A Suspension Training Video
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This is a video I made of a few exercises you can do on a suspension trainer to work the whole body in one session. The suspension trainer is a great piece of kit as it can be used practically anywhere and packs away into just a small bag so is convenient to carry with you. The one I am using here is called the Rip 60 but there are many others like the TRX for example. The great thing about suspension training is how almost every exercise you do on it hits your core muscles due to the free moving straps. Simply adjusting your feet position or the length of the straps alters the resistance instantly, so no need for heavy weights! I think this type of training is great for sports people as it is very functional with lots of multi joint and multi muscle exercises that can be done on it.
Use Your Time Effectively In The Gym
When you look around your average gym there seems to be a lot of people all doing the same type of training, particularly in the weights area. Now I’m sure that all these people don’t lead identical lives and have the same goals. When a personal trainer first meets a new client one of the first things the client will say is ‘I want to get fit’. This can mean absolutely anything and often a personal trainer will have to delve deeper to find out exactly what the client means.
The key question to ask yourself is “fit for what”. Why are you training? Is there a sport you are trying to improve performance at? Are you trying to make everyday life easier? Are you just trying to reduce general body fat or tone up a specific area of your body? There can be many different reasons why you have made that decision to begin exercising. All of these questions will lead to an individual training plan and it’s important that if you are not working with a personal trainer who can advise you on this, that you are aware of what your individual goals are so you can create your own plan. Most of us don’t have lots of spare time, so it is important to make the best of the little time you do have when exercising.
A good example of how people just go to a gym and train without really thinking of their goal is in football. Throughout my career I have seen footballers in the gym weight training just to get ‘big’. The problem with this is that getting big will not necessarily help them in their footballing performance. A lack of guidance and understanding means that they may be wasting valuable time and effort in shaping their body in an ineffective way for their sport. Strength is an important aspect of football but it is not the only one. You need to think about your outcome, if you want to improve your performance at a certain sport look at what skills and attributes play a big part in that sport.
I have put together a few tips that you should try to think about when putting together your training plan to ensure you make the most of your valuable time you have in the gym.
Training Plan Thoughts and Tips
- What are you training for, what is your goal? (weight loss, lower body fat, build muscle mass, build strength, increase cardiovascular endurance, increase flexibility, sport specific, reduce vital statistics (waist measurements etc))
- If sport specific, what energy system does the sport work? (is it aerobic, anaerobic or both)
- How much time do you have in the gym? Plan your session, how long will you spend on each exercise?
- Remember that your diet is just as important if not more important in helping you achieve your health and fitness goals.
Football Based Session
I made this video from a couple of sessions I took with friends both professional footballers. The session was mainly speed, agility and quickness work (SAQ). There was also some plyometric training done.
An Inside Look at Health and Fitness In Professional Football With Adam Newton
Adam or ‘Newts’ to his friends and teammates has given up some of his time to give us a little insight into his footballing career where he has amassed over 300 league appearances. He has also represented England at U21 level and played full international football for Saint Kitts and Nevis. In this brief chat we talked about the different roles that health and fitness have played in his career so far and what motivates him.
So Newts, how long have you been playing football and at what levels?
“I started my career at West Ham Utd when I was just 16 signing a 2 year scholarship. I moved into digs and learnt a lot about the disciplines of football. I then went on to do 3 years as a pro there. I had a great time making appearances in the Premiership and in Europe. From there I moved to Peterborough Utd where I stayed for 6 years and became club captain. I then moved to Brentford for a season before then signing for Luton town for 2 years and now I am at Woking FC”
What do you normally eat on a Friday and Saturday before a game?
“I try to eat pasta based dishes on a Friday like spag bowl and pasta bakes. This has become a routine for me. The morning of a game I usually have porridge and a banana and then a pre match a bit closer to the game which would usually be some form of pasta again.”
Has this changed much since you have been playing football?
“It is a habit now so I have stuck mostly to what I have always done. Although on match days now that I have to leave a little earlier for a game it is sometimes a bit different. I generally only get to eat once so I will have a slightly larger meal with eggs or chicken for some protein and pasta.’
What does your general gym session typically involve?
“A bit of everything, I don’t have a great deal of time to get to the gym so I can’t do split sessions. I do lot’s of core work as this is very important for football. I’ve done more free weights as I’ve got older and learnt more. The majority of work I do though is done using my own bodyweight, stuff like pull ups, press ups and dips. I tend to not do a great deal of leg work as I’m working these quite hard in training anyway.”
How have you seen the game change in your time with regards to nutrition and training?
