Gaelic Football Post Season Training - Need alot of help please. $$$

[That Foreign Guy]

AFL > Gaelic because I like tackling people and taking marks.

Both are good sports though.

[soon2b]

I am starting this on monday. I liked the idea of the bill star 5x5 3 days a week. On the lifting days I will be doing some cycling, usually the random hill setting for about 30-45 minutes to get my cardio in. I would rather cycle than run because running takes a lot out of me.

The other 3 days will consist of 2 days of plyometrics and 1 day of circuits(sprint drills, etc), or 2 days circuits, 1 day plyo.

I would like to get some distance running in as well. Would it be bad to do a few miles of running on my ply/circuit days? Maybe jog a mile or 2 as warmup, and a mile or 2 as cool down? Just wondering if doing circuits/plyo and some distance running on the same days will be detrimental?

As far as diet goes, I will be keeping a log in fitday. I want to be consuming carbs pre workout, and fats post? I will be trying to consume less than 2k calories a day, and above 1700.I normally have some sort of whey isolate drink pre-workout(currently Amplify smoothie), and Endurox R4 Post workout(I really love this drink). The only other supplements I take are HRX, fish oil(9 capsuls a day, 3 at every meal), multivitamin and green tea extract. I saw a supplement combo in another thread that was supposedly good for cutting so I might try that in the future. I dont think I will really need it since I am working out 6 days/wk.

My goal is to be below 10% BF, and hopefully under 275 lbs if my body permits it, by the first week of December(I guess technically by the 10th). I want to be lean/cut. I want to be very fit by this time because this is when I will be heading to Ireland to train with one of our Irish players Intermediate(semi-pro) team in Galway. I am no where near intermediate level as far as skill goes, but I want to be as fit as possible so I can focus purely on developing my skills, and not having to worry about my fitness.

Do you guys think this is doable by Dec 10th? That gives me 13 weeks to accomplish these goals.

If you guys see anything wrong with the basic structure of my plan, let me know. I know this seems like a lot, but I have a fairly light schedule at school, and dont party too much, so I will be able to get plenty of rest.

[shemp]

I wouldn't do sprints or plyos more than once a week-- and I'd be careful how man weeks in a row I did them without a break. I'm really curious what the textbooks say on this. You might also break things down so that your first 6-8 weeks are much more focused on strength/power/explosiveness and leave incorporating HIIT for later.

[soon2b]

What about this:

Week 1 - 3 days lifting, 1 day plyo, 1 day sprints(one will be at beginning of the week, one will be at the end), and 2 days rest(both after plyo/sprints).

Week 2 - 3 days lifting, 3 days distance running, 1 day rest

If I rotated like that, would that be a bit better?

Also, what kind of shoe would you guys recommend for the cross training. I already have lifting shoes and running shoes. I need a cross training shoe that will not be too hard on my shins(i get them really bad sometimes).

[kinda]

[ QUOTE ]
I want to be consuming carbs pre workout, and fats post?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. You want your pre-workout meals to consist of protein + carbs so that you have energy to lift (same applies to your non-lifting day cardio sessions). Your post workout shake should be some whey protein + simple, high GI carbs, and meals after your workout should be protein + fat.

[cbloom]

BTW back when I was training sport-specific plyos I read the book

"Explosive Power & Strength"

I guess it's a bit old now so probably out of date, but it's available on Google Books :

http://books.google.com/books?id=JvrXoR_...nt&ct=title

I thought it was a pretty good book; it goes through the theory of plyos and then lays out specific programs for various sports including off-season programs and all that.

[soon2b]

ill be sending the $ out soon, ill pm those who i feel helped the most. anyways, I still have a few more questions...

today I am starting the program. ill be doing some cardio on the bike, and day 1 of bill stars 5x5. Ill start out a fresh thread starting with todays workout log and such.

My questions concern how many calories I need to lose weight. My BMR is 2000cal/day. Thats to maintain my current body weight. So basically as long as I am under my BMR, I will be losing weight? What should I be shooting for in order to reach my goal of losing about 15-20 lbs by December?

[dethgrind]

That 2000 doesn't take into account activity level. So if you're just laying around in bed all day, yeah 2000 will maintain. Sounds like you're pretty active, so 3000 is probably a more reasonable estimate of your maintenance calories. I'd start at 2500 and adjust based on your results.

[soon2b]

ah yeah, I remember seeing that. Sounds good, ill calculate that into the bmr.

[cbloom]

There are lots of good calculators out there with BMR + activity level, etc.

I like this one :

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa64.htm