Rugby Players Do Strength Training Wrong

In the last email I talked about some of the common themes I had been seeing. One of these was Plyometrics and how most people were forgetting to include them despite the massive impact these exercises have on speed. 

The lack of plyometric work highlights a bigger issue with how most people approach strength training for sports, which is that they are not doing what is required by the sport they are playing. Rugby, like most team sports are power based games with an underlying aerobic requirement. 

So Yes, you need to be strong, but you also need to be powerful, which means you can produce high amounts of force in a very quick amount of time. Another component of strength not overly talked about with rugby is that much of it is isometric based, which means you are pushing but your joints are not actually moving, e.g. imagine a scrum, you push hard but your legs do not change position unless you gain an advantage to push them back (or vice versa).

An ideal strength plan for rugby should include three parts: a traditional strength lift, a power-focused plyometric, and an isometric (static) hold. You don’t need loads of gym sessions to make this work. Just group one set of each type together for a powerful training effect. Here are three examples:

Two legged strength exercise:

Set 1 (Strength) : Squat – 5 Reps

Set 2 (Power / Plyo) : Tuck Jumps 6-8 reps

Set 3 (Isometric) : Heel Raised 45° squat hold – 30 seconds

The low reps in the first set will not produce too much fatigue so you should be able to generate nice force in the jumps. The squat hold with heels up and shallow angle will nicely put the force through your knee joint to strengthen the tendon. It will also create a bit of a muscle burn and muscle growth. You would probably only need to do two rounds of this exercise, 3 max before moving onto another group such as the one below :

Split stance two legged strength exercise:

Set 1 (Strength) : Bulgarian Split Squat – 4 Reps / side

Set 2 (Power / Plyo) : In-place alternating legs lunge jumps – 8-10 reps

Set 3 (Isometric) : End lunge hold position – 45 seconds

In this series, the heavy weights in the Bulgarians are followed immediately by in place lunge jumping. The power of these plyometrics are followed by a very beneficial end lunge range hold, to which weights can be added if needed.

This type of exercise protocol is not just limited to the lower body, you could also do it for the upper body such as:

Upper body exercise:

Set 1 (Strength) : Bench Press – 6 Reps

Set 2 (Power / Plyo) : Jump Press ups 6-8 reps

Set 3 (Isometric) : Narrow grip isometric push up hold – 45 seconds.

If you do not have access to the gym then do not worry, this same process could apply to home training using your body weight, such as:

One legged strength exercise:

Set 1 (Strength) : Pistol Squats – 5 Reps / side

Set 2 (Power / Plyo) : 1 Leg squat jumps – 5 reps / side

Set 3 (Isometric) : 1 leg isometric hold – 30 seconds

If the 1 legged jumps are too hard then you could just use a split squat jump instead. The same would apply to the isometric hold. 

Photos – The three variations of a single leg strength exercises using body weight only:

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