RUGBY FITNESS TRAINING
By
Brett Burdick
Coaching Coordinator
Virginia Rugby Union

Over the last few years I have been asked frequently about the availability of information on Rugby Fitness Training. In general, there is no readily available information about how to train for our sport. As an initial attempt to rectify this I have cobbled together this program. I have used it myself, have given it to several of the teams that I coach, and have found it to be a pretty good system. Before you get too deep into it, however, I need to provide a couple of caveats.

I am not a fitness guru nor a trained fitness instructor-I am a user of fitness information. There is no doubt in my mind that this system can (and should) be improved upon by professionals in this field. What I am providing in this system is one that I have found to be useful. I can tell you for a fact that it works to increase the overall fitness level of Rugby players. I will leave it to those who do this sort of stuff for a living to find (and correct) any deficiencies.

The sources of this information are several. The weight training stuff was inspired by a book written many years ago about the Penn State Football Strength Training Program. It provides a template for effective, efficient, and rapid strength gain. The Interval Program is stolen (unabashedly) from some stuff handed-out by former ERU, MARFU, and USARFU Coach Clarence Culpepper many years ago. The Plyometrics information was gleaned from many sources in this relatively new field and, frankly, one that is poorly understood by Rugby coaches in general.

If you already have a fitness program for your players or yourself, good. I offer this program as a comparison to what at least one other Rugby coach is doing. If you do not have such a program in place, I am providing this as a place to start. I encourage each coach and player to review it critically and to modify it to meet your needs.

Cheers

EXAMPLE RUGBY FITNESS TRAINING PROGRAM

CLUB TRAINING SCHEDULE

Off-season- From the end of previous season to eight weeks before the first Club Practice of the next season.

Monday Weight Training and Plyometrics
Tuesday Interval Training or other activity
Wednesday Weight Training and Plyometrics
Thursday Light and Easy Interval Training
Friday Off
Saturday Any Sports Activity or Fartlekking
Sunday Long Slow Distance

Preseason - Eight weeks before the first Club Practice of the next season to the first Club Practice.

Monday - Weight Training and Plyometrics
Tuesday - Interval Training
Wednesday - Weight Training and Plyometrics
Thursday - Interval Training
Friday - Off
Saturday - Fartlekking
Sunday - Long Slow Distance

In season - From the first Club Practice through the end of the season.

Monday - Weight Training and Plyometrics
Tuesday - Club Practice
Wednesday - Interval Training
Thursday - Club Practice
Friday - Off
Saturday - Club Match or Fartlekking
Sunday - Long Slow Distance

NOTES ON TRAINING

1. WEIGHT TRAINING

At a minimum, the following exercises should be performed. The emphasis is on upper body strength since all of the running involved will work the lower body a lot. Still, some strength and flexibility training of the lower body should be included.

1. Military Presses-- From a sitting position pushing weight directly over your head.

2. Deltoid Lifts-- From a sitting position lifting weight outward and to the side.

3. Biceps Curls-- From a sitting position lifting weight by bending your arms.

4. Triceps Extensions-- From a sitting position lifting weight by extending your arms.

5. Pull Downs-- From a sitting position pulling weight downward and behind your neck.

6. Butterflies-- From lying on your back with your arms either fully extended or bent at the elbow lifting weight from your sides without bending your arms (i.e.-not using you biceps to lift the weight).

7. Leg Curls-- Like Biceps Curls except using your legs while lying on your stomach.

8. Leg Extensions-- Like Triceps Extensions except using your legs while sitting.

9. Anything Else that Suits Your Fancy-- Hand and wrist strengthening exercises, neck work for front row players, sit-ups, stomach crunches, or whatever.

Choose a weight with which you can perform at least 8 reps and no more than 12. If you cannot do 8, go on to the next exercise and remember to pick a lower weight next time. If you can lift more than 12, move on and next time pick a higher weight. All lifts are done to a count of TWO TO LIFT, a count of FOUR TO LOWER. The goal is to reach "momentary muscular failure," that is that you cannot lift any more weight without resting. Move immediately to the next exercise. YOU NEED ONLY TO PERFORM ONE SET PER TRAINING PERIOD.

As a general rule, the Off-season is the only time you will see significant strength gains. In the Preseason and In season periods there are too many other activities going on and too many nagging little injuries for you to concentrate on strength. Encourage your players to continue weight training in the Off-season and you will see a stronger, fitter team come next season.

2. INTERVAL TRAINING

A simple interval training exercise set is as follows:

One 25
One 50
One 75
One 100
One 75
One 50
One 25

Total for one set = 400 yards.

