good gym routine for paintball

[slushee]

I'm looking for a good gym routine for paintball. Every routine I've come across hasn't really looked like it would simulate pb conditions.

Does anyone have a good routine or pointers?

[Skoad]

run then squat.

repeat

[trains are bad]

Ditto. And be sure to commando crawl while exercising you finger with a rubber band, screaming the whole time.

[bina227]

Make sure your screams are realistic. The more blood curdling and savage, the better your workout.

[Mango]

Ok,

First, the best conditioning/training routine is the one you enjoy doing. I will start with that.



That being said, paintball is a game of explosive power from a standstill with lots of decceleration/sliding/leaning/etc. Sound familiar? It should, it's alot like baseball. Most of the dives we employ in paintball are baseball dives/slides. So we can utilize some training techniques from other mainstream sports and some that I've created my own. :p


A great conditioning routine for paintball would start with a foundation in strength building. It would include weight lifting 3 times a week hitting all the major muscle groups. Do this however you like, there is no wrong way so long as you hit all the major muscle groups. Be smart about it and create a routine that fits you best. This is a crucial stage to allow your bones, ligaments and tendons to adapt and grow STRONGER. Just from weight training alone you can more than DOUBLE the strength of your bones and ligaments. The body is an amazing thing...

Next it would include what are called plyometrics. Check out this great site PLYOMETRICS COACH (http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/plymo.htm) This allows you to get sport specific with your training. Since there is a lot of core lower back/abdominal facilitation in paintball this becomes crucial training. Do this on the days you do not weight train. I would include in this routine:

Plyometric Axe chops (toward the front, left and right side) and plyometric throws. What you do for these is take a weighted medicine ball or something sturdy and that is about 5 to 8 lbs. Stand with feet shoulder width apart holding the ball above your head, swing down as hard as you can without dropping it and maintaining the arch in your back. This is a great full body workout and can even be a warmup. Do 20 reps, rest, repeat for 20 more.

Also, doing 10 yard, 20 yard and 50 yard sprints will dramatically increase your off the break speed. These can be done 3 or more times a week, depending on your current condition. Train these in a progressive overload manner: meaning do 2 10 yard sprints, 1 min rest in between. Next to 2 20 yard sprints, 1 min rest in between, immediatly do 1 50 yard. Rest 2 min, then go back down. It would look like this: 10, 10, 20, 20, 50, 20, 20, 10, 10. Pyramid training.


Things like that will increase your lower back/abdominal strength and allow you to be a better, faster, more confident player on the field. It really is sad how most teams do not look toward physical conditioning as a part of the team winning strategy. It takes a backburner to BPS and everything else.

More information on Plyometrics (http://www.nsca-lift.org/Perform/article.asp?ArticleID=119)

Hope this helps and happy training!! :D

[TraXeR]

LOL, Dude, it's paintball, not airsoft. (blood curling screams)

[Wolfen]

Splat Magazine has been having what I think are some pretty good work out routines. Might want to check that out.

[bina227]

my bad... I would just love to see someone on the track, crawling, working their finger with a rubberband and screaming at the top of their lungs. :D

- Eric

[Smitty2k1]

Sprints
Distance Runs
Squats-Leg Press-Leg Curl-Leg Extention (Take your pick)
Farmers Carry if you feel your gun is too heavy... but then again if it is, suck it up and be a man about it.

[slushee]

Mango ..

Thanks for all that info! .. gonna talk to a personal trainer and see if they can take all that info you gave me and have him put together a good personal trianing program for me to follow!

Interestingly enough, i'm learning how to flip a quarter along my knuckles to help with my finger dexterity to maby be able to walk my trigger a little better!

[electriceel125]

Im not an expert on the question but i do know some stuff. First for speed run sprints as hard as you can. You can follow the above mentionned pyramid scheme. Practice take offs. Squat. This is a big thing. Power to weight ratio. The lighter you are and the more you squat the faster you are. Stretch your muscles because this increases your stride and will in turn make you faster. In a 40yd sprint if you stretch you stride the lenght of only one penny you time will be about a ten of a second better. This is a whole lot. Work upper body muscles such a chest tricepts and bicepts. And the muscle on your shoulder that connects to your back. I forget the name but i think you know what i mean. Last but not least work on explosive movement. I play football for a football team that rates as one of the top 15 teams in the country and We do hang cleans. Some do power cleans but ill try to explain a hang clean. If you do not know what these are try to get someone to show you or PM me and ill try my best to explaint it. These help with coming from a stand still to moving very fast. They will help leg strength greatly and take off time. I think thats it. Sorry for being so long.

