GAA Training - Phases

Fr. Jessip

Hi All

Sorry if this has been done before but days of searching the web has proved fruitless.

Im looking for a what kind of template that GAA counties and top clubs use for their physical training.

For example

Jan-End March - Pre-season very few if any matches
April & May - League
June, July & August - Bulk of Championship
Sept and October - Other Championship Games
November & December - Very few games if any


I'm talking about what type of training for fitness as in when to do long runs, intervals, speed work etc

sportinglegend

Jan-End March - Pre-season very few if any matches

Pre-Season conditioning Focus would be on Aerobic Base Development ( Interval Training,Conditioned Games etc) and Screening with Corrective/prehab exercises for the first 6-8 weeks with the focus the moving towards Strength work probably Hypertrophy to start with moving towards Max Strength

April & May - League

Strength Training General and Max Strength
Conditioned Games to keep the aerobic base topped up and introducing some speed endurance moving towards Speed and Acceleration work at the end of may going into the championship.

June, July & August - Bulk of Championship

Gym work would mostly be focused on Power Development and Plyometrics with the pitch based training being based around speed development( Short Sprints and some mechanics) Agility and Reaction work. Your aerobic base should be maintained through matches and training games.

Sept and October - Other Championship Games

Maintenance of Power and speed a priority - Gym session would be under 40 mins with focus on plyo work and 2/3 compound lifts with the pitch work being all based on sprint work, Agility and reaction work basically short sharp stuff.

November & December - Very few games if any
Very little this is rest time but important if they can keep some level of fitness so organizing a 5 a side soccer tournament once a week might be a good idea.


Very much so depends on how the county championship would run though major problem facing the GAA. What I outlined would be how it could work in an ideal world you will most likely need to very good at adapting your schedule to work around county fixtures and postponed fixtures.

davegrohl48

In the closed training period most teams assign individual training programs for their players. These are based on fitness test results and players have to improve certain benchmarks strength and endurance wise.
The long run has fallen away in importance, it was once the be all and end all of physical training with most teams. But it has a direct link with stripping off muscle mass which the same players work hard in the gym to put on.
Also it impacts negatively on lower leg strength and standing start explosiveness. Previous poster has pretty much summed up most of the training that is done.
In general they are either improving or maintaining strength and endurance. With matches to play they have no option but to lower the intensity around that time. Mayo/Kerry would be just meeting up for skillwork and team play the last few sessions. Might have been a basic strength session for both panels last week but would not have been too taxing. If players go too long without a strength session, then their strength will decline.

Orizio

Quick aside OP, but inter-county and club training are very different.

Clareman

Different teams will have different schedules, an established team won't have to do much base work. By and large for most teams you can cut a season up into 3 segments, 1)Base/Core Fitness. 2)Speed & Control. 3)Fine tuning

Fr. Jessip

Cheer for that Legend, that’s great help


In terms of running and weights could it be summed up like this.

Pre-Season
-Interval runs
-Heavy Weight sessions

In-season
-Speed work (full-pace, low rep, with lots of rest in between)
-Topping up weights sessions


And when you mention speed endurance, what kind of distance and speed are you talking about?

Fr. Jessip

im talking about club hurling btw

sportinglegend

Fr. Jessip wrote: »

Cheer for that Legend, that’s great help


In terms of running and weights could it be summed up like this.

Pre-Season
-Interval runs
-Heavy Weight sessions

In-season
-Speed work (full-pace, low rep, with lots of rest in between)
-Topping up weights sessions


And when you mention speed endurance, what kind of distance and speed are you talking about?

Yes I think you have it summed up pretty well there.

In term of speed endurance possibly one of the easiest drills to work off would be shuttle runs with say a distance of 150 m and 5/6 reps with 60-90 seconds recovery between each rep (Players will really love you for this )

You could also just get the players to complete 3/4 reps at 60,80 and 100m with a recovery of 60-90 seconds

Going with the latter option you could get them using the ball - soloing or striking it and follow

Not sure if you are aware but there is a good site for gaa coaching tips - totalgaacoach.com some very good articles and a good forum on the site might be worth checking it out.

Clareman

Lets play nice folks

Fr. Jessip

Hi again


Just another quick question. I know that the concept of running long slow monotonous laps have gone out the window and have been replaced by more sensible interval training.

But what’s the story when you either just want a light jog to loosen up or stretch the legs when you are in the in-season, without it effecting you for the match/training you have later in the week. Or for something to keep the cardio up over the winter before the tougher stuff starts

sportinglegend

In-Season if you wanted something light or to loosen up ideally I would suggest swimming very little impact.

I wouldn't be a big fan of slow jogging or laps at all really don't see much advantage in it I would be more inclined to 7/8 40/50M bouts at about 60% and then just walk back shaking out the legs, light skipping to the start again.

To maintain your cardio base off-season why not take up something like Spinning, Boxing or MMA. A lot of team are now organizing 5-a-side soccer tournaments in the off season just to keep guys active.

nice_guy80

I think the lads on the health and fitness forum would be more experts on this

however, generally for physical training

Phase 1 - building strength and cardio endurance.
Phase 2 - speed, control and quickness.
Phase 3 - power and speed

the biggest thing to realise is that in hurling you generally never sprint more than 20m.

The hurling training side of things varies. It depends on the areas that need to be worked on. Some teams need a lot more striking drills. Scoring drills. Or catching drills. Or tackling or whatever.

nice_guy80

Fr. Jessip wrote: »

Hi again


Just another quick question. I know that the concept of running long slow monotonous laps have gone out the window and have been replaced by more sensible interval training.

But what’s the story when you either just want a light jog to loosen up or stretch the legs when you are in the in-season, without it effecting you for the match/training you have later in the week. Or for something to keep the cardio up over the winter before the tougher stuff starts

spinning. non impact - its the business