Gaa training, gym, diet and injury advice

[BallyhaiseMan]

Davitt man
my training would normaly be

Monday Gym sessions of 1Hour

Tuesday Football training,Sprint work really,high intensity game
1 and a half hours

Wednesday Gym Work for 1 hour.

ive experimented with 3 days in a row in the Gym and have found by the 3rd day,i have no impetus to do anything due to being absolutely f**ked.havent found it was bad though when you have a change of scenery like Football training in between.
Ive found my current schedule allows for enough rest.Sure after the Gym session on a wednesday you will be tired,but thats shows me its working.But two days to recover is more than enough to recuperate.
of course all our bodies are different.

[AbbeySider]

how do you feel come match day, are you full of energy or do you feel sluggish?

To be honest Davitt Man, I do feel sluggish, but I put it down to lack or match fitness more than over doing it at training. Really in the gym im giving my upper body the workout and at training the legs get the workout 9Or so I think).

Do u think the sluggishness is down to overdoing it?
What time and recovery techniques would you advise?
Im taking from this thread that two days minimum before a match is best to recover.


Usually after the gym I take a USN Whey Protein shake and take it again the following morning. I find it aids recovery of muscles. I also sometimes take the protein shakes after intensive football matchs/trainings, but more often than not eat some pasta or something. I often find myself hungry for two dinners during intensive training periods.

The day of a match or training I try and eat a dinner with lots of carbs around 4-6 hours before the time.
(I often get sick or nautious if I eat too late before training... does this happen anyone else?).

Lads i was wondering if any of you have any advice regarding hamstring tears. I tore my right hamstring 3.5 weeks ago. I was in a lot of pain and there was a right bit of bruising just above my knee. I did nothing for 2 weeks and then started jogging again after that and then sprinted a bit on my own. I thought i was flying as the pain had pretty much set aside. However i stepped up the pace a bit and played 5 mins in a reserve game last saturday. I was in terrible pain after it and i'm back to square one. How long should have i taken complete rest for before doing any training? Should i have been doing swimming etc long before i started jogging?

It sounds like a very bad tear inisceithleann, I strained my hammer a few weeks ago and its an annoying injury.
I would get physio on it ASAP and get lots of it. Your club should be able to look after you for it. Ice is very important too. Try and Ice it as much as possible.
I found last year when I got a slight tear that heating the muscle with a hot water bottle and doing little stretches and then cooling it with Ice (and repeating the process a few times) really helped in the recovery.

But a 2nd opinion and it being worked on by a physio is the main point

[BallyhaiseMan]

Lads i was wondering if any of you have any advice regarding hamstring tears. I tore my right hamstring 3.5 weeks ago. I was in a lot of pain and there was a right bit of bruising just above my knee. I did nothing for 2 weeks and then started jogging again after that and then sprinted a bit on my own. I thought i was flying as the pain had pretty much set aside. However i stepped up the pace a bit and played 5 mins in a reserve game last saturday. I was in terrible pain after it and i'm back to square one. How long should have i taken complete rest for before doing any training? Should i have been doing swimming etc long before i started jogging?

IC
is it a torn hamstring or a pulled one?

if its a badly torn one,thats a fairly serious one im afraid,You're talking 3 months and you would want to get it looked at by a physio fairly quick.

Im no expert believe me but theres a grade one and grade two hamstring pull,

Grade one is normaly 3 weeks out

Grade Two is 4 to 6 weeks out from sporting activity,

2 weeks as you said wasnt enough,no matter what injury,but better be safe and get it checked.

[AbbeySider]

tintin25
I vote that you rename this thread to something like "training, gym, diet and injury advice" or something similar so it could be a regular 'stickie' like the other threads.

As regards training,
I have a desk job and find that I do be very stiff when it comes to training. It takes me a while to warm up and get a good stretch. Sitting at a desk all day is a disaster.

Do you guys recommended a light jog the evening before a training or match to loosen out?
Im not sure how much that works as I often feel stiffer in the the next day. Strange.

[shotstopper1]

Some Mondays i could barely walk never mind train.

If ye stayed outta Eamons on a Sunday you'd be well able to walk on a Monday

BTW what's the story on Cullivan?

[BallyhaiseMan]

tintin25
I vote that you rename this thread to something like "training, gym, diet and injury advice" or something similar so it could be a regular 'stickie' like the other threads.

As regards training,
I have a desk job and find that I do be very stiff when it comes to training. It takes me a while to warm up and get a good stretch. Sitting at a desk all day is a disaster.

Do you guys recommended a light jog the evening before a training or match to loosen out?
Im not sure how much that works as I often feel stiffer in the the next day. Strange.

ive found a light jog before training/game an hour or two before can help,Gets the legs active and as you said loosened out.And leaves you sharper for training/game.
Nothing worse going down to warm up 20 minutes before for an important game,being stiff as hell.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Some Mondays i could barely walk never mind train.

If ye stayed outta Eamons on a Sunday you'd be well able to walk on a Monday

BTW what's the story on Cullivan?

i was talking to him last week,and i dont believe he had it diagnosed yet,perhaps thats changed by now
its one of two injuries,
1.remember the one McCabe was hobbling around on a few years ago,
fairly badly strained knee ligaments i believe which would leave him out for 4-6 weeks or maybe a bit longer,
2.or the serious one a complete tear which would be a season ending 7/8 month recovery.

