BOB CASEY'S DIARY:Ryan Giggs and Simon Shaw are the ultimate examples of how to survive in sport when their peers are piling on the pounds in retirement

I HAVE been living out many people’s dream job for over 12 years now and, like any aging sportsman, I want to prolong it as long as possible. Sure, there are financial reasons to continue as the employment alternatives at the moment are hardly enticing but nothing compares to the adrenaline coursing through your body come 3pm Saturday as you prepare to gallop onto a patch of grass. We all know this natural high cannot be replicated after rugby. We also want to be earning a pro rugby salary for as long as possible – especially the guys with a family.

I couldn’t help notice Ryan Giggs played his 600th league game for Manchester United against Spurs yesterday. Factoring in Champions League, cups and internationals, Giggs has played over 900 first class matches. Some feat. Six years ago he discovered the benefits of yoga. Giggs realised the dreaded hamstring explosion can be averted by a slavish loyalty to yoga stretching methods. He set his alarm clock a few hours earlier each morning to ensure a yoga session was in the can before training and when others departed for home he returned to the mat.

It got me thinking of another 37-year-old sportsman still plying his trade. No disrespect to Giggs, who has been a hero in the Casey household due to Dad and Danny being unapologetic United fans (probably why I went with Liverpool – let’s not go there) but Simon Shaw’s 365 appearances for Wasps, 61 English caps and an astonishing 19 Lions appearances, from 1997 to 2009, is an even greater achievement when the attritional nature of rugby is considered. Also, Giggs is 10 stone wet. Shaw carries almost double that around the field.

I feel I can speak with authority about the magnitude of Shaw’s achievements because we share similar vital statistics: we are locks, both over two metres tall and both tip the scales at 123kg. Unfortunately, some may say the comparisons end there but Shaw does have an advantage over me when it comes to two of the three essential attributes required for longevity in rugby. The first is genetics. Shaw is a freak of nature; an amazing athlete for his size, which he finally proved on the world stage during the 2007 World Cup and 2009 Lions Test series in South Africa.

A decent run of luck with injury also helps. Touch wood, I haven’t been too badly cursed but Simon has been spared anything serious.

The third aspect to ensure survival past the average retirement age, which is around 32, are your training methods. Our assistant coach at London Irish, Mike Catt, also played until he was 37. I have been over to Catty’s house and the yoga mat is a permanent fixture in front of the sofa. After dinner he would stretch out to exact full value from his body.

In my late 20s I started to properly understand the messages my body was sending me. Thankfully, so did our strength and conditioning coach Alan Ryan. Alan spent several years working with Shaw at Wasps so I know he, like myself, would have specific training routines. For example, Shaw wouldn’t do “down and ups” anymore as it flares up his shoulder and elbow joints. This is when a player sprints a few metres, hits the deck and leaps back up to do it again.

It has been crucial to my career that Alan trusts me. It also helps I wasn’t a slacker back when all my systems were working effectively. Our relationship was solidified by hard graft in the gym and results we produced. My performances have improved as a result of the work we have done together. Everybody is different so when it comes to conditioning we are split into groups, a like-with-like sort of system, that always has me paired with Faan Rautenbach. I have a similar injury history to our South African prop who is 6ft 4ins, 21 stone and 35 next month.

What works for some can be damaging to others (The days of Faan and I clean and jerking or heavy squats are confined to history). The programmes would be updated every four to six weeks, depending on game schedule, so you see how a decent strength and conditioning coach earns his money.

If a coach doesn’t trust a player then he has little choice but to insist you do everything.

There is a bravery element attached to pulling out of team sessions. You might feel you are letting your team-mates down but really you are betraying them by not putting your hand up and saying, “I’m not doing this as it will risk exacerbating an injury”. You substitute the work with time on the bike, in the pool or an upper-body circuit. Again, this is about the respect earned through performances and developing a reputation for being a hard worker in your 20s.

There are other great survivors out there like Giggs and Shaw. The legendary NFL quarterback Brett Favre is 41 years old and just retired for the third time as the Minnesota Vikings failed to make the play-offs. Favre played 297 consecutive games for the Green Bay Packers. He does a home workout programme called the P90X which is similar to Crossfit. Alan Quinlan is the obvious Irish example, while Mal O’Kelly is another genetically-blessed lock and I know he is a bit of a “Scuba Steve”. In the latter part of his career, Mal stayed in shape by swimming lengths. Lots of them.

Toby regularly speaks to me about using my brain. That means figuring out ways to get to where I need to be before young, more athletic opponents. Myself and Faan are “pillar-post” men for a reason. That means we are usually the second or third defender off a ruck as there is no point in either of us being caught in a wide channel with Shane Williams’ dancing feet for company. We will be skinned. As you get older you use your brain or you will die.

I also pick and choose my social occasions with younger team-mates. There is no point in using the excuse it’s good for team morale and then getting dropped for being unable to recover until Wednesday. It becomes a lifestyle choice. Shaw and Giggs are the ultimate examples of how to survive when your peers are piling on the pounds in the afterlife.