DMU sports teams at morning fitness at the QEII Gym

DMU sports teams at morning fitness at the QEII Gym


Last year DSU sports introduced military circuits on Monday and Friday mornings in the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Leisure Centre to help improve the fitness of DMU sports teams in the run up to varsity season.

This year DSU Sports are carrying on with this approach due to the demand and success of the sessions. The sessions start at 7:30am and last for one hour. They are run by Nicola Rossell, founder of Rossell Fitness.

Chairman of DMU Rugby, Chris Mutton is using the sessions to the full advantage for his club. “We’re trying to get as many people to circuits as we can. For our first team we’ve organised sessions with Mark Hector who works at the gym and he’s doing specialised circuits for our rugby boys to help them get better at the sport. It’s a lot of core work, a lot of body work and hard work which is good for the boys. We’re trying to expand it to the point where we can get the other teams involved as well. We just don’t have the facilities or the space to do it just yet. We’re trying to bring in mandatory running sessions that the Students’ Union run as part of Campus 330, They happen on Tuesday mornings and we’re trying to get as many players as we can to go to that as well. So in terms of fitness, DMU Rugby are really getting involved”

Speaking as former Vice President of Student Activities, Mutton has endorsed the fitness plan that was introduced under his term last year. “The lead development plan that has been brought in by the Sports Development Office has been crucial to any of the success we have had than the previous year and any success that we will have this year. Fitness is the bare minimum that you expect of any athlete at university and without it they are not going to perform to the best of their ability for 20 minutes, never mind 80 or 90 minutes or an hour. Fitness is key to everything we do in sport and it needs to be reaffirmed to all students that take part.”

Sports Development Administrator, Eamonn Laird was positive about the outcome of the sessions. “It is going really well. The first week was not great as numbers were low but with a better push it has really improved. Numbers are up to 60-80, somewhere between that every Monday and Friday. I think as we started this last year, a lot more is expected for every team this year. So they have started a lot stronger, sessions started a lot better and we had a lot more numbers earlier on than last year where we found it wasn’t until after Christmas when students got engaged so it is a lot better than last year.

“At first it was just a few sports teams that were familiar to fitness but there is a lot more teams that have arrived and attended so there is always a variation. Most teams try to make at least one of the sessions every week so there will always be some representation for the majority of teams which is really good.”

Last year fitness was also offered on a Tuesday morning alongside the Monday and Friday sessions. “As long as the numbers attending keep going up then we will definitely do that. We want to do as much as possible to make it as accessible to everyone. So as long as the popularity is there, that is definitely something we hope to do.”

Military circuit fitness sessions are open to all sports players with a valid active card. For more information, contact the Sports Office.