Conditioning is the umbrella term for additional activity outside of sport that is designed to prepare the body to perform better. The benefits for sports persons are that targeted, functional conditioning can improve weak areas of your body which would otherwise inhibit your performance by becoming fatigued which would lead to a negative correlation of technique as time progresses. For example: one of the key technical points for endurance runners is the elimination of unnecessary movement to converse precious energy. It is the job of the Gluteus Medius muscle to stabilise the hip girdle during the gait cycle. If this is weak, the harder and longer you push yourself the quicker the GM fatigues and the sloppier your technique becomes. Targeted exercises such as rear leg raises and lunges strengthen these muscles and keep your technique efficient and effective. Without specialised conditioning the improvement of the GM, for example, as an area for change would be much slower if unchanged.

All sports involve the movement of the body which in-turn involves a complex network of muscular movements and stabilisations. Conditioning not only improves the mechanical function of the movements but also the transfer of the signals between them. It is well documented that strength training not only causes hypertrophy (the increase of muscle fibre density and frequency) but also trains us to recruit MORE muscle fibres per movement through increasing the number of nerve pathways available.

Improving your body can unmistakably improve your performance. If the machine is prepared the mind can focus and take care of business. End of.

Conditioning is a phenomenon that has been practiced and included in professional athletes’ training regimes across every sport for decades. From 800m runners of the 70’s and 80’s to golfers to fighters to football players, but does it have a place in amateur sport? For me, this is a question of your goals. If as an athlete you want to be the best you can possibly be, then yes; absolutely. It is then your responsibility to maximise your potential within the boundaries of the rules of the game. If you want to compete to be happy then that is just as, if not more respectable however you do not need to push yourself as hard if you already enjoy where you are. It is therefore individual. As an athlete, a coach and performance conditioning specialist I can see that the subject of fitness training for sport is individual. Good coaches can produce phenomenal results but it isn’t for everyone. It is therefore the choice of the athlete to decide their goals, speak to the right people and decide what they need to achieve and maximise their potential.

Steve
PBfit
www.paintballfitness.co.uk
www.PBfit.co.uk

A nice easy, functional workout to improve your endurance.
Complete the circuit as quickly as possible and post up your times!

The intensity comes from A) the weight of the walking lunges and B) the speed at which you train. If it’s too easy add weight or go faster! Timing your workouts ensures that you are always performing maximally. Everyone should be in the same sweaty, collapsed state at the end no matter what their fitness level as the timing will adjust the intensity.

Have fun!

P.S. sorry for the lack of posts recently. Last night saw the FIRST PBfit bootcamp which has taken lots of extra work to get off the ground. We’re back!

60 burpees
50 Pressups
40 walkouts
30 lunges (each leg)
20 twisting mountain climbers (each side)
10 situps

Fastest time under 12 mins wins! Entry closes 11.59pm Monday, 31st August 2010

Exercise: Walkouts
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Bridge position
• Walk your hands in towards your feet keeping your legs as straight as your flexibility will allow
• Walk hands back to start position – reaching as far forwards as possible
• Try to keep hips as still as possible throughout
• Maintain good “bridge” form whilst walking in and out
• The wider your feet are the easier it is. If your hips are moving a lot, widen your feet slightly
• No fewer than 4 walks with each hand in each direction

Exercise: Lunges
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Stand up straight with hands behind back or on head
• Step forward with one leg, bending at both knees
• The knee of your trailing leg should touch the floor with a 90 degree bend
• The knee of the front leg should be bent 90 degrees
• The length of the stride is determined by the length of your legs, try not to over or under-stride
• Keep looking forward at all times for balance
• Repeat on the other side

Situps –
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Lie back
• Feet flat on the floor
• Knees together
• Hands across chest
• Sit all the way upwards keeping back straight

Exercise: Twisting Mountain Climbers
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Pressup position
• Bring one knee all the way in to the chest
• Rotate the lower body and knee towards the opposite elbow, turning as far as possible
• Return knee to starting position
• Repeat with other leg
• Try not to arch your back

