TRAINING PRINCIPLES

On his elitefts.com blog, world-renowned strength and conditioning coach Ashley Jones explains that his programs are designed to make rugby players strong. Jones’ programs use heavy peak power exercises and lower body plyometrics in combination with banded movements. Our rugby leg workout uses the same principles but also restricts rest periods to replicate a half of rugby throughout the session. Before you think programming, there are four training principles to consider when training for strength.

REDUCE REP RANGE

Most rugby players do not need to be able to do a moderate intensity exercise hundreds of times. We’re not running an endurance race of competing in a crossfit challenge. We need to be able to perform a high-intensity interval dozens of times during a game of rugby. Jones’ advice is to stop doing sets of 8-12. In order to replicate a rugby game in the gym, your strength program should include lifting weights at or above 80% of your 1RM. But you’ll also need to be able to replicate this effort many many times. The ideal rep range for most rugby players in pre-season should be 2-4 and no more than 5. The ideal number of sets should be 6-10 with as many as 15.

SPRINT MORE

An interesting addition Jones makes to many of his programs is the inclusion of sprinting. Often neglected by the forward pack as the realm of wingers and fullbacks, sprinting is actually one of the best ways to improve muscle-twitch response. This is the process that aids in tissue growth and repair. Since we’re not training for hypertrophy, sprinting will give you significant muscle health and strength benefits without adding useless bulk.

Anecdotally, I stopped squatting over summer during our 3-month 7s program last year. You’d expect that I would lean-out because of all the cardio, right? I did a weigh-in after 8 weeks and was shocked to see that I had actually GAINED 5lbs during the period. Like the All Blacks’ diet, mine was pretty strict keto except for fruit before training. The only thing I can reasonably attribute the size gains to was the huge amount of sprinting we did. 20m, 40m and 60m intervals like those espoused by our S&C coach Marco Martinez.

REGULATE YOUR REST

During a half of rugby you don’t have the luxury of packing a scrum, lifting in a lineout or sprinting down the wing when you’re fully rested. In fact, you’re likely to have to do these things one after another when you’re tired and out of breath. Train that way too. Restrict your rest as much as possible by keeping your lifting intervals constant.

E.g start a new set every 2 or every 3 mins without variation. This forces you to replicate high-intensity efforts which is exactly what you’ll be doing in a game. Try as best you can to maintain “active” rest by walking around and stretching between sets. But make sure you’re back under the bar before the buzzer goes for the next set.

SET TARGETS V BODYWEIGHT

So how strong do you need to get and when should you stop your strength training in favor of another kind of workout? That’s hard to say since there is so much variation in rugby positions, levels and players. But a good guide is to look at the force velocity curve and base your training on the areas of the curve where you have a weakness. Jones suggests that your training should begin at Max Strength and Strength Emphasis (as we’ve explained above). But once you get strong enough to squat about 2x your bodyweight (2xBW), its probably time to move on to another area of the curve.

Let’s say you’re 200lbs. Jones’ formula would say you should keep squatting, benching and sprinting until you can hit something like the following numbers. But remember that as you get stronger, you’ll probably get heavier too which means you’ll need to re-calibrate your targets: