sports coaching tips

8/8/2019 Sports Coaching Tips

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James marshall | ExcElsior ebook sEriEs | Third EdiTion

In February 2010 seeral leading coaches rom around

the world contributed to the Excelsior blog estial.

Here are the thoughts and iews gathered in this ebook.

blogfestival


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Sports Coaching Brain

Wayne Goldsmith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Dumbbells or Machines

Istan Stee Jaorek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Student Athlete Support

Nick Beasant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Speed TrainingFrans Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Training Young Athletes

Andy Larmour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Coaching Olympic Lifts

Neil Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Fitness Training for Rugby

Simon Worsnop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Talent Id- The Australian Myth

Paula Jardine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Eat Local Produce

Carol Farley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

An Accurate Observation Is Never Wrong

Thomas Kur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

The Challenge to Coaching

Kein Bowring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Walk Before You Run-

Guide to Athlete Nutrition

Andrew Hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Managing Parents

Dae Rotheram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

The Lard Works in Mysterious Ways

Anton Parker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Injury Prevention in the Gym

Roy Headey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Warm ups for Strength Training

Istan Stee Jaorek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Inspirational Quote

Jack Lalanne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Excelsior Training Philosophy

James Marshall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

table ofcontents

This is a good opportuity tothak various people:

All the cotributors to the

blog estival.

All the athletes, parets ad

coaches I work with

Everyoe who helped

lauch the website ad

helped shape the look ad

uctioality o it: Pete, Edd,

Ala, Steve, Kerry, Biso,Sarah ad Tom.

Thaks most o all to Sarah,

Daisy ad Jack: LTD!Th

AnKS


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Creativity ad iovatio

are the core skills o great coaches in

this century.

Cotiuous improvemet

is eerything - success is a moing target.

Egagemet is the driing

orce o success: athletes, coaches,

management, sta, amilies, supporters...

eeryone engaged completely and

comprehensiely in your program.

Do ot compromise on

your alues, irtues or belies or the

sake aoiding conict or to gain politicaladantage...it will come back to bit you

sometime in the uture.

Coach with passio, energy

and enthusiasm - your athletes desere it.

never, ever give up:

perseere no matter what the obstacles

are in your way - no matter how difcult it

seems - neer gie up.

Be a aget o chage

and ignore people who use the worst eight

words in sport thats not the way we do it

here - people who win are unique, are

dierent, make changes, take risks and

then the rest o the world has to fnds ways

o catching up with them.

Be yoursel - beliee in yoursel:

you hae to do this. No one wins by

copying or by trying to be someone else

or by trying to be something they are not.

Be yoursel.

Avoid ayoe who talks

i absolutes: there are no

neers, no always, no musts -

there is only learning, growth, creatiity,

innoation, change and passion. There is

no one way o doing anything.

Regularly take a hoest

lookat yoursel and your programand identiy ways o enhancing the

perormance o both.

In the end, coaching is a personal

decision to be the best you can be - now

and in the uture and to pass on what you

learn on to others so they might in turnrealise their potential as athletes and as

human beings.

sportscoaching

brainWAYNE GOLDSMITH

FEBRUARY 2010

www.sportscoachingbrain.com


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DB training: is generally sae; does not need a large practice area; is easy to teach;

can be done simultaneously and ery efciently with a large number o athletes;

is dynamic with a large range o motion (actually the range o motion is unlimited)

and a large range o exercise ariations; stimulates (ery important in so manysports) the balance mechanisms powerully (which much machine training does not

adequately do).; enables one to deelop unlimited muscular power, cardioascular

and muscular endurance, exibility and strength; (most machine training deelops

muscles but not dynamic explosie strength); is inexpensie to equip a gym with

seeral sets o DB; can be ery easily monitored with a 100 percent accuracy,

because we hae an exact number o repetitions, sets, olumes and rhythm o

exercising; enables one to efciently monitor the heart rate beore and ater each

set, thus proiding a ery clear iew o recoery time and the physical ftness leel o

the indiidual athlete.

