Building strength

mchurl

Hey all i'm an 18 yr old lad that plays gaa. I was wonderin if anyone could give me some tips on the best and quickest way to build up my upper body strength. Thanks

spooiirt!!

Join a gym. Talk to the big guys at the gym and (if youre friendly to em) theyll show you their routine. And always work out till youre targeted muscle really burns good!

Jackster

Try "Core Perfomance",by Mark Verstagen.
I found this book a great alround workout.
Based on functioal training methods,
it give specific workouts for overall strenght,power and balance.
Useful in all team sports.

poobum

em dude what exactly you looking for? like bul? functional strength? or what? give more info and we an give routines etc!

Compound Lifts are the way to go.

Easygainer

Educate yourdelf man! Upper body strength is not what you want. Functional strength comes from the hip, lower back and legs. For instance, most linemen in NFL don't bother with more than the bench press for the upper body.

Focus on powerlifting and Olympic lifts.

ronbyrne2005

have you seen the size of ulster gaa players thee days easygainer? he needs to do some upper body work too ,all the senior gaa players are doing upper body weight training as its such a physical game nowits becoming like rugby league,not huge amounts of upper body though butsome training for chest shoulders arms

ronbyrne2005

increase your protein intake etc if weight training

slicus ricus

mchurl wrote:

Hey all i'm an 18 yr old lad that plays gaa. I was wonderin if anyone could give me some tips on the best and quickest way to build up my upper body strength. Thanks

Bench press is generally the most conventional way of increasing upper body strength- Incline and decline bench (barbell or dumbells) are also worth incorporating into your routine.

Make sure to focus on other areas as well: far too many lads just do bench press, then work on their guns and do nothing else! To increase power which is good for GAA, it would be a good idea to incorporate squats, power cleans, and possibly dead lifts into your workout (if you dont already do these).

The right diet is essential in gaining musclemass, strength, power etc.

mchurl

i need to build up my shoulders and my chest area. i also have been working on my core.

slicus ricus

For shoulders, I would advise doing:

Shoulder Press ((dumbells), for size: low reps as heavy as possible);
lateral raises (fairly light: concentrate on form);
incline lateral raises (works on the back of the shoulders);
frontal raises (fairly light: concentrate on form);
Upward row (fairly heavy: set of 10, 8, and 6 reps) ;
and then Shrugs with a barbell to work on your traps (Heavy as possible).

That was a part of a 4 day programme I was given by a trainer in a Total Fitness gym when i first started training bout 3 years ago that i still use most of the time. When done properly with good form, it is effective. I hope that will be of some use to you.

Im sure that some of the other lads on this forum do different things on their shoulder day which will be equally effective.

ronbyrne2005

slicus ricus wrote:

For shoulders, I would advise doing:

Shoulder Press ((dumbells), for size: low reps as heavy as possible);
lateral raises (fairly light: concentrate on form);
incline lateral raises (works on the back of the shoulders);
frontal raises (fairly light: concentrate on form);
Upward row (fairly heavy: set of 10, 8, and 6 reps) ;
and then Shrugs with a barbell to work on your traps (Heavy as possible).

That was a part of a 4 day programme I was given by a trainer in a Total Fitness gym when i first started training bout 3 years ago that i still use most of the time. When done properly with good form, it is effective. I hope that will be of some use to you.

Im sure that some of the other lads on this forum do different things on their shoulder day which will be equally effective.

too much shoulders!
shoulder press will do same as frontal raises
upward rows do same as shrugs
rear delts get done when doing lats

talk to someone playing for an intercounty GAA team they have weight programmes designed for their specific needs.

slicus ricus

I agree with you ron that the best thing to do would be to talk to an intercounty player, mchurl. The programme they will give you will be far more specified towards GAA.

The shoulder session (i would normally leave one of those exercises out) i posted is really just for isolating the shoulders if you were going to do a tough session on shoulders once a weak, thus giving the muscle time to recover (in conjunction with a high protein diet obviously) and grow.

mchurl

thanks lads i was talking to an intercounty player yestreday and he is going to give me his programme which i can then work off. cheers for your help.

RPGGAMER

spooiirt!! wrote:

Join a gym. Talk to the big guys at the gym and (if youre friendly to em) theyll show you their routine. And always work out till youre targeted muscle really burns good!

i would caution against this: i know i will be slated for this:D but its sad but very true. many of the biggest guys in the gym are assisted with synthetic hormones and their training/diet/lifestyle is often very different than what a non assisted trainee should use.

in the first question as to the GAA player increasing his upper body. from a performance perspective this is NONSENSE. your lower body should be priority as it governs your: speed, acceleration, power, repeated sprint ability, endurance, shouldering strength(most believe its the upper body!!!)etc.

upper body should be trained too of course. just not on its own!

The key here is functional strength/power. any bit of muscle you get in the gym should be able to be used on the pitch. whats the point in big pecs if you get hammered in a shoulder by some farmer with strong legs???

if you're a GAA player train like an athlete. not a physique artist/bodybuilder.
that means: big functional movements:

squats and deadlifts etc chin ups,benchpress, and olympic lifts like snatch and their variations should be emphasised rather than bicep curls, flyes etc (unless for good reasons)

no exercise is bad. its in the application. your needs suggest athletic type training. Unless like many many young men and even GAA players you are more interested in looks and physique than the actual sport.


one other interesting phenomonem: in a natural trainee you will actually get bigger and more muscled training for function(like strength) rather than form(like looking good for girls/friday nights at the discotheque).
'nuff said

RPGGAMER

slicus ricus wrote:

I agree with you ron that the best thing to do would be to talk to an intercounty player, mchurl. The programme they will give you will be far more specified towards GAA.

The shoulder session (i would normally leave one of those exercises out) i posted is really just for isolating the shoulders if you were going to do a tough session on shoulders once a weak, thus giving the muscle time to recover (in conjunction with a high protein diet obviously) and grow.

make sure to train movements rather than bodyparts. a GAA player in a match is performing a series of complex actions on the field. like sprinting for example. muscles are NEVER isolated! try to wean yourself off bodybuilding split routines and get into more specific sports/athletic training. start with a lower upper split if you want. 2/wk for each.

RPGGAMER

Easygainer wrote:

Educate yourdelf man! Upper body strength is not what you want. Functional strength comes from the hip, lower back and legs. For instance, most linemen in NFL don't bother with more than the bench press for the upper body.

Focus on powerlifting and Olympic lifts.

good advice. i am inclined to think that many guys though(like myself in my younger/dumber training years) are more interested in physique than functionality. Most GAA/rugby players i see coming in to UL gym (thats where i train) train terribly - they actually bench more than they can squat usually!!!!!!!

RPGGAMER

Deleted User wrote:

Compound Lifts are the way to go.

that is short and sweet the best general advice in weight training. it just serves so many goals better. strength, muscle gain, fat loss, hormonal adaptations, etc.

RPGGAMER

mchurl wrote:

thanks lads i was talking to an intercounty player yestreday and he is going to give me his programme which i can then work off. cheers for your help.

make sure his program is good now. i've seen enough of them to know most are not sound. many top intercounty players are not there for their gym training. natural ability/genetics etc. just because Mr x who plays for county y does such and such in the gym..is this gym work actually making him better or is it irrelevant???

will working on this programme:
increase your acceleration??? - get to the ball/get away quicker?
increase speed, agility,reactive ability???
strength?
power?
mental toughness?
enhance flexibility or f*** it up?

will it make you a better athlete? start with strength. strength governs potensial in many of the above. will it make you stronger? on the pitch now???

RPGGAMER

well thats the end of my rant. i hope to ****** that more athletes will train wiser now.