Innovative Rugby Training Concepts & Fitness
Equipment for Players and Coaches
Incorporating Fitness into your
Rugby Training Sessions
Copyright 2005 www.fitness4rugby.com
Table of contents
1. Disclaimer
2. Introduction
3. Manipulating rugby practices for developing fitness
a. The A, B, C Principle
b. Team Conditioning Games
c. Contact fitness drills
d. 6 minute fitness booster - short & sharp interval sessions
4. Top Tips
5. Summary
Disclaimer
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Introduction
Players will gain a conditioning benefit from virtually all rugby sessions but
when your time is limited and your ambitions are high, you need to optimise
these sessions to maximise the benefits.
For the typical club, who train twice per week, the necessity to incorporate
skills, tactics and technical content often overrides the drive to develop
fitness. But if you can manipulate the work and rest time of your drills and
incorporate elements of conditioning then there is no reason why you cant
get the best of both worlds.
It is important to remember that the most fatiguing aspect of rugby is
contact tackling, rucking, mauling and scrummaging generate high levels of
fatigue, much more than running. When players are struggling to run fast it
may often be a result of the fatigue generated during previous phases of
play when they experienced contact.
Copyright 2005 www.fitness4rugby.com
Fitness for rugby is not simply being able to run all day its also about the
unique combination of strength, power, & stability, supported by fuel mix
fitness to generate energy and resist fatigue, so players can perform
effectively for the duration of the game
Therefore, playing touch rugby for rugby fitness has fuel mix and speed
agility benefits but to maximise the session there needs to be contact
fitness elements in the session, such as mauling, wrestling, medicine ball and
tackle bag drills. For example, a coach could blow a whistle twice during
touch and this signals that players on opposing teams have to wrestle each
other to the floor for 10 seconds.
Contact fitness exercises do not always have to involve bone on bone drills;
tackle pad, tackle bag, medicine ball, car pushing, and individual bodyweight
drills are great alternatives and probably reduce the chances of injury
during the session.
Statistics tell us that the vast majority of injuries occur during player
contact so consider using medicine balls, speed sleds, tackle pads
and bags for contact fitness drills
Copyright 2005 www.fitness4rugby.com
Based on this information, we will now consider fitness development ideas
and drills, essentially for use during your rugby training sessions, although
they may also be used in isolation for dedicated fitness training. Please begin
by reading the Disclaimer above.
Manipulating rugby practices for developing fitness
The conditioning benefits of rugby-training drills depend on the intensity,
type, and volume of exercise. You can manipulate the work and rest times
during sessions and drills to manipulate the players work rate and
subsequent conditioning benefits. You can provoke on easy work rate (A),
high quality work rate (B - short work time, long rest time) or a tiring match
simulation work rate (C). The following sample strategies illustrate this
point.
A, B or C Drills
Performing repetitions of a technical rugby skill such as rucking at a high
intensity for 25 seconds, followed by 2 minutes rest, makes it more likely
players will perform the drill at speed. This may be classified as a B type
drill and encourages dynamic rucking, and will help develop power endurance.
Players will develop a tolerance to lactic via B sessions which can
significantly improve playing performance.
By limiting rest periods (e.g. 30 seconds) and extending the work time (e.g.
35 seconds) for the drill you will probably lose intensity and technical quality
the rucking style will become sloppy and less effective. This is essentially
a C type session which should be used occasionally.
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Dont be afraid to alternate between B and C type work rates apply the B
principle for the first half of the rucking drill, then finish off with the C
approach.
An A session is less tiring and involves running at half pace. The session is
essentially aerobic in nature because you dont allow players to run hard for
long enough. To manipulate the training intensity you can designated a drill
as either A, B or C:-
Drill
Intensity
light
aerobic,
medium to
high intensity
- fuel mix
high intensity
anaerobic
Average
work time
45-60s
20-30s
10-20s
Average For example.
rest time
30-40s
Light jogging through
penalty moves or defensive
ploys, line outs, etc..
30-35s
Running against pad holders
for 4-5 phases
60s+
Exploding through two sets
of two pad holders followed
by a 20m sprint
Aim to vary the intensity of your drills during a training session with the A,
B, C principle. This helps to prevent drills from being one paced and helps
develop specific elements of fuel mix fitness. It also allows players and
coaches to monitor training intensity and reduces the chances of over- or
under training the energy systems. It also helps players prepare for training
by letting them know what sort of session to expect!
