Stamina problem (GAA & Cycling)

rizzodun

Hi guys,

Just had our first league game in football today and I had a real problem pushing through until the end of the game, and was dead on my feet for the last 20 minutes.

Basically, I would be reasonably fit, and recover quick enough, but have a real problem with stamina and endurance, I play football and also cycle weekly, the cycling is never much of a problem, I ride a road bike and do a large amount of mountain biking but as it's just for leisure I never really need to push myself hard like I need to do when competing on the football field.

Is there any particular tips or advice for any exercises/training (or even diet) that I can incorporate into my football or cycling that can help increase my stamina or endurance?

I'm 32, 5ft10 & just shy of 80kg, do training twice to three times a week for football, normally two hours on the bike at the weekend, and have a Monday to Friday desk job.

I want to be in a position to last a full match, not necessarily increase my speed or strength, although it would help.

ford2600

rizzodun wrote: »

Hi guys,

Just had our first league game in football today and I had a real problem pushing through until the end of the game, and was dead on my feet for the last 20 minutes.

Basically, I would be reasonably fit, and recover quick enough, but have a real problem with stamina and endurance, I play football and also cycle weekly, the cycling is never much of a problem, I ride a road bike and do a large amount of mountain biking but as it's just for leisure I never really need to push myself hard like I need to do when competing on the football field.

Is there any particular tips or advice for any exercises/training (or even diet) that I can incorporate into my football or cycling that can help increase my stamina or endurance?

I'm 32, 5ft10 & just shy of 80kg, do training twice to three times a week for football, normally two hours on the bike at the weekend, and have a Monday to Friday desk job.

I want to be in a position to last a full match, not necessarily increase my speed or strength, although it would help.

Best guess would be your 32 and your first match of year was played at an intensity in excess of what you have so far trained to.

Cycling is my main activity now but I used to play a lot of GAA. I didn't find they complemented each other well.

rizzodun

ford2600 wrote: »

Best guess would be your 32 and your first match of year was played at an intensity in excess of what you have so far trained to.

Cycling is my main activity now but I used to play a lot of GAA. I didn't find they complemented each other well.

Yeah ford, I think you're right about being the first match of the year, but it still showed I'm lacking, I'm hoping to put some work in to make sure this isn't the case, or at least reduced for the rest of the season, I'm learning cycling doesn't really compliment GAA either!

Inspector Coptoor

Cycling will only complement gaa if you train it the same way gaa should be trained, ie interval training.

But that's NOT something I'd recommend doing in season as you'd be serving two masters and one could affect the other.

Th fitness you are after for GaA can be brought up rather quickly but you'll have to dial the cycling back a bit to Low Intensity cycling in the 60-70% maximum heart rate bracket so it won't affect recovery for the gaa training and games

LuckyLloyd

Think about how a long cycle feels as compared to a GAA match.

For a cycle you control your effort level and it gradually ramps up as the cycle develops. Your heart rate scales upwards and you feel like you're exerting a little more energy to keep going over time. You can ease off or ramp up as necessary.

In a GAA match the play comes near you and Boom!! you are at full pelt for a period of anything from 10 - 90 seconds. Then you may have a jog or a break while play resets before being into it again. You don't control rest periods or how much energy you need to exert to make a play and you won't fully recover from these bursts of energy as the game progresses, meaning that it gets harder and harder to stay ahead of your opponents and beat them to the ball, etc.

Now the two hour steady state endurance sessions on the bike are positive to your GAA and training in that a bigger aerobic engine will improve your recovery, sleep quality, etc and a bigger engine will directly help you maintain a level during game day. But you really need to do some training that correlates more closely to how a game feels. Sets of sprint intervals with alternating or decreasing rest designed in such a way that you are less and less recovered throughout the set is a simple way to do it. Just don't be doing them the day before a game.

Good news is you'll probably respond well initially to sessions like that and when you combine them with regular games you should feel much more up to speed within a few weeks.

nice_guy80

For a GAA match you need to train your anaerobic energy system as well

It is lots of short periods of high intensity.
Plus, muscle fatigue comes into it a lot. You can ship a few big hits in GAA games.
So if you don't have a general base level of strength in the legs and upper body then you will tire quite quickly

Most movement in GAA sports is walking or jogging.

ford2600

I should have fleshed out post more.

What is your priority for year, GAA or MTB?

If GAA then I'd agree with the other posters have said.

In general while cycling is great for keeping in shape over winter, mixing up MTBing with GAA training isn't ideal. MTB riding is rarely easy, unlike say a flat road spin, and wouldn't be the best activity in the middle of a heavy week of GAA training/matches.

Given your age, my advice to improve at GAA would be
*improve your mobility(@Transform here has a great website to help here)
* Get stronger(Hits you give or take will take less out of you and hence less likely to make tired bad decisions)
* As others have said, train to replicate matches rather than the steady state cycling training
* Don't forget it's really important what you can do with the ball to!

Don't hang bike in shed either, but use it in a structered way were it complements your GAA activity and doesn't interfere with your rest recovery.

Most importantly of all enjoy the fcuking thing, you'll be an eejit shouting on sideline soon enough!

rizzodun

Thanks guys for all the replies, I should probably point out that in the run up to the match on Sunday I didn't move the bike from the shed as I knew doing both in the same week wouldn't have any benefit, the week before I stayed off the MTB and only did a 50k spin on the road bike at my own pace.

I think I have 2 seasons of GAA left, but want to stay involved in the biking too, but I won't be putting myself in a position where I have a match and biking session on the same week.

Our club is a very small one, and it's very hard with the small group of guys we have to have a solid training regime where it's maybe fitness one session and ball work the next, so I'm trying to find a way to increase stamina in my own time, and this is why I came looking for advice.


Like Lloyd said, something like sprints where I decrease the rest in between is probably what I'm looking for, something that puts my body in a position where I have to push through and recover as quick as possible, I understand where my limits lie, and I will not be putting myself in a position foolishly where I do more harm than good, so anyone who has any more advice would be great.

Ford, like you said, the main thing is to enjoy it, which I do greatly, we won a championship last year which is no mean feat for our small club, we had a disappointing loss at the weekend and I had a part to play in that as the others, I know I should be able to push a bit harder, just need to get there!