Exercise: Walkouts
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Bridge position
• Walk your hands in towards your feet keeping your legs as straight as your flexibility will allow
• Walk hands back to start position – reaching as far forwards as possible
• Try to keep hips as still as possible throughout
• Maintain good “bridge” form whilst walking in and out
• The wider your feet are the easier it is. If your hips are moving a lot, widen your feet slightly
• No fewer than 4 walks with each hand in each direction

Pressup –
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Lie on your front
• Place hands under the shoulders with fingers pointing forwards
• Legs should be together, outstretched and with toes bent and touching the floor
• Press against the floor with your hands making sure legs stray in line with the back
• Allow elbows to angle outwards
• Keep back straight (drop hips slightly to avoid backside sticking into the air)
• Lower body until 2-3 inches from the floor
• Repeat

Burpees –
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Stand up straight
• Squat down and place hands on floor
• Kick both legs backwards in a squat-thrust motion
• Bring knees back in to chest
• Jump upwards
• Land with knees bent and repeat

PBFit is a convenient, effective and thankfully for me, idiotproof way of conditioning yourself solely for paintball, its the only plan available at the moment for paintballer by a paintballer so they know what you need and what you dont in your plan. My advice would be to stick with it and try not to miss any days out because with the regular fitness tests it’s easy to see how you have progressed and the workouts only take on average about half an hour. I have been doing this plan for 10 weeks now and have mostly noticed the difference after a point/at the start of the next point, if i have just crawled all the way up the snake usually I would be hanging out on the start gate in the next point hoping to god i wouldn’t get told to run the snake again. Now I find it much easier to cope with doing that 3-4 points in a row. The level of fitness you acquire also helps you with many other parts of the game for example sprinting, holding a good stance in your bunker thanks to a solid core, and keeping your head in the game because fitness is another thing you don’t have to worry about, I would advise that anyone who thinks their fitness isn’t up to scratch at least gives it a go. PBFit is ran by a professional fitness trainer who knows is stuff and is always happy to explain things and answer questions, the way everything is done by phone/email is extremely convenient and well run. So far PBFit is doing a great job!
- Jamie Rogan, Reading Entity

These workouts are hard. Especially if you work in an office all day like me. I find that the best time for me to exercise is straight after work. Get home, get changed, get it done. In many cases, the workouts are so intensive (15 minutes) it is quicker to just do them and get them out of the way, rather than think about how tired you are and end up talking yourself into having a night off, you earn your nights off. You get out what you put in. Don’t convince yourself that your working hard when your not, the only person you are fooling is yourself, but don’t be afraid to rest up if you have to. Most importantly: Don’t quit!
- Nick Oppersdorff, Reading Entity

There you have it. Some encouragement, some practical advice and some home-truths that we can all relate to.

Give it a go

Steve
www.PBfit.co.uk

By improving your fitness as a team you support and motivate each other and that transfers to the field. Overall you become a tighter, more precise unit, aware of everyone’s physical capabilities whilst always trying to improve and extend your limits.

This is where PBfit comes in. I am offering my services as a performance coach to teams in the UK wanting to build on their field skills by improving the other areas of their game. Fitness is a neglected aspect of paintball. What few paintballers realise is that the effectiveness of their gun skills is largely determined by their physical ability to perform them when it matters most. You could be the best gun-fighter in the world but if you aren’t fit enough to gunfight with the best game-after-game, point-after-point the result is ultimately failure.

All the PBfit athletes pay £5 per week for their personalised fitness development programs. At £20 a month it is vastly cheaper than the majority of gym memberships AND you get the expertise of PBfit to tailor the program specifically for paintball.

Teams on the other hand get a far more comprehensive performance coaching deal:

Private team fitness sessions at your local training site or venue
Personalised week-to-week fitness programs for every member of the team
Comprehensive fitness testing and periodical tracking
Movement technique and analysis

The performance coaching package is available to teams by application and pricing is subject to the size of the team. To apply email your team details, 1 year goal and your current performance situation to: info@pbfit.co.uk or call 07590679031 for details.

Steve
www.PBfit.co.uk

The 40-10 workout combines elements of strength and endurance. The amount of effort you exert to complete the first set (40 reps) is close to the amount required to complete the final set (10 reps) as fatigue adjusts the system. Endurance workouts train the body to continue to function at the same intensity/ capacity whilst tired. Obviously, the higher your endurance threshold the better you can perform as a tournament or match goes on. You will be a much sharper, much more efficient player as your body continues to cope with the demands of play whislt your oponents fall by the wayside.

