In season weights training

PaidV

Hi guys,

I'm playing midfield for a senior gaa football team and am looking for some advice with regard to the weights program I should be doin. Im about 6'2 and 14 stone, id have a lot of weights done over the last 5/6 years so id be reasonably advanced. (1rm) about as follows: Squat about 130kg, bench about 115, deadlift about 170.

Iv recently being doing 4 gym sessions a week but am feeling fairly tired as im doing about 4/5 field sessions as well between football and hurling. What do you think I should be including in my sessions? See the new 3 day program im goina try. Any advice would be welcome.

Day 1 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4
8 8 6 5
1a Bench
1b Incline Flies

8 8 8 6
2a Bent over row
2b Horizontal Chins

10 10 8 8
3a Weighted Dips
3b Pullovers

12 12 10 10
4a Tricep Kickbacks
4b BB Curls

Day 2 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4
10 10 8 6
1 Squats

10 10 8 6
2 Front Squat

10 8 8 6
3a Lunges
3b Single Leg Squat

10 10 8 8
4 Stiff Leg Deadlift


Day 3 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4
10 8 8 6
1a Military Press
1b Pull ups

10 10 8 6
2a Clean and Press
2b Upright Row

3a Deadliift 10 8 8 8
3b DB Shoulder Press

4 Machine Shoulder Press 10 8 8 8

Inspector Coptoor

If you're mid season, you shouldn't be doing what essentially looks like a mass building/strength focussed gym routine three times a week.

Look at Day 2.
It's like a bodybuilders leg day.
You're squatting, front squatting, doing single leg work AND deadlifting. It's no wonder you're feeling tired on the pitch.

There is the idea of the 48 hour rule, that you're not fully recovered from a training session (whatever type) or match & that if you push it hard again within that 48 hours, you're just going to delay the recovery process even more.

I would recommend that you begin by cutting the gym sessions to 2 per week max.
I would also advise you talk to both football & hurling managers & tell them there's no way you can train/play at full intensity in both codes (particularly at midfield) 4 or 5 times per week.

Sometimes, less is more & you really do need time to recover.

In terms of a gym session.
Seeing as you are in season, again, twice a week is plenty & don't be afraid to cut it to once a week if you feel really tired or else just go into the pool for 30 mins and splash around, active recovery & all that

A plan might be

Day 1
Squat variation (front/back/) for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps
Direct Hamstring work like RDL - 3 x 8
Vertical push like DB Shoulder press - 3 x 8
Horizontal pull like DB row - 3 x 8 each side
Core

Day 2
Deadlift - 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps
Single leg work - lunges - 3 x 8 each leg
Vertical pull - pull ups/chin ups - 3 x 8-12
Horizontal push - bench - 3 x 8
Core

You also have to bear in my mind that you are trying to peak when it comes to match days (at the weekend I'd presume?) so any session done on a Friday irvsaturday if match is on a Sunday should be light enough.

But again, the way you ate talking, I wouldn't be surprised if you were training hard mon- fri, sometimes twice a day, and maybe playing a hurling match on a Saturday & a football match on a Sunday.

It really is an AWFUL lot for an amateur athlete (or even a pro athele) to do.

Anyway, that's my input, even if you choose to completely ignore it, I hope you just think about it.

PaidV

Thanks for your input, I have been feeling fairly dead the last week or so and have been thinking it could be down to over-training. For example last week I went to the gym Friday and Saturday had a hurling match Monday night, done a gym session Tuesday morning before work, had a heavy fitness session for the football team Tuesday evening. Done a gym session Wednesday evening, football training Thursday evening, hurling match Friday evening and a football match Sunday evening. Last weekend I felt very tired so I didnt do my Friday and Saturday gym sessions and so the reason I posted here was to get ideas about the best way of cutting out gym sessions for the next month or two.
The reason im slow about cutting out the gym sessions is because over the last 6/7 years iv made the gym at least 3 times a week, often 4 and I dont want to lose any strength iv gained. Iv always been lean enough and dont put on much mass no matter how much training I do. Im happy enough with being around the 14 stone mark as any heavier and I would find it hard to cover the ground I need to being a midfielder. Any thoughts on supplements and diet?
Diet wise my usual intake would be:
breakfast at 8am 4 weetabix and musli with low fat milk, glass of orange juice and a vitamin d capsule as well as a omega 3 capsule
mid morning 10.30am chicken or tuna sandwich on brownbread
lunch at 1.30pm chicken fillet with veg and potatoes (work canteen)
Dinner at 6pm 2 chicken fillets with pasta/potatoes and beans
snack 8pm sandwich with ham, turkey slices and a boiled egg

After the gym or training i'd drink a whey protein shake

Inspector Coptoor

Diet doesn't look too bad at all.

As for supplements, why vitamin D specifically & not a general multi vitamin?

1 omega 3 per day is for the average joe doing no activity, bump that up to 3 or 4 in the morning & evening.

Having the whey after training is good.

You could get some casein & have a scoop of that before bed each night.

I know you don't want to lose strength etc but you can't get stronger while trying to play your best. Getting stronger is for Pre season.
Maintain during season.

Again, give what I laid out there a go for 4 weeks & see if you notice a difference.

PaidV

I'll give your program a go for the next month so and see what happens. In relation to the 3-5 sets doing 3-5 reps what do you think would be best here, 3 sets of 5 reps, 5 sets of 3 reps, 5 sets of 5 reps?? I presume going as heavy as possible for the number of reps I'll be attempting.

In relation to the omega 3's it says on the bottle not to take more than 1 a day, it would be beneficial for me to knock back a few more yeah?

Inspector Coptoor

You should be aiming to get as much EPA and DHA into you as possible per day, within reason.
Keep it less than 5g total.

You're only getting about 500mg in total (1/2 EPA & 1/2 DHA) do its defo no harm to have between 6-10 per day of they are the 1000mg ones (cause its not all omega 3s in the 1000mgs).

As for sets & reps, vary it.
Week 1 could be 5 x 5
Week 2 - 4 x 4
Week 3 - 3 x 3

Increasing the load bit decreasing the reps.

Make sense?