Coach Shane Rice

Master the basic. 👇🏻

Want to do heavy bench pressing? Can you do 30+ push ups.

Movement > Progressive exercises too early.

A new rule is being trialled in Gaelic football this winter; the ban on fi**ed points.

Basically, if you’re in possession of the ball, you can no longer fist it over the bar for a point. But if the ball is already in flight, you can still punch or palm it over.

So, what are the pros?

It could encourage players to go for goals instead of taking the easy point. It could also lead to more kicking, better decision-making and more exciting goalmouth action.

But there are cons too.

Fi***ng is a traditional skill in Gaelic football, and sometimes a fi**ed point is actually the best attacking decision, especially under pressure or from a tight angle.

It could also lead to more wides and turnovers rather than more goals.

For me, it’s definitely worth trialling. But the big question is: will it actually create more attacking football, or just take away another skill from the game?

What athletic profile are you REALLY? 👀

And no… “I’m usually one of the fittest lads on the team” doesn’t count as a scientific measurement. 😂

On my latest podcast with , we talked about a simple way for GAA players to start profiling their athletic performance:

🏃‍♂️ 1.6km run → assess your aerobic base
⚡ 30m build + 10m fly → assess your top-end speed

For the 1.6km, a great championship-level target is under 6 minutes.

But the most important part isn’t simply whether you can break 6 minutes.

You need to know where you’re starting.

Do the test as early as possible in your off-season and record your result.

Then test yourself again throughout the season.

Because if your 1.6km time is improving, while your top-end speed is also improving, you’re building the qualities that make you a more complete GAA athlete.

And this is where Anaerobic Speed Reserve (ASR) comes into the conversation.

Your ASR is essentially the gap between your maximal aerobic speed and your maximal sprint speed.

So you want to know:

👉 How good is my aerobic engine?
👉 How fast can I actually run?
👉 What’s the gap between the two?
👉 Am I more aerobic-dominant or speed-dominant?

Some rough speed benchmarks we discussed:

⚡ County players: 9+ m/s
⚡ Club players: 8.2+ m/s

But the goal isn’t to become a specialist runner.

The goal is to become a hybrid athlete.

You want the engine AND the speed.

Because being able to run forever but having the top speed of a milk float isn’t much use when the corner-back is already 10 yards ahead of you. 😂

Test yourself. Profile yourself. Then train what you actually need.

Don’t wait until pre-season testing to find out where you stand.

Get your baseline now.

🎙️ We go much deeper into this with Kevin on the latest episode of the podcast, available inside the Gaelic Athletic Academy Community.

If you want a community that will push you and challenge you throughout the off-season, the link is in the bio.

Bored? Try this challenge.