No fitness, whats wrong with my body?

errlloyd

Hey guys.

Basically I play on a tag rugby team, we do relatively intense training twice weekly, and have a pretty intense match once a week. I'm also a tour guide so probably walk about 3 hours a day.

The problem is, I have almost no fitness. I am easily the fastest player on our team, but 2 or 3 sprints in a match and I'm done. I'd generally feel sick and although I'd be able to get up to a decent pace again, my top level sprint speed deserts me.

Can anyone suggest any exercises or diet changes (maybe for match day) that would help? Atm I live on the "eat whatever I want, when I want diet" but usually on match days try to stick to chicken, pasta and water or powerade.

cc87

Has it anthing to do with the timing of your meals before matches?

How long have been playing and training for tag rugby?

Have you played sports before??

errlloyd

Yesterday I ate about 2 hours before the game, and it was quite a big meal. I kinda knew I was playing with fire.

Been training and playing for 5 weeks now.

Haven't played competitive sport in 4 years.

Although those last two points are important. I actually did feel fitter the first few games I played. I would have hoped for an improvement.

dlofnep

Fitness isn't something that will come back to you after 4-5 weeks. It will take time to gradually build it up. If you wanted to practice, you could try jogging with sprints at intervals to simulate the burst energy required for games like tag rugby.

When I used to train judo, I'd be in bits after coming back after the summer. It would take a month or two to get back into the swing of things. Try the jog/sprints.

Utrinque Paratus

errlloyd wrote: »

Hey guys.

Basically I play on a tag rugby team, we do relatively intense training twice weekly, and have a pretty intense match once a week. I'm also a tour guide so probably walk about 3 hours a day.

The problem is, I have almost no fitness. I am easily the fastest player on our team, but 2 or 3 sprints in a match and I'm done. I'd generally feel sick and although I'd be able to get up to a decent pace again, my top level sprint speed deserts me.

Can anyone suggest any exercises or diet changes (maybe for match day) that would help? Atm I live on the "eat whatever I want, when I want diet" but usually on match days try to stick to chicken, pasta and water or powerade.

5 minute slow jog followed by
Interval training, 1 fast lap of a pitch, followed by 1 very slow will do you wonders. 10x

Follow that by 4 quarters training, 30 press ups sprint 20 yards, 30 sit ups sprint 20 yards, 20 rising squats, spirt 20 yards, start again, do it 4 x with no break, build it up......start with 1. It will increase your speed and recovery rate.

Do that once a week and jog 30 mins 3 x a week.


Isnt tag rugby a girls game , lol (only joking)

cc87

errlloyd wrote: »

Yesterday I ate about 2 hours before the game, and it was quite a big meal. I kinda knew I was playing with fire.

Been training and playing for 5 weeks now.

Haven't played competitive sport in 4 years.

Although those last two points are important. I actually did feel fitter the first few games I played. I would have hoped for an improvement.

5 weeks training isnt much after been out for 4 years

Either give it time and you will get fitter or you could try doing a bit on your own as well.
But id say you are better off leaving it where you are at the moment and then building it up a bit once you get used to your current level of exercise

Burkatron

errlloyd wrote: »

Although those last two points are important. I actually did feel fitter the first few games I played. I would have hoped for an improvement.

Well you're execercising more then you have in the past 4-5 years so thats a great start, it doesn't matter what you do at this stage, the more you move the fitter you'll get. I'd now be looking to clean up your diet.

Figure out your recommended calorie intake for the day.

Write out (post it up here if you want more feedback) what you'd eat in a typical day, work out if it's anywhere near your recommended calories.

Replace any crap food your eating with good food.

Stick it into a breakdown like this eating roughly every 3hours
Breakfast
Snack
Lunch
Snack
Dinner
Snack

Follow this for a few weeks & then see how you feel.
Simple changes will help at this stage.

errlloyd

Cheers all, will take it on board, give it a shot.

Tag is a girls game alright, but its good craic during the summer, we're on a social team with girls in it.

