Pre season training regimes

[neilthemac]

Not disagreeing at all there. Your right.
If you are taking it seriously, after a good strength base you can work on power; doing heavy reps quickly/explosively or power lifting and cleans.

I have seen guys get too big from the gym, carrying too much muscle and size it really effected speed, agility and endurance.
Then there are people who are naturally more athletic and find it really hard to put on weight / muscle.

I suppose everyone is looking for the happy medium.

thats basically my outlook on it. i play other stuff as well as GAA and don't want to put on too much heavy muscle on my frame as it will affect flexibility etc. Just want to add small bit of muscle and improve strength of current muscles.

so once the playing seasons starts i'll be looking to develop power/speed in the muscles.

cheers

[INDIANA]

doing the correct weights will never slow anyone down. Don't neglect core stability and you won't get slow. Thats an old wives tale.
They are guys who must have been doing the incorrect weights for gaa players. Can't emphasiase the importance of core stability
in contact sports. Its amazing the amount of guys who neglect it.

[AbbeySider]

doing the correct weights will never slow anyone down. Don't neglect core stability and you won't get slow. Thats an old wives tale.
They are guys who must have been doing the incorrect weights for gaa players. Can't emphasiase the importance of core stability
in contact sports. Its amazing the amount of guys who neglect it.

Core is very important. I remember when I first started gyming about 3 years ago I completely ignored the core and it led to all sorts of problems. I used to get weak dull pains in my lower back when running and had bad posture. I think I had problems with tight glutes and hamstrings. The worst injury I got from a weak core was at the end of last year. I was doing decline sit-ups and my core wasnt strong enough to support my weight so something popped in my lower back that gave me a nasty sciatic nerve irritation. It didnt help that I played a match on it and I was fecked for a while. Im still not 100%.

I find core work is important to help in breaking tackles, and driving through without not spilling the ball and not buckling and losing your balance. 

[Davitt Man]

so what kind of drills are good for core work

[screenexile]

You see this core stability thing gets to me. Mickey Moran said core stabilty is nonsense as in why concentrate on your core when you need your whole body to play Gaelic Football to the best of your ability.

He advocates this nutter:

http://www.completephilrichards.com/

Who is big into the Strong Man training and believes it is the best way to improve performance.

Personally I would agree on the premise that the whole body needs to be strong and not just the core which is why he uses string an training which Moran has been concentrating a lot on in recent seasons with Creggan I belive. To me the strong man training and Richards' nutritional philosophy leave a lot to be desired for an amateur athlete and while I am sure it works for professionals it is not a lifestyle choice I would like to make.

I was at a talk he gave where he was explaining the regime of using only organic and carefully prepared foodstuffs and when asked the question "Yeah this is all good but how is a man who is on the road from 7 in the morning to 6 in the evening supposed to follow this?" to which Phil replied "Well if he can't then he obviously doesn't have the requirements to be a winner!" At which point I decided his teachings weren't for me.

[thirteen03]

Someone asked about benefits of long runs (runs lasting 30 minutes to an hour or more). I'm more of a runner than a footballer myself and here's my understanding of it. The benefits of long runs are 1) To learn how it feels to run constantly for an hour, i.e. the stages you go through physically and mentally. This is why runners do a long run about once a week, but this benefit doesn't apply to footballers. 2) To burn fat. This is why boxers do long runs, so if you want to burn fat/loose weight long runs are a good way to do it.

However they can leave you tired for a day or more, which can affect the quality of your next training and your attitude to training, so if you don't need to loose weight I wouldn't advise them. Interval training is best to improve fitness. It's what distance runners from 1 mile to a marathon use. A good interval session, excluding warm up and cool down, can be done in around 30 mins, leaving time for skill work. Players should feel less sluggish between trainings and therefore look forward to the next one more. (And if your old school you can still push your players til they puke)

12x400m is a good starting point, starting together (which promotes racing) on 0:00, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 etc... so your done in under 35 minutes. A fit footballer should be looking at getting all 12 runs close to 80 seconds. The faster guys may get close to 75 on a few. There are endless variations of interval sessions. Remember this improves fitness in the stamina sense of the word, footballers should also think about speed and agility training

[AbbeySider]

so what kind of drills are good for core work

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/abdominalcorestrength1/qt/plank.htm
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/lr/core_exercises/254023/4/

etc
Google is your friend...

[INDIANA]

Moran is right in one sense that you must strengthen your whole body. There are countless guys who won't do core exercises because they want to be seen lifting macho style weights. just leaving yourself open to torn hamstrings and lower back problems. but ot say core exercises are rubbish , says  a lot about him.

[Zulu]

Some interesting points of view there lads, but the general feeling I get is that most of ye know a bit but not quite enough, i.e. someone said low reps and high weights leads to hypertrophy which isn't true that type of training is for strength. Another poster said 10K runs don't are one paced and don't train speed etc. and this is not necessarily the case either. In terms of your cardio fitness there a number of ways of going about it but I would recommend that anyone who wants to get a fitness base prior to the start of group training to do some distance running on a soft surface but mix it up a bit a progress slowly. For example start off running 3 mile runs at a comfortable pace, once you can start running 5 milers introduce some 1.5 miles and 3 mile runs at pace. Once team training begins any good coach will be doing primarily interval type training so now you'll be working your anaerobic fitness but you'll already have the aerobic work done which will help you recover from sprints quicker.