DB exercise ariations are unlimited and any experienced coach should be able to

fgure out many noel ariations o DB exercises.

dumbbells

ormachinesISTvAN STEvE JAvOREK

www.istanjaorek.com

[email protected]


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Oer the past decade, perormance sport

within the higher education sector has grown

and deeloped at an eer increasing rate. New

goernment initiaties, National Goerning Body

partnerships, a ocused strategic steer rom

BUCS and an institutions own desire to deelop

both their sporting status and their own athletes

hae all moed the sector into a competitieand attractie marketplace or applicants.

Institutions will hae their own target sports and

perormance programmes, all drien by diering

actors such as geography, inrastructure

and unding. Howeer, many sports specifc

studentathlete

supportNICK BEASANT

Sports Perormance Manager,

Uniersity o Exeter

leads, coaches and serice delierers

all ace similar issues when dealing with

the challenges aced by balancing sport

and academia within an HE enironment.

Creating and managing a support

network or athletes which deelops

their understanding o what is required

to produce both academic and sporting

excellence is ital.

At an institution which aspires to be

ranked top 10 both academically and

within the BUCS arena, it is recognised

that athletes continually need to be

supported in their sport-education lie

balance. Tackling this includes oering

detailed inductions, deelopment and

exit strategies or all designated athletes

as well as oering personal mentoring,

workshops and web based resources to

assist with ongoing issues.

A exible approach to study and gaining

an institutional wide buy in to support

this is ital. Establishing a liaison with

departments to oersee academic exibility

and being able to manage the releant

procedures surrounding deerrals and

reerrals oers athletes the choice and the

opportunities to compete at the highest

leel een though there is a non-negotiable

commitment to academic progression and

completion.

Establishing athlete agreements which

clearly detail where Uniersity priorities

lay and what expectations there are or

sportsmen and women will aoid potential

conict and conusion. Howeer, the need

to work with a specifc sport to understand

its pathway, the indiidual athletes position

within the pathway in addition to their

tournament and eents schedule will mean

that communication can be clear and

potential clashes agged up and resoled.

Acknowledging that athletes gain aluable

experience and exposure whilst away

with international squads, or at national

competitions, can mean that they return

better players, with resh ideas and will

become leaders in their chosen sports

back in Uniersity competition.

Ultimately, the importance placed upon

treating sportsmen and women as student-

athletes will go a long way to ensuring that

they retain a realistic work/sport balance

but will also be able to ocus upon and

achiee their sporting aspirations.


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Working with young athletes can be some o the most rewarding work possible.

It is impossible not to eed o the energy and enthusiasm o a genuinely talented

indiidual irrespectie o their chosen sport.

The musculoskeletal screening that we hae deeloped aims to guide the athlete in ways

to maximise their efciency and thereore improe results and minimise risk o injury.

I beliee passionately in a concept I term The Four Pillars. These are Posture,

Strength, Flexibility and Control. I use this a tool to guide athletes in the direction

that I eel they should concentrate their eorts to maximise results.

I hae neer been a an o endless exercises or indiiduals. Proiding too many

exercises is unrealistic and unair on an athlete as they oten can not complete

them. This sets them up ail and can aect the partnership between you. Iconcentrate eorts on one or two areas (or Pillars) with a maximum o three or our

daily exercises. This exercises or routines must be perormed in a structured way

with a strict emphasis on the quality rather than quantity. Gie me fteen minutes o

quality work eery time rather than two hours o going through the motions.

trainingyoung

athletesANDY LARMOUR

http://www.oceanphysio.com/


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coaching

olympiclifts

NEIL TAYLOR

Commonwealth games medallist.,

RFU Weightliting Coach

Dot over complicatethese lits...

I hae been perorming the Olympic lits

since the age o 11, my coach at the time

kept it simple, didnt oer complicate the

moement and allowed or errors early on.

With his expertise he helped me lit MY way

and not the way the books said.

