This extract is taken from Chapter 2 of How to Support a Champion, with some further reflections below… Toni Minichiello is the coach with whom I have had the longest working relationship. It stretches back to 2001 and is still…
In 1958, as NASA began it’s search for aerospace pilots, the job description listed the need for the following characteristics; · Male (how 1950s?) · Approx 5’11” /180cm · Aged between twenty-five and forty · A science degree ·…
I am a lucky boy. Lucky, lucky lucky (apologies if after only 8 words you are now singing Kylie Minogue’s hit or reciting sections of Monty Python’s Holy Grail). When I first started to work in high-performance I was fortunate…
This blog continues the ‘Top 10 sleep principles’ focusing on competition and sleep. Competing Having made it to a competition, you really don’t want sleep to get in the way of performance. But here, sleep is especially challenged, since you…
This blog continues the ‘Top 10 sleep principles’ focusing on travel and sleep Travelling In our previous post we considered general sleep issues during training. We also suggested that routines were the guardians of good sleep. It’s also the case…
Evidence-based sleep management to support your performance and wellbeing Training The jury is still out on whether, by extending sleep beyond its typical duration, performance can be reliably enhanced (so-called ‘sleep extension’ interventions). What is certain, however, is that inadequate…
In this guest blog series we hear from experts Kevin Morgan and Luke Gupta – on the vital component of performance – Sleep! This introductory blog will look at the background to sleep and why it is so important. In…
“The Sub-2 hour marathon… I think it’s a monumentally difficult challenge” Since its announcement last month, much has been made of Nike’s ‘Breaking2’ project: Three East African distance runners taking a collective shot at the sub-two-hour marathon in the spring…
I am a runner. Well I used to run. Actually I still run, but only a couple of times per week. But I used to try to sprint. I wasn’t very good, but I had a nice time trying! Nevertheless…
This week’s topic, in my humble opinion, is the most neglected subject area in the Sports Science University education system*. If the evidence that I refer to is indirect I apologise, but in the sports science graduate population I…