Next week i’m will be training a semi pro rugby player. Currently he lifts with me but his conditioning consists of mainly just the games. I don’t know much about the sport so my question is, can I train him similar to a sprinter? I was thinking 3-4 days of tempo so he can get the conditioning and lose some weight. Then 2 days of speed type workouts with medball work. I realize this is very generic. If this idea looks good, I know the direction to go with my workouts. Remember that he is in season right now, so I don’t want to kill him just improve conditioning. This athlete has had several club teams in Europe and New Zealand interested in him. He just needs a good kick in the ass sometimes when it comes to off field work. Hopefully this is where I can help. Thanks in advance.
What is his current schedule?
When does he practice, when are his games, when is he with you etc?
games saturday…only practices tuesday and thursday because his team is actually bout an hour away…i will work out with him 3 days a week according to his coach.
I think I’d leave out the tempo since he is probably covering that sort of at practice doing drills and such although that may be a little more intense. For the 2 other days I’d train him as a sprinter with accel working up to a slight bit of max v later on. 2 days would be plenty but watch the volume. Same thing for the lifting which should be done on the same days.
That is along the lines of what I was thinking… Rugby practice 2 day and workout with me for 3…I’ll keep the accel work light so he won’t be to sore the next day for rugby.
PM Naki, he will be able to help HEAPS.
John,
Is that the Samoan or New Zealand team in your avatar. The guy that I will be training has family on both teams.
New Zealand.
I have some rugby related stuff if you want to shoot me a PM I can email it to you, more about strength work but I’m sure you will get some benefit from it.
In regards to tempo, focus on medball tosses with the wall to unload the legs. This keeps the output higher due to the fact the tissues can only take so much running. Keep the circuit 30 minutes plus hurdle mobility.
I normally do speed work before practices therefore I can get alot more quality speed sessions in if the practices are CNS intensive. If the practices aren’t CNS intensive then you could use them as a tempo day and do speed on the off days.
I was going to use his rugby practices as the tempo sessions and then add speed and medball work the other days.