This workout also works through the strength training reps ranges. With normal bodybuilding or strength training routines, an intensity is selected that only allows you to complete a small number of reps; usually 8-12. This is also the case in the 40-10 workout. If you are exerting yourself maximally (working as hard as you can) the final set will be to failure i.e. you will not be able to complete many/ any more reps than the final 10.

So, need to improve your strength and endurance? Sorted!

Post your comments and total time taken to complete the 40-10 workout.

Steve
www.pbfit.co.uk

40-10 explained:

The idea is to complete 4 sets of this circuit. The first set consists of 40 reps for each exercise. The second set comprises 30 reps for each exercise, then 20 repetitions in the third and 10 reps in the fourth set. For the Lunges and Twisting Mountain Climbers, 1 rep on each side counts as 1 repetition i.e. 1 left, 1 right = 1 rep. This will equate to 80 lunges and 80 mountain climbers in the first set.

Time how long it takes you to complete the four sets and post them as a comment on this article. Have fun!

Exercises:

Exercise: Pressup
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Lie on your front
• Place hands under the shoulders with fingers pointing forwards
• Legs should be together, outstretched and with toes bent and touching the floor
• Press against the floor with your hands making sure legs stray in line with the back
• Allow elbows to angle outwards
• Keep back straight (drop hips slightly to avoid backside sticking into the air)
• Lower body until 2-3 inches from the floor
• Repeat

Exercise: Lunges
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Stand up straight with hands behind back or on head
• Step forward with one leg, bending at both knees
• The knee of your trailing leg should touch the floor with a 90 degree bend
• The knee of the front leg should be bent 90 degrees
• The length of the stride is determined by the length of your legs, try not to over or under-stride
• Keep looking forward at all times for balance
• Repeat on the other side

Exercise: Twisting Mountain Climbers
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Pressup position
• Bring one knee all the way in to the chest
• Rotate the lower body and knee towards the opposite elbow, turning as far as possible
• Return knee to starting position
• Repeat with other leg
• Try not to arch your back

Exercise: Situps
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Lie back
• Feet flat on the floor
• Knees together
• Hands across chest
• Sit all the way upwards keeping back straight

The American College of Sports Medicine has analysed the biomechanics of sprinting. By reviewing the dominance of certain muscles and their range of motion at the joints a picture can be built of the role each muscle group has in producing functional strength for sprinting. The study by Ralph and Mann found that the arms move very little in and generate very little force when compared to the lower body and thus generate very little force from the shoulder down. It was therefore accertained that the primary role of the arms and upper body during maximal sprint efforts is for balance.

How does this impact paintballers?

The balance effect produced by the arms comes from the swinging motion. By swinging the arms alternately the twistingmotion caused by the legs which resonates through the body is counteracted. However, paintballers for the majority of a game are holding their marker setup. This means that the balance effect is not present, therefore core strength is far more important for a paintballer than a sprinter for them to be able to perform optimally.

The offseason is seen as a time to relax by many paintballers, a time to appease the complaining wivers and girlfriends and time to spend sundays nipping to the garden centre or on a nice walk. Wrong….

The offseason is for change.

After a couple of weeks break from a hectic training schedule it’s the pefect opportunity to review your season. Loook back at your performance this year, what do you want to do next year? By setting a goal now leaves plenty of time to achieve it. Do you want to move up a division next year? Or perform better on the field? Do you want to be more competitive compared to the other teams at your level? Athletes in every sport go through thi evaluation and planning stage at the end of each year. It ensures progression and improvement rather than plateauing. THis is the mark of a true athlete.

The majority of UK paintball sites are out in the open and many close for several months during the winter to allow grass to regrow and fields to be relevelled in preparation for the following year. As a result there are often periods of time where individuals and teams do not get chance to train. Cue FITNESS TRAINING! If there was ever a better excuse to hit the gym this is it and with PBfit you can do this easily at home at minimal to no cost whatsoever.