Between runs walk back to the starting line and run the next sprint. The 25's and 50's are run at full pace, the 75's and 100's at 80% or so. The best way to run them is to find a football, soccer, or Rugby pitch. For a Rugby pitch, begin at the midline and sprint to one 22, turn around and sprint to the far 22, turn around and run (80%) to the goal line, turn around and run (80%) to the other goal line, turn around and run (80%) to the far 22, turn around and sprint to the other 22, turn around and sprint to the midline. That's one set.

You will do better if you can run these with a partner. Your brain will tell you that you are tired long before you need to stop. Running with a partner will probably keep you going through the exercise.

In the Off-season and early Preseason you should shoot for four (1,600 yards) to six (2,400 yards) sets. In the later Preseason and during the In season period you should be looking at five (2,000 yards) to eight (3,200 yards) sets. Remember, one mile is 1,760 yards.

The purpose behind Interval Training is to stress your body and to decrease the recovery time you need to take. In the Off-season, allow a work to rest ratio of one-to-four. In the late Preseason and the In season the work to rest ratio should be around one-to-three or one-to-two (very businesslike).

I have also attached a nine week Interval Training Program (below) that details an alternative and more structured approach.

3. INTERVAL PROGRAM

This Interval Training Program is a two night per week, nine week course designed to develop acceleration, speed, and endurance. All Intervals are run at either FULL SPEED (flat out) or at FAST SPEED (75% to 85% of maximum effort) with a brisk walk and/or jog back to the start. Alternate starting foot with each run. The Program is quite demanding and NO SUBSTITUTE ACTIVITIES ARE ACCEPTABLE!

WEEK ONE (yards/miles)

Tuesday 2 x 440 yards (FAST)
4 x 220 yards (FAST) (1,760/1.00)

Thursday 4 x 330 yards (FAST)
2 x 110 yards (FAST)
2 x 110 yards (FULL) (1,760/1.00)

WEEK TWO

Tuesday 3 x 440 yards (FAST)
3 x 220 yards (FAST) (1,980/1.13)

Thursday 2 x 330 yards (FAST)
2 x 220 yards (FAST)
2 x 110 yards (FAST)
2 x 110 yards (FULL) (1,540/0.88)

WEEK THREE

Tuesday 4 x 440 yards (FAST)
5 x 85 yards (FULL) (2,185/1.24)

Thursday 1 x 440 yards (FAST)
2 x 220 yards (FAST)
5 x 110 yards (FAST)
4 x 85 yards (FULL) (1,770/1.01)

WEEK FOUR

Tuesday 4 x 85 yards (FAST)
4 x 110 yards (FAST)
1 x 220 yards (FAST)
8 x 55 yards (FULL)
1 x 220 yards (FAST)
4 x 110 yards (FAST)
4 x 85 yards (FULL) (2,440/1.39)

Thursday 2 x 220 yards (FAST)
4 x 110 yards (FAST)
5 x 85 yards (FULL) (1,305/0.74)

WEEK FIVE

Tuesday 11 x 25 yards (FULL)
7 x 85 yards (FAST)
3 x 110 yards (FAST)
3 x 220 yards (FAST)
3 x 110 yards (FAST)
2 x 85 yards (FAST)
11 x 25 yards (FULL) (2,635/1.50)

Thursday 2 x 220 yards (FAST)
6 x 110 yards (FAST)
9 x 25 yards (FULL) (1,325/0.75)

WEEK SIX

Tuesday 4 x 220 yards (FAST)
3 x 110 yards (FAST)
3 x 110 yards (FULL)
5 x 85 yards (FAST)
5 x 85 yards (FULL)
1 x 440 yards (FAST) (2,830/1.61)

Thursday 2 x 440 yards (FAST)
2 x 220 yards (FAST)
6 x 110 yards (FULL) (1,980/1.13)

WEEK SEVEN

Tuesday 2 x 330 yards (FAST)
12 x 55 yards (FULL)
1 x 330 yards (FAST)
10 x 85 yards (FULL)
1 x 330 yards (FAST)
10 x 25 yards (FULL) (3,080/1.75)

Thursday 1 x 330 yards (FAST)
10 x 85 yards (FULL)
9 x 25 yards (FULL)
10 x 55 yards (FULL)
9 x 25 yards (FULL) (2,180/1.24)

WEEK EIGHT

Tuesday 10 x 110 yards (FAST)
10 x 85 yards (FULL)
10 x 55 yards (FULL)
26 x 25 yards (FULL) (3,150/1.79)

Thursday 19 x 25 yards (FULL)
15 x 55 yards (FULL)
10 x 110 yards (FULL) (2,400/1.36)

WEEK NINE

Tuesday 15 x 25 yards (FULL)
10 x 55 yards (FULL)
5 x 85 yards (FULL)
3 x 110 yards (FAST)
2 x 220 yards (FAST)
3 x 110 yards (FULL)
5 x 85 yards (FULL)
10 x 55 yards (FULL)
15 x 25 yards (FULL) (3,800/2.16)

Thursday 3 x 220 yards (FAST)
2 x 110 yards (FULL)
10 x 85 yards (FULL)
10 x 55 yards (FULL)
14 x 25 yards (FULL) (2,630/1.49)

4. FARTLEKKING

Fartlek is a Scandinavian word meaning "speed play." The exercise is unstructured and allows you to sprint, run, and walk over varied terrain. Rugby Fartleks, however, are a bit more structured.

