Does anyone here plays snooker and workout at gym? (weight lifting)

[blinker]

I'm just wondering how much of extend does lifting weights affects your cue action and form.

When I have taken like a week or two break from the fitness room, generally i find my form pretty consistent and cue action much smoother most of the time. Then quite the contrast after a heavy workout, it seems the cueing isn't flowing through as fluently for that next few days or so and often struggle to put together a string of good break. I do have some days where i'm not affected and still cue and plays well though after the gym session.

It could be probably mental but curious to hear from people that has similar lifestyle as me and how has it affect your game....

Giving up gym would probably be the last thing I consider as I enjoy it as much as i do for snooker and it keeps me healthy and looking good at the same time of course...

[Ramon]

I did it few years !! depends on how heavy ?? !! heavy or light !! After lifting weights , your muscles are tense !! consequences re you put sum extra pressure on the cue during cueing !! ( also because your muscles are accustomed to lifting heavy things and as a result: push harder ) !!!! And you do that unconsciously !! the best thing is not to play snooker at the same day. Give ur body 1/2 days rst. !! after gym try to cycling, and drink plenty of water, ithis way flows more blood and faster !! your muscles get more oxygen. and gonna be more relax !!
Imo ,,, lifting weights and playing snooker ( cueing ) , are Not a good combination !!

[blinker]

I did it few years !! depends on how heavy ?? !! heavy or light !! After lifting weights , your muscles are tense !! consequences re you put sum extra pressure on the cue during cueing !! ( also because your muscles are accustomed to lifting heavy things and as a result: push harder ) !!!! And you do that unconsciously !! the best thing is not to play snooker at the same day. Give ur body 1/2 days rst. !! after gym try to cycling, and drink plenty of water, ithis way flows more blood and faster !! your muscles get more oxygen. and gonna be more relax !!
Imo ,,, lifting weights and playing snooker ( cueing ) , are Not a good combination !!

such a tragedy that my favourite 2 pastime can't go well together

I thought someone had been through this before and managed to at least minimize the impact or work around it to still maintain their form mostl

I am lifting pretty heavy or at least till my failure so yes you are right the muscle gets tense and grip too like as if you are holding a dumb bell I will try to do better on the diet though and see how it goes...

As far as i remember we never did see any snooker pro in history being bulk up or ripped right? Even if fitness is involved it has always been running/cycling more of cardio based workouts i guess.

[Ramon]

such a tragedy that my favourite 2 pastime can't go well together

I thought someone had been through this before and managed to at least minimize the impact or work around it to still maintain their form mostl

I am lifting pretty heavy or at least till my failure so yes you are right the muscle gets tense and grip too like as if you are holding a dumb bell I will try to do better on the diet though and see how it goes...

As far as i remember we never did see any snooker pro in history being bulk up or ripped right? Even if fitness is involved it has always been running/cycling more of cardio based workouts i guess.

Yep ,, running and cycling are still the most poplar sport of pro's (besides snooker). endurance is an important factor and can affect your concentration !! I did used to sum workout for the legs and abdomen muscls !! and quiet to do with arms and shoulder muscls (not heavy lifting). I still go to the gym ,, just 1 Or up to 2 times a week !! Lifting Not heavy !! Works very well to be honest !! Few yrs ago i did it 5 times p week !!
Anyway ! Do'nt give up snooker my friend !! Just enjoy ur game , That's the main thing !!
Hope u enjoy ur game !!

[Stubbo93]

Hi Blinker,
From my experience you can do both together, but the snooker playing day will just have to be a light weight day, ie. NO pushing yourself. I tend to just do 3 sets of 8 at 60% on snooker days rather than 3 sets of 12 at 90%. Also if your body building remember your going to change shape and if you have a compact cue action then when you've bulked up that's not going to be as easy to do and you may have to change your style of play.

[blinker]

Hi Blinker,
From my experience you can do both together, but the snooker playing day will just have to be a light weight day, ie. NO pushing yourself. I tend to just do 3 sets of 8 at 60% on snooker days rather than 3 sets of 12 at 90%. Also if your body building remember your going to change shape and if you have a compact cue action then when you've bulked up that's not going to be as easy to do and you may have to change your style of play.