30 years down the line I hae

watched those lits turn into a menu o

biomechanical myths and mind numbing

terminology. KEEP IT SIMPLE.

In my opinion it is always easier to teach

the Power Snatch frst, the pulling phase isthe same as the Power Clean and the lit a

little less problematic.

DO...

Demonstrate the lift without a verbal

description then ask athlete to perorm

the lit and obsere their interpretation

o that lit, they may be near perect,

they may be not, treat each one onhow THEY lit

At the start position instruct your athlete

to push the chest out and through

whilst pulling the bar o the oor this will

encourage correct liting posture with the

back being slightly in extension

Depending on your athletes training age

you may wish to break the lit down into

stages. Start with the frst pull by dead

liting the bar to the waist position and

returning it back to the oor, encouragethe athlete to push their chest through to

retain good posture. Repeat this until your

comortable with what you see, be patient

Once condent with the rst pull, move

to the high pull. It is important to at this

point or your athlete to work on pushing

the hips orward and extend up on to the

toes. One coaching tip you may wish

to use here is to pull the bar up to chest

height rubbing fnely against the nael

area, this will encourage the athlete to

keep the bar close to their body

Move on to the full lift when you feel the

athlete has mastered the aboe and

neer be araid to reisit the basics. A

great tool to use is the ideo camera but

be aware o consenting the parents or

guardians o your athletes should they be

under 18 years old Compliment the athlete on their good lifting

points as it is important to fnish liting on

a eel good note, people deal too much

with the negatie, with what is wrong. Try

and see positie things, to just touch those

things and make them bloom.


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At top leel rugby (o both codes) is a complex multi

aceted sport. Rugby union has more indiidual

position specifc requirements than rugby league

and at top leel training will need to reect this e.g.

static strength and neck strength requirements in

scrimmaging orwards that are not required to such

an extent in rugby league.

Why hae I said at top leel? This is because

this specifc type o training should only be a smallraction o training time once a player has achieed

basic ftness across a wide range o attributes. Too

much icing and not enough cake: players/coaches

wanting the latest ancy programme/psychobabble/

technology/diet etc beore they hae adequate rugby

and ftness skills.

fitness

trainingfor rugby

SIMON WORSNOP

Fitness Coach or the England

Under-20s squad (Rugby Union)

1. All singing all dancing circus programmese.g. doing dumb bell curls whilst

standing on a sit ft will NOT improe

perormance. Choose multi joint

exercises and WORK HARD; this willmake you strong. Work on your indiidual

weaknesses using predominantly dumb

bell and body weight exercises.

2. Liberal use o the word strong. Fieldathletes are strong, weightliters are

strong; some elite rugby players are now

becoming strong but many are NOT

STRONG. A simple ormula used by old

timers or strength was 3,4,5 i.e. bench300lb, squat 400lb, deadlit 500lb.

3. Liberal uses o world class and ft etcsee aboe.

4. Lat machines are or people who are tooat to do pull ups.

5. Excuses or poor physique e.g. hesyoung, hes got puppy at- NO he is

FAT, probably caused by a combinationo POOR DIET, LACK OF EXERCISE,

WEAK WILLPOWER and POOR

EDUCATION

6. There is nothing wrong with drinkinglots o beer and eating Kentucky Fried

Chicken, pork pies etc so long as

you only want to watch sport and not

participate.

7. Moaning about being tired; players usedto work or 8 hours down the pit catch

a bus to training arrie back home at

midnight and get up or the next shit

at 6am!! 13 year old swimmers do 60

minute sessions at 5am!!

8. Wanting to run beore we can walk, i.e.can you do a minimum o 8 pull ups,

20 twenty press ups and 50 lunges

plus 50 body weight squats and 30

crunches rest or a minute and repeat

three times? I not, why are asking or

an adanced programme?

9. Lack o general ftness; see point aboeplus can you oerhead squat with a

dowel, can you oerhead lunge with a

dowel, can you run at least 1300m in 5

minutes? I not you are OUT OF SHAPEin some orm or another.

