Why do I not Get Any Results with my Rugby Fitness?

A question that is often fired at through the email is 'why do I not get any results?'

Good question - a great one in fact. It shows that you are not going through the motions and thinking about what you are doing.

There are three over-riding reasons:

1) Wrong Training System.

A rugby player came to me looking to boost his rugby fitness particularly his rugby strength. It read like most training diaries. 3 sets of 10 for all the big lifts with a few curls etc.

What is your goal? If it is strength for rugby then train for that. If you are looking to lean up then do so. Try not to chop and mix goals during a training cycle. Work at 3 weeks for increases in rugby strength before maybe dropping to a more 'accumulation' or volume based cycle. Or work at getting lean and improving growth hormone response over relative strength work.

Similarly is your nutrition training system in line with your training?

Boozing away whilst trying to lean up will lead to near suicidal binges on lettuce leaves in a vain attempt to 'carve up'. Likewise leave the almighty pasta feeds to 'bulk up' to the victims of the 1970 body building community.

It is possible to put on mass without eating like a pig - and I mean lean muscle - the stuff that is acutally used on a rugby field.

2) What are your goals?

This goes back to writing down what you want to achieve.

A simple task really. You are FAR more likely to achieve your rugby fitness goals by writing them down. Any less than that and it is a wish.

3) Compliance

Think you are eating 5 good clean meals 7 days a week. That amounts to 35 meals a week. Compliance means hitting 90% week in week out. When you boil it down to figures then look long and hard at your compliance scores. Hitting every scheduled workout?

Get this right and then, and only then will we worry about the intricate details.

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JL

p.s. Stoppped being pussy whipped around the ruck. Now.

Dumbbell Finishers for Rugby Fitness

Rugby Fitness and the Tackle Area

Rugby fitness largely depends on the ability to recycle bouts of intense effort and work interspersed with periods of low intensity rest and recuperation. However, what happens when you get hit?

This is what separates rugby fitness from the rest of the sports.

Getting fit for rugby means also including the element of contact. My old school master used to call it contact fitness or match fitness as it is better known.

However, training for this is no easy task.

Here are my top three methods for including rugby fitness specific contact drills:

1) Up downs

Rugby is best played on your feet. On the floor out of the game. Getting fit for rugby means being able to get back to your feet as quickly as possible and being able to repeat this. So, if rugby fitness is your priority then include games with forfeits that include the dreaded up-down. This is performed when a player hits the deck, lie on the back and springs back to their feet without using their arms.

2) Tackle Bag Hit and Carries

Make a tackle by hitting the shield and then replicate this effort by sprinting back 5 m to make another hit. Repeating this for up to 10 repetitions or timed sets will work wonders for that element of up down match fitness. This is guaranteed to turn a few lads green.

3) Resisted Tackles

This is great for explosive power off the side of a scrum or ruck and is best done in the gym or can be performed from the side of a post. The player attaches himself via a bungee to the fixing and walks out so that there is tension on the band. Keeping tension on the band the player can then hit and drive in to a pad or perform resisted jumps or wrestle a ball from a player on the ground. The point is to develop rugby fitness this has to be performed under resistance.

Again we have experimented with sets of 15 jumps and wrestles – tough stuff. Most lads turn green after this type of work. You can't beat getting off your arse lots of times!

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p.s. Rugby Fitness methods that cut through the theory