_Bull_Energy_Drink_on.31.aspx

showed that drinking Red Bull had no effect on a time trialled run to exhaustion. Not sure how that will filter down to the Coaching and Medical ranks now though.

One of the worst bits of Coaching I have witnessed was on a group of 15-16 year olds who were told to drink Red Bull 5 minutes before their first ever International Match, having been told to abstain from caffeine for the previous 6 weeks. Strangely enough, some of them didn't react well to it.

Strongman Training

2009-08-26T06:31:00.002+01:00

Strongman training can be seen as a specific sporting event or as a sexy "functional" exercise that shows innovation and is used as a gimmic.

I prefer to look at the lifts from a sporting perspective and think how they can be applied in training. Too much resistance training is divided into either platform based variations of barbell lifts, periodised to death, or ridiculous exercises isolating tiny muscles in the hope of "firing them up" and never getting the athlete to engage in the athletic development process.

Lifting awkward objects, which are lopsided, or move awkwardly has a big relevance to a lot of sporting activities including field athletic events, golf, combat sports and collision sports. The researchers of this study:
http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2009/07000/Comparison_of_Different_Strongman_Events__Trunk.15.aspx have also conducted other studies looking at more conventional exercises and how they help train the trunk.

Carrying exercises, either with one hand, or two hands require more hip abduction than is normally available, so the athletes use their obliques and Quadratus Lumborum to assist the movement. Therefore these activities as part of a programme could be useful. Forget about "engaging the core", just lifting the objects meant that the spinal load was large and was caused by co contraction of the torso muscles- exactly what is needed in most sports that require getting hit.

These type of implements are cheap too, my gym has got a lot of them scattered around.

Book Review Status Anxiety- Alain De Botton

2009-08-24T05:58:00.001+01:00

This book had been on my bedside table for a while, but finally got around to read it when I was on holiday ( somewhat preaching to the choir in my case, so I am announcing my bias now).

This book looks at how status has been awarded across different societies over the years and then how "status anxiety" is incurred when one can't match up to what is required to maintain such status.

Some status anxiety is useful in that it can be motivational and inspire greater efforts. Too much of it, or an inability to resolve it leads to self destruction or depression.
De Botton contends that by analysing it, speaking of it and recognising it, then individuals can at least be aware of potential traps.

(As an aside, in my opinion most advertising is hell bent on provoking an anxiety attack amongst potential consumers, who then feel they must buy the latest gadget or lifestyle accessory. I don't watch adverts, or read "gadget" or car magazines- what I don't know won't hurt me in that case!)

Not a book to be read by those who judge their self worth by what car they drive or what labels are on their clothes. In fact De Botton uses many examples from the past to show that such wanton material collections are actually detrimental to the pursuit of self learning and self actualisation.

He also uses examples of how young people may only be able to define themselves by possessions because they have not had the depth of learning and experience that helps them understand what they truly want out of life.

He debunks the myth that life is a meritocracy (confirmed by the recent government report that shows that social mobility has declined over the last 15 years- those who are born with privilege are more likely to retain it than lose it. Also, look at Olympians who have been to public school, sport is not a meritocracy in this country) and so this may be a cause for concern.

He uses examples from Philosophy, Art, Politics, Christianity and finally Bohemia to show different attitudes to status and how they are portrayed.

An easy, but interesting read, covering a wide range of background material and examples.

Usain Bolt / Glen Mills interview part 3

2009-08-22T06:44:00.001+01:00

Here is part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5FOG9SWEyk&feature=PlayList&p=E1FDBD29A51A757C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=36

Usain Bolt/ Glen Mills interview part 2

2009-08-21T06:41:00.001+01:00

part 2 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE-N9zSRMYY&feature=PlayList&p=639CEECDF5619C31&index=64

From a coaching perspective it is interesting to hear Mills talk about fun, variety, but still achieving their goals.
Also how he plans and adjusts his plans according to circumstances.
Mill states that he isn't afraid to make mistakes, he is learning and trying, it is no big thing to make a mistake.

Frighteningly, he thinks Bolt is 2 years away from his peak!

Usain Bolt and Glen Mills on Coaching and Training

2009-08-20T20:37:00.002+01:00

Here is a fascinating interview of Usain Bolt and his Coach Glen Mills.
Young athletes especially might like to hear how Bolt has worked hard to overcome adversity and maintains a level head despite world wide fame and adulation.
Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEQaHQOO7co&feature=PlayList&p=639CEECDF5619C31&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=63

Maximum or Optimal Training?

2009-08-19T06:57:00.006+01:00

I was on a CPD workshop with a few other coaches last Friday and we ended up using the word Optimal to describe certain actions and movements rather than maximum.

