Fitness training

Please tell us what types of fitness training you do!

Do you go to the gym, go for a run or stay and home doing excersize?

Well sometimes the tv remote isnt nearby so i have to get up to change the channel.

Na seriously tho, I do a lot of swimming to keep myself fit at the moment, its great for endurance but you need to combine it with impact work or else you get joint injuries when you start running in a game, especially knees and ankles.

i do a lot of swimming,weight training once every fortnight,i have a punch bag,i play football and rugby,i also do 30 minute jogs on the weekend

Karate, good anger outlet too!

Ive got a punchbag aswell which varies from different supermodel pictures pinned to it each week!

well i did do boxing about two years back! i was the Scottish champ for my weight also! (im not lying!) i also met ken buchanan (greatest scottish champ ever!) after i won my match! everyone had high hopes for me, even Ken! Everyone thought i was going to be something special in the boxing curcuit! I wish i never quit now though. But back on topic, every training session we would do 30 mins of jogging, 30 mins or curcuit training (medicine balls, sit ups, etc) then 30 mins of sparring. Its a great work out even if you dont actually want to do boxing, still do the training its great!

Not really about what training I do but about fitness.

Whats the best excersises for getting my stamina up? Whenever I play football after 5-10 mins of full speed running I am totally knackered and out of breath. I just want some simple training advice I aint got no equipment.

Also some tips on getting some abs. I was quite skinny and now I am putting on alot of weight especially in my stomache mainly due to eating more. So would be nice to turn that into muscle. Sit ups are not for me got a bad back but i'll listen to other advice lol.

Working your abs is a matter of quality over quantity. It's possible to do two hundred and have your legs, back and neck do almost all the work. Whatever exercise you do make sure your abdominal muscles are working out.

If you have a bad back I recommend you lie flat on your back and do leg raise exercises. Here are a few of 'em:

Exercise 1: Lie flat on your back, raise both legs together straight, without locking your knees, to about 6 inches off the floor or higher if that's too difficult. Concentrate on using your abs to hold them there for a few seconds, then lower.

Exercise 2: Lie flat on your back, raise both legs together as in Exercise 1, hold for a few seconds, spread your legs apart, hold, bring them back together, hold again, then lower. Again you should concentrate on using your abs to hold you legs up.

Exercise 3: Lie flat on your back and lift your legs together and to the side, bending your knees, as if you were doing a reverse oblique crunch. Hold, then lower.

Do these exercise in 3 sets of about 15 repetitions but remember they are abdominal exercises; you should be able to feel your abs getting a good work-out.

You should also remember to keep your back well supported. Don't arch your back and keep your lower back pressed firmly to the floor.



Now to fitness training, I might post something on the subject later. Sounds like you need to gain some anaerobic endurance. You should focus on sprint work with short recovery times.

Thank you for that Striker much appreciated. Will be interesting to see what anaerobic endurance is all about.

Ok here's my bit on anaerobic training. Bascially the human body has main three energy systems; one aerobic and two anaerobic.

The aerobic system is fueled mainly by the oxygen in the air you breathe being pumped to the muscles.

The anaerobic systems utilise adenosine triphosphate (ATP) stores to assist in muscle contraction. Your body can resynthesise ATP in two ways; the first is by breaking down phosphocreatine and the second by breaking down glycogen. These are the two anaerobic systems. Lactic acid is a by-product of the second anaerobic system. The more phosphocreatine you have the more you can utilise your first anaerobic system. This is why many players choose to take creatine supplements. The glycogen-burning second system is the reason why glucose is such a major ingredient in sports drinks.

Your body doesn't store much ATP but it can resynthesise it pretty quickly. In a 400m sprint your first anaerobic system should last until about 50m, and the second until about 300-400m. After that your ATP stores will be depleted, your body will switch to aerobic energy and you'll have difficulty sprinting. You wont be able to significantly increase the size of your ATP stores but, with training, you should be able to increase the rate at which it is resynthsised.

To train these anaerobic systems you'll need to train in short bursts of high intensity followed by periods of recovery. The recovery periods should be long enough to let you catch your breath and get your heart rate down, but short enough to challenge you. Here are a few examples.

Exercise 1:
Sprint 30 yards. Walk 30 yards. Repeat 20 times. Rest 5 minutes, then do another set.

Exercise 2:
Sprint 300 yards. Rest 2-3 minutes. Repeat 6-8 times.

The first exercise is more football specific and mostly trains the first anaerobic system. The second trains mainly the second anaerobic system and is good for improving lactate recovery.

After a few weeks of training you should start to see improvements. When doing the first exercise, for example, you may start to feel a lactic build up after about 12 sprints. After a few weeks of training you may not be able to feel any significant lactic build up until about 16 sprints, or possibly the second set.

Because football is played in bursts, with players standing still one second and running hard the next, anaerobic recovery becomes important. This type of training improves the rate at which you recover from periods of high-intensity activity and therefore becomes very important when training for football fitness.

Very good!

If you have time i am sure you will raise some very good reading for the whole site to peruse!

Thanks!

Excellent advice Striker I am gonna give them a try if you think of any other exercises let me know. Thanks!