Exercising - COMPETITION

JoeyA

JoeyA

Efren's Mini-Tourn BACKER
Silver Member
I use Falcon Eddie's DVD for pool exercises and while I'm not in the same shape I was when I was in my twenties, it has helped me to become more physically fit. I don't exercise often enough and often simply start exercising a couple of weeks before a big tournament.

I was wondering what the consensus of opinion is concerning, exercising the say of the tournament, the day before the tournament and during the tournament.

Now please don't tell me that I should be exercising on a regular basis as I already know that.

The exercises that Ed has for pool has helped many different areas of my body, increasing strength and flexibility. Ed doesn't ask me to post this but his DVD on exercising can help any pool player stay pool fit in my opinion. You just have to do the exercises. :embarrassed2:

All of you are invited to make suggestions. I would especially like to know if you have training or knowledge to back up your opinions. I like common sense and I've got a little bit of that and could use more but I would like opinions based on experience, training and book knowledge.

When I do exercise, I don't have much trouble doing the exercises and after a week I feel really good doing them along with some cardio workout with Stever Maresca on exercise TV. I just wonder if with my limited exercising if it is really a good idea for me to exercise the day of competition. Some of the pool exercises can strain the muscle groups although I never have any soreness from doing any of them. I've gotten lazy in my later years and know I should exercise with better continuity and plan to but it seems so easy for me to ignore making it a part of my everyday duties.

If you want to check out AZB's pool exercise guru you can go to www.intoshape.net .

Anyway, let's hear your informed opinions. Exercise the day of the tournament, during the tournament or the day before the tournament?
Should certain exercises not be done the day of the tournament? Which exercises should be eliminated or should none of them be eliminated? Pushups, Situps etc....


JoeyA
 
Thank you Joey for the plug. I have to agree with Tom. I think the best thing we can do before a tournament is rest. Alex " the Lion' has made a great come back winning the Swanee and at the Derby. I know part of his focus was on his training. Anyway ,thanks again.
 
Well. I believe that you must get a "rest" mentally before going into any type of competition. It allows the brain to focus and be more alert. As far as physical exercise goes, I do not believe you should change or do anything different than your normal daily routines. Face it, your game is on or not. It's all mental.
 
Falcon Eddie said:
Thank you Joey for the plug. I have to agree with Tom. I think the best thing we can do before a tournament is rest. Alex " the Lion' has made a great come back winning the Swanee and at the Derby. I know part of his focus was on his training. Anyway ,thanks again.
Click to expand...

Rest it will be. Thanks for the responses!
JoeyA
 
I have used gyms for exercising in the past but quit because of all the time it takes to change shower and get there and back. Then I started exercising at home using videos. Punching exercises seemed beneficial because I felt a lot more prepared for a fight that. I figured out that exercise needs to be fun to stick with it so I got a Ps3 MOVE which is like the wii and exercise with that. That got old.

My latest exercise craze: Speed Pool. Race to seven against the ghost every time I run the rack under 1:45 seconds I move my coin. Over 1:45 the ghost's coin.

Talk about getting something out of exercise. I love it!
 
Great post...
I'm going to check this pool exercise DVD out.

I agree with not exercising your arms before a tournament...unless it's very light exercise.

If the tournament is more than 1 day, then I would make sure I have a daily intake of about 20 to 30 grams of protein to avoid muscle soreness.
I also stay away from the hot tubs. I have found that sitting in a hot tub will cause my muscles to be like jelly, and I lose CB speed control because of it.
During the tournament, I will have snacks and drinks with me, in case there is no time to sneak out for a meal.
Stretching is good, but avoid over-stretching. If you stretch too much, your muscles will feel like jelly (too loose).
I think light cardio that doesn't involve much with the arms...would not affect your performance before, during, or after a tournament.
 
Luxury said:
I have used gyms for exercising in the past but quit because of all the time it takes to change shower and get there and back. Then I started exercising at home using videos. Punching exercises seemed beneficial because I felt a lot more prepared for a fight that. I figured out that exercise needs to be fun to stick with it so I got a Ps3 MOVE which is like the wii and exercise with that. That got old.

My latest exercise craze: Speed Pool. Race to seven against the ghost every time I run the rack under 1:45 seconds I move my coin. Over 1:45 the ghost's coin.

Talk about getting something out of exercise. I love it!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've done the gym routine and just don't like losing the time with the travel & shower either. By the way, Lee, that's some nice shooting. No table at home so won't be doing any speed pool but that could be fun, except I wouldn't want to program myself to shoot that fast. :)
 
okinawa77 said:
Great post...
I'm going to check this pool exercise DVD out.

I agree with not exercising your arms before a tournament...unless it's very light exercise.

If the tournament is more than 1 day, then I would make sure I have a daily intake of about 20 to 30 grams of protein to avoid muscle soreness.
I also stay away from the hot tubs. I have found that sitting in a hot tub will cause my muscles to be like jelly, and I lose CB speed control because of it.
During the tournament, I will have snacks and drinks with me, in case there is no time to sneak out for a meal.
Stretching is good, but avoid over-stretching. If you stretch too much, your muscles will feel like jelly (too loose).
I think light cardio that doesn't involve much with the arms...would not affect your performance before, during, or after a tournament.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input OKI. I once tried a steam room during a tournament. No more of that for me....
That's interesting about the stretching and your perspective. At tournaments I bring healthy foods to snack on.

In the last couple of days, I just started going through THE PRO BOOK by Bob Henning which has most areas of professional pool conditioning down pat and I've been paying close attention to the nutritional information that he basically got from golf. (Lots of complex carbohydrates) (Few simple carbohydrates).

Ed, what do you think about doing treadmill, cardivascular type workouts, day before tournaments AND days of tournament?