Bloody Nipples

How intense is relatively instense? I started going to the gym when I was 16 and effectively wasted 4 years thinking I was pushing myself reasonably hard, before I woke up and realised a 2.5K run in 20 mins wasn't going to appreciably up my fitness level.

I went through the feelings of "What's wrong with me?", "Maybe I'm genetically predisposed to be carrying a few extra pounds" etc. etc.

And when you say you haven't played competitive sport for 4 years, does that mean no workouts for 4 years or that you've been training just not competitively?

errlloyd

Relatively intense means a lot of sprinting and not a lot else. I do tend to just push myself to that point where you feel you want to get sick everywhere, and leave it there.

Pretty much nothing for a couple of years. I am not trying to run marathons. My concern here is that I went off after 10 minutes in a match yesterday. I had made a few pitch length sprints (tag rugby defenses are pretty crap, its end to end stuff) and it was hot. But I was in no shape whatsoever.

BadCharlie

If your a very very fast sprinter which u might very well be. And u run at your top speed its going to take a while to recover + the fact that your not fit or only back doing something active the past few weeks... its going to take time for you to build up your fitness.

Is this the first time u feel sick from running ? or even 4 years ago it was the same ? u have always felt sick from sprinting ?

squod

You could have a food allergy. Dairies clog me up fierce like. Taking them out of your diet might well improve your game in as little as a couple of days.

errlloyd

I can't remember every feeling this sick before.

BadCharlie

I think you should go out on a pitch/park or just the roads. And do your warm up & follow this up with 5 to 10 sprints. Giving your self about 1min to recover from each sprint.

If you dont feel sick after that... then i would think its just on the day of the game your getting your self over worked up thinking about the game & making your self feel sick.

slowburner

And take a good look at your water intake. Dehydration can manifest itself in many different ways.

Hanley

I'm utterly amazed and dismayed that people are talking about food allergies, meal timing and dehydration as being the causative factors in a dude feeling unfit having only trained 10x and play 5 games in a 4 year period.

Desire.

I have a question.

When you are unfit and you push yourself, you will feel sick. Is it good to keep going and get sick, or should you stop?

I'm coming back from a four month injury and will be starting from square one in three weeks time. I get panned walking up the stairs at the moment. :pac:

Bloody Nipples

errlloyd wrote: »

Relatively intense means a lot of sprinting and not a lot else. I do tend to just push myself to that point where you feel you want to get sick everywhere, and leave it there.

Pretty much nothing for a couple of years. I am not trying to run marathons. My concern here is that I went off after 10 minutes in a match yesterday. I had made a few pitch length sprints (tag rugby defenses are pretty crap, its end to end stuff) and it was hot. But I was in no shape whatsoever.

If you can only manage a few pitch length sprints in a game then you probably aren't managing a whole pile of sprinting in a training session. Try working in longer runs at slower speeds to boost your aerobic capabilities. It'll increase your ability to recover after sprints.

You could try the couch to 5k program seeing as your starting from a low fitness base http://www.c25k.com/
You may be able to work through it faster than it suggests but it'd be a good start.

Hanley

Desire. wrote: »

I have a question.

When you are unfit and you push yourself, you will feel sick. Is it good to keep going and get sick, or should you stop?

I'm coming back from a four month injury and will be starting from square one in three weeks time. I get panned walking up the stairs at the moment. :pac:

The best thing you can do, and the easiest way to regain fitness is to train more frequently. If you push yourself to puking and are out for 3 days as a result, you've f*cked up.

If you can do it and still recover and train the next day, and have a productive training week - super. So I guess it depends, on a few factors - your ability to recover, how easy you actually get sick, and whether it's going to adversly effect your training for the remainder of the week.

My instinct would be that since you're coming back, it's not a good idea. It's great to do every now and again as a mental test and to push yourself. But you've got to remember what you're doing - training, not testing.

SugarHigh

What's your breathing like? A lot of people do silly stuff like hold their breath while sprinting without even realizing it. Try and get a consistent breathing pattern.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N-z0whXDAo

matamoros1965

heart rate monitor training in conjunction with either manual or computer based record keeping. Read the stickies in regard to nutrition and follow the advice as best you can. Things should improve.