Lee

[Lakeview Bulldog]

Hang cleans and power cleans are one of the most effective excercises for building explosive power. What you do is hold the weight bar in an overhand postion so you can see your knuckles when you look down. Let the weight hang and rest on your thighs. You then bend your knees slightly and explode upwards while similtaneously pulling up on the bar with your arms. When the bar comes up to the middle of your chest you then squat down quickly and shoot your elbows out in frount of you while the bar is resting on your sternum. Then you proceed to stand up much like a front squat. All of the things above should happen in under 2 seconds. This is not an easy excercise and it takes some time to perfect your technique, however it is one of the most beneficial for building overall power and speed. Other tips I have from 5 years of intensive weight training are to always have a spotter when using free weights, stretch before any heavy lifting, lift only what you can lift, not what the guy next to you can, Ive seen more people get hurt from improper technique and from too much weight when they were acting macho. Remember, weight training is not easy and if you are doing it right YOU WILL BE SORE for several days. Make sure and load up on low fat protein. Canned Tuna is an extremely inexpensive high protein source. The first step is making a commitment to a training regimen, but anyone who works out can tell you the pride they feel when they walk around and see hundreds of people a day and know that they are in better shape than all of them. Good Luck.

[electriceel125]

what he said is correct but it looks much easier on a screen than it really is. I suggest a trainer helping you with the technique. Many people get hurt because of improper technique. We dont want you to get hurt so get a spotter. Lee

[LawnGnome7]

ya, make sure you are doing everything right. you can easily hurt yourself if you dont know what your doing

[steveo356]

Run Run Run preferebly with wiegths on your ankles (so you get more effect) then cary a wieght may 2 times the wieght of your gun as well so ur setup feels realy light. once your done with that stretch alot cuz cramps suck when ur playin i no they've cause me to hand out of bunkers before. n then if u wana increase urfinger speed play some video games they good for hand eye coordination as well. n for snap shootin u can us the dots like i do for football they five dots on the floor sum what in the shape they would be on a die. n u jump from one dot to the other as fast as you can, it makes you like you dont realy know where your goin when i run like that too.

[InexactMelissa]

We have been doing yoga at my house in addition to some of the afore mentioned stuff. It seems to help with strength and concentration, but most noticably with balance - important in leaning out of your bunker to shoot while staying in an awkward, tight position.

[CoFFeY[NiTrO]]

I usually run a mile everyday and that takes care of the out of breath part :)

[LeatherPants]

Seems like most people have covered the legs.

You might also want to look into upper body conditioning also.

Shoulder and biceps would be ideal for conditioning. Not really heavy weight but high reps.

Shoulders-
Military Press
Flintstones
Dumbell Press

Biceps-
Preacher curls
Hammer curls
Dumbell Curls
Isolation Curls

Those are just a few things you can try.

[Mango]

My reply covered just about everything. The most important aspects are:


Core strength (abdominals and lower back)
Full Body conditioning (3 day weight lifting routine)
and lower extremity strength/cardiovascular fitness


From an excercise physiologists perspective these are essential.

Also, the most important aspect that you MUST have before any of this will be effective is good nutrition!

But thats for another lesson. ;)

[spacemonkey]

i was just wondering
what would you guys do to improve hand eye coordination?
i saw something about playing video games... try Amplitude
what else can you do... besides video games?

[slushee]

i was just wondering
what would you guys do to improve hand eye coordination?
i saw something about playing video games... try Amplitude
what else can you do... besides video games?

Actually .. the way I figure it, video games are all you need! .. I was reading an online news site (forget the site) that had results from testing and surgeons were better if they played video games ... gonna see if I can find that study again.

*edit* http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4685909/

there is is :)

[LawnGnome7]

Actually .. the way I figure it, video games are all you need! .. I was reading an online news site (forget the site) that had results from testing and surgeons were better if they played video games ... gonna see if I can find that study again.

*edit* http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4685909/

there is is :)

im gonna make a great surgen! :p

[BobTheCow]

Holy crap Mango, that was awesome!!! Thumbs up for the most helpful post I've read all day. :)