“I think its changed quite drastically in the last 5-6 years with the majority of clubs particularly in the league bringing in sports scientists and specialised fitness trainers. It’s meant that players at these clubs are educated with the importance of diet, hydration, stretching and specified weight training in order to bring out the best in your performance. They also help with making you aware of what supplements you may need such as recovery drinks after games. In a way I think its going to help many players prolong their careers. Fitness work has also changed a lot, the days of just running continuously round the pitch as many times as you can have gone! It now consists of a lot more short, sharp, agility type work. There’s also a lot more speed and explosive dynamic training now.”
What do you love most about football and what do you hate?
“I’ve always wanted to be a footballer for as long as I can remember. I love the personal challenge I get from it, I like the fitness side of it too. I also like the responsibility I have with the individual role I play in a team. The part I hate most is losing, I play to win as well as enjoying the game!”
How do you keep yourself motivated?
“I stay motivated through the enjoyment of the game and wanting to win. I also don’t like to let my teammates down.”
Do you have any superstitions?
“I used to have to wear under socks but as I’ve got older I’ve grown out of that, I guess now I don’t really have any superstitions!”
Thank you Newts for taking the time to have a chat, hopefully this will be an interesting insight for people into the football world!
Plyometric Training
Plyometric training has been around for a while and is believed to have originated in the Soviet Union in the 60’s and 70’s. It was around this time that the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries were winning large numbers of medals at the Olympics and coaches from other countries started taking notice of their unusual training methods. Plyometrics are now used in the training for top level athletes in the majority of sports we see today, particularly those explosive sports such as high jump or basketball.
So how does plyometric training benefit you?
- This type of exercise trains your central nervous system to send a signal to the working muscle to contract stronger, faster and more powerfully. This works through training the motor units and the muscle fibres they innervate to act more efficiently.
- It helps develop your fast twitch fibres which are your anaerobic muscle fibres used for short explosive exercise. You can’t change a slow twitch fibre to a fast twitch fibre in a muscle but you can make the fibres grow and occupy a greater percentage of the muscle.
- The combination of the above two help to develop the speed and force of muscle contraction giving you greater explosive power, which is excellent for most sports including football. (Power is a combination of speed and strength) It is also great for speed training. When I do this type of training for a couple of weeks I find it helps increase my standing jump quite considerably.
- It can also help with injury prevention.
Performing Plyometrics
It is very important when doing plyometrics to first learn how to land properly. You put a lot of force through your joints and so landing your body weight so that you absorb the impact efficiently is very important, otherwise you could cause yourself an injury. The key is in landing on the balls of your feet softly and then slowly bringing your heel to the floor. Your knees should be bent and your hips should be straight.
You should never just ‘jump!’ straight into doing plyometrics without any previous training. It is vital that you build up your fitness levels and muscle strength first as this type of exercise is very demanding on the muscles involved. You should have a good base of strength conditioning in your muscles first and be able to squat your bodyweight comfortably. A good level of core strength is also important. This sort of exercise can be gradually built into your own training program depending on your own personal fitness goals, which is good to help keep your training interesting.
Tips for performing effective plyometrics
- Minimise the time you are in contact with the ground between jumps.
- Build up gradually, low reps of the simpler exercises first.
- Make sure you rest the day after as they are very demanding on your central nervous system and it will be very fatigued.
- Only do low reps with plenty of rest between sets to recover, again your muscles may feel ok but your central nervous system will be fatigued even if you don’t feel it.
- Build your core strength up before jumping into plyometrics.
3 Great Plyometric Exercises (Only attempt if you have a good level of muscle strength and fitness as stated above)
- Depth Jump (Advanced) 3 sets of 6 reps
This is a great exercise that I do quite often and really feel the benefits. It involves starting on a step or box about 1 and a half feet high. You step off the box onto the floor and as you land you immediately as quickly as possible jump straight up vertically as high as you can using your arms for extra spring. Keep your back neutral through the whole exercise do not arch and make sure you land softly through the balls of your feet. Take at least 30 seconds between each jump and 2 minutes between sets to recover.
- Lateral Hops Over Hurdle, 2 sets of 20 reps
Use a hurdle around 6” high. Starting one side hop sideways over the hurdle landing on the balls of your feet and immediately hop back over. Repeat until you have done 20 hops. Rest for 2 minutes between sets.
- Depth Push Ups (upper body Advanced), 3 sets of 6 reps:
Similar to depth jumps and clap push ups. Start in the push up position with your hands on pads or two things of equal height about 3” high is perfect. There should be a space in the middle where you can land your hands. From the pads push up as hard as you can so your hands come off the pads and land in between the pads and immediately do another push up again coming off the ground back onto the pads. Keep your core activated through out and build up to 6 reps if you can’t do 6 straight away. Make sure you rest for at least 2 minutes between sets.