I wish Toastie and the Korean Dragon would chime in on this since they seem to be super fitness pool-shooting pros. Maybe I will give them a shout on FB.

Thanks,
JoeyA
 
I usually bring almonds, energy bars, protein bars and fruit drinks (OJ,Cranberry, Apple).
The almonds will curb hunger pangs, as well as the nutrition bars.
 
okinawa77 said:
I usually bring almonds, energy bars, protein bars and fruit drinks (OJ,Cranberry, Apple).
The almonds will curb hunger pangs, as well as the nutrition bars.
Click to expand...

I've been doing the energy bars but I think I'm going to try just genuine whole grain/whole wheat bread and bananas. I like the almonds and have some of those, pistachios, pumpkin seeds. OH MAN, I am ready to GO! LOL
 
JoeyA said:
I've been doing the energy bars but I think I'm going to try just genuine whole grain/whole wheat bread and bananas. I like the almonds and have some of those, pistachios, pumpkin seeds. OH MAN, I am ready to GO! LOL
Click to expand...

The whole grain/wheat bread and bananas sounds like a great idea. It would probably taste a hell of a lot better than the energy bars.
 
JoeyA said:
Thanks for the input OKI. I once tried a steam room during a tournament. No more of that for me....
That's interesting about the stretching and your perspective. At tournaments I bring healthy foods to snack on.

In the last couple of days, I just started going through THE PRO BOOK by Bob Henning which has most areas of professional pool conditioning down pat and I've been paying close attention to the nutritional information that he basically got from golf. (Lots of complex carbohydrates) (Few simple carbohydrates).

Ed, what do you think about doing treadmill, cardivascular type workouts, day before tournaments AND days of tournament?

I wish Toastie and the Korean Dragon would chime in on this since they seem to be super fitness pool-shooting pros. Maybe I will give them a shout on FB.

Thanks,
JoeyA
Click to expand...

I know they both run and have at times ran together..stamina..they are both pro player athletes.
Through from the grape vine I heard Toastie should eat better..lol
As far as running the treadmill the day of..you can if that's something normal to you. I would have a run the morning of a fight because I trained that way.
 
I exercise at home regularly and normally do not work out on a day I am going to play in league or tournaments. I worked out today hard and then went and played leagues. What a mistake, I missed all kinds of easy shots. It was a nightmare, fortunately the team we played sucked and in my matches they beat themselves more than I did. Lesson learned I'll skip the workout on days I am playing from now on...
 
Thanks for the compliment on my shooting Joey. I assume you are referring to my video in my signature. I wondered if playing speed pool could hurt my game. I still haven't figured out if it has or not.
 
okinawa77 said:
The whole grain/wheat bread and bananas sounds like a great idea. It would probably taste a hell of a lot better than the energy bars.
Click to expand...

If you have a Whole Foods Company, you can choose between their genuine 100% whole grain/wheat breads (they have partial whole grain/wheat breads but I don't get those) and get a fresh loaf sliced and put them in zip lock bags. The whole wheat bread will have the complex carbs you need and the fresh baked bread at Whole Foods tastes good.
 
Quesports said:
I exercise at home regularly and normally do not work out on a day I am going to play in league or tournaments. I worked out today hard and then went and played leagues. What a mistake, I missed all kinds of easy shots. It was a nightmare, fortunately the team we played sucked and in my matches they beat themselves more than I did. Lesson learned I'll skip the workout on days I am playing from now on...
Click to expand...

Lesson learned indeed. Thanks,
JoeyA
 
Luxury said:
Thanks for the compliment on my shooting Joey. I assume you are referring to my video in my signature. I wondered if playing speed pool could hurt my game. I still haven't figured out if it has or not.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can tell a lot by a video like that. You've got a real nice game.

I think that some people can shift gears (that's what I call it) and things like playing speed pool and then going right out and playing traditional pool doesn't change a thing for them.

I still vascillate between hitting balls really hard at the beginning to warm up to simply trying to get the speed of the table down pat and shooting balls at the speed I will be playing at. Don't know which is better. Sometimes I have so much excitement in my body that I warp speed the balls in the hole trying to reduce the level of excitement. Deep breathing doesn't always do it for me but I'm going to try the other things that Joe W wrote about. It sounds perfect for me.
 
That sounds like a really good tip. Fire some balls in during warm up to let off some steam/nerves.
 
Depends on the individual

I was always sorest the second day after a heavy workout so I didn't work out for three days before a pistol match I was serious about. Shooting a pistol fast requires many of the same things as shooting pool. You don't need a ton of power but you need to be smooth and fast with everything from your toes to the top of your head working together. I don't want any part of my body to have any soreness for the best performance. Mild stretches and a moderately brisk walk until I just felt things starting to loosen up well was my formula for the days before an event and during a multi-day event. If the weather was foul the halls of a hotel were enough to let me get in my maybe eighth to quarter mile walk. I never wanted to push it to the point that I was starting to feel any strain or was starting to tire. You will burn enough energy in the matches and hanging around waiting.

We talked about a quiet mind recently. A quiet body is equally important. That is one that isn't distracting you when you move over or around a pool table with tightness, soreness or aches.

Normally you work one set of muscles one day and another the next letting each set primarily rest 48 hours to heal and rebuild. If you were to do really heavy or unusual exercises you may need three full days between working the same set of muscles but I don't think you are trying to be a young Arnold right now so I'd say just make sure you don't start any new exercises or do a heavy work out later than Wednesday, Thursday morning at the latest. Note even the slightest tightness by tournament time and think back to where it came from. You need to work your training in around your pool schedule. I have never tried it not having a swimming pool handy but I suspect swimming would actually be the best exercise. Of course in my case that would involve learning how to swim too.

Hu
 
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