Anyone know strength standards for Senior county players?

GaryL0904

Does anyone here know someone on a county team or on a county team? Interested in seeing what kind of standards most players are at today, seeing how much they have improved in terms of athleticism over the past 10 years.

My guess would be

1.5x bodyweight squat
1.2x bw bench
2x bw deadlift.

Gerry91

Know a county player, he's a hurler though, does f all in the gym during the year. He's shredded to bits but not at all muscular

I'm sure some can lift heavy, e.g. a fair few of the Dublin/Mayo/Donegal football team are tanks, there's a lot of slight players too though, like there's no way most of that Clare team from the last day can lift the figures you're posting

Really depends

I assume they're a given a program to do independently during the season, up to them how strict they stick to it I guess, of course doing it independently form and intensity can be an issue

victorcarrera

It makes no difference I think. There are other qualities that are much more important like acceleration, stamina, vision, being able to read the game, recognizing the strong and weak points in your own and your opponents play and knowing how to exploit them. Kerry's Colm Cooper and Clare's Shane O'Donnell in fact all of the current Clare team don't look like Gym junkies, but power to weight is probably more important as the Clare team look very lean. The games are more skill based and all the best players have skill not necessarily bulk.

keane2097

Of course it makes a difference.

Shane O'Donnell is very well built, although very lean as you say.

GaryL0904

victorcarrera wrote: »

It makes no difference I think. There are other qualities that are much more important like acceleration, stamina, vision, being able to read the game, recognizing the strong and weak points in your own and your opponents play and knowing how to exploit them. Kerry's Colm Cooper and Clare's Shane O'Donnell in fact all of the current Clare team don't look like Gym junkies, but power to weight is probably more important as the Clare team look very lean. The games are more skill based and all the best players have skill not necessarily bulk.

Lifting weights could improve acceleration as their is more force being produced, and it may improve stamina in regards to muscle endurance.


And muscle mass doesn't fully correlate to strength as much as people think.

For example Jaroslaw Olech


He is big, but no bigger than some GAA players. Yet he is a champion powerlifter with a 320kg deadlift.


I understand that GAA is heavily a skill based game but i am just interested in the strength of them as well.

keane2097

GaryL0904 wrote: »

Lifting weights could improve acceleration as their is more force being produced, and it may improve stamina in regards to muscle endurance.


And muscle mass doesn't fully correlate to strength as much as people think.

For example Jaroslaw Olech

He is big, but no bigger than some GAA players. Yet he is a champion powerlifter with a 320kg deadlift.


I understand that GAA is heavily a skill based game but i am just interested in the strength of them as well.

Try tweeting David Hare (FuncTraining), former Longford S&C coach, he'll prob get back to you. Some articles you might be interested in here as well:

http://www.livegaelic.com/train-to-win/

shrewdness

In GAA core strength is the most important thing. You might see lads that look slight but they would be hard as nails. You don't have to be bulky to be strong.

Gerry91

shrewdness wrote: »

In GAA core strength is the most important thing. You might see lads that look slight but they would be hard as nails. You don't have to be bulky to be strong.

And lads with plenty of "show muscle" who get pushed around easy.

There was a lad on the minor hurling team in the parish I live in now in Galway and he was as thin as a rail but hardy and really strong he'd never get pushed off the ball at all, sheer determination. He was the strongest guy on a hurling pitch from the team yet one of the lightest

davegrohl48

Gerry91 wrote: »

And lads with plenty of "show muscle" who get pushed around easy.

There was a lad on the minor hurling team in the parish I live in now in Galway and he was as thin as a rail but hardy and really strong he'd never get pushed off the ball at all, sheer determination. He was the strongest guy on a hurling pitch from the team yet one of the lightest

Kevin Mcgloughlin running through n at Mccaffrey comes to mind Suprising how strong he is

cdarcy89

It's not about how heavy they are lifting but it's about lifting it as powerfully as possible to develop power and speed. The most important for any player is core strength that they can get through 70 mins and still be able to give and take hits. Core strength and conditioning are more important than lifting extremly heavy weights.

SeaFields

On the same theme, what kind of fitness levels would intercounty standards be at? Relative to a professional soccer/ rugby player?

I read a book recently where the author said junior gaa players are now fitter than what intercounty were 10-15 years ago? And intercounty are gone to a whole other level. Opinions?

Gerry91

Didn't Graham Geraghty train with Arsenal in 90's I think it was? They couldn't get over his fitness levels in relation to players that were there

There's far more physical contact in Gaelic Football than soccer. A lot of GAA is getting knocked on your arse and having to get up again sprint back to tackle someone and win a ball. Seriously demanding

I always found it the toughest sport to play physically

Gerry91

It wasn't that long ago you'd see the odd player carrying a fair amount of puppy fat and the likes of Johnny Pilkington going for a pint the night before a match! I'd say fitness levels have progressed an insane amount in the last 10-15 years

eyescreamcone

SeaFields wrote: »

On the same theme, what kind of fitness levels would intercounty standards be at? Relative to a professional soccer/ rugby player?

I read a book recently where the author said junior gaa players are now fitter than what intercounty were 10-15 years ago? And intercounty are gone to a whole other level. Opinions?

