RUGBY FITNESS TIPS

Like any sport rugby requires a good deal of training to be successful. You can break your training efforts into a few groups:

Strength and Power
Strength work is obviously very important to a player’s conditioning. Weights are an integral part of strength training and there is a good variety of weight training exercises for players in all positions. It is important to focus on all muscle groups as it is very important that you have strong stomach and lower-back muscles, then, for upper-body contact, strong shoulders and chest. Obviously strong legs are also vital. Good exercises include squats, leg extensions, hamstring curls and the leg press.

Speed and Agility
In the modern game of rugby working on your speed and agility is important for players in all positions, but it is of particular importance to those players in the backs, and for loose forwards.

Speed and agility drills should be done:
on different days to other training
at the beginning of a training session right after a warm up.

Basic Sprints:
Mark out a length about 40 meters apart with a halfway marker at 20 meters. Sprint from the start point to the mid point, and then jog on slowly to the end point. Turn and sprint to the mid point then slowly back to the beginning. This exercise should be done in sets of 5.

Cruise/Sprint:
Mark out a distance of 100 meters. From the start slowly accelerate to reach full speed at about 60 meters and keep sprinting as fast as you can until the end.

Hill Sprints:
In a game like rugby, where explosive speed is key, the first few steps are critical. Running up a slight hill of about 30 degrees, helps to develop your power and acceleration. This type of training should only be done over short distance of 10-15 meters, and you should rest between attempts.

General Aerobic Fitness
General aerobic fitness is very important for the game of rugby, particularly if you plan to play a full 80 minutes. Working on your aerobic fitness off session is key to your success. Jogging in particular and cycling will both help build your aerobic fitness. For coaches can use beep test to measure player fitness coming into a new session.

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