10. O -eet conditioning; this is otenused as an excuse to aoid hard work.

Players do not get ft or rugby on

stationary bikes!!!


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The idea that physical abilities tests can predict

talent is now so perasie that Im beginning to

loose track o the number o times Im askedby athletes whoe completed physiology tests

what sports the tests suggest theyd be good

at. When I explain that the tests are intended

to help them assess their own ftness and

identiy areas they can work on to improe their

perormance theyre oten a little disappointed.

I only it were so easy to identiy uture stars this

way but despite the spin, the reality is that it

certainly isnt.

The Australians were the frst to try to identiy

athletes this way an initiatie that began with

their rowing programme in 1988. More than 20

years later the much talked about Talent Search

programme has produced results that are ar

more modest than the hype suggests -- just

Talent IdThe Australian Myth

PAULA JARDINE

South West Talent Manager,

Uniersity o Bath

oer a hal doen emale Olympic athletes

and 3 Olympic medals which represents

about 1 percent o Australias medal

haul. Een these results were dependent

on a bit o luck as the frst two Talent IDathletes to compete in an Olympic Games

or Australia (rower Megan Still and cyclist

Alayna Burns) were in act almost not

selected or their respectie programmes.

This type o Talent ID testing is widely

thought to be a Westernised adaptation

o the methods used in the Eastern Bloc

to select elite athletes. The Eastern Blocdidnt rely on one o tests at all they

tracked athletes physical deelopment

oer many years and were more interested

in the trajectory that their training and

results were taking. What the tests

generally do is deselect indiiduals who

dont ft an idealised model o what an

athlete in a particular sport looks like. Had

the height criteria been rigorously applied

in the case o British Olympic rowing

medallist Annie vernon she would neer

hae been selected. Promoted as a Talent

ID fnd vernon had been actie in the

sport or oer 3 years by the time she was

identifed and ast tracked.

Most sports already hae problems with

selection bias at junior age group leel

skewing the talent pool as is eidenced

by the relatie age eect and the oer

representation o early maturing athletesin selectie junior programmes. As

physical abilities tests are being used

with increasing requency in our schools

to identiy the gited and talented with

the intention o proiding additional

resources to support their deelopment it

is highly likely to compound the problem

o selection bias as those administering

the tests look at the numbers withouttaking age or biological maturity into

consideration when making supposedly

scientifc assessments o someones

innate abilities.

Talent ID testing has a limited use as a

gimmicky way to recruit athletes or some

sports but theres a real danger that as it

becomes more perasie it could hae the

unintended consequence o eroding rather

than expanding the talent pool when those

labelled gited at an early age turn out not

to be.


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eatlocalproduce

CAROL FARLEY

Culm valley Organic vegetables.

http://www.culmalleyeg.co.uk/about-us.asp

There is a desire or a better way o eating healthily and saely, eating plenty o resh

egetables is an important dietary requirement to improe and maintain our health. Aim

or at least 5 dierent portions o ruit or egetables a day. Organic arming systems rely

on natural nutrient cycles to proide crop nutrition and more natural and preentatie

methods o pest, disease and weed management. Crops are grown extensiely and

traditionally with no ertilier, pesticides or herbicides. With almost all egetables,

reshness makes a marked dierence in aour, unortunately so many o the egetables

sold in our shops hae been held in storage or too long, or hae been own so ar, that

they hae lost much o their aour and reshness.

Seasonality is a word that many o us hae orgotten or hae chosen to ignore, but

with a growing awareness as to where our ood comes rom through the media,

and ood agencies, questions are being asked as to why we require our ood to be

transported around the world when on many occasions a sufcient, aried and nutrient

rich alternaties are already being grown on their ery doorsteps and are readily

aailable through many dierent outlets like: Box schemes, Farmers Markets and Farm

Shops. To taste any egetable or ruit in its correct season can be quite amaing!