Hi Mate,

Thanks for the advice,

Gotta have to take it easy and i'm the sort who pushed myself to the brink normally and I do not bulk up that much so it's still minimum on what i have to change..

I probably go 90% only if i'm on my leg day

Otherwise just mostly 60% if i'm getting some snooker later in the day.

[Master Blaster]

If you can do 50kg tricep curl, can you do ram-rod, pump-action, piston-pushing smash shot at 100mph? If so, I am interested.

[blinker]

If you can do 50kg tricep curl, can you do ram-rod, pump-action, piston-pushing smash shot at 100mph? If so, I am interested.

Sure thing.... Let me first master the dumb bell grip on my cue, that smash sounds perfect for a good break


Just an article below regarding the same topic which says it doesn't work for Neil n Judd

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/oth...gym-house.html

Robertson: I've installed a gym in my house as you have to shed the pounds to win
By IVAN SPECK FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 22:53 GMT, 9 December 2013 | UPDATED: 22:53 GMT, 9 December 2013

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If fitness and snooker are not the most likely sporting bedfellows, new UK Champion Neil Robertson is adamant that slimming down can help your cueing action. The Australian, who became the eighth man to complete the set of World, UK and Masters titles on Sunday night in York, has installed a gym in his Cambridge home.
Instead of bulking up, he will be shaving off the excess pounds so essential is it to run the cue alongside the body as tightly as possible.
The 31-year-old said: ‘I used to do too much weight training years ago. You probably wouldn’t see it on me but I probably had a bit too much muscle. I put on about five or six kilos of muscle five years ago and I noticed a difference in my cueing. The cue was on a different spot on the chest and it affected me a lot. It’s a strange problem to have.
Slimmer figure: Neil Robertson kisses the UK Championship trophy after beating Mark Selby
Slimmer figure: Neil Robertson kisses the UK Championship trophy after beating Mark Selby
‘And Judd Trump put on a bit of size after he got to the final of the world championship and started played pretty poorly, too. He’s got back down to mega-slim now.
‘Snooker isn’t a sport where you can put on bulk muscle. It’s about the cueing and the stamina. I’ve been doing no weight training at all recently, just cardio work and core strength, things like that.
'The more muscle I’m losing, the better I’m cueing. Now I’m down to the size I want to be. I’ve got everything set up in my house now. I’m too lazy to get up and do it myself though so I’m going to get some fitness trainer or drill sergeant to come to my house four times a week to whip me into shape.
‘Look at the guys who are winning tournaments now – myself, Ding Junhui, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Marco Fu – the slimmer guys on the tour.’
Problem: The Australian has said a player's cue action is put off by too much muscle or bulk
Problem: The Australian has said a player's cue action is put off by too much muscle or bulk
As unlikely as a snooker pin-up calendar out of their waistcoats might have been in the days of giant Canadian Bill Werbeniuk, Robertson would sign up for posing topless if the sport’s supremo Barry Hearn took up the idea.
He added: ‘Yes, I’d be up for a calendar. Get me a bit of a spray tan going and I’d do that in a few months. I’m sure Judd would, too. He’ll be the first one there. Jack Lisowski as well. Maybe Barry will get it going.’
Robertson’s 10-7 triumph over Mark Selby helped him to retain the world No 1ranking ahead of the Englishman and stretched the run of successive ranking tournaments won by overseas players to six, with China’s Ding and Fu of Hong Kong the other recent winners. That run is all the more surprising given that 89 of the 128 professionals on the snooker tour are British.
Robertson believes that the wider geographical spread of tournaments under the new regime led by Hearn is the key.
Every small advantage: Judd Trump is another who is slimmer than he used to be
Every small advantage: Judd Trump is another who is slimmer than he used to be
‘Now that everybody has to travel, it is more even stevens. It used to be that a lot of the ranking tournaments were in Britain so British players could just drive an hour up the road and be there. I’ve had to travel from the other side of the world to play and live in the UK.
‘Obviously with a lot of events in China, that doesn’t suit me as much as Ding in terms of the culture and perhaps the food and weather, but all of the players are travelling now. The fact that the sport is much more worldwide is allowing the overseas players to compete and play on a more even playing field which I think is what World Snooker really wanted. It is really helping the game to boom.
‘One of the seasons that I fell off the tour I had to fly over from Australia to play one qualifying game in the first round, lost and then that was it, there were no more tournaments for five months so I had to fly back home.
‘And some of the pros have been complaining about the 128-player flat draw format that we have now. I mean, Gee Whizz. These guys are driving an hour up the road and they’re complaining because it’s a flat draw. It’s mind-boggling, it really is.

