“It used to be a lot of
carbohydrate, pasta, rice, baked
potatoes and starchy food, and
that completely left the game by
the time I'd finished. The
fundamentals stayed the same,
for the diet in particular – fresh
fruit and vegetables, lots of water
and lean meat, and trying to get
a good balance.
“It’s probably the same for the
training too, there was still a
fundamental, basic element to
it – you did weights, fitness and
skills. That core remains the
same, but how those sessions
fitted together changed quite a
bit.”
The high level of fitness he
maintained over the length of his
career was grounded by a
focused diet. “I knew what type
of diet worked for me. As you
become more experienced, you
understand the types of food
that react best for you, provide
the best types of energy without
big weight fluctuations. Most
people will have an optimum
playing weight and I knew what
mine was so I was pretty lucky in
that.
24 FM
“
I wanted to
trim down
and make
myself as
lean as
possible, so I
did more
interval
training,
high-intensity
effort.”
“I think as the game got faster
and faster, I knew I had to evolve
and drop weight to enable me to
be able to still play the length of
time they wanted me to play but
avoid injuries from overtraining
and make sure I had the right
calorie intake.
“There were a whole lot of
different changes I had to make,
but I think it comes down to
knowing your body. You
www.exerciseregister.org
understand what exercises and,
in particular, what cardiovascular
work you needed to do to get
you fit.”
Not every fitness session was
easy, he readily admitted. “On
certain occasions it felt like a job,
say if you were going through
some of the more difficult times,
such as a tough game or a bad
loss. You could have some really
tough sessions, especially in
pre-season when it’s minus six
or seven outside and you’re stiff
and sore, and you’ve got to draw
every ounce of enthusiasm to
get you through.”
Sinfield didn't use a personal
trainer during his career at Leeds
Rhinos. “We had a conditioning
coach and a trainer at the club –
who I have to say were
fantastic,” but said his training
did change over the course of
his career.
“I started off as a loose forward.
I was a little bit heavier as the
game was heavily based on
power. So there were a lot of
power weights, especially in
pre-season, and not very much
conditioning until about a month
away from the first match.
“I seemed to change position, to
stand-off half, at the same time
as the sport science came
through, when everything
became more designed. I think
while I was a bit bigger I’d do
more weights, and a lot more
cardiovascular stuff. Then as I
wanted to trim down a little bit
and make myself as lean as
possible to stay with the
demands of the game, which
was speeding up every single
week and certainly every year, I
did a lot more interval training,
high-intensity effort.”
His current role as Rugby
Director also gives him an