Flaour, texture and oerall reshness makes its eating qualities ar superior. Many

o us are now more aware that by eating resh locally grown seasonal produce which

contains the correct itamins and nutrients at that relatie time o year will ultimately

beneft our oerall health prooundly.

In season in March: spinach, swiss chards, kale, cabbages, winter cauliower. Stored

and still edible: potatoes, carrots, parsnips and swede.


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First a statement rom James Marshalls book

reiew o my book Science o Sports Training

The book is a bit old now, published in 2001,with most o the research quoted pre-dating

that. This would probably disqualiy it rom

being used as an academic text book, but as a

Coaching handbook it is ery good.

An Accurate

Observationis neverwrong

THOMAS KURz

Author o Science o Sports Training

This made me think, How important really

is or a coach to hae the most up-to-date

research?

I quoted a lot o research papers in thisbook and in my other books. I did it to

back up claims or adice that run contrary

to common wisdom (or rather common

stupidity...).

Some o the old research I quoted was,

and still is aluable no matter whether

it was done in 1920 or in 2000. Human

physiology (including its expression inhuman psychology) doesnt change rom

decade to decade, not rom century

to century, hardly rom millennium to

millennium, so accurate obserations o

human nature hold true no matter their

age. (Think the oldest medical manuals

o India and China, or encing manuals o

ages past....)

valuable studies and experiments are those

that reeal truths not likely arried at by

listening to ones body or paying attention

to clues. Eerything else is just ulflling the

academic requirement to publish.

Now, what is important or a coach?

Understanding human body and mind

enough to know the relation between

input and output, then obsering athletesand adjusting the input. In one o my blog

posts Training s Skill Training or More

on Super Slow and Similar Approaches, I

wrote: When in doubt, reer to eeryday

obserations. An accurate obseration is

neer wrong.

Take the most important, in my opinion,

principle o sports training: The Principleo Indiidualiation and Accessibility o

Training. (When you think o it, all other

principles o training are based on that

one.) I you apply it, you see that studying

the most recent research on exercise

science matters much less than obsering

athletes mood, moement quality, signs

o atigue and apprehension, and adjusting

training process accordingly.

More articles on the practical application

o principles o training are here and my

obseration-based posts are in my blog .


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I beliee in player deelopment and I beliee in the impact that coaches can hae on

that deelopment. The continual proessional deelopment o coaches is important

and the words o Dae Whittaker, the 1986 gold medal Olympics hockey team

coach, still ring true today.

You owe it to your players to be thebest coach you ca possibly be.

That doesnt mean that we want to deelop coaches who are all the same.

There is, I beliee, opportunity to deelop indiiduality in our coaches. I do not

beliee in deeloping a group o homogeneous coaches points o dierence are

itally important. Big picture coaches with a real sense o purpose and a clear

understanding o how the principles o play can transorm learning and perormance

are ital or the uture deelopment o coaching.

Our challenge in coach deelopment is to help to deelop innoatie and creatie

coaches who can maximise player and team potential. Een at the elite end o the

game where the medias microscopic analysis and interest hae placed incredible

stresses on coaches there is scope or deelopment.

The challenge o elite coach deelopment is to deelop coaches who can deal with

the most intense coaching enironment o world cups, international matches and

the premiership.

(Full article can be ound here)

the

challengeto

coachingKEvIN BOWRING

Head o RFU elite coach deelopment


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I I had a quid or eery time Ie been asked

Whats the best supplement to take orperormance? Id be a rich man! To some

extent, the conusion oer sports nutrition is

understandable; at its cutting edge, nutrition is a

complex and constantly eoling science inoling

huge numbers o ariables and sometimes its

hard to see the wood or the trees.

walkbeforeyou run

Guide to Nutrition

ANDREW HAMILTONBSC HONS, MRSC, ACSM

specialising in sport and perormance nutrition

www.andrewmarkhamilton.com

Probably the most common mistake people

make when planning out their nutrition is to

worry about supplements such as exotic

sports drinks and creatine beore putting the

undamental building blocks in place. Its abit like a cyclist agonising oer whether to

shae a ew grams o weight by splashing

out 200 on super-light carbon fbre pedals

shoes while still carrying a spare tyre o

excess body at round the waist!

