The Best Strength Exercise For Rugby

I saw a thread the other day discussing “if you could only pick one exercise, what would it be?”. For rugby, the exercise would have to address include power, balance, injury resilience, and the ability to move well in multiple directions, not just shifting weight in a straight line.

Deadlifts and squats got most people’s vote, both are excellent of course, however I would rule out deadlifts as they are a little limited in terms of upper body involvement and movement pattern variety. You’re on two feet, standing still, just moving vertically. Great for posterior chain strength, yes, but rugby requires much more.

If I allowed squat variations (split squats, 1 leg squats, jump squats, push press etc), then squats are pushing for number one overall for rugby players. The problem is you need a gym to do many of the squat variations. Another contender for top exercise is one I rarely see rugby players using enough:

The 360 lunge

I’ve used this for years with clients, especially with rugby players. It builds single leg strength, balance, coordination and, crucially, movement in all directions, asking you to go forwards, backwards, diagonal and, side-to-side. These are the patterns you’ll constantly use in a game of rugby, whether you are stepping into a tackle, shifting direction off one foot, turning and chasing back, absorbing contact.

The 360 lunge can be progressed massively. You can add jumps to make it plyometric, helping with your power and explosiveness. You can hold a medicine ball or dumbbell to press it overhead and challenge your upper body. You can use weights in both hands or change heel positions to test your balance further.

The other reason I like it is that it’s scalable. For injured players, you can do short, shallow lunges in each direction and still get benefits without irritating the joints. For advanced athletes, you can take it into weighted movements, explosive versions, or reactive drills where each lunge is a response to a cue. It’s one of the easiest ways to challenge both strength and movement in a controlled way..

What Does This Mean For You

If you’re not doing lunges regularly in your program, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Most gym-based rugby players are squatting, deadlifting, and pressing. This is good of course, but almost all the movements are two legs next to each other, this is just a tiny part of rugby. Even in a scrum most people do not have their legs side by side when pushing (more a split squat stance). The 360 lunge takes you through multiple planes of motions and fills that gap in most people’s training.

Try it out! Pick a version or two, be it shallow, weighted, explosive, or with overhead weight and run through a few rounds. See what your body tells you. You might find a weakness or imbalance. You might feel instantly more mobile. Either way, it’s one of the easiest tools to layer into your training plan. Check out the video below for more on the exercise.

VIDEO – The 360′ lunge:

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