Anyone got any simple field based suggestions for pre-season Rubgy testing? Anything except the MSFT (bleep test). I hope to make it as interesting as possible. The aim is not to punish but to have values that will enable me to assess injured players when they return back to playing.
My thoughts.
Medicine Ball Overhead Throw
Average speed shuttle
Weighted Sled Drag
Farmers Walk
Quadrathlon Test isn’t a bad start for testing power and strength.
Originally posted by Gareth Evans
[b]Anyone got any simple field based suggestions for pre-season Rubgy testing? Anything except the MSFT (bleep test). I hope to make it as interesting as possible. The aim is not to punish but to have values that will enable me to assess injured players when they return back to playing.My thoughts.
Medicine Ball Overhead Throw
Average speed shuttle
Weighted Sled Drag
Farmers Walk [/b]
Gareth, ever been in foreign affairs? Know a woman called Cheryl?
I coach pro rugby and I test them on the following
beep test
20m-50m dash (just one test two electronic gates)
australian ladder
agility shuttle (with electronic gate)
vertical jump (although it strongly correlates with 20m)
I tried the med ball toss, but technique is important in that test…even with elite throwers it takes sometimes several years o show an improvement parallel to improvement in VJ or strength…
hope it helps…
NO BENCH PRESS???
WHAT!!!
Sorry - guys - had to have a laugh.
Seriously Romes - those are good choices.
What other measurements do you use - Weight, height, %BF, RHR?
Romes,
Just a couple of questions.
Please could you explain. The Australin Ladder and the agility Shuttle?
Thanks
Gareth
Originally posted by Dazed
Gareth, ever been in foreign affairs? Know a woman called Cheryl?
Sorry Dazed. Wasn’t me.
Gareth
Gazza - What about a single leg squat on medicine ball. Core stability man, core stability.
Woody,
Its field based. I think the grass would reduce the base of support of the medicine ball and would lead to repeat performace errors due to soil worm quantity and grass length.
G:D
Yeh, very true - worm quantity is important.
Don’t forget Quality. Worm Quantity AND Quality…
sorry for the late answer, i’ve been away…
yes I record BW and BF…
australian ladder
you make a “ladder” with a line on the ground every five meters. then the players have to run to the five meter line come back to 0 then run to ten come back to zero then fifteen back to zero (I’ve never seen anybody go farther than 25m) etc…
they try to cover as much ground as possible during thirty seconds, then they get a 35 second break and start over! they do 6 bouts…yeah that’ll get you puking!
I’m glad i’m the one standing on the side recording the distance…
the score is the total distance covered during the six bouts of thirty seconds…
highly lactic!
forgot about the agility shuttle…
it’s the standard pro shuttle run by the NFL.
three line on the ground five meters apart ( -5,0,5) (5yards in the nfl)
start in the middle (0) then do +5 -5 back to 0 as fast as you can…
Originally posted by romes
australian ladder
you make a “ladder” with a line on the ground every five meters. then the players have to run to the five meter line come back to 0 then run to ten come back to zero then fifteen back to zero (I’ve never seen anybody go farther than 25m) etc…
they try to cover as much ground as possible during thirty seconds, then they get a 35 second break and start over! they do 6 bouts…yeah that’ll get you puking!
I’m glad i’m the one standing on the side recording the distance…
the score is the total distance covered during the six bouts of thirty seconds…
highly lactic!
Why 30 seconds? The average duration of open play in rugby is around 14 seconds, why not lower the volume and increase the intensity if you’re testing rugby specific endurance.
well it’s the way the test was built…
one important thing about a test is to have normative values to compare results. so there is a need for consensus on testing, especially when players change teams.
I would argue however that in elite rugby 14 seconds is a very short time…and depending on the position and the system played by the team you can have 2 minutes sometimes even 3 minutes of action(international rugby, check out the last France vs NZ first three non stop minutes of play)… granted, for individual players, there’s is variation of intensity within that frame of time…but in professional rugby, 2 minutes of play is not uncommon…
I would also argue that being a confrontation sport you do not prepare your player for the average play but for the sequence that will allow a try after 6 or 7 continuous phases of play…be it on defense or offense…
Romes,
Thanks for the info. I was hoping not to use the beep test but seeing as its so simple, you cant get away from it.
Gareth:)
well you don’t really have to use a beep test there is other way of determining Vo2 max… and there is also different beep tests some more practical than others…
but in rugby it’s hard to go without some measure of endurance…
hope it helps