A good way to deelop a successul

nutrition strategy is to think in terms o a

hierarchy o nutritional needs. You can

think o this as a pyramid, with the widestlayer at the base representing the most

undamental dietary needs and successie

layers aboe representing progressiely

more specialised needs. Howeer, these

more specialised needs should only be

considered once the (more basic) layers

below hae been put in place.

At the base o the pyramid, the most

undamental layer is about ensuringyour oerall diet is healthy, with ample

carbohydrate and uid to support

your training needs and enough high

quality protein or recoery and muscle

growth as well as plenty o itamins and

minerals (see here i you need guidance:

http://www.eatwell.go.uk/healthydiet/

nutritionessentials/).

The next layer up is about tweaking your

day-to-day diet to help your body resistillness and breakdown. This is achieed

by ensuring that your plentiul ruit and

egetable intake emphasises those

particularly rich in antioxidants (to counter

the oxidatie stress that intense exercise

can produce in the cells o the body), and

by ensuring you consume plenty o health-

giing omega-3 oils.

With leels 1 and 2 in place, youre readyto start attending to the nitty-gritty o sports

nutrition. Howeer, beore you reach or a

tub o sports drink or similar, you need to

think about something more undamental

manipulating your basic diet to optimise

uid intake or optimum hydration and

carbohydrate intake or energy.

Its only when these frst three layers are

in place that you should consider thinkingabout leel 4 (consuming sports drinks such

as energy, recoery, weight gain etc) or the

top tier (supplements like creatine, beta-

alanine etc.). Remember, sport is just like lie

learn to walk beore you run!


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I hae recently completed a case study on the parental expectations o coaches

o elite rugby league players. The parents o the England Youth (u16) squad

completed a questionnaire about their childs inolement in the sport and parental

expectations o the coaches their children work with.

Some interesting obserations and the implications:

Our elite players participate at school, community club, scholarship club and

National leel. On aerage they are coached by oer 6 coaches per week. In

somencases this led to conicting inormation and potential conict with coaches,

howeer parents had strategies to cope with this.

When asked about the qualities coaches should possess the highest two

responses were that coaches should be approachable and hae goodcommunication skills. Interestingly, subject knowledge was the 3rd most popular

response.

With goerning bodies now deriing much public unding to grow their sports and

the competition between sports this will generate, then we must be mindul o the

expectations o parents when planning and deliering our programmes.

Do you hae a strategy or dealing with the parents o your athletes??

managing

parentsDAvE ROTHERAM

RFL National Player Perormance Manager


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So, our body at deposits eoled as an energy store or tucking away excess

calories or later use and helped our mammalian ancestors surie seasonal ood

shortages. This makes perect sense; ater all the ability to aoid staration is a real

eolutionary adantage. Howeer, in westernised societies where lie is sedentary

and ood is always aailable, there is now an obesity epidemic which is crippling the

population and healthcare systems. But why? And how?

We all know that the wrong kinds o dietary at gie you high cholesterol, heart

disease and strokes but why does a high BMI massiely increase your risk o

diabetes and cancer?

The ascinating answer that is emerging is that ar rom being just an energy store,

our body at is a ully unctioning endocrine organ, secreting actors that can

suppress insulin actiity and drie aggressie growth o tumours. The question that

remains to be answered is whether it is simply a case o haing too much normally

unctioning at or whether in obesity, the at goes bad.

As with all research, it is difcult to tease apart the conounding actors. In this case,

how much o the eect is directly attributable to the at itsel and how much is rom

the liestyle that leads to obesity. Ater all, there is also a strong link between cancer

incidence/prognosis and exercise... But that is another story.

http://www.medscape.com/iewarticle/487381_5

http://www.leptinresearch.org/pd/rsh_adipose_tissue_as_an_endocrine_organ.pd

The lard

works inmysteri-

ous ways.ANTON PARKER

Healthcare Scientist, Molecular Biology

Department, Royal Bournemouth Hospital


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Do any o the ollowing rugby-relatedcomments sound amiliar?

