training

mayo51

Im a big GAA fan and i play gaelic with my local club...im tryin to improve as a player..my diet is goin in the right track. In a few weeks i will be movin up to minor and that means the football will be more physical...im in a gym and i dont know what muscles to work on...What muscles would i need to work on? Maybe my quads because they are the muscles that pump ur legs? calfs?
What upper body muscles would i want to focus on particularly?

CHEERS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY ANSWERS!

solarith

You should work on everything to gain the correct balance! High reps of light weights, don't kill yourself in the gym.

BUT MOST OF ALL: If possible talk to an older clubman or mentor, someone who knows what they're doing could be happy to advise you correctly. I'd be extremely wary of anything I read from strangers on the Internet.

mayo51

Hey...
I have joined a gym and i want to know this: Is it better to lift heavy weights with small reps OR is it better to lift light weights with larger reps?

I want to know this because i just want to strengthen up my leg muscles, and upper body muscles... I DONT WANT TO BULK UP! i just want to tone up my muscles without bulking up too big.

CHEERS IN ADVANCE

solarith

Larger reps, lighter weights. 12 per set.

Teebor15

Larger reps, lighter weights. 12 per set.

Why do you say 12? what does 12 achieve over 5 or even 20?

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Teebor15 wrote: »

Why do you say 12? what does 12 achieve over 5 or even 20?

generally speaking, low reps (5-7) at a high weight will increase strength. High reps (15-20) at a lower weight will build up endurance

OP, make sure you are shown how to use all the machines correctly my the people in the gym. everytime im in the gym i see people using machines incorrectly, this is both a waste of time and could potentially cause serious injury. Also, keep track of the weights you lift on every machine, every week. you can very easily see you progress that way

solarith

Teebor15 wrote: »

Why do you say 12? what does 12 achieve over 5 or even 20?

OP should be aiming to do 12-15 reps, whereby on the last 2 or 3 reps of the set he is struggling to get them done. So choose a weight which achieves this. If you applied this to 5 reps it would be a much heavier weight.

Teebor15

Solarith..why 12-15? you have given no reason for this figure.

The OP wants to get stronger so surely low reps and heavy weight would be better as this is best for strenght. Something like "Starting Strenght" where he focus's on the main compound movements like squat, bench, press and row would be better than just spouting "Yeah do 12 reps" You would make some Strenght and Conditioning coach!!

les paul 1967

hey young man go to the field with a friend and about five or six balls
kick them over the bar with your left and right
while running.......standing still....taking the ball on the burst and shooting
practice with the ball at this time of the year
you cannot do too much of that!!

closeline

les paul 1967 wrote: »

hey young man go to the field with a friend and about five or six balls
kick them over the bar with your left and right
while running.......standing still....taking the ball on the burst and shooting
practice with the ball at this time of the year
you cannot do too much of that!!

+1 Shouldn't go near weights at this time of year.

Antisocialiser

Strength is a transient characteristic. While I agree that it isn't wise to try and add 30kg to your bench press in the middle of the season, there is no reason why you can't improve your ability to be physical on the pitch.

Things like chin ups, pull ups, dips, push-ups for upper body. Goblet squats or even light barbell squats and lunges will also improve your lower body. Use resistance training all year round but I wouldn't recommend squatting 3x5 heavy mon, tues, wed with a game on thurs

If you are a novice it is perfectly possible to improve fitness and strength through resistance training without adversely affecting your game.

+1 to the ballwork also.

Big Ears

I think quite a few of you have overlooked this bit

mayo51 wrote: »

Im a big GAA fan and i play gaelic with my local club...im tryin to improve as a player..my diet is goin in the right track. In a few weeks i will be movin up to minor

At this stage the most important thing is to improve your functional movement. It would not be a sound idea to undergo heavy resistance training sessions before you have good quality functional movement. If your club has a strength and conditioning coach working with them (and by this I mean one who is experienced in the area of developing functional movement skills, not just a 'fitness coach'), I'd go consult them. Even if they're not working with players from your age grade they may be able to suggest a qualified individual who will.

If you can't find someone who will help you with this I would suggest staying with bodyweight exercises for the time being, as you're less likely to do yourself any damage while still helping yourself towards your goal.

Also I assume you don't want to 'bulk up' as you are afraid this will make you slow. Adding muscle mass does not necessarily make you slow (often doing quite the opposite), look at the Irish rugby team for instance, huge players, who are very quick and possess plenty of agility and quick change of direction aswell. It is how you add this bulk that is important.

If people are looking to increase strength without adding a huge amount of mass, then heavy resistance, low reps (1-4), and a lot of rest in between sets is the idea.

If they want to increase mass then a fairly high resistance (~70-80% of 1RM), 8-12 reps, and a short rest in between sets (~60-90 seconds). A relatively high amount of sets aswell. This will still bring about high increases in strength.

