Paintball fitness

When I told my wife I was planning to get a group together to play competitive paintball her first reaction was to raise an eyebrow. I can't really blame her because my idea of a pastime until recently involved sitting in front of a computer and playing World of Warcraft or gunning down virtual representations of my online buddies on the Xbox 360.

I've recently stopped the former and have not been spending much time on the latter and honestly feel liberated lol. I just can't imagine having spent hours on end sitting down and taking part in raids or multiplayer battles where the only physical exercise I was getting was in my wrist and fingers.

Getting back to paintballing is a refreshing change and I've already started trying to get back into shape. Well, sort of. At the moment, my "fitness plan" involves alternate periods of jogging and walking for about 20-30 minutes in the Sembawang Road area. If you're ever in the area and see someone collapsed on the sidewalk and gasping for breath, that's probably me.

I suppose playing regularly will also help with the fitness levels but I probably wont be earning any brownie points with the rest of the guys if I keep collapsing every 3 minutes on the speedball field.

Compared to when I was paintballing 4-5 years ago, I am seriously out of shape and have basically turned to the net to see what kind of drills will be of use to someone like me. I'm probably not going to have the time or willpower to hit the gym seriously so whatever I resort will need to be something well within my current condition. For now anyways.

I've found one interesting article on the paintballguns.net website:

Paintball Fitness

Whether you play paintball for fun or play on a team, there are steps you can take to improve your game. Much of what you can do to better prepare yourself for the game of paintball is to get into great physical condition. Being physically fit and strong will help you to play the game at your highest potential.

Reality

There are many areas of physical fitness you can work to develop that will help you to improve your skills at paintball. Exercising and eating well will help you to stay in the best shape you can for your paintball games. Playing a day full of paintball does take a great deal of energy. Players often are tired and even sore after a game. However, the more fit you are, the better you will feel during and after you play paintball.

What’s the Plan?

A workout plan for paintball fitness should include cardiovascular workouts, strength training and running exercises. You should be exercising several times a week. Your workouts can include more than one form of physical fitness at once. For instance, you might run and do a cardio workout all in the same day.

Your cardio workouts will help you to improve your endurance. After implementing cardio workouts you should start to notice that you are not as tired or as winded when running around while playing paintball. For your cardio workouts, there are a variety of exercises and equipment you can use.

If you are visiting the gym, you can work out on the treadmills or stationery bikes. Of course, you might have one of these pieces of equipment in your own home.

For those of you who do not use the gym, there are a variety of cardio exercises you can do from home. Go out for a jog or take some bike rides. When indoors, you can use stair climbers, use aerobic videos, kick boxing or jump run just to name a few ideas. To keep from getting bored with your exercises try taking turns among some of your favorite cardio activities. What is important is to get that heart pumping!

Endurance

You will be running a great deal during your paintball games. Most times you will be sprinting during the game. But you do not simply want to focus on your speed abilities when preparing for the sports. You also will want to pay attention to your endurance when it comes to running.

Therefore, it is a good idea to practice both distance running and speed running. Incorporate some longer distance runs into your workouts a few times each week. Run for three miles or so to help you prepare to run around all day when playing paintball. You can take time to practice sprinting and running short distances as fast as you can. This will aide you in increasing your speed when playing paintball.

Strength

Strength is another necessary component if you wish to become an ace paintball player. You will be carrying around your paintball gun throughout the day. Your sport will consist of carrying your gun, running, shooting, diving, crawling and other activities. Your body needs to be strong in order to withstand the activities throughout the game. If you wish to get in shape and to stay in shape for paintball, you also should have strength training three times a week or so. It is important not to have strength-training everyday so that you have time to heal in between your workouts.

If your main goal is to build muscle strength and build up your muscles for paintball, there are a few specific areas of your body that you will want to target. The legs and your muscles should be primary focuses. This will help you to have the strength and endurance to stay on your feet all day and to cover a great deal of ground, especially while running. You will want to make sure that you have strong back muscles and therefore will want exercises targeting the back.

The Six Pack

Paintball players will want to have strong abdominal muscles as well. You can work towards that six pack abs for many reasons, including further benefits to your paintball game. Because you will be carrying your paintball and any other equipment all day you will want to work on your upper body. It is especially important to work out in ways that will target the muscles in your shoulders. A few examples of strength training exercises that will help you prepare yourself for paintball include: squats, shoulder presses, lunges, dead lifts and leg extensions.

To further strengthen your abdomens, you may want to use a few other exercises. Abdominal crunches, oblique crunches and reverse crunches are an excellent place to start. There are a variety of exercises that can be used to build strength for the upper and lower body muscles as well as the muscles in the back and abdomens.

The Internet provides a great resource for finding sample workouts. An example of a site with some strength training and ab exercises (including photos), can be found at http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwfit/strength.html.

Diet

What you eat can have an impact on your paintball game. As with any sport, it is important to eat well for health and fitness to play paintball. You do not want to eat a diet that is high in fat. This is important to stay lean and fit. Of course, everyone should limit his or her fat intake in an attempt to obtain optimal health. Eat a well balanced diet at all times. Work on decreasing the amount of foods that are high in fats and sugars. Fill your plate with plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Paintball players also should drink plenty of water. You will be doing a lot of running around and “exercise” while playing paintball. It is necessary to stay well hydrated. Many paintball players drink sports drinks such as Gatorade. This is a good choice as well. However, it is important to remember that a large quantity of your fluid intake should come from water. Drinks that are high in caffeine and sugar should be kept to a minimum.

The day before a paintball game or tournament you may want to change your diet a little. Make sure to eat plenty of carbohydrates. In your normal diet you will eat a healthy mix of carbohydrates, proteins and good fats. However, carbohydrates will provide you with increased energy that you will want for your paintball games. Pasta is a common food that is eaten by athletes, including runners the day before events. Select some foods that have some complex carbohydrates. Again, remember to drink plenty of fluids.

Both your diet and exercise can affect your paintball game. Paintball is a very active sport that requires a lot of strength and energy. Through proper diet and workouts you can maximize your potential as a paintball player.

credit: http://www.paintballguns.net/paintball-fitness/