DCU PhD graduate's research a game-changer in GAA training

Dublin City University PhD graduate Crionna Tobin has grabbed the attention of many prominent GAA figures in recent months, due to a presentation on her findings regarding fitness training in sport.

At the GAA’s Games Development Conference in Croke Park in January, Tobin presented her research question entitled ‘Will 6 sessions of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) increase endurance performance to the same extent as 6 sessions of Endurance Running (ER) in trained Gaelic footballers?” Studying two separate groups, Tobin’s research proved that the endurance of those carrying out HIIT, was better than the ER group’s endurance by 13 per cent. Most importantly, however, is that the interval training involved a total of 24 minutes of running while the endurance running took 300 minutes.

Crionna Tobin is the daughter of former Galway footballer John Tobin and a graduate of DCU’s School of Health and Human Performance where her research was entitled ‘Optimisation of Muscle Glycogen Metabolism in Gaelic Football.’ Her findings expressed at the Games Development Conference illustrated an area where vital time can be saved in the area of GAA coaching and has attracted the attention of many high-profile GAA figures including All-Ireland-winning player and manager John Allen who compliments Tobin’s findings in his column in today’s Irish Times. The piece can be accessed here.

Crionna Tobin’s presentation at January’s GAA Games Development Conference in Croke Park can be viewed here.