The Ref Stop

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Dylan_V

New Member
Level 6 Referee
Hi Guys,

Looking for a bit of advise if you can.

I've struggled with fitness for the last couple of years, partially due to a diagnosed back issue restricting prolonged high intensity exercise. It also takes 2+ days to recover from medium intensity exercise. Combining that with some pretty shoddy diet habits, I'm definitely carrying a bit too much weight around.

I've just been given a pre-season friendly as an AR for this Saturday (three days time) which is a level far higher than mine. Great opportunity which I'm really looking forward to but I also want to do myself justice. I was training about twice a week with brief jogs and some shuttles up until mid-July, but a house move has taken me away from that the last three weeks or so.

Focusing on what I can control, I want to ensure I'm alert, mentally focused and that my body has all the energy it needs.

Any tips at all?
 
The Ref Stop
Not really too much you can do at this late stage to affect your performance positively really. Obviously eating correctly pre-match (in accordance with your diet etc - I'm zero carb/sugar at the minute and if I carb up I'd be no good for a few days!).

I personally find a good pre-workout shake mentally focuses me, as long as I don't have them all the time as I find I don't see the benefit as a tolerance builds up.

Having said that, you know your fitness isn't where it needs to be, so start building on it NOW, your future self will thank you! The best time to plant a tree and all that....
 
Your profile says you're 26 years old. If you were older, I'd say moderate exercise and strict diet (40/60). However, being overweight as a young man means there's no easy or quick fix. You need to stay active as much as possible and do at least 3 (moderate if that's all your bad back will allow) cardio sessions of 30-40 mins a week.
You've already admitted the contributory factor of a poor diet so work on that aspect too mate. It's a simple numbers game - especially at your age. You need to burn more than you consume, creating a calorie deficit which will force your body to burn fat quicker and easier when exercising. Try staying at no more than 2000 calories a day and have a "no carbs after 6.30 pm" rule (easier said than done I know ;)). Believe it or not, most people, even if they did no exercise would find excess weight falling off them so quickly if they could just adhere to that one rule. :) I speak from experience ...
Good luck with it anyway. :cool:
 
At this late stage I'd simply ensure you are well rested and well warmed up before the game and stay suitably hydrated throughout , especially given the weather!

Congrats on the appointment, should be a good game ;) :)
 
Thanks Chaps, all good suggestions which are much appreciated.

The shake is a good idea - I've used to do those before a game and they always offered a good source of energy. Thanks Peach - I'll use that for my mid-morning source of energy!

Fair point on the diet, Kes. I've been doing Keto on/off throughout lockdown and dropped about a stone, but still a way off IMO. The diet has never been fantastic, but it used to be kept in moderation by a good exercise routine - the back issue knocked that out of balance. In any case, a good reminder, so thanks for that.

Russ - good shout, might have to bring a water bottle over to the touchline at the warmup! Should be a good game indeed - a learning experience nonetheless.

Any suggestions for a Friday night meal? I'm thinking low carb, protein based? Love to hear if anyone has any ritual meals for these types of scenarios - mine used to be brown pasta, that's been stopped!
 
Dylan_V said:
Thanks Chaps, all good suggestions which are much appreciated.

The shake is a good idea - I've used to do those before a game and they always offered a good source of energy. Thanks Peach - I'll use that for my mid-morning source of energy!

Fair point on the diet, Kes. I've been doing Keto on/off throughout lockdown and dropped about a stone, but still a way off IMO. The diet has never been fantastic, but it used to be kept in moderation by a good exercise routine - the back issue knocked that out of balance. In any case, a good reminder, so thanks for that.

Russ - good shout, might have to bring a water bottle over to the touchline at the warmup! Should be a good game indeed - a learning experience nonetheless.

