THERE WASN’T A particular game or season which opened TJ Reid’s eyes to the benefit of strength and conditioning but he soon realised it was imperative he bought into it.
For the first five years of his inter-county career, the Kilkenny hurler didn’t place much emphasis on his work off the pitch and it quickly became apparent that he was falling behind.
“I’m with Kilkenny maybe ten years and starting off it probably wasn’t as clued in as it is now,” Reid says. “I said to myself a few years ago that my hurling was there and my ability to hurl was there but mentally and physically maybe I wasn’t there.
“Going back it was a man’s game and if you were a young lad going out against the likes of ‘The Rock’ [Diarmuid O'Sullivan] and Seán Óg hAilpín they were strong men.
“The game has changed now in that you need speed now more so than physicality. For myself I concentrated on conditioning and nutrition and I think it has helped.
“You can’t always say to yourself it’s working, you have to keep working. I had a good year last year and I’m looking to improve things again.”
Reid, who was last week announced as an ambassador for Herbalife, has certainly added muscle to his lean frame after getting into the habit of adding a gym session into his routine.
The Ballyhale Shamrocks sharpshooter took it upon himself to go to Kilkenny team trainer Michael Dempsey and come up with a plan to take his game to the next level.
“I knew I was going to the gym but it wasn’t enough and I wasn’t focused on it as such but it’s like a routine to me now and I can’t go without it,” Reid continued.
“It’s like anything the first six weeks are the hardest and then it’s routine and it’s a habit. Starting off it wasn’t a habit but it is now and it has helped in my performances.
“They were big men I remember marking Sean Óg and he was a physical man and the passion he had on the field as well and he loved that Cork jersey.
“Going back to that Cork half back line you had Sean Óg, John Gardiner and Ronan Curran, three great half backs and back then it was a man’s game. I wasn’t physically right for it but every year it’s changing.
“Maybe I wasn’t consistent enough back then but that’s the past and the present is now.”
With more and more importance placed on strength and conditioning and indeed mobility, the work of professionals like Dempsey within a county set-up cannot be underestimated.
Indeed the backroom staff are a key cog in Brian Cody’s Kilkenny wheel, including nutritionist Noreen Roche.
“I’m lucky in that I have been working with Herbalife for the last number of years they are global brand,” Reid added. “But everything has to be approved by our nutritionist Noreen Roche – she’s there longer than Brian Cody so she is very aware of all the supplements.
“We work with Optimum Nutrition and Kinetica as well so everything has to be batch tested…. it is important because you could go into a shop and pick up something or into a chemist if you are feeling sick and bang you are gone. It is an amateur sport and it is tough.
“Even a protein bar from a shop, something like that, there could be something in it and you could be gone for that. You have to be aware and have to have common sense, pass it by our team doctor and Noreen.”
Reid will be hoping all the hard work in the gym pays off again this summer as Kilkenny look to win their third consecutive Leinster senior hurling championship crown this Sunday.
After dispatching Dublin in the semi-final, the Cats meet Galway in a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland decider at Croke Park.
“We hurled well against Dublin but our motivation is to win Leinster, simple as,” the 2015 Hurler of the Year said.
“We don’t want to be making things harder on ourselves going through the back door so we’ll definitely be going 100 per cent to beat them in the Leinster final.”
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