[mannix]

Today i run 6 miles every second day and lift weights every day i am not running.I do arms,back,chest and legs split over 3 or 4 sessions in the week and am fit enough but if it was to go out playing its a different fitness altogether.No gaelic played in the last year but will get back into it once i get back near a club.
When i was playing it was training on tuesday and thursday and if no game at the weekend we would train instead.At any rate the training would be a jog around the pitch circumference 3 or 4 times and then stretch.Then sprint the full lenght of the field and jog back anywhere between 5 and 10 times without stopping except for to vomit if you were not able.Then stretch again followed by 30 or 50 yard sprint with a ball and kick pass when at the end of the sprint and jog back on the sideline to repeat until everyone had gone 6 times.This part was always in groups of 4 so you would be shagged.Then a circuit of push ups which were done way too fast for any benefit,situps and my favourite the jumping jack where you start from the hands on the ground position , then they would repeat any of the above except the long sprint just to fill the 90 minute session.A real sickener if ever there was one.Not so much ballwork early in the year as they reckoned you were better getting fit without it,what killed me was some lads would come to training and stand around talking about their injuries but be fine for a kickaround game after the sweating was done.


My favourite expression about training  "fail to prepare,prepare to fail" by one of the gods in the manchunian area of saxony, and i still have no allireland!

[imtommygunn]

I find in an office you get a "two day pain". You're not too bad the day after a hard session but because you're sitting it stiffens you up and the next day you're stiff from the stiffening up!

The best way I have found to alleviate stiffness is exercise bike and stretching. I think a lot of you pain comes from excess lactic acid which hasn't been "extinguished" from your system. High cadence on an exercise bike helps this.

Also if you eat food within half an hour of training - and I mean proper food like a tuna pasta salad(ie good protein plus carbs) this will go a long way to replenishing what has been taken out of your body.

A recommended way to ease soreness in legs is 2 minutes slow, 30 seconds full pace repeated about 4 times(running of course). You'll feel the difference.

[jungle]

I along with a few lads from our club would do weights sessions on nites we dont train and i would question the benefits doing weights has for gaelic games (maybe im doing the wrong drills but i got them off a fella who was given them as part of a county training programme).

i often hear of fellas who miss training regularly saying they are out running and doing weights but personally i think doing hard hitting drills at training are the key and always have been as you are holding onto a ball and taking a tackle i.e. match situations.

[BallyhaiseMan]

I along with a few lads from our club would do weights sessions on nites we dont train and i would question the benefits doing weights has for gaelic games (maybe im doing the wrong drills but i got them off a fella who was given them as part of a county training programme).

i often hear of fellas who miss training regularly saying they are out running and doing weights but personally i think doing hard hitting drills at training are the key and always have been as you are holding onto a ball and taking a tackle i.e. match situations.

hard hitting drills are good

running through holding the ball getting hit by punching bags,teaches you to hold the ball when getting hit from all angles.

also like the 4 corners 3 balls, two guys in the middle,one defender,One attacker one,Attacker has to get the ball and give it to the free man,Then after about a minute,they switch.Very intensive,and very hard hitting with bodychecking etc,takes it out of you.

a Proper weights programme though is very good.

[inisceithleann]

I along with a few lads from our club would do weights sessions on nites we dont train and i would question the benefits doing weights has for gaelic games (maybe im doing the wrong drills but i got them off a fella who was given them as part of a county training programme).

i often hear of fellas who miss training regularly saying they are out running and doing weights but personally i think doing hard hitting drills at training are the key and always have been as you are holding onto a ball and taking a tackle i.e. match situations.

IMO players are obsessed with weights these days. I agree that they are important but you are right, hard hitting at training is what is important as it replicates the match situations. I know of one player who has done nothing but lift weights in the last 6 months. Yes he is much bigger as a result but has lost a bit of pace and all the weights in the world didn't improve his skill level.

[Harps 21]

I would play at intermediate club level, and we would train twice a week for no more than an hour, with a match on Sunday.  In between, I would do 1 gym session a week based on a lower body weights programme, and I would aim to do 1 10k run a week, though occasionally I would stretch this out to 10 miles sometimes.  As regards upper body weights, I wouldn't do any - our trainer is of the opinion that unless done properly to a set programme, upper body weights are useless, and that the best way to develop effective upper body strength that you can actually use in a game, is by doing exercises that actually involve your own body weight i.e. press-ups and abdominal exercises.  I would do these 4/5 times a week and generally I find that level of training is sufficient.  I wait of course to be stood corrected...

[INDIANA]

that's true but it depends at what grade you're playing at. You won't survive playing senior club football by doing no weights certainly not in Dublin anyway. If you do the right weights it should make you faster. We were fortunate t be trained by 2 sports scientists who got us  using weights exercises i never heard of. pity i didn't get to do them earlier in my career. Still won't help you kick the ball straight but they have to be done to some degree at that level. but i wouldn't do gym work to the detriment of everything else. one eveining extra on top of training spent kicking  aball can be hugely beneficial -again something i wished i'd spent more time on.

[Harps 21]

I agree about simply kicking a ball with a few teammates can be hugely beneficial - time like that allows ya to practice all the key skills.  For example I would have been weak under the high ball, but spending time simply practising taking high catches has hugely improved that area of my game.  You can also practice your distribution, particularly your kick passes, solo running, and forwards can of course practice and better their shooting and free taking.  An hour doing that can be often much more beneficial for your game than an evening simply spent in the gym.

On a side issue, have many of the lads here been subjected to the well-named "suicide runs" as part of their club training??  Provided you actually bust yourself in the exercise, you do sometimes feel about to reach for the revolver afterwards...