Lifting + team sports

Catenaccio!

Okay,

Here's my background. Played football up until a few years ago, got slightly bored of it all and decided to take a break from it. I played a bit two years ago but gave it up last year and have been concentrating on lifting instead of running around after a ball. Although next year I'm tempted to play a few games, I think I can have some arrangement with the team that will allow me do my own training and turn up for some games. Problem is that with my current training routine (531) I find that my body would collapse if I tried to run around a pitch. I think I just might find it hard playing a game after doing some squats/deads tbh.

So what sort of conditioning should I incorporate into my training? I lift three times a week (the four big ones) and do little, if any, conditioning. I have access to a sled and can do some tyre flips, would that be sufficient enough to get my fitness levels back up to scratch? When should I do this work?


Looking forward to any feedback,

Thanks.

bubbleking

id imagine youd need to introduce a good bit of cardio into your training routine such as interval running and short sprints.

having a lot of strength is good but if you intend to play football at any respectable level your going to get chewed up if you dont start doing cardio basically

Catenaccio!

Yeah I'd imagine I'll be doing a decent bit of HIIT and all that. But I'm wondering if it'll hamper my progress in my lifting in any way? Just so you know, my primary focus is on lifting. Football will be secondary. So already I know I won't be 100% playing but I do want to play. But I just think that it will be difficult considering I'm doing heaving squatting and deadlifting. How do people overcome this?

Thanks.

J-Fit

Catenaccio! wrote: »

Yeah I'd imagine I'll be doing a decent bit of HIIT and all that. But I'm wondering if it'll hamper my progress in my lifting in any way? Just so you know, my primary focus is on lifting. Football will be secondary. So already I know I won't be 100% playing but I do want to play. But I just think that it will be difficult considering I'm doing heaving squatting and deadlifting. How do people overcome this?

Thanks.

Both may detract from the other to a certain extent but the changes shouldn't be dramatic if you play it right. A good example is Ireland's rugby players who maintain reasonable strength all year round along with very good aerobic power. Two interval sessions a week won't detract too much from your lifting and may even improve it given the preferential use of type II muscle fibers. The key is to begin with short, sharp and intense interval running and to build volume when a certain level is reached. It's counter-intuitive and is a form of reverse periodisation but it works extremely well. Maintain your current lifting schedule and and two 15 minute HIIT sessions per week, going all out for 30 seconds and resting completely for 1 minute. You can work your way up to 20 mins, 25 mins etc. and when you feel capable, begin increasing the work or decreasing the rest periods without ever breaching the 1:1 work/rest ratio. Remember that GAA is played at around a 1:4 or 1:5 work rest ratio so short intense work around 1:1 is more than adequate. The key is to maintain a decent power output on every repetition. If you begin plodding, you've likely gone aerobic. This type of work is quite anabolic and should actually compliment your lifting, but the key is intensity, not volume so all that aerobic base stuff is out the window unless you are extremely unfit. Hope that helps.