Use a High School or College 440 yard track. Starting at the middle of one straightaway jog to the middle of the first turn (110 yards). Sprint through the rest of the turn (55 yards) and jog to the middle of the straightaway (55 yards). At this point an exercise is performed (10 jumping jacks, 10 pushups, 10 star jumps, or 10 sit-ups, rotating through). Following the exercise the jog-sprint-jog is continued to the next straightaway and exercise. Once through all four exercise stations is one-half mile. Keep it up for at least 30 minutes. 60 minutes is even better, once you get to that fitness level.

5. LONG SLOW DISTANCE (LSD)

This is what everyone thinks of as jogging. LSD by itself will not get you fit enough to play Rugby! It is useful to build a good aerobic base upon which all other training is based. Shoot for 30 to 40 minutes (or more) of running at an enjoyable pace. It is especially useful for spreading out and eliminating the lactic acid built up during a match (hence its use on Sundays). The Sunday runs may be as little as 15 to 20 minutes. At no time, however, should LSD be considered a realistic substitute for any other training activity given in this Program. The "guts" of this Program are the Intervals and the Fartleks. You need to do them (religiously) in order to get the benefit!

6. RUGBY-SPECIFIC PLYOMETRICS

Plyometrics require a complete warm-up (high knee marching, stretching, skipping, lunging, slow running with exaggerated movements, etc.). They are not high intensity/long duration exercises (like sprints). They are more like explosive, ballistic, maximum power exercises with a fairly long recovery time in between. We need to focus on quality of the exercise rather than quantity. The recovery time is necessary to allow your body to replenish the creatine phosphate energy system. If you do not allow recovery time, you are dipping into the lactic acid cycle and, eventually, the aerobic system. Neither of these produce the power we are seeking. (Be sure to warm-down at the end of the session, too.)

This means that there is a lot of "down time" when doing plyometrics. This is OK! Do them on days when you won't be running much-- maybe in conjunction with upper-body weight lifting/strength training-- as they focus on leg work. Use the down time for mental rehearsal and imagery of what you will be doing next Saturday on the Rugby pitch!

This program is only suggestive. It involves about "400 foot contacts" (that's a lot!) through various plyometric exercises (do not count warm-up exercises as "foot contacts"). You can alter the composition of the program, but do not exceed the 400 foot contacts. Work to rest ratio means the ratio between the time it takes to complete a sets of repetitions and the rest time between sets.

1. Depth Jump with 180 Degree Turn:

Jump/step off of a bench (18" high or more), land on both feet, immediately jump as high as you can turning 180 degrees and land on both feet. Repeat. Alternate direction of turn with each repetition. Increase the difficulty by jumping up onto another bench or box (not really necessary, though). Perform 10 sets of 4 with a work to rest ratio of 1:5 or 1:10 to allow complete muscle recovery between sets (i.e.- if you perform 4 jumps in 20 seconds, rest for 100 to 200 seconds-- 1.5 to 3 minutes-- between sets).
40 foot contacts

2. Depth Jump with 360 Degree Turn:

Same, but increase power of turn so that you go 360 degrees. Perform 10 sets of 4 with work to rest ratio of 1:5 or 1:10.
40 foot contacts

3. Pyramiding Box Hops:

Set up three benches, boxes, stools, chairs, etc. (18" high) two to three feet apart. Start from the ground hopping up (swinging both arms at same time) onto the bench/box, then the ground, then the next bench/box, then the ground, etc., walk back to the start. Perform 10 sets of 4, work to rest of 1:5 or 1:10.
120 foot contacts

4. Barrier Hops:

Set up three hurdles (can be anything), 18" to 24" high. Hop over each in line. Walk back to beginning. Perform 10 sets of 4.
120 foot contacts

5. Alternate Bounding:

This is actually an exaggerated running action. Begin with a short (10 yard) jog to get up to speed. At the starting line begin "bounding," pushing off hard with each step. The trailing leg should be extended, the knee bent (kick up your heels), and the leading leg extended as far forward as possible before landing without "braking" your momentum.. Go as far as possible and stay in the air as long as possible with each step. Bound 10 steps and walk back to the beginning. Perform 8 repetitions.
80 foot contacts