amms 0 Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 (edited) I take it you've never ran up and down murder hill then lots of teams still use it today for fitness. Running up and down sand dunes will make you no fitter than running round a track or up and down stairs, it's all in your head. Wallace understood this. Remember where Rangers were when Wallace took over, Celtic were one of the best teams in Europe at the time, they had the Indian sign over us, a genius manager of their own and despite having arguably the best Rangers side ever we were unable to beat them for the league. Having been second to Celtic for years and not won the league for a decade Wallace realised the issue wasn't skill or fitness or even tactics but that Celtic were mentally stronger than us. They expected to win the league, we hoped too, Wallace saw this fatal flaw. By taking the players to Gullane, by inviting the press along to photograph it and publicise it, a very unusual thing to do even then, he was sending out the message that Rangers were the fittest team in the league. He pushed the stories of players being sick, well players are sick in pre-season every year whether they are on sand dunes or a state of the art running track at Auchenhowie, it's not that unusual. He even convinced the players themselves that they were fitter than they had ever been, that this gave them an advantage over every other team in the league and they believed him. He also made sure that every other team thought this too. It was a stroke of genius. By 1975 we'd one the league for the first time in 11 years and the following season the treble. Too much is made of the 'jungle fighter' Wallace, a gruff, snarling bully who terrified players. It does him a disservice, this one-dimensional view of Wallace is patently untrue. Bullies are not able to motivate only terrify, Wallace was able to do much, much more than that. Had Wallace not left Rangers in 78, having won the treble twice and the league three times, he may have created a dynasty to rival Struth. In Stein he was up against a managerial genius and he beat him, no one else ever achieved that. We remember 'murder hill' for all the wrong reasons. Edited August 28, 2012 by amms 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Barry Ferguson said similar at blackburn. its worrying nothing has changed. How can he comment on anything he fucked PLG because he didn't want to train longer. Ah! At Blackburn he was on his own and at Rangers he had his cronies backing him. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Having done a lot of training here in Holland I do believe that all training should be done with a ball at your feet.(Except Gym work of course). The occasional cooper test is also a must but there are hundreds of games and training material that gets you fit while improving ball control, tactics, formations and shooting etc. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 How can he comment on anything he fucked PLG because he didn't want to train longer. Ah! At Blackburn he was on his own and at Rangers he had his cronies backing him. probably because its true. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Get rid of these sport scientists. Oh your heart rate has reached 160 it is now time to take the rest. Fuck off. Run the fucking lungs out your body and when you are fucked the sub comes on. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Running up and down sand dunes will make you no fitter than running round a track or up and down stairs, it's all in your head. I think it depends on your definition of "fitter" amms. A lot of sports use beach training as part of their training/fitness programs and the armed forces use it a lot as well, but it's not just all about psychology by any means. There's certainly an element of psychology, but it's actually more about lower body muscle strengthening and working muscles which aren't normally used as much when you're training on solid (or almost solid) surfaces. Training on sand is very different indeed and on top of the muscular benefits, it also helps to improve balance, so that's why (just for example) beach training is quite commonly used in fighting sports such as martial arts. There's also a crossover between the muscular and balance benefits because when you lose and correct your balance running or training on sand, you're basically using muscles which are rarely used in more conventional training. Then there's running and training in water........ 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 743 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Anyway back on topic, any future Naismith comment can be put in Footie thread. Pity I couldnt get a bet on that by the time we are back in the SPL Naismith will be playing Championship football with the likes of Birmingham or Hull. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyk 158 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Running up and down sand dunes will make you no fitter than running round a track or up and down stairs, it's all in your head. Wallace understood this. Remember where Rangers were when Wallace took over, Celtic were one of the best teams in Europe at the time, they had the Indian sign over us, a genius manager of their own and despite having arguably the best Rangers side ever we were unable to beat them for the league. Having been second to Celtic for years and not won the league for a decade Wallace realised the issue wasn't skill or fitness or even tactics but that Celtic were mentally stronger than us. They expected to win the league, we hoped too, Wallace saw this fatal flaw. By taking the players to Gullane, by inviting the press along to photograph it and publicise it, a very unusual thing to do even then, he was sending out the message that Rangers were the fittest team in the league. He pushed the stories of players being sick, well players are sick in pre-season every year whether they are on sand dunes or a state of the art running track at Auchenhowie, it's not that unusual. He even convinced the players themselves that they were fitter than they had ever been, that this gave them an advantage over every other team in the league and they believed him. He also made sure that every other team thought this too. It was a stroke of genius. By 1975 we'd one the league for the first time in 11 years and the following season the treble. Too much is made of the 'jungle fighter' Wallace, a gruff, snarling bully who terrified players. It does him a disservice, this one-dimensional view of Wallace is patently untrue. Bullies are not able to motivate only terrify, Wallace was able to do much, much more than that. Had Wallace not left Rangers in 78, having won the treble twice and the league three times, he may have created a dynasty to rival Struth. In Stein he was up against a managerial genius and he beat him, no one else ever achieved that. We remember 'murder hill' for all the wrong reasons. In your opinion but I do disagree to a certain extent, the few seasons when I was actually fitter than I have ever been was when I done pre season at murder hill 3-4 times a week for 2 or 3 weeks. I don't think it was all in my head but certainly helped get me on the right road to a good fitness level. It was energy sapping running up and down heavy sand dunes (before and after other training exercises) much more than running up and down steps or round a track which I have done also many years ago This was also the first and last time I was ever sick during proper exercise (the other times were playing sunday league with a bad hangover or still being drunk)...... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
amms 0 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Oh there is no denying it is harder to run on sand than on grass or a track, and because it is harder it feels like it is doing you more 'good', but the same level of fitness can be achieved by running on grass or indeed in a gym. The big difference is the time taken and your perception of how hard it was. Professional athletes, and I include footballers in that group, are incredibly fit, far fitter than we give them credit for. They have a basic level of fitness and strength that non-athletes simply don't and in most cases will never be able to achieve. At the top level there is very little difference in the level of fitness and indeed ability of professionals, the differences are in attitude, appliance, confidence and motivation. That's not to say this current Rangers team couldn't be fitter or train in differently. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I don't think Naismith is the first to say this. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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