Week in the Life of a Badminton Player - Ciar Pringle
Monday
First day of the week means we start out strong with two big sessions. In the build up to the YONEX Belgian International the focus is on Speed and being ready for tournaments. Two sessions today with On Court in the morning and Physical in the afternoon.
6:30AM – Wake Up
6:45AM – Shower
7:00AM – Eat Breakfast/Prep Lunch/Prep Shakes for the Day/COFFEE
8:00AM – Leave for Training
8:30/8:40AM – Arrive at Training for Warm Up
9:20-11:30AM – On Court Session
Session Plan
Ankle Stability Primer: One Legged Hops in Pattern 2x2 Each Leg, Balance on One Leg Pattern 2x8 Each Leg, Clock Hops 2x16 Each Leg
Individual Court Coverage across all areas of the court: Mid Rear Control (Focus as Back Court Player), Front Court Defence (Push Downs), Box Attack (Smaller Court), Front Court Control (Close Net Practices for Soft Play around the net), 6x30 Shots for each practice.
Finish with Drives against the Wall: 5 Mins Heavy Racket + 5 Mins Normal Racket.
11:30AM – Lunch + Protein Shake/Relax
2:00-3:00PM – Physical Session
Session Plan
On Treadmill – 3,2,1s x5 Sets = 3 Mins at Slower Speed, Rest 2 Mins, 2 Mins at Middle Speed, Rest 1 Min, 1 Min at Highest Speed, Rest 3 Mins, REPEAT x5.
Slower Speed refers to the lowest of the 3 speeds chosen which still maintain a fast running pace for the allocated time.
3:30PM – Post Session Recovery Shake + Snack
5:00-9:00PM – Coaching with the Glasgow and West Regional Performance Squad
9:45PM – Dinner
10:30PM - Bed
Tuesday
Get a lie in this morning and start midday with On Court followed by an afternoon weights session. Tournament Build Up mode means still focused on Speed and small bursts to replicate rallies in a badminton game.
8:00AM – Wake up
8:15AM – Shower
8:30AM – Eat Breakfast/Prep Lunch/Prep Shakes for the Day/COFFEE
9:00AM – Chill Out/Carry Out Any Prehab or Rehab Exercises Needed
11:00AM – Leave for Training
11:30/11:40AM – Arrive at Training for Warm Up
12:20-2:00PM – On Court Session
Session Plan
Agility/Plyometric Primer: Fast Feet Ladders with Drop Jump Shadow Movements after 6 Repetitions, 4x Jumps with Shadow Movements
Individual Choice of Practice: Today’s Choice for me is DEFENCE, 3v1 with 2 Players at the net and 1 Player at the back, 10 Sets of 1Min ON 30s OFF, 2 Repetitions
Finish with 30 Mins Bike Steady
2:20PM – Lunch + Recovery Shake/Relax
3:00-4:30PM – Weights Session
Session Plan
Mixture of Upper/Lower Body Exercises with some focus on my Tendinopathy being a big part of my session.
4:30PM – Post Session Protein Shake + Snack
5:00-7:00PM – Coaching with the City of Glasgow Badminton Club
7:45PM – Dinner/Relax
9:30PM - Bed
Wednesday
Today is a big physical day normally with a 1000 Shuttle Multi Session. The session is slightly reduced to work on more Speed in the Multi Session and again be more game-like.
6:30AM – Wake Up
6:45AM – Shower
7:00AM – Eat Breakfast/Prep Lunch/Prep Shakes for the Day/COFFEE
8:00AM – Leave for Training
8:30/8:40AM – Arrive at Training for Warm Up
9:20-11:30AM – On Court Session
Session Plan
Multi Shuttle Session:
MULTI is essentially loads of sets of shuttles ranging from 8-20 Shuttles per drill where the focus is mainly on Physical and trying to maintain composure in those situations.
1. Smash/Drive 6x20 Shuttles
2. Mid/Rear Hard 6x20 Shuttles
3. Net Hard Pattern 6x20 Shuttles
4. Defensive Push Downs 6x20 Shuttles
5. Mid/Rear Control 6x20 Shuttles
6. Net Soft 6x20 Shuttles
7. 2 Court Shuttle Runs to Finish x6
12:30PM – Lunch + Recovery Shake/Relax
5:30-9:30PM – Coaching with the Glasgow and West Regional Performance Squad
10:00PM – Dinner
10:30PM – Bed
Thursday
Slightly more relaxed start to an early morning with the first session being an Individual Skills session followed up by a Tactical Session in the afternoon with Matchplay.
6:30AM – Wake Up
6:45AM – Shower
7:00AM – Eat Breakfast/Prep Lunch/Prep Shakes for the Day/COFFEE
8:00AM – Leave for Training
8:30/8:40AM – Arrive at Training for Warm Up
9:20-11:30AM – On Court Session
Session Plan
Individual Choice of Skills Focus:
Focus for myself is to start off with slightly less pressure on a certain skill and then build upon this by progressing and adding pressure. Today’s focus is Mid Court Controlled Deceptions.
