Former Tipperary GAA Star and current Sydney Swans AFL player Colin O'Riordan discusses his daily routine with John O'Brien

Morning

What time do you get up at?

Usually get up at 7am every morning. This helps me keep a routine and helps my sleeping pattern a lot.

How long do you sleep for?

Usually try to get between 8 and 9 hours a night.

What do you eat for breakfast?

Eggs with toast and avocado or maybe Weetabix

What is your typical morning routine?

Usually get up around 7am, eat my breakfast and go to the club to start training at around 10am. I aim to be there around half past 8 to get everything done before training. Stretching is pretty important so tend to have a long stretch for a half hour prior to training.

Mid-morning/afternoon

Do you go to the gym in the morning/afternoon?

We have 2 or 3 gym sessions a week depending on how long we have between our games at the weekend.

What do you do in a typical gym session?

It's fairly hard to put an exact point on it, mainly upper body to be honest, you have to be strong to take a mark so it helps to be strong in your upper body.

Where do you work out?

The club has a gym so it's all done there.

What would you eat for your lunch?

Mainly chicken with some avocado or a bit of rice. Depends really on what you have that day but mainly something simple like chicken or that.

What does your diet consist of? Do you have to be very careful with what you eat?

It's fairly strict alright. What you eat has a massive bearing on how you perform on the field so you have to fuel your body with the best foods you can find and the most nutritional ones. Needless to say chocolate and fast food is a big no, no.

Do you drink much water? How much?

Try to drink about 2.5litres a day.

Afternoon/Evening

What time do you get home from training at?

Usually start at 7am till around 5pm so home around 5pm usually.

What do you usually have for dinner?

Chicken/steak with some rice or spuds and veg mainly.

What would a typical training session consist of?

Usually 45 minutes of skills in season. A lot of running in pre-season though.

Where do you train?

We train in the SCG stadium it's our home pitch.

Is there anything in particular you would focus on in training yourself?

Probably just trying to improve my kicking and basic skills of the game really.

How often do you train a week?

Two2 main pitch sessions a week and a match at the weekend.

Do you find it hard to motivate yourself for training sometimes?

Not really some days naturally enough you're a bit sluggish but usually the other boys are buzzing and that rubs off on you.

Would you often treat yourself with a takeaway/Chinese or a few pints? Or does this totally have to be cut out of your diet?

You try not too but maybe once a month you might get Chinese takeaway or Indian, something along those lines.

Do you miss life in Ireland?

You miss a lot of the people at home but the lifestyle is good here so I can't really complain.

Would you like to return home to play senior football for your county again someday?

Yeah I would love to someday, when that day will be I don't know could be two years could be 10 years you just never know.

Do you keep an eye on the GAA and in particular how your county is doing back home?

Yeah I certainly do. Keep up to date with everything going on and follow all the results.

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