Fitter, Faster, Stronger

This time of year has always been a time to cut loose. It generally means G.A.A. off-season and that means a relaxing of the disciplines that go hand in hand with the playing season. I was fortunate that a lot of our teams were successful in the late 90’s and early 00’s so playing into November was a regular occurrence.

It wasn’t like I was locked up at home during the year but the release from the stress of worrying about your fitness and the combination of the Christmas spirit made for a great cocktail. I always point to the winter of 2001 as being the best example. We lost the County Final to Ilen Rovers on the first Sunday of December and from that night in The Greyhound until the last day of December, we fairly let rip.

Of course, it wasn’t total abuse as I was playing Hockey with U.C.C. and you would have the Intervarsities and early round of the Irish Senior Cup to keep you focused. What it meant was instead of training or playing nearly every day you would have more time on your hands and we used it well.

I’d hit the turn of the year raring for action again. I wouldn’t have been winter trainings biggest fan but I was fanatical about the whole thing in general so that got me by. I coined the motto ‘fitter, faster, stronger’ to represent my New Year’s resolution a few years ago. It sounded great but I never had time to work on those elements in the isolation they needed. Hockey was a constant at that time of year, football would come into the equation in January and then Hurling would start kicking in by February. There simply wasn’t enough time to get into the gym and work on other things.

I’ve a different perspective nowadays though. It’s really been hitting home in the last couple of years that the body is struggling a bit more. The back fecked up a fair chunk of this year and some corrective action will be required next year. I’m beginning to learn that short term solutions like nurofen aren’t a great option!! I picked up some new insoles on Wednesday and I’m hoping they will set me on the right road.

It is good to see lads are trying to stay active during the winter and keep in some shape. There’s a gang of fellas playing Squash on Wednesday nights and another lash of us playing indoor soccer on a Thursday.

The other day I was reading an interview with the Crokes player Eoin Brosnan. He was saying how their former coach Pat O’Shea once set out the example of Nemo Rangers as the model which they should strive to emulate. He said you’d never see a Nemo man on his own whether it be in the pub, on the golf course, at the cinema or anywhere else. They were always with each other. You can see an element of that with our lads and that’s fairly amazing as our friendships don’t date back as long as those at clubs at home.

Some lads need a lot more work over the winter though but they don’t need to be named and shamed here. You only have so many years to play sport and if it’s something you truly enjoy, then you should do everything you can to maximise your time playing. There were guys this year who suffered from injury quite a bit and every time they would come back, they would pick up something else. This is the time to get the body right and recover to a fitness level that actually allows you train without picking up niggling things. Whether those fellas waste another year kicking their heals will depend on what they do in the next two months.

Everyone needs to improve though and for even those who stayed injury free, now is the time to work on things. If you were getting horsed off the ball too much, not satisfied with your fielding, kicking, speed or anything else, then get into the gym and work on preparing your body for a more vigorous assault next year.

The ageing process means you can’t go on the piss for the entire off-season and expect to cruise back into things. The body needs better maintenance as you get older and that means sleep, food, hydration and all that other jazz. Of course, I’m not a model exponent of best practice but I do try more now than I used to.

Fitter, faster, stronger is a realistic goal for everyone for 2011. I’ve basically ditched the hockey and the soccer to get the back right. Soccer may have a role to play after Christmas as I need to start building up fitness but it will be largely about gym work. I think I can have a more consistent and higher performance level by properly managing myself, something I never did in the past. So can everyone else. The build up to Christmas won’t be an excuse for slacking off either. If it takes the 1st of January to motivate you then that probably tells you a lot about where your sporting ambitions lie in the grand scheme of things.