Muscle Cramps and How To Prevent Them
What Are Muscle Cramps
It’s happened to lots of us, we’re working out or playing a sport when all of a sudden we get cramp in one of our muscles. It can be very painful and last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, often causing us to stop exercising or playing. A cramp is an involuntary muscle contraction where the muscle spasms and becomes hard. The exact cause of which is unknown but it affects people of all fitness levels old and young. Some of the possible reasons as to why they are thought to occur are as follows:
Tips To Help Reduce the Likelihood of Cramps
It will be a case of trial and error, the same thing will not work for everyone in preventing cramps but trying some of these ideas may help you.
Recovery Sessions and Why They Are So Important
So much importance is put into the preparation for an event such as a football match or marathon and much hard work is put into the actual event itself. The part that often seems to be forgotten about is the recovery after the activity. We think about what we eat and drink before and during. We think about how we train before to be in the best possible condition for the event. Then immediately after and in the days following the activity many of us don’t pay too much attention to what we could be doing to help our bodies recover efficiently. Remember the quicker our bodies recover and repair, the sooner we are able to train and play again at our optimum levels. I will use football as an example but these tips can be applied to most sports and activities.
The first place to start is immediately after a game where a warm down would be a very good idea. This consists of some light jogging to help with venous return and then some stretching. The jogging helps keep the heart rate elevated and the contracting muscles help push the blood back to the heart. Together this helps to flush out the lactic acid from your tired muscles that would otherwise just sit there and cause discomfort in the following days. The stretching part is very important as the muscles tend to shorten in length after they have been worked hard. This is the best time to stretch as your muscles are warm and this will help return them to their normal length whilst also helping to increase your flexibility.
The next thing to consider is what you eat and drink straight after a game. The first half hour after you finish the game is the most important. This is when your muscles are primed to absorb and replenish the nutrients they have lost through activity. There are many recovery sports drinks you can have immediately after a game which will consist of the nutrients you need. These are very convenient and quite a good idea as you can get them into your body quickly. If you would prefer to eat then you want your food to consist of a high protein meal as the protein is what repairs your muscles. It will also need to contain carbohydrates to restock your energy stores and fats too. You should drink plenty of fluids straight after as you would have lost a lot through sweating and in energy production. (I’m afraid alcohol doesn’t count as a fluid straight after a game!) A great gauge but not always the most practical is to weigh yourself before and after the game to see how much weight has been lost in fluid and then replace this. For every Kg of weight lost you should try to drink 1Ltr of fluid.
The day after your game your body is still recovering and repairing from the stress you have exerted on it the day before. A light bit of activity to raise your heart rate again will work wonders. Maybe a light jog, swim or cycle, nothing too strenuous! After this try to stretch out all your muscles again and increase your flexibility.
3 Tips To a Faster Recovery
- Keep your heart rate up immediately after finishing your particular activity (jog, bike etc) this will help flush out the lactic acid. At least 15 minutes.
- Have a recovery drink ready for consuming immediately post exercise to replenish nutrients. (not beer!)
- Go for a jog and stretch the day after your activity.
The Importance of Hydration
I was always told that if you feel thirsty then you are more than likely already dehydrated. So what can we do to prevent this from happening? A basic understanding should help us take precautions. From the first sentence you will realise that thirst is not a good indicator of hydration and exercise can suppress your thirst further and you may not even think to drink. So why do we need fluid and how is it lost? Our bodies on average consist of 60% water although this can obviously vary from person to person. Lean muscle contains around 70-75% water where as fat tissue contains around 10-15% water. Because of this it is even more important for an athlete to balance his total body water volume through correct fluid intake. Water is lost largely through sweating but it is also lost in very small amounts through breathing and through the skin. Even in cooler weather (10 degrees celsius) footballers can lose up to 2L a game.
So What Should We Be Drinking and When?
During exercise its not just water that is lost, we start to use up our body stores of carbohydrate and we also lose electrolytes through our sweat. This is why we should consider a drink that contains all of these such as a sports drink. Tests show that by consuming a large amount of dilute glucose electrolyte solution, the onset of fatigue can be delayed quite considerably and this will help maintain performance for longer. As well as considering drinking lots to stay hydrated it is also important to be aware of over hydrating. This is very rare and only usually happens in long distance events such as marathons but in case there is any marathon runners reading this here’s a tip for you. As a guideline for athletes of all abilities if completing a marathon distance you don’t need to consume more than 2-4 litres of fluid. It’s slower runners that are mainly at risk as they are able to consume more fluid during a marathon and this can lower the sodium concentration levels in the body. This can lead to nausea, fatigue and confusion.
There are 3 important times to consider your fluid intake
- Pre exercise: You should try to consume around 500ml of water 2 hours prior to exercise so that the kidneys can regulate the total water levels in your body.