For example, hamstring length during sprinting- the pelvis moves in 3 directions to help with the power transfer from the ground, the transfer of power from iliospoas to opposite hamstring, and the stretching/ recoiling of the hamstring to produce elastic energy. Too much pelvic tilt will result in an overstretched hamstring which is unable to produce force, too little and the potential energy will be lost.

There is an optimal movement required not a maximal movement.

This is a good way to look at your whole training programme- is what you are doing optimal?
Not very workout that you do has to end with you puking into the floor- that would be maximal training, and you will have a limited result from that- it may feel good and gung ho, but it is unsustainable.
Nor should every workout require you to lie on the floor and play with a foam roller or therabands, do a few calf raises and oysters and then say you are preparing for elite sport!

Everything has its place (well, not everything) but it is how, when and how often that you use it that will lead to optimal results.

Modern Pentathlon World Championships

2009-08-16T07:04:00.008+01:00

Excelsior client Arthur Lanigan O Keeffe competed in the Modern Pentathlon world championships last week. At 17 years old he is technically a "youth A" athlete, not even a junior, but he more than held his own against the senior competition.

He started off with a P.B. 2.03.03 in the 200 metre swim, finishing 6th in his group of 32.

He then had a tough time in the fencing (he has only been fencing a year and this was always going to be a learning opportunity for him) finishing 29th out of 32. However, he did finish strongly with 8 hits out of his last 12 bouts.

He then had a great combined event of run and shoot, again finishing 6th out of his semi final group with a time of 11.21 for the 3 sets fo 5 target hits and 1km runs. This moved him up from 25th in his group to 18th. Overall he finished 44th out of 96 competitors on the day. You need to be in the top 36 to make the finals day.

That is a fantastic result for a first world championships, and we will look to build on that next month when we resume training.

Arthur is pictured with me and, on his left, Drew Wilsher- his coach who was also the competition director for the championships.

Unmotivated talent- should you bother?

2009-08-12T07:38:00.000+01:00

Here is a quote from Kurz
" If other factors determining performance are not below a certain minimum level, well-motivated people eventually prevail. "Unmotivated talent" will soon drop off, but before that happens, it will occupy the training space, the time, and the coach's energy that could be better used with the driven ones. " Blood will tell in the end." (p33)

I have seen this with athletes I have been given to train, usually heralded as the next great Olympian, or the answer to all our problems, but who are actually just coasting along. As has been said time and time again, talent will help you win at junior level, but at senior level it is training and motivation as well that makes you win.

Juniors who are not used to working, often give up at their first signs of difficulty. I recently saw a whole squad self destruct because they had been badly beaten in a school match ( saying that- the English cricket team can't seem to cope without Flintoff!).
Another person said they didn't think it was worth training for the rest of the year because they hadn't been selected for 1 competition!
Other young players give up because they haven't been selected for a squad or a game, or haven't signed a professional contract at 18.

I believe now that the junior athlete should be looking at enjoying the whole process, not just focussing on selection and medals. Those players who enjoy the game, the competition, and tough matches- the ones with a bit of dog in them- even if they aren't winning consistently at 15-18, they will come through.

Conversely, as a Coach, you can not make that great hope into your dream athlete if they don't want it. Telling them how brilliant they are and giving them false hopes and dreams is equally as damaging.

Rugby Sprint Drills- Garnet Mackinder

2009-08-11T09:27:00.006+01:00

I have posted a new video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gca72B0_9UE
Sorry about the shaky camera work, but I was trying to kick, coach and film all at the same time.

The featured athlete is Garnet Mackinder- who got her first caps for England Under-20s Rugby Union in June (pictures above). Garnet scored a try in the final against the USA.

Garnet is naturally fast, and we had a lot of things that could have improved, but we decided to work on her greatest asset and make her faster with some simple work on speed mechanics. I have done more speed work with Garnet than any other athlete and it seems to have paid off.

We have also worked on her lower body strength because her 400m running background meant that she was very good at linear running, but needed to improve on lateral work and stability.
As you can see from the pictures she has got better at this.

Onwards and upwards for her.

Plyometrics- where to start?

2009-08-10T06:36:00.002+01:00

I have been doing some research on this in preparation for an article and there are some key points which should be considered for lower body plyometrics:

Landing techniques should be taught before jumps are introduced, the athlete should be able to land with control on each leg and both legs together.
A variety of jumps and actions should be included in the training programme, although weighted jumps do not appear to have any added benefit. Drop jumps do not have to be from a great height- 20 cm is adequate- and allows more repetitions to be performed.
To increase your vertical jump a programme lasting more than 10 weeks with a minimum of 20 sessions and 50 jumps per session is optimal.
Progression and variety (as with all training programmes) is essential to help with injury prevention.
Beginners and advanced athletes can all benefit from a plyometric programme as long as the above recommendations are followed.