[golferson123]

Does anyone here plays snooker and workout at gym? (weight lifting)

you need to control your fight or flight responce for snooker so adding to your physical prowess could hinder you

[j6uk]

you need to control your fight or flight responce for snooker so adding to your physical prowess could hinder you

wise words from the hills.. not sure about the weights, but i played some of my best stuff after a dip, good core an elasticity needed while the body battles the waves. if id of lived by the sea id of had two hands on twc trophy at least once

[blinker]

wise words from the hills.. not sure about the weights, but i played some of my best stuff after a dip, good core an elasticity needed while the body battles the waves. if id of lived by the sea id of had two hands on twc trophy at least once

I would imagine swimming makes u control yr movement in slow motion being in the water, the kind of control on the table definitely be positive...

Like golferson mentioned the fight response definitely is there after a workout. Movement control requires alot of mental control to handle it rather than free flowing, but moment muscle fatigue wears out 1-2days later it felt so easy to cue normally... I guess i will moderate myself around to balance it or stop working out for couple of weeks to see the difference

[j6uk]

I would imagine swimming makes u control yr movement in slow motion being in the water, the kind of control on the table definitely be positive...

Like golferson mentioned the fight response definitely is there after a workout. Movement control requires alot of mental control to handle it rather than free flowing, but moment muscle fatigue wears out 1-2days later it felt so easy to cue normally... I guess i will moderate myself around to balance it or stop working out for couple of weeks to see the difference

the gym can be addictive an hard to break the ritual, but no harm in mixing it up a bit. if i were you i carry on going but just walk pass the weights area, could even hit the arobics for a couple of week, even better yoga

[ghost121]

There are two factors at play here. The first is whether you should weight train at all, building muscle and changing how your body feels and reacts on the shot. The second is what happens after a weight training session to your snooker game.

I train four or five times a week, short but very intense sessions with medium heavy weights. When I have finished a session I find it tough to use whatever has been trained. I am also blasted aerobically. No way could I play snooker for at least 6 hours and even then I would expect to be well below par. Leaving it until the day after can actually be just as bad because your muscles are still tired and soreness may be an issue. However, the more you get used to training hard, the faster you recover, as long as your rest phase and diet are as they should be. I do think it is possible to train hard with weights and play snooker to a high level, but you have to find the right personal balance.

[blinker]

There are two factors at play here. The first is whether you should weight train at all, building muscle and changing how your body feels and reacts on the shot. The second is what happens after a weight training session to your snooker game.

I train four or five times a week, short but very intense sessions with medium heavy weights. When I have finished a session I find it tough to use whatever has been trained. I am also blasted aerobically. No way could I play snooker for at least 6 hours and even then I would expect to be well below par. Leaving it until the day after can actually be just as bad because your muscles are still tired and soreness may be an issue. However, the more you get used to training hard, the faster you recover, as long as your rest phase and diet are as they should be. I do think it is possible to train hard with weights and play snooker to a high level, but you have to find the right personal balance.

That is right... I'm phasing my training this way below with less intensity on weight training to see how it goes.... Trust me, gym training with less intensity is more painful than pushing myself till failure somehow

Monday - Afternoon Gym, shoulders, biceps, back Evening - Rest
Tuesday - Evening Solo Practice
Wednesday - After Gym, chest, triceps
Thursday - Afternoon Gym legs, abs, Evening - Solo Practice
Friday to Sunday- Some runs/swims but no gym and daily regular matches with club players

[damienlch]

Hi Blinker,
From my experience you can do both together, but the snooker playing day will just have to be a light weight day, ie. NO pushing yourself. I tend to just do 3 sets of 8 at 60% on snooker days rather than 3 sets of 12 at 90%. Also if your body building remember your going to change shape and if you have a compact cue action then when you've bulked up that's not going to be as easy to do and you may have to change your style of play.

Light weight baby!!

I can still play ok on gym days if only doing large muscle groups like chest or back.

Anybody tried playing on triceps days? You'll know what it's like to be using the rest.