Injured, advice on workout needed

who what when

Ok im a gaa player with a not too serious case of achilles tendonitis.
Up until about 2 weeks ago i was training pretty hard and was very happy with the progress. Anyway too cut a long story short im out of action for about 3 weeks so ive joined a gym too keep the fitness up as much as possible.

My weakness has always been cardio fitness. Although im quiet small ive always been quiet strong and powerful so weights arent really proirity. Anyway my routine is below, i can use every machine in the gym except the threadmill. Any comments would be very welcome as im not really much of a gym person.

5 mins of stretching
31 mins on bike starting at level 10 and every 5 mins moving up a level to finish on level 15.
5-10 minutes of random weights. Will do 2 different excercises each with 3 sets of 8 reps.
5 minutes of cross trainer (think thats what its called). I do 1 of the preset programs where it goes up several levels and back down again in a sort of pyramid type thing.
5-10 minutes of weights. 2 different muscle groups
5 more minutes of cross trainer (same again)
5-10 minutes of weights. 2 different muscle groups
10 minutes on rowing machine (if its free, theres only 1 and its pretty popular so if its not free i do another 5 mins on cross trainer)

Any comments would be welcome

Colm_OReilly

This thread might be closed down as we can't advise on injuries here. But I will say as an exercise routine it doesn't look that productive, it's trying to cram too much in, and seems a bit wishy-washy tbh.

Concentrate on big, compound movements, looking for strength gains and power output - this will translate back to speed on the pitch when you are back training/playing.

CrossFit metcons would also be a good one for you. There's a rake of them on youtube and on crossfit.com you can view.

Transform

totally agree - its all over the place and as strong as you think you are you can NEVER be strong enough.

30mins on a bike for a football player is mostly a waste of time if done any more often than once in a week.

try crossfit cindy for 15mins and let us know how you get on - remember full pull ups, chest to floor on press ups and get down low enough on the squats.

Its a very general recommendation but one that would be good enough to give your program a good kick in the butt and make you realise where you need to work on -

crossfit cindy -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7pIXE12vNo

Transform

re the achilles - stretch calves and achilles wayyyy more and foam roll or use something firm to roll them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wA_tYY2CHU

who what when

Thanks for taking the time to reply chaps. Im not really looking for advise on the injury side of things, just a workout i can do that doesnt involve the threadmill.

Yep i was well aware that i hadnt come up with the greatest workout programme ever devised. But just to repeat my goal is aerobic fitness. The reason for this is that during football training and matches (im a wing back) my lungs give out well before my legs do.
And as for the point about no such thing as being too strong, i agree, its just that its not my PRIMARY goal.

Ok that whole cross fit thing is totally new to me, must investigate.
15 mins of that? Are breaks included in between? Ok will certainly give it a go.

Thanks for the advise regarding stretching. Im pretty much constantly stetching it anyway, so much so that i dont really get much of a stretch anymore just pain when i push it a bit too far! Very frustrating!

Colm_OReilly

Strength, while not the be all and end all, will benefit you immensely. For result s on the pitch, get sprint training in. Since you can't actually sprint atm sprints on the rower would help you a lot.

Transform

who what when wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to reply chaps. Im not really looking for advise on the injury side of things, just a workout i can do that doesnt involve the threadmill.

Yep i was well aware that i hadnt come up with the greatest workout programme ever devised. But just to repeat my goal is aerobic fitness. The reason for this is that during football training and matches (im a wing back) my lungs give out well before my legs do.
And as for the point about no such thing as being too strong, i agree, its just that its not my PRIMARY goal.

Ok that whole cross fit thing is totally new to me, must investigate.
15 mins of that? Are breaks included in between? Ok will certainly give it a go.

Thanks for the advise regarding stretching. Im pretty much constantly stetching it anyway, so much so that i dont really get much of a stretch anymore just pain when i push it a bit too far! Very frustrating!

you do not have to go on a bike, rower or even run to increase your fitness.

Do burpees, box hops, kettlebell swings etc and tell me your heart rate is not up.

Plus doing 30mins straight on a bike has virtually NO carry over for your sport and i would argue that doing a tough metcon would give you way more bang for your buck e.g. the one i mentioned above.

This is very general so hope you get the idea