During the winter months I’d advise paintballers to work on their endurance. Just like runners from a variety of disciplines from middle distance to sprinters, a good winter spent building endurance means that speed and power can be developed to a peak during the season with only maintenance required for endurance. THis leaves much more time to spend on the aspects of your game that are really crucial come March/ April. Cycling, Swimming, Running, Endurance weight training etc will all stand you in good stead for 2011 and SHOULD NOT be neglected. It will also allow for change from your usual schedule. Exercises with repetitions of 20+ with an intensity that allows your to complete the set are generally regarded as endurance. Look out for these in the weekly workouts I will post up.

As an athlete myself I have a number of goals this winter. I’m currently working on improving my strength and increasing muscle mass. By December I will be musch stronger with equal endurance to allow me to become a better athlete next year. I’m also taking this opportunity as a breka from running (partly through injury) to enjoy cycling and swimming again. Mixing it up keeps things fresh and helps maintain motivation when the going gets tough. Boredom and monotony is NOT your friend.

The PBfit athletes will be focussing on endurance with some steady increases in strength until January time. They also have the opportunity to reevaluate their short term goals e.g. if someone decided they wanted to gain muscle mass, that could also be built in to their programme. From January/ February onwards the emphasis will be on power building and strength with maintainence of the high levels of endurance they will have built up. What does that mean? Harder, Better, Faster and Stronger PBfit athletes for 2011.

Steve
www.pbfit.co.uk

Want to become a PBfit athlete? Send us some quick information about yourself to: info@pbfit.co.uk

50 Burpees
40 Lunges (each leg, alternating)
30 Walkouts with pressups
20 Mountain Climbers
10 Toe Touches

Time to complete:

Exercise descriptions:
Burpees –
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Stand up straight
• Squat down and place hands on floor
• Kick both legs backwards in a squat-thrust motion
• Bring knees back in to chest
• Jump upwards
• Land with knees bent and repeat

Exercise: Lunges
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Stand up straight with hands behind back or on head
• Step forward with one leg.
• The knee of your trailing leg should touch the floor with a 90 degree bend
• The knee of the front leg should be bent 90 degrees
• The length of the stride is determined by the length of your legs, try not to over or under-stride
• Keep looking forward at all times for balance
• Repeat on the other side

Exercise: Walkouts with pressup
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Bridge position
• Perform a pressup
• Walk your hands in towards your feet keeping your legs as straight as your flexibility will allow
• Walk hands back to start position – reaching as far forwards as possible
• Try to keep hips as still as possible throughout
• Maintain good “bridge” form whilst walking in and out
• The wider your feet are the easier it is. If your hips are moving a lot, widen your feet slightly
• No fewer than 4 walks with each hand in each direction

Exercise: Mountain Climbers
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Pressup position
• Bring one knee all the way in to the chest
• Return knee to starting position
• Repeat with other leg
• Try not to arch your back

Toe touches –
Equipment: N/A
Execution:
• Lie on your back
• Legs in the air as straight as possible
• Crunch up and touch toes (as high as you can get)
• Return to start position

Enjoy!

Steve
PBfit
www.pbfit.co.uk

An exercise training session will differentiate between which element of fitness is the main focus by adjusting the number of repetitions and the intensity (weight, speed etc). Endurance plans tend to use higher repetitions with a lower weight e.g. 60% 1 rep max for 20+ repetitions each set. Strength training plans will use a slightly lower rep range but a heavier weight e.g. 70-80% 1 rep max for 10-15 repetitions each set. Power exercises focus on generating the maximum amount of power but only a few times so this style of training could primarily use 90-100% 1 rep max for 1 repetition per set.

I personally find the easiest way to split programs is in to cycles; 6 weeks endurance, 6 weeks strength, 6 weeks plyometrics and power etc. Within these cycles there will also be small elements of the other fitness factors. A strength training program will include some endurance work intrinsicly as your endurance will improve to allow you to complete short sets with heavier weight over and over.

For paintball, neither endurance, strength or power is the most important. Balanced training is. At different times throughout the year a certain aspect may be more important than another which is the case with runners. A well thought out program though will encorporate this to allow the athletes to achieve their maximum potential.