Copyright 2005 www.fitness4rugby.com
Team Conditioning Games
Team games are excellent fuel mix conditioning drills that work on
multidirectional running, passing, catching, attacking, and defensive skills.
Teamwork and communication also improve with these drills, and players tend
to enjoy the sessions, almost forgetting that there is a strong conditioning
benefit.
Factors such as the pitch size, the number of players per team, and the
duration of the game affect the energy system contributions and resultant
conditioning benefits. Here are a few examples of how to manipulate the
game for fitness benefits:-
Hard Fitness Touch Rugby - played by six-person teams across half a
rugby pitch for 20 minutes. Every time a ball hits the floor, all players
perform 3 push-ups and 3 squat jumps. Team that scores keeps the ball
and plays back the other way.
Medium Fitness Touch Rugby ten-person teams across half a pitch,
2 down-ups for all players every time the ball goes down
Light Fitness Touch Rugby ten or more players per team across half
a pitch, teams allowed to sub players on and off at random intervals.
Contact Fitness Drills
These drills involve a combination of all the elements of rugby fitness stability, strength, power, agility and fuel mix fitness. These movements are
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performed at high intensity and include rugby specific activities such as
driving, mauling, tackling and jumping.
Maul ball
In a crouched position, Partner 1 protects a rugby ball, while Partner 2
attempts to maul the ball. Perform the drill for 15 seconds, change
roles and repeat.
Forward Drive
Partner 1 holds a Pad in front of Partner 2. Partner 2 drives the Pad
back 5m. Partner 1 is encouraged to offer high resistance but allowing
Partner 2 to reach the 5m cone within 5 seconds. Immediately backpedal 5m to the start line and repeat for 4 drives. Rest 10 seconds,
change roles and repeat.
Turnover ball
Partner 1 lies on the ground protecting a ball while Partner 2 straddles
Partner 1 and attempts to maul the rugby ball. Perform the drill for 15
seconds, change roles and repeat.
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Partner wrestle to floor.
In a 3m grid, Partner 1 attempts to wrestle Partner 2 to the floor
while Partner 2 protects a rugby ball and attempts to stay on feet.
Perform the drill for 15 seconds, change roles and repeat. Note that
this is not a tackling drill; contact must be above waist height.
6 minute fitness booster short and sharp interval sessions
You have an hour to go through your line-outs, penalty moves, attack, and
defence tactics so theres no time for fitness. But it only takes 6 minutes!
10-20-10m Partner Shuttle.
Mark out 3 cones, A, B and C, 10m apart. Partner 1 starts on the floor
at the centre cone (B), sprints to A, then to C and finishes back at B
and performs 5 squat jumps and 5 clap push ups. Partner 2 does the
same so partner 1s rest time is partner 2s work time and vice versa.
Repeat for 6 sets each.
20m Partner Push and Go.
Mark out 3 cones, A, B, C, 20m apart. Partner 1 starts on the floor at
A, while partner 2 stands in front with a tackle pad. On the whistle
partner 1 drives partner 2 to cone B, BUT every time the coach
whistles partner 1 hits the ground, then gets up and continues driving.
On reaching cone B, partner 1 sprints to C, performs a down and up,
sprints back to partner 2 at B and repeats the pad driving drill to A.
Rest 15s, change roles and repeat for 5 sets each.
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Simple Circuit.
All players on try line on whistle perform 5 squat jumps, 5 clap push
ups, followed by a sprint to half way and back, rest 30s, repeat for 6
sets. Short, simple and competitive!
Top Tips
Perform foot speed drills during a warm-up while players are fresh
Finish each rugby session with a 5 minute core stability session (see
Core Stability Fitfile for a battery of drills)
Use medicine balls for wrestling and throwing drills
Wear a weighted vest during drills to generate more fatigue
Summary
Fitness development is an inherent benefit of most rugby sessions but by
manipulating work rest ratios, incorporating contact drills and scheduling a 6
minute interval circuit into all your rugby sessions you will hopefully find
that players are continually boosting their fitness. You can also incorporate
short elements of foot speed and core stability into warm ups and cool
downs.
Copyright 2005 www.fitness4rugby.com