Any suggestions for a Friday night meal? I'm thinking low carb, protein based? Love to hear if anyone has any ritual meals for these types of scenarios - mine used to be brown pasta, that's been stopped!
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Fantastic Opening Post, not least because it echo's some issues I have
I had spinal surgery 8 or so years ago to remove a fluid filled sac that was pressing on the nerves to the left leg. My discs and vertebrae are all completely normal, but the same nerves won't entirely forget that they were compromised and occasionally spasm or give me gyp if I over-do things. Although I carry it quite well (tall), I've been 17+ stone; and whilst able to cope with the rigours of refereeing (Over 5 1/2 miles per game), I know deep down that I'm not finding the game easy

Injury and back spasms aside, I've always exercised a lot, even when i was a piss head many years ago. In my experience, diet is much more important than exercise in terms of controlling weight. I don't like fad diets (any diet which has not been sufficiently researched), so lets get that straight. If someone tells me to cut out carbs, I'll say there's no chance I'll stop eating potatoes, apples, bananas and beans for example. However, over the last four weeks, I've returned to a diet which excludes refined carbohydrates, so that's pretty much anything you can buy from a bakery and more importantly, anything that comes in a 'packet'. So I'm troughing on chicken, fish, red meat, berries, vegetables, beans, nuts, eggs, whole milk/cream, cheese, olives, butter and so on. A diet from yesteryear...
Without doing anything differently and without deliberately reducing calorie intake, I'm pleased that I am losing weight now and feel better in myself
Everywhere, we look, shops are hoodwinking us into eating diabetes type carbohydrates, many products of which are zealously marketed as good for us

Good luck in our shared endeavours!!
 
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Dylan_V said:
Any suggestions for a Friday night meal? I'm thinking low carb, protein based? Love to hear if anyone has any ritual meals for these types of scenarios - mine used to be brown pasta, that's been stopped!
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Jacket potato with tuna and salad. ;)
 
I'm like the Paul Mcgrath of the refereeing world, I can just about get through games but I often can't train heavily due to injury. So for me the process is two fold ...

- do a LOT of fast walking. I set the calorie burn target on my Apple Watch to 960 per day, that essentially means for me 100 to 110 minutes of fast walking per day, by fast I mean around 8:30 to 9 minutes per km. That, along with general movement through the day, will get me well over that 960 calorie target (note: I know that isn't accurate and is probably much less but at least it is something to go on)

- When I need to lose weight I use a low calorie, low fat approach. Breakfast is porridge, lunch is a salad or soup (chicken & vegetable broth type which are very good as low fat and calorie), and dinner will typically be a chicken and veg stir fry (no rice or noodles) or chicken, mushroom and whole wheat pasta with green pesto.

Using those two combined approaches I lost over 10kg in the first month of lockdown and have generally keep it off.

In terms of pre-match meals, there's an argument to say that high carbs is good on the night before. And it is certainly good on the morning / lunchtime of the game, you can then top up close to the game and at half time with things like bananas.
 
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5 pints of Greene King Abbot the night before is the ticket for me (other ales are available)
 
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Trip said:
Bloody hell RR 10kg in a month! Is that healthy?
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Did think the same myself. Almost 2 stone.

Having said that, I once shed 11 pounds in about ten days, but that was with pretty much starving myself and doing long hard cardio every other day.

Like I said earlier in the thread, It all depends on what calorie deficit you create for yourself. It sounds as if Rusty was "losing" around 2000 calories a day with his diet and exercise combo. Relatively speaking, 3500 calories = 1 pound of body fat so it's fairly easily done with the right discipline and willpower. :) :cool:
 
Trip said:
Bloody hell RR 10kg in a month! Is that healthy?

The only way I could lose 10kg in a month would be to amputate a leg.
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I certainly felt fine. That food intake is around 1200 calories per day. Someone my age, weight and height will burn around 1700 calories per day just being idle, so add in the exercise that is a massive met calorie loss per day. And I generally had one cheat day per week.
 
Part of my recovery from a prolapsed disc involved a yoga based training routine, and I now incorporate it into my warm ups. It looks odd but if I don’t do it the spasms afterwards are awful.

Low impact but still a good method of training with a weight-loss payoff.

It’s about finding what works best for you, with so many choices available. I found the DDP Yoga system suits me best.
 
Similar situation for myself.

I tried to get back running during lock down but after two sessions two nights running the knees the next day were in bits.

I thought this was just aches and pains as not used to it but hasn't gone away at all.

I feel fine during games and have no issue covering the ground but constant knee pain after is worrying.
 
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