Session is finished with a 20Min Core Circuit
12:00PM – Lunch + Protein Shake/Relax
2:00-4:00PM – On Court Session
Session Plan
Speed Multi with Specific Patterns. 6 Exercises:
1. Kill/Intercept Straight 3x12 Shuttles
2. Kill/Intercept Cross 3x12 Shuttles
3. Smash/Drive Straight 3x12 Shuttles
4. Smash/Drive Cross 3x12 Shuttles
5. FH Rear Control/RTH Rear Smash 3x8 Shuttles
6. RTH Rear Control/FH Rear Smash 3x8 Shuttles
After the Speed Multi is followed by Full Games Practice.
4:20PM – Post Session Recovery Shake + Snack
5:00-7:00PM – Coaching with the City of Glasgow Badminton Club
7:45PM – Dinner
9:30PM – Bed
Friday
Same as Tuesday with two sessions one being an On Court Session and one Weights session. This time we start the day with weights and finish with On Court. Today’s On Court is focused on Consistency with the Individual Court Coverage Exercises so the number of shuttles goes up slightly.
6:30AM – Wake Up
6:45AM – Shower
7:00AM – Eat Breakfast/Prep Lunch/Prep Shakes for the Day/COFFEE
8:00AM – Leave for Weights
8:30-10:00AM – Weights Session
Session Plan
Mixture of Upper/Lower Body Exercises with some focus on my Tendinopathy being a big part of my session.
10:30/11:00AM – Lunch + Protein Shake/Relax
12:00-2:00PM – Weights Session
Session Plan
Ankle Stability Primer: One Legged Hops in Pattern 2x2 Each Leg, Balance on One Leg Pattern 2x8 Each Leg, Clock Hops 2x16 Each Leg
Individual Court Coverage across all areas of the court: Mid Rear Control (Focus as Back Court Player), Front Court Defence (Push Downs), Box Attack (Smaller Court), Front Court Control (Close Net Practices for Soft Play around the net), 6x40 Shots for each practice as we now increase the amount of shuttles slightly to make it tougher but to focus on consistency when fatigued.
Finish with Drives against the Wall: 5 Mins Heavy Racket + 5 Mins Normal Racket.
2:30PM – Post Session Recovery Shake + Snack/Relax
5:00-6:00PM – Coaching individual
6:45PM – Dinner/Relax
11:00PM – Bed
Saturday/Sunday
With Friday being the last MAJOR day of the training week we are still needing something to tide us over the weekend so we aren’t completely sore or stiff come Monday morning where we do it all again.
Session Plan
30 Min Steady Bike/Run
This is used as an extra session to keep the body moving over the weekend and can be a small extra physical session to add to the planner for the week.
NOW CHILL…
AND…
REPEAT AGAIN NEXT WEEK!!!
Coaching Sessions - Regional Performance Squad
The session taken with the RPS run on Monday and Wednesday nights where I coach the BASE and ADVANCED sessions. The BASE session is with young kids ranging from 9-12 who are showing early signs of potential and are keen to improve and move up to the next stage in the RPS which would be the DEVELOP session. The ADVANCED sessions are the older kids ranging from 16-18 who are at the top of their age groups and are looking to progress their badminton careers and reach the top level by moving onto the Senior Development Squad and then hopefully the Senior National Squad.
Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Breakfasts normally consist of some form of overnight oats that I have really gotten into lately by using my porridge oats and ForGoodnessShakes Vanilla Fudge or Salted Caramel Shake to make. Once prepared, I’ll then heat them up in the morning and then use a little bit of jam, chocolate spread or some “Biscoff” spread to add a little something on top.
Lunches normally are normally a random toss up of some form of pasta or rice dish. Regularly I will take an extra portion of dinner from the night before and use it for my lunch the next day. I will also sometimes make up very filled sandwiches or bagels to go along with a soup for the day.
Dinners are where it gets very varied as in my family the dishes are made by a different person each night as there is six of us.
So, for dinners Monday – Friday in this week’s training we have:
Monday – Sweet and Sour Chicken with Rice
Tuesday – Prawn Linguine
Wednesday – Chicken Chasni with Rice
Thursday – Spaghetti Bologanaise
Friday – Mac and Cheese with Homemade Fries
Club Matches
This season I have signed to play with “BadmintonClub” Drop Shot or BC Drop Shot in the Netherlands. Our home grounds are in The Hague where I play matches on a intermittent weekends throughout the year. As there are 10 teams in the Top League in the Netherlands this means a lot of matches to be played. Some home and some away. My first upcoming match weekend for them is the 1st and 2nd October where we play against VELO Badminton and F.I.T. ALMERE BV.