Professional players should be at another level to GAA players.
I would imagine that premiership players for instance are way fitter than GAA players

Gerry91

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Professional players should be at another level to GAA players.
I would imagine that premiership players for instance are way fitter than GAA players

Not necessarily. See Graham Geraghty example above^^

Jimminy Mc Fukhead

Gerry91 wrote: »

Not necessarily. See Graham Geraghty example above^^

I presume that little nugget of anecdotal evidence originates from Graham himself. "Jesus lads, they couldn't believe how fit I was. They were all mad impressed"
Although Geraghty and Boylan Meath teams in general were always exceptionally fit - it probably was a ways off professional levels of fitness.
A more scientific comparison would be the international rules series where the amateur Irish players were understandably out on their feet half way through the game, while the professionals (who were on a beer holiday) were powering on.

Having said all that the fitness levels in GAA have gone up another level again in the last five years. But most of the players still hold down full time jobs where as the professional athletes full time job is training and recovering from training.

bucketybuck

Gerry91 wrote: »

It wasn't that long ago you'd see the odd player carrying a fair amount of puppy fat and the likes of Johnny Pilkington going for a pint the night before a match! I'd say fitness levels have progressed an insane amount in the last 10-15 years

That craic was still in vogue when I started out playing junior football back in the mid 90's, I still remember a few older lads who used to take a pint in the local before heading to the match with us. (Think the big midfielder with the beer gut and the knee strap).

Even at my crappy junior level you simply would not get away with it these days. Nothing to do with management, you just would simply get destroyed by anybody marking you who had even the average level of fitness for GAA.

The days of the big lad who can only stand in one place and either catch or kick are long gone, except perhaps for the odd big full-forward stumbling around.

Littlehorny

Jimminy Mc Fukhead wrote: »

I presume that little nugget of anecdotal evidence originates from Graham himself. "Jesus lads, they couldn't believe how fit I was. They were all mad impressed"
Although Geraghty and Boylan Meath teams in general were always exceptionally fit - it probably was a ways off professional levels of fitness.
A more scientific comparison would be the international rules series where the amateur Irish players were understandably out on their feet half way through the game, while the professionals (who were on a beer holiday) were powering on.

Having said all that the fitness levels in GAA have gone up another level again in the last five years. But most of the players still hold down full time jobs where as the professional athletes full time job is training and recovering from training.

Actually it came from Paul Merson in his book and he said Geraghty was the most naturally fit person he ever trained with.

Jimminy Mc Fukhead

Littlehorny wrote: »

Actually it came from Paul Merson in his book and he said Geraghty was the most naturally fit person he ever trained with.

Fair enough. I won't argue with Merson on that point.
I actually read that book. Don't remember the bit about GG.

davegrohl48

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Professional players should be at another level to GAA players.
I would imagine that premiership players for instance are way fitter than GAA players

Premiership players are conditioned differently Way less emphasis on upper body strength Then you see them go 90 mins at less intensity Rugby players are stronger but as a tradeoff have less stamina GAA as an activity is somewhere in middle Dublin n Mayo teams had various players physically at the level of soccer n some at the level of rugby

markomuscle

http://s1.thejournal.ie/media/2013/07/geoffrey-mcgonigle-2862003-630x471.jpg

does anyone remember geoffrey mcgonagle?
skills are far more important that strength i think, also size doesn't necessarily mean someone is stronger, I am quite muscular but there are many thinner people in the gym who can lift heavier weight than me.

Gerry91

You look at that Mayo half back line, the Donegal midfield and half lines, and the likes of Cian O'Sullivan, MDMA, Paul Flynn amongst others- incredible athletes

These would more than hold their own if they were put in a fitness test with PL footballers

LeoB

Its a different type of training these players do. Most G..A.A Players are as fit and I know 2 former premiership players and a former International player. They felt when a G.A.A player peaked he was as fit if not fitter than a professional players. Some found it hard to adjust to the regime of the full time game.

The core development of players is vital to G.A.A. thats why so many lads who might be classed on the small side are so strong. They can take heavy hits and especially in football the level of fitness is now so high I would think most of them could easily compete in fitness challenge against soccer player and win.

People like Graeme Geraghty were superb athletes, as were the likes of Tomas O'Sé, Kevin Moran, Kieran Duff, John Mullane, Tommy Walsh, Ciaran Whelan, Peter Canavan. There you have varying sizes of players but all very good athletes. Look at Canavan for his sizes and the treatment he got on the field. He was a very powerful player who had great technique as do the weight lifters so hard to compare like with like.

seanm92

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Professional players should be at another level to GAA players.
I would imagine that premiership players for instance are way fitter than GAA players

This depends entirely on what you deem fitness to consist of, GAA players are conditioned in such a way as to maximise fitness relative to GAA, and not soccer, pro soccer players can run anything up to 10 or 12 k in a game, rugby players at the top level anywhere upto 7 k, and GAA players also around 7 or 8 k, you have to look at the demands of the game rather than simply say players from 1 sport are more fit, in GAA and rugby a lot of the work is done at high intensity, whereas in soccer a higher proportion of the play would be at a lower intensity. The term fitness is only relevant in the context of each individual sport, trying to compare sports with vastly differing physiological demands is pointless

Gerry91

^^^Dead right!

They tried something in Australia before (vaguely remember it) where they took athletes from a load of different sports (James O'Connor was one anyway) and had them doing challenges v each other. There were a load of different stages. was pure stupid though, for e.g. they had O'Connor doing bench press v runners and stuff iirc

Impossible compare between different sports, as requirements are so different