Strength endurance ?, well that's anything more than 12 reps, but if it's Gaelic Football/Hurling that's your main sport I wouldn't use my gym time training strength endurance. Conditioning training done on the pitch is where endurance training should come in, use the gym for strength or mass gains.

All of this needs appropriate rest, recovery and nutrition to work properly.
But as I said Mayo51 at this stage you're best to focus on developing your functional movement skills, possibly enquire if anyone at the gym is trained to do this. If not they'll hopefully be skilled enough to advise you on technique for your bodyweight exercises.

Antisocialiser

What is functional movement? Surely every movement has a function.

He didn't ask about bulking up, he asked about improving as a player. How do you go wrong with a chin-up like? You would have to try your darndest to have bad form on a chin up. In fact most GAA sessions have the likes of situps and pushups as a staple.

I have never came across anybody who had hurt themselves doing basic bodyweight movements.

You're much more likely to get better form advice from a reputable expert on youtube than from a GAA fitness coach.

Big Ears

Antisocialiser wrote: »

What is functional movement? Surely every movement has a function.

Well yes of course every (intentional) movement has a function, but the issue is whether this movement is completed correctly.
In the mid 90's a chap called Gray Cook highlighted the importance of functional movement, and displayed numerous screens to test one's functional movement.

These screens look to diagnose imbalances, instabilities, inflexibility and a lack of mobility in an individual while performing a movement, and look to fix problems based off of this. Although individuals are often put through a range of screens the most commonly applied one if the overhead squat.
So for example if the individuals heels raise of the ground during this exercise there's a good chance they have tight calves. If they have an excessive trunk lean, they may have flexibility issues with their hamstrings or hip flexors, and almost certainly won't be able to get enough depth, which means they'll be working their quads much more than their hamstrings and their glutes. This increases the likelyhood they'll end up quad dominant (having a poor hamstring:quadriceps force production ratio) and more likely to become injured. There's plenty of other things to look out for aswell, knees excessively rotating inward or outward, not being able to hold the bar up far enough and having it somewhat over the feet.

It took some time for the benefit of these screens to really be appreciated, however for quite a few years now the IRFU, IAWLA (Irish Amateur Weightlifting), UKSCA (United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association), and the vast majority of qualified strength and conditioning coaches have adopted functional movement screens when assessing athletes, and learning what weaknesses they have which are likely to lead to them becoming injured. Those groups also propose developing correct functional movement while an athlete is young, so that they can safely move onto heavy weight lifting exercises, or the likes of Olympic lifts to improve power and force production. Aswell as this it is believed having correct functional movement reduces the risk of injury while playing a sport and makes an athlete move more efficiently.

Antisocialiser wrote: »

He didn't ask about bulking up

No he didn't, but he did mention it and I felt it was best to dissuade him from believing that 'bulk' is necessarily a bad thing.

Antisocialiser wrote: »

he asked about improving as a player.

Which is what I've best tried to help him do.

Antisocialiser wrote: »

How do you go wrong with a chin-up like? You would have to try your darndest to have bad form on a chin up. In fact most GAA sessions have the likes of situps and pushups as a staple.

I have never came across anybody who had hurt themselves doing basic bodyweight movements.

I have already suggested bodyweight exercises to him, should he not be able to find a practitioner to help him improve his FMS skills.

Chin ups are relatively risk free, he is unlikely to hurt himself from these (although not impossible), but this does not mean his core is correctly positioned or he is completing the full range of movement during that exercise.

Sit ups are actually an exercise which has received a lot of criticism recently due to the force it places on your vertebrae. Over time this could lead to back problems. I would advise doing planks, bridges, exercises which work the core by maintaining a neutral spine position and raise/moving the legs instead, aswell as dynamic core exercises, such as getting into a position similar to a push up, and moving yourself sideways, forwards and backwards while maintaining a neutral spine position, it's surprisingly tough and very functional.

You may not have ever met anyone who directly injured themselves doing bodyweight exercises, but there's a good chance you've met someone who indirectly has. By completing bodyweight exercises incorrectly he could develop negative movement patterns. This negative movement patterns could cause serious issue when he moves to lifting heavyweight weights. So for example during his bodyweight squats at the moment he's rotating his right knee excessively , or has an excessive trunk lean. If this isn't corrected this problem could become exaggerated, and negatively effect him while he's running/playing and increases the risk of injury there. Or much worse, when he starts sticking a barbell and some decent weight on while he squats, and his excessive trunk lean leads to some serious back problems, or his right knee rotating excessively means the shear stress on his knee ligaments has caused them to tear or even rupture.

Antisocialiser wrote: »

You're much more likely to get better form advice from a reputable expert on youtube than from a GAA fitness coach.

Unfortunately this is true, although things are improving. Strength and Conditioning (or maybe I should say correct strength and conditioning) is beginning to gain somewhat of a hold within GAA, but for the moment there are far too many 'fitness experts' out there.