Strength and Conditioning – its role in the modern game is absolutely huge.
Gym programmes have become so important. Players and managers alike are constantly referencing the need for players to be big and to be strong.
Many of our players are becoming so caught up in this strength and conditioning culture. They are placing way too much emphasis on it, as Sean Cavanagh described earlier in the year on The GAA Hour Football Show.
“The sad thing I’ve seen in the last few years is that you do see some guys who have gotten carried away with the gym work,” Cavanagh said.
“As crazy as it sounds, guys can get addicted to the gym. I’ve seen guys who are in it the mornings of matches, the mornings of training, and you’re asking yourself ‘why’.
That’s how far it has gone. Players are prioritising their gym programmes over actual games and training sessions. When you’re performing a heavy weightlifting gym programme on the morning of a training session or a game, you should know there’s something wrong with your approach.
Former Galway footballer Derek Savage was speaking on The GAA Hour Show live from Galway on Thursday night when he had his say on this emerging culture.
According to Savage, a player’s mentality, their hunger and their inner fire can do so much more for them than any gym programme ever will.
Savage argued that certain modern GAA players are over-bulked and they don’t know how to use this physicality.
“I see a lot of young guys now, they’re bulked, they’re really bulked up and then they go out and they kind of freeze or they don’t know how to use their physicality,” said the former corner forward.
Players are relying on the gym work they have done to stand up on the field of play. It doesn’t work that way, just because you’re physically stronger than your opposing player doesn’t mean you’ll win your battle them.
“Joe Brolly was talking about it during the week about the Tyrone minor team and how they were these huge men. I’m not sure you need that, even in the modern game. I think they’re over-bulked. Young guys can still come into the game and can still make a difference, like Michael Daly in Galway or some of that other under-21 side. As long as they’re not going to be bullied on the field, it’s not about how strong you are, it’s about whether you’re going to stand up to the guy or not,” said Savage.
The Cortoon Shamrocks club man wasn’t the biggest of players, he was only 5ft 9 in, but he knew that his desire, his hunger and his skill could overcome the size advantage his opposing players had on him.
“It happened in 1998 for us where we were looking at Mayo in the All-Ireland finals in 1997 where we were looking at Kenneth Mortimer and these guys that were very physical, big strong. We were like right are we going to stand up to them physically or are we not? I wasn’t going to be able to stand up to them physically, but I certainly wasn’t going to get bullied around the place,” claimed the 39-year-old.
It’s not the gym that will separate one player from another, it’s an underlying will, something deep inside them that craves success.
Listen to the lads’ debate about the gym culture here from 20’00” on The GAA Hour Live from Galway.
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