P.S. It's no harm to do a 5 mile run once every 2-3 weeks to keep your aerobic system ticking over

As for weights, well it's very hard to give advice as it is a very individual thing but in the off season you should most guys need to get bigger so you should lift weights that you can lift about 10 times for 3-4 sets and eat plenty. As the season gets closer you should be doing more strength type weights i.e. low reps high weights this will give you the strength to do the explosive type work which you will be doing in the summer, which is the olympic style lifting, medicine ball work and plyometric training.

I wouldn't recommend anyone just taking the above as gospel because like I say it is very individualised and you should be assessed for weaknesses before you give someone a program. Oh and do your core work all through, though I would advise against too many sit ups, try and do most of your core work standing up.

[INDIANA]

Zulu i don't know  of any county team that lifts olympic style weights over the summer. At that stage surely its high reps , low weights for maintenance.

[Zulu]

For lower body I would do some olympic weights and plyometric training and for the upper body I would be doing press ups (with claps), chip ups, and medicine ball work. Doing two sessions a week, I wouldn't do the olympic lifting on the week of a game but I would definitely do it during the summer. High reps low weight is for increasing endurance in the muscles but you'll already have that type of work done it won't maintain the benefits of previous work. But in fairness what I'm saying is probably more suited to a pro athlete.

[the milkman]

I'm thinking of going back to play football (only reserves) for the first time in years, i intend to train with the club and do some work on my own to get my fitness up and lose some weight. 

either;

going to spinning class at the gym

or go running the roads.

Which would benefit  me more?  a lad I know said it would be better to run 2-3 miles at a good pace, rather than slog over 6 or more??

[itstartsfromnumber15]

Indiana i agree 100% with your posts....very like how my schedule is shaped. Those looking for advice....id go along
with what he has posted. Best of luck with pre-season and all the best for the new year.

[AbbeySider]

I'm thinking of going back to play football (only reserves) for the first time in years, i intend to train with the club and do some work on my own to get my fitness up and lose some weight. 

either;

going to spinning class at the gym

or go running the roads.

Which would benefit  me more?  a lad I know said it would be better to run 2-3 miles at a good pace, rather than slog over 6 or more??

I would suggest the road?

Mainly because the more miles you clock running up the more inches you will eventually lose. (my own equation "miles=inches"     )
Speaking from a little experience (I have to work hard at keeping weight off) I would use running as the better cardio option.
When I cycle in the gym or where-ever I dont think my heart rate gets as fast as it would if I was actually running. I find running a better whole body work out too.

Diet and eating habits are really important. Not eating after 8pm and eating the right things for energy levels that you will burn off with cardio. 
There is hundreds of articles on that stuff online anyway.

One last point, running on the road can be very tough on the legs and joints. Make sure your runners are made for road running or training or you could get shin splints or sore knees or ankles.

[JMohan]

Just a few quick points from a Mike McGurn talk a few months ago ...

You CAN lift weights all season long - doesn't mean you are ready to - It might be ok for a professional AFL/Rugby player not some GAA guy.
You need to build up to it, and many players do lift - some (top players) even up 2 days before a game - and some lift heavy - the key is to lift heavy, very fast and only one or two reps.
Light weights are not really much use to GAA players - except when starting out the season.

Hypertrophy overrated and is not very useful in sport. Size is useful for the gym but not much else. What he said was most people forget size (even if strength) still equals more weight to be carried around.

Aerobic TRAINING is overrated - Ie. distance running is not a good idea, as it slows players by converting fast to slow twitch fibres but it can be maintained through short games and proper games.

Distance running or 10k runs are pointless for GAA players. Interval runs are useful and small sided games are very good too.

There is a 'contiunuim' though, and difference between, keeping fitness and gaining it.
Interval runs may be needed to GAIN fitness, small sided games to maintain it.
BUT he said if you're an intercounty player playing 12 months of the year you may never need to do a 'fitness' sesssion as your fitness is maintained in games.

McGurn said core strength is very important, but the problem with core strength is that most core injuries come from cores weakened through too much sitting and too much driving.
[IMO - Anyone who tells you you don't need to do core work is an idiot - Or better still as Gerry McEntee who is doing about 2 hernia operations a day and ask him if he thinks you don't need core strength.]

As for olympic lifts - cop on. If any county team is doing Olympic Lifting they are retarded and probably doing them wrong. They are VERY dangerous to do if not trained properly. McGurn said he'd never teach an olympic lift to a GAA player - they don't need it.

---

Mickey Moran and John Morrison would be the last persons I'd be listening to for advice - apart from being good at conjuring up drills and talking absolute rubbish they've never won anything worthwhile. And any nutter who is not a doctor doing voodoo blood tests and pimping magic supplements is just another con-man.
As for Strongman training - To paraphrase Mickey Harte - when a the worlds Strongest man or a strongman wins the All Ireland then we'll do strong man training.

At the end of the day a sensible training coach and good footballers is hard to beat.

Look at the successful 'fitness' coaches who have trained good teams to win something - All Irelands -
- Fergal McCann - Tyrone
- John McCluskey - Queens & Armagh & Crossmaglen
- Pat Flanagan - Tralee IT & Kerry
- Paddy Tally - Tyrone

They all have had very good players and good managers with them.

Though I may have left some others out from around the country?