Theres a gym culture in rugby thatproduces gym monkeys and thats

whats spoiling the game

Nowadays, players spend too muchtime in the gym and not enough timepracticing skills

Theyre supposed to be rugby players,not weight-liters

Weight training is dangerous or youngplayers

All o these are gross oersimplifcationsand in the last case, plain wrong.

Elite players certainly spend more time inthe gym now than they did in the past.But their training is more than simplyabout getting bigger (hypertrophy). Anoer-emphasis on sie alone can resultin players who are bigger, but oten atterand slower too; theyre not much use ora dynamic game like rugby.

Its also true that a bigger guy moing astwill exert more orce in a collision than asmaller one moing at the same speed,but better conditioning and specifcstrength training can help players o allshapes and sies to protect themseles

against injuries. A lot o work playersdo in the gym nowadays is actuallyimproing their resistance to injury, sospending time in the gym doing the right

things can hae a benefcial eect.That being said, things can go wrong inthe gym i players arent ollowing well-designed programmes. Generating amuscle imbalance through poor trainingis a one example. Muscles work in acomplimentary ashion around joints; itheres an imbalance in the way thosemuscles interact, one or more o themajor muscles can exert extreme orces

on a joint that is less able to protectitsel. For example, i a player does a loto bench press work but not enoughcomplimentary pulling and shoulderstability training, he can create instabilityin the shoulders that dramaticallyincreases his predisposition to shoulderinjuries. So thats defnitely the sort ogym culture and gym monkey we dontwant to encourage. Inormation is alsoaailable ia RFU.com about strength

and conditioning coaching certifcates,designed to proide accessible, practicaltraining or sports coaches in thespecifcs o ftness deelopment.

injurypreventionin the gymROY HEADEY

RFU head o Sports Science


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On a daily basis I hear rom students that they heard that some exercises are

dangerous. So my frst basic weight training class I start with this short introduction:

There arent dangerous exercises, just dangerous techniques.

I deote a great deal o time to warming-up exercises. I consider a good warm-upto be the frst step in preenting injuries, as well as proiding ery good mental and

physical preparation.

Any kind o engine needs a certain amount o time or warm up. An insufciently

warmed up engine will unction improperly, and sooner or later will break.

This rule applies ery well to sport and human body.

The warm-ups inuences are mechanical, physiological and psychological:

Mechanical, because moement generates heat, raising the

temperature o tissues and blood;

Physiological, because the warmer muscles are more exible,

aster to react, and more explosie, while neuromuscular coordination also

improes ater a good warm-up;

Psychological, because a properly warmed up musculature

suggests through the body hormonal and neurological channels readiness, a

thirst to perorm, and general eelings o well-being.

Then, master a perect exercise technique, exercise gradually and respect a program.

warm ups

forstrengthtraining

ISTvAN STEvE JAvOREK

[email protected]


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Anythingin Life is

Possible,if YOU Make

it Happen!

JACK LALANNE

Jack is now 95 years old and still training

regularly see the interiew I did with him on his

93rd birthday here

To fnish o the blog estial, Jack Lalanne has kindly sent this quote:


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Our umber oe priority is to get the

athlete o the pitch ready to play.

This is the uderlyig objective o our

traiig; coditioig is ot the ed goal.

We look to achieve: quality o executio;

saety; progressio; variety, itesity

ad balace. I the correct traiigeviromet with good coachig you

will develop a hard workig ad wiig

metality. This will help develop a

uderlyig cofdece i your ability toproduce results uder pressure.

We do ot believe there is a sigle magic

exercise; we use prove traiig priciples

to develop the athlete. We avoid ads but

keep a ope mid to curret research.There are o shortcuts to success, but we

ca help show you the way.

www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk

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