Apart from the landing techniques, which are crucial, different jumps should be used for different sports. The faster jumps such as drop jumps should be used with fencers, boxers, field sports players because most of their plyometric action is reactive to outside stimuli. Compare that to a high jumper or long jumper who can rehearse their movement patterns repeatedly and then try to reproduce that same pattern in competition.

Also, think about how you currently use plyometrics- have you got a programme set up, or is it a bit ad hoc? I don't see many teams or squads doing a 10 week programme of anything.

I like to do a bit in most sessions, using complexes with some jumps in it at some point. Be careful again with the landing techniques- it doesn't matter if you can back squat a tank if you can't balance on one leg.

Ashes quote

2009-08-07T13:13:00.001+01:00

Thanks to Alan for this:

This was taken off the BBC commentary:

1054: KP on a cross... and relax... Harmison's Shakespears have obviously cleared up, his feet were apparently giving him some serious gip during Durham's recent game against Sussex. Harmison's been terrorising county batsmen so far this season, as is his wont. But it's all very well impressing your girlfriend in the kitchen on a lazy Sunday afternoon, can you do it when her folks are round?

"Have you never cooked for her folks before? You always end up taking far longer than expected, throwing things into the pot you didn't even know existed, and after plying the parents with booze because they're convinced you're making a hash of things, your mint pork hazelnut paprika red pepper stir fried casserole turns out to be absolutely delicious. To whit, Harmy will have a horrible first four days and then wrap it up with a five- for to win it on the final day."
Justin Williams in the TMS inbox

something to smile about whilst we are getting hammered by the Aussies.

Book Review - Science of sports training by Thomas Kurz

2009-08-07T07:37:00.002+01:00

I have been meaning to get this book for a while, having read a lot of Kurz's stuff on his website about flexibility training. The book is a bit old now, published in 2001, with most of the research quoted pre dating that. This would probably disqualify it from being used as an academic text book, but as a Coaching handbook it is very good.

Kurz has an Eastern European training and coaching background, although he is now based in the USA. Most of the research comes from Eastern Europe as do the coachign philosophies. What comes through is the need for a massive preparation and general conditioning phase before specialising- what is commonly termed LTAD (Long Term Athlete Development ) over here.

The book is split into 4 sections:

Introduction to sports training
Developing physical abilities
Developing physical skills and mental toughness
Planning and control of training

As I was reading this book I could see mistakes I have made in my own training in the past, with diet and mesocycle planning being the obvious ones. But, more pointedly, I can see mistakes that coaches are making time and time again, operating within their own little bubbles and not knowing what they don't know.

A sample quote highlights this

"Coaches who want quick success, even with young athletes, develop mainly the physical abilities that are dominant in a given athletic event. Some use so-called exercises of direct purpose or immediately applicable exercises. In such a system, a shot-putter practices technique only by putting shot, develops strength by standard weight lifting exercises , and speed by short sprints and starts. Such an approach results in considerable improvement of sport-specific performance in shot put but a stagnation of it in only a few years, after which permanent progess of the athlete is limited to strength as measured by standard weight lifting methods and speed measured by the standard 20-meter sprint from starting blocks." (p42).

Compare this with the "how much can you squat, clean and bench press" approach to fitness testing in the UK- and then making young athletes do this and comparing them with adults!!!

The book is pretty comprehensive, but easy to read. I especially liked the planning and cyclical apsects of training and how different training modes affect recovery and the next training session. This is probably because I have been looking to improve that area of my Coaching, and sometimes you find what you look for.

It is an applicable book, with not much information wasted.

I would recommend this for Coaches alongside:

Tim Noakes- The Lore of Running (for all endurance ideas)
John Jesse- The Wrestling Physical Conditoning Encyclopedia- for combat sports and general physical development.
Vern Gambetta - Athletic Development- for common sense and how to put things together.

Culm Valley Organic Vegetables

2009-08-05T15:18:00.004+01:00

Thanks to Susie and the team at CulmValley Organic Vegetables for the leaflet drop this week.

I have been a satisfied customer of theirs for about 3 years now.

As has been reported last week, organic vegetables are in themselves no better than normal vegetables, but the benefits of having the veg delivered are that it is fresh and seasonal, not something that happens in supermarkets. It also cuts down on the food miles.
The other thing I like is having to think of ways of cooking vegetables that I wouldn't otherwise eat.

I visited their farm today and was impressed by the massive amount of work that goes into their business.
http://www.culmvalleyveg.co.uk/