Quick rebound strategies?

[b_80_h]

Alrighty, this is sort of weird for me. Up until now, I've spent almost every year of life, ever since I could run, doing some sort of sport. I stayed in fairly good shape, and I got my body fat down to 11% in my senior year of high school doing some intense Crossfit and eating somewhat healthy. I weighed 222.

 

Sadly, that was two years ago. Last year, I went off to college. Though I was working out more due to being on the football team, I was eating a large pizza all by myself every other night and my diet was really bad. I ended up tweaking an ankle pretty badly exactly a year ago, and it still hasn't healed fully since. My weight ballooned from my playing weight of 235 to 268, and I was quickly becoming fleshy.

 

Well, a combination of family problems and an extremely hard break-up left me in an environment where I stopped exercising and retreated from life. Now, I'm trying to change that.

 

I'm planning to return to the university and the football team in the upcoming fall, so I've got to start getting into shape pretty fast if I want to be back in game-shape. I'd like to go back in a much sexier form, so I'd like to put extra emphasis on toning my body, especially my core.

 

My body usually rebounds into shape fairly fast, but I don't have access to a crossfit gym to rip myself back into shape. I'm looking for something kind of alternative (I'm not a big runner at all) to shave off some fat quickly. Anybody got any tips? I'm open to all suggestions

[YaOldBuckaroo]

Hey b_80_h!

 

I'd suggest learning boxing. You don't have to spar if you don't wanna. The routines they make you undergo is really effective at trimming excess fat. You could probably try including tea in your diet as well. Helps burn off fat, and keeps it from getting stored in the body.

 

You can check out its other benefits for weight loss at this article I've found:

 

http://www.loseweightwithtea.com/Weight-Loss-Natural-Green-Tea-VS-Coffee.html

 

Hope this helps,

 

Max

[tman666]

General physical preparedness conditioning, such as Crossfit, could definitely help your work capacity and strength endurance, but I don't think it alone will adequately prepare you for collegiate football.

 

In my opinion, you should probably start a basic, solid strength training routine (such as Jim Wendler's 5/3/1-I think he even has a variant for football specific training) and get your lifts as high (and powerful, i.e. explosive) as possible before you start training with the team. As far as conditioning, the bulk of your work should be short to medium distance sprints and agility work. You could also do things such as Prowler pushes, car/truck pushes, sled sprints, hill sprints, tire flips, box jumps, etc. I think you'd be wasting your time with any long distance running. Conditioning for football should be explosive.

 

As far as the amount of body fat you're carrying, keep in mind the laws of thermodynamics. If you're taking in more calories than you're burning up, you'll gain mass. Now, if you're training hard, some of that mass will be muscle. However, if you're looking to shed fat, you'll need to be training hard AND eating at least somewhat cleanly. Since you're playing football and not trying to be a bodybuilder, your diet need not be too restrictive. You need a lot of protein (for a contact sport, I'd recommend at least 1.5 grams per lb of bodyweight per day), plenty of water, carbs post workout, etc. Shave off calories from fat and carb intake, but keep in mind your end goal: playing football. If you eat like a princess, don't expect to perform well.

 

If you train hard and don't eat like an obese person for the next 7-8 months, you'll be in a much better position to play some foose-ball than you would be if you get yourself concerned with "getting rock hard abs, brah". You'll certainly have to make some tweaks to your diet and training as you approach next fall, but the best thing you can do right now is start training to get stronger and faster. While your physique goals are secondary to your performance goals, I think you'll see positive changes to your physique as you train.

 

Good luck! Don't get injured.

[b_80_h]

Thanks for the tips!

 

I've been looking into the boxing stuff lately, and it looks really intriguing, so I might start giving that a shot.

 

I guess the conundrum I'm left with is, I played Defensive End in my lone year at the university, and I'm not sure if I want to play that again. For those who may not have exceptional football knowledge, my position requires me to be brutishly strong and technically adept with my hands, as well as heavy enough to prevent your larger offensive counterparts from moving you. I'd have to play at 245 at a minimum in order to have enough weight to anchor myself.

 

That's cool and all, but I finished high school as a Linebacker and Tight-End, both positions that placed more of a premium on agility and speed. I wouldn't mind carrying the bulk, but I'd like to put it on in a good way later. I'm a little iffy on playing heavy, because I've had so little success at it, and I'm kind of leaning towards staying lighter and playing a skill position that requires less bulk and more agility.

 

Any tips on that? Also, anything on the diet? I've been trying to find out if I have food allergies due to a bout of excessively flaky and dry skin, so I'm open to trying anything new.