Look, it might not be the answer to every bastardin’ problem in sport, but it has to be done.
You lose a game, you’re not fit enough. You lose a ball, you’re not fit enough. You arrive late for training because your boss was trying to fire you over something you didn’t do, you’re not fit enough.
A lot of coaches turn to fitness as both the starting point and the remedy of your season but, even when it’s overused and overrated, it’s still important. And, even when it’s hated, it’s still loved.
There’s something special you get from a slog, when you do it together. Vince Lombardi once said that there’s something good in people that yearns for discipline and, when you go through it at the same time and go through it for each other, it’s powerful to feel that you’re apart of something bigger than you.
On PlayXPlay this week, the panel discussed the horrors and beauty of fitness training and broke down what they find the toughest and best way to get into shape.
The toughest sessions. Listen from 25:02:
Ireland rugby international and former GAA and soccer elite Jenny Murphy – who hosts the new show – recalled her worst memories.
UP-DOWNS
Falling to your belly and jumping back up on command and taking off when the whistle tells you to.
“Up-downs, with runs,” Murphy said these were the worst.
“A lot of short bursts, with turns. Minimal breaks. There was some vomiting being done.”
HILL SPRINTS
On that famous Blues Sisters documentary from 2017 which storied the lives of the Dublin players en route to All-Ireland success, there was a striking scene where the girls were putting themselves through hell, up and down this hill out at Phoenix Park.
As tough as runs like that are and as much of a burn as they bring about on the legs, it’s the satisfaction of doing with a group and seeing everyone else come through it too, for the cause.
“That is not a fun time,” Dublin footballer Niamh McEvoy recalled those runs on the show.
“There are definitely things you do that you know you’re just doing for your mental strength. Like, ‘I’m going to get great physical adaptations from this but, if I can get through this mentally, I can get through anything.Â
“If I didn’t have my friends telling me I was a great woman and to keep going, I’d have given up years ago. Finishing something like that as a team, the benefits you get are incredible. We’d get a lot of energy from sessions like that.”
1K TIME TRIAL
Off the back of Sinead Diver’s unbelievable London Marathon performance, when at the age of 42, she finished outright seventh, McEvoy was blown away by a 1k time she posted – in the middle of the 26-mile run.
“Lots of teams do 1k time trials and anything under 3 minutes 40, for a female, is super impressive.Â
“This is just one isolated run, need to have a sit-down after it.Â
“Sinead just threw a 3:10 in the middle of lots of other 1ks. I can’t even fathom it.”
15 SECONDS ON, 15 SECONDS OFF
15 seconds to sprint 90 metres (or whatever length you want), 15 seconds break. 10 sprints.
The key is that you’re being driven on by other people in the group, which makes people like Sinead Diver and their individual training all the more impressive.
“When I’d be doing any fitness stuff on my own, you’d be keeping a time but you’re not chasing,” Jenny said.
“I personally found it a lot harder to get a faster time when you’re not running with someone with someone and there’s that competitive edge. Solo athletes like that, I genuinely don’t know how they do it.”
"A little shoulder every now and then would be nice!"@jennymurphy045 felt like the rules of @ladiesfootball were holding her talents back… but @NiamhoMc has first-hand experience of why the game is safer without Jenny's "savagery" 🤣#PlayXPlay w/ @AIGIreland pic.twitter.com/14qANXDvz2
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 30, 2019
