I don’t think I’ll ever bother going to the gym more than 2 or 3 times a week again just because it’s so depressing when you stop for a while and go back lifting half the weight you used to.
Gyms are incredibly grim places.
I’m convinced we’d be a better country if they never existed.
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Not that long. I hit about 9 minutes in a plank off years ago. I could probably barely last a minute these days if I tried 
. I need to do some of that shit again.
There’s something badly wrong when you have a lot of astro turf pitches, tennis courts, Basketball courts, badminton arenas all lying idle these days while Gyms are packed out.
Proper enjoyable sport being replaced by vanity.
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A game of 5/7 a-side is tremendous fun. I suppose the gym is ultimately useful if you want to make it in the higher echelons of your sport for s and c but it’s more enjoyable to be outside playing and sharpening your skills. There’s also a very enjoyable indoor Gaelic Football game called Pella which has grown in popularity in recent years.
These 5 asides, while very enjoyable, are what pay the mortgage for physios.
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Any lad playing competitive sport over 40 will need his legs examined
I would say it would almost be frowned upon by Club GAA coaches if a fella was spending his winter playing astro/basketball/tennis/badminton/squash. It would be felt he should be prioritising his gym work.
There are a lot of great sports out there that don’t get enough participation these days with the Gym Culture taking precedence.
I was a brilliant Table Tennis player in my school days and probably should have been an Olympian at least but there was a complete lack of infrastructure for it in Ireland and I was left with no where to go.
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It’s never too late to realise your dreams pal. Look at Forest Gump…
Do you even lift bro?
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An Olympian who doesn’t lift
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there was a table tennis table in my office at work for fuck sake
Did you ever play down in Sportsco, Ringsend? I knew a couple of lads who were unreal that played at a very high level but they’re international ambitions went to the wayside with similar complaints. Would have been late 90s, early noughties when they were in their pomp.
That table in the office of a multinational company was a great help to aspiring young table tennis players I’d say
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I did a skip of HIIT sessions in a local crossfit type gym set up there over the past few months. Fella doing it is excellent be makes it up as he goes along as far as I can see but you would be sore for a few days after it which is always a good sign
you need a small table, a couple of bats and a ball, what other infrastructure do you need?
Great book called Bounce out a few years back. Syed was the authors surname IIRC. He came from a small town England where all the table tennis champions came from. It was all do with a the human resources and infrastructure in same place. I believe squash is similar in Ireland with a huge proportion of international players coming out of Howth/Sutton.
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Matthew sayed one of most famous/infamous names about. Proponent of the 10000 hours of practise theory
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A proper table tennis table costs about €500 mate and you also need the space to play it in