- During exercise: This is a very important time to consume fluids and you want to aim to consume roughly around 500ml of fluid every hour. This can obviously vary slightly dependent on the intensity of the exercise and the climate you are working in and its also dependent on the your fitness level. During exercise you should consider the type of fluid you consume as you want it to contain some carbohydrate and electrolytes, to replace what is being lost.
- Post exercise: If you can weigh yourself before and immediately after exercise you can work out exactly how much fluid has been lost and replace this. For every Kilogram of bodyweight you lose you should consume about 1L of fluid. After exercise this is another important time to try to drink a sports drink to replace what has been lost.
3 Tips To Stay Hydrated
- Carry a bottle of water with you every day and aim to drink at least 2L a day sipping it regularly.
- To test to see if you are fully hydrated before exercise or competition a good guide is to make sure your urine is a pale colour!
- A sports drink during exercise is better than just water as it helps replace electrolytes lost through sweat and they contain glucose for replacing your carbs you are using.
Top 3 Ways to Improve Your Core Strength
The Importance of Core Work
We’ve all seen the guy in the gym who just bashes out a few reps on the bench, throws in a few bicep curls, and finishes off with a couple of sit ups. Not only is he wasting his time, but he is missing out on a very important factor of all training and exercise: the need to train and strengthen the core muscles.
What are your core muscles?
The core is a term used to describe the group of muscles around the mid-section of your body, in the main consisting of the transverse abdominal muscle, the pelvic floor muscles, the rectus abdominals and the obliques. Our core muscles are the root of every movement we make. They stabilize the pelvis, spine and ribs, which can improve posture and can reduce back pain and injuries. In football a strong core is as important as a good first touch. It plays a big role in your balance, speed and power. It provides stability for every movement you make and helps generate power, not just in the core, but throughout the whole body.
A six pack may look good but it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a stable, strong core. It’s vital that you work all the muscles around the core to reduce the risk of injury and muscular imbalance and generally any exercise you do where your body is slightly unstable or unbalanced will activate your core muscles.
Top 3 Tips For Greater Core Strength
‘The plank’
Lying on your front put your forearms on the floor so that your elbows are directly under your shoulders. Next lift your body of the ground so that only your toes and forearms are on the floor. Keep your body nice and straight so that you knees are in line with your hips which are in line with your shoulders which should be in line with your ears. Draw in your navel very slightly contracting your core. Try to hold this for thirty seconds. If you can’t manage this bring your knees to the floor but then keep your body straight from your knees to your shoulders.
‘The Back Bridge’
Lying on your back put your hands at your sides, knees bent, feet flat on the floor under your knees. Tightening your buttocks and abdominals very slightly raise your hips off the ground. You want to have a straight line going from your knees to your shoulders. Remember to draw in the navel very slightly. Hold for thirty seconds. If you can’t do it for this long begin with just a few seconds and build up gradually.
‘Lateral Plank’
Lie on your side with your forearm on the floor. Elbow should be bent and directly below your shoulder. Next lift your hip of the floor until your spine is straight. Top foot should be placed on bottom foot. Hold again if you can for thirty seconds but you can build up to this.
How it Has Helped
It was only through working with a very good sports scientist at one of my first football clubs that I started to take the training of my core muscles seriously, and I have to say that I have noticed a massive improvement in my all round balance, strength, and power.
There are still lots of people inside and outside of gyms that are unaware of the importance of the core muscles. By following these three simple exercises you can slowly start to build up your core strength that will set you on the path to achieving your wider fitness goals.
Quick Tips!
• Using the gym ball for sit ups is great for the core
• Using the Bosu ball when doing squats is another great way of activating the core
• Pilates is also an excellent and relaxing way to train your core
Some Basic Football Fitness Tips
Shank!
Seeing as I’ve spent my whole life as a footballer, be it professional or semi-professional, I thought I’d start this blog off with some basic football fitness tips to get you in shape for your next match.
Now, you might play on Saturdays, Sundays, or just kick about with your mates on a Monday night, but whatever your level there are some basic fitness tips for you to follow.
- Speed work. Shuttle runs and quick feet drills are best for this. Most sprints in a game last for no more than 15 metres so tailor your drills to mirror a real-life game situation.
- Muscular endurance. Specifically relating to the lower body, the ability to keep your muscles working deep into injury time is essential for the modern day footballer. Strength and endurance training is the staple of every professional footballer so make sure you factor a good deal of this into your weekly workout regime.
- Stretching. The fashion in the modern game is for dynamic stretching, but I’m a little old fashioned and still like to go through all the basic static stretches. Work your muscles from the ground up so you don’t miss any out, paying particular attention to your achilles, calfs, groins, hamstrings and quads.
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