Hurling
Joe Canning shares his fitness secrets
Galway hurling hero, Joe Canning, gives us some valuable tips on how to be a better athlete.
Joe Canning
© Níall Bouzon
Joe Canning is the full-forward for Galway senior hurling team. At 27-years of age, Joe juggles a busy career working in his family business with a hectic training schedule. As a regular on the starting 15 for Galway, he has made quite a name for himself as one of the most talented hurling players of all time, as is proven by the two All Star awards he has to his name and his inclusion on the Fitzgibbon Cup team of the century.
We caught up with the man himself to see if we could get some tips on how average Joes like us can become that little bit faster, leaner and more flexible in the year ahead.
1. Get strong
Strength is an important aspect of most sports. Whether you are a mountain biker, a hurling player or a runner, all will require a certain amount of strength work. This not only makes you more explosive in a sprint, or increases your output on the bike, it also helps to prevent injury by creating support around those crucial muscle groups.
“The simplest exercises are often the best to build strength. I go to the gym two or three times a week and spend most of that time doing dead-lifts, pull-ups and squats. Squats and dead-lifts are especially good as we need as much power in our legs as we can get."
Joe Canning
© Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool
2. Get loose and limber
Flexibility is very importance when it comes to injury prevention.
“Hurling is all about speed and explosiveness off the blocks so there is a high risk of pulling your hamstring or your calf or something like that. You really need your muscles to be loose as they can be."
"We do a lot of glute and hamstring work to prevent injury. About 90% of us do yoga to improve our flexibility and keep our muscles loose. Some of the other lads do Pilates."
"The biggest craze at the moment is the foam roller. It’s a great way to loosen out those muscles after a tough session. It is also good to get regular massages from a physio as they really help to get into the deeper tissue."
"I think a good mix of yoga, the foam roller and massage is the best formula for avoiding injury."
3. Improve your speed
The majority of ball sports require explosive speed. A slog jog for 10-15km will have some benefit when it comes to building your base fitness but you can forget about trying to improve your speed over short distances with that approach.
“In winter we would do longer interval sessions so we would work on distances of 600m, 900m and even 1,200 metres. This gives us a good base so we can then transfer it into shorter speed work as the Championship approaches without getting injured."
"From spring time on we start doing a lot of short intervals – we would be working across distances of 50 and 100 metres."
"As summer approaches we focus a lot of footwork and explosive sprinting over 10, 20, 30 and 40 metres. We use ladders and cones to improve our footwork. It is really about focusing on those first four or five steps of the sprint. During a game the most we will run is about 30-40 yards at any one time and we are starting and stopping all of the time so we need to be prepared for that.”
Explosive speed is a huge part of Joe's game
© INPHO/James Crombie
4. Let your body recover
Recovery should be a crucial part of any amateur athlete's training programme - your muscles need time to repair after a hard session.
“We train more at this time of the year than we do in the summer, it is definitely more intense – there is not much time for recovery so we have to use anytime we can get to try and recover. We always try and go to the pool after a gym session to stretch out."
"Cryotherapy is also great – I go into the cold chamber or into the sea to speed up my recovery."
"I live beside the sea in Oranmore so I try to get into the sea for about 10-15 minutes after training to help soothe my muscles – although that’s easier to do in summer than winter!”
5. Eat what’s right for you
There is not a single diet solution for everyone. Everybody is totally different, we have different metabolisms so it really important to work out a diet plan that works best for you.
“Personally I don’t eat too many carbs – I try to stick to either brown rice or sweet potato and stay clear of pasta."
“Other lads on the team can eat lots of carbs without putting on weight but I have to stick to a high protein, low-carb diet throughout the year.
"After a hard session I would typically eat some chicken with sweet potato and broccoli – I add in a few spices to make it a bit more interesting from time to time though!!”