Ian on Training
Daily Training Routine Off-SeasonFrom September to January"I have a four day exercise program. This program goes right through the offseason. As soon as I finish my last game with Manly I start the program. 
"The first day I work on my chest and triceps. That includes bench press, incline press, decline press then some dips or some flies to finish off with. It's all heavy lifting - maybe four to five sets. The first one will just be a warm up but the last three will be a fair weight. My maximum lift is 130k. I have lifted 150k - but that was only once! "The whole routine will take me close on two and a half hours. "On day two l'll go down to the gym and do a circuit training class. I don't do aerobics because if I wanted to do something like that I'd go for a run. "Then in the afternoon l'll go back to the gym and concentrate on back and biceps For the back I'll do cleans (that's like a clean and jerk - except that I don't lift it above my head). Then I do chin-ups maybe four sets of 12. I also do five sets bent over row. The cleans and bent over row are probably the best for my back. Then for my biceps I do dumb bell curls. Again, this visit can take about two hours. "On day three I work on my legs and shoulders. I haven't been able to do much this season so far because of my injury. I always work on my hamstrings first. This is because I do squats as well... and when doing squats you use your hamstrings quite a bit so it makes sense to do hamstrings first. I usually try and do about 10 reps of each. It's good to have somebody behind you to "spot" you. (Lend assistance in case you need it!) I don't worry too much about my calf muscles. Because I run so much at training it's pretty hard to put too much weight on them. "For the shoulders I do military press that's lifting weights behind my neck. I do a lot for my shoulders because it's probably my strongest body part. My shoulders don't weaken as quickly as the rest of my body. I also do an upright row - that's when you stand up. I also do some shrugs, the side raises...probably about six different things for the shoulders all together. "I also do legs on the third day. It's probably the biggest workout day and can take me as long as three and a half hours in the gym. 
"On the fourth day I rest. The reason I include rest in the program is that the body fibre you exercise needs time to grow after you use it. So if you work your muscles hard every day you're not giving them time to repair themselves and grow. So on that fourth day I just don't do anything...I'm just a bum! Maybe I'll just have a very light run in the morning just to loosen up. And in the off-season that would mean nothing more than half an hour. "Then the next day it's back to day one of the routine. "I'll also do other things like swimming...but it's not planned in my routine. I'll just do that anytime I feel like it. And I probably swim more when the football season's on. I have to cut down my aerobic activity a little at times because I lose too much weight. I have to keep my weight up for football." On-Season"For me the on season means I concentrate on heavy lifting. My motto is 'You lift big, eat big and you'll be big'. And it works. 
"About two months before the season starts we begin training at Manly. This means three or four nights a week for two and a half hours. We train at the NSW Sports Institute and one of our standard work outs is to go for a run around the hills of Narrabeen. It takes me on average just over ten minutes. That's how they gauge our fitness. After the long run we do a series of shorter sprints. Then we do pyrometrics - bounding, hopping. We also do some circuit training in the gym there." |