Australian Rules Football and Lifting for Older Athlete

[LuciusSulla]

If I were you, I would just continue to train the strength program, and play football at the games only. Stronger is going to help your elderly ass much more than practicing a sport that you're just doing for fun anyway.

Thanks for the advice Rip, yes I’ll do that. Strength really is the foundation of all activity. The football is for fun and really just a means for me to make use of the strength gains this program is giving me.

The masters guys that I see at my local club are mostly divided into two groups. The guys who do it for fun and those who still think they are 20 and immortal.

Do your LP properly, let the footy sort itself out. I would train like a demon during the off season and maybe worry about cardio/running a month out from the season start. For someone playing out of a pocket I'd be doing lots of short sprints instead of endless laps of the oval, when the time comes.

Great thanks Phill; I’ve found there’s a lot of silly BS for strength and conditioning in AFL (looking at their website it’s the usual functional nonsense). I’ll take your advice and see how I go next season. I’ll put some updates in the threads.

[Panda]

Varies but usually left or right front pocket although I did have a run in the centre last weekend. Season usually restarts in April.
I’m 46 years old, 5’ 7, 91kg 10 weeks into NLP. Current lifts in kg for 3 sets of 5 - squat 110kg, press 45kg, bench 65kg, deadlift 135kg for set of 5 and power clean 5 sets of 3 at 51kg. Had to deload a bit because of a lockdown which closed the gym for 2 weeks.

For a bit of motivation, I similarly started late @ 51, now 54 @ 5'8". When i started i weighed 95 kg, Sq 85kg, Pr 40kg, BP 70kg, DL 80kg. Now i'm 105kg, worksets are SQ 165kg, PR 75kg, BP 120kg, DL 185kg. I feel better, look better, think better. This shit works, you just need to stick to it and get rid of ALL excuses.