The physical conditioning requirements of rugby are diverse and unique to the sport. The combination of endurance, strength, power, speed and flexibility needed makes the conditioning process a challenging one. To make things more complicated all fifteen players need all these components but in varying degrees. A rugby player needs to produce a top performance almost every Saturday of the season.

They cannot afford to relax their fitness preparation; if they do the game could be lost and the season with it. So how is it possible for players to produce this ‘top performance’ week in, week out? In truth, it is not. However, by training smart a player will include the correct balance of training, recovery and relaxation, which will enable him to arrive for games in optimal condition.

Consider a typical week in the life of a professional rugby player where the next game is in six days time. He will need to manage his time in such a way that the training will cover most, if not all of the fitness components required for rugby. This will include weight training for strength and power; interval running for stamina; sprint training for speed; resistance running and plyometrics for running power and acceleration; and stretching for flexibility.

His diet will need to provide the balanced intake of carbohydrates, proteins, fats and minerals for energy and recovery and good health. This food intake will also need to be of the correct volume. Too many calories and the player could increase fat levels, which will be detrimental to performance, too little, and muscle tissue could be lost lowering strength and power potential. Finally, he must ensure he has adequate rest. This will be the time when muscles can recuperate from exercise and the body becomes ‘recharged’ to be ready for the next training session and more importantly to be ready and fully charged for Saturday’s game.

Physiologically, rugby players have to perform intermittent high intensity and low intensity work during phases of play and throughout the game. This demands high levels of anaerobic and aerobic endurance. Phases of play can vary from 10 seconds to over three minutes so conditioning will be geared to cope with the maximum demands. The high speed modern game demands that players of all positions are capable of producing high power high strength movements in extreme physical situations. Whilst all players will require a highly efficient aerobic component of their fitness to encourage speedy recovery from maximal efforts, backs tend to enjoy longer recoveries during ball in play time.

Each position in a team has different fitness and skill requirements. This can be clearly seen when comparing the forwards with the backs. For example, the backs are essentially there for their speed and mobility, covering distances of 10-60m, and on extremely rare occasions the full length of the field. In contrast, the forwards are physically much bigger in terms of body mass and are typically required to do significantly more work during the course of a game. In addition, the forwards are required to possess a high degree of strength and power and perform explosive runs of 5-15m repeatedly throughout a game.

Rugby is a game that is made up of intermittent periods of work alternating with periods of rest. The work is made up of sprinting, running, jogging, walking and due to the contact and combative nature of the game demands strength and power. The work periods are usually of high intensity varying in duration from under 5secs to over 3 minutes. Rest periods vary from 10secs up to 2 minutes. This type of activity demands high levels of anaerobic and aerobic fitness. When rugby players perform these high-intensity activities, their anaerobic systems provide the required energy, while the aerobic system predominates during the low-intensity activities and recovery.

It is believed the greater physicality and fitness of players is the main reason.

The second is the fitter you become the closer to the limits of human capability you become and you are more prone to stress related injuries and infections. One way to reduce this problem is a smarter approach to training. Drills and set plays are an important part in the preparation of players however contact and impact during training should be kept to an absolute minimum. The weekly game should be considered as the peak of the training week containing the bulk of the contact and impact element. Today it is commonplace for a coach to have 5-6 players unavailable for selection due to illness or injury. Professional rugby teams are businesses and any business that has 25 to 30% of its staff out of action has a serious problem.

Years of rugby and repetitive rugby training drills can affect players with the accumulation of minor injuries and general fatigue. If general fitness levels are satisfactory, providing alternatives to the volume of running training performed by younger players can extend their playing time by number of seasons. Regular sessions on the rower will

provide the necessary stimulus to maintain aerobic and anaerobic fitness. It will also provide a very necessary rest from the constant pounding of more specific rugby training.

Quite often injuries sustained through contact are not to the primary mover of particular joint but to the smaller muscles that support the joint, the fixators or synergists. Often training programmes fail to develop these muscles to the same extent as the primary mover. Cross training has the affect of developing muscles other than the prime movers used in the given sport, thus reducing the likelihood of impact damage. With the high number of games that players are expected to cope with the games themselves should be considered as part of the training programme. This means that skills and drills can be reduced in other parts of the programme and replaced with a safer method of fitness training. If the statement that ‘aerobic fitness underpins the whole performance’ is true then it would make sense to follow the training programme of a rower. Rowers are generally recognised as athletes with amongst the greatest aerobic capacity. This is achieved with no risk of injury through impact, as training is weight supported and non-contact. A slightly modified programme currently used by rowers in preparation for their competitions would meet all the physical requirements of rugby players.

For instance, consider the heavyweight prop forward at the beginning of his pre-season training period. He has a couple of urgent issues to address; one is to lose body fat and the other is to increase cardiovascular fitness. He may well need to improve other aspects of fitness such as flexibility, strength, power, speed and so on, but these may be addressed in more detail once a base has been established. The most specific way for our man to develop endurance will be to carry out lots of running, which will also help him to lose fat. The trouble is that, being heavy, even if he runs on grass (which can be quite hard and unforgiving) and has well made shoes, there is a fair risk that he will pick up injuries to his muscles and joints if he crashes straight into high mileage running. It would make sense for him to vary his workouts, with some running, cycling, to give his legs a rest from the pounding, along with some rowing and swimming. All these forms of activity will help him lose body fat and increase cardiovascular endurance, and with a variety of workouts there is less chance of overuse injuries occurring. In fact, it is this avoidance of overuse injuries that is one of the strongest arguments in favour of cross training. Extra endurance work can be performed, with less strain placed on the same muscles and joints, which may indeed be getting an active rest, while at the same time there is still an adequate workout for the heart and lungs.

Rowing is non-weight bearing so will provide a training session with no impact but can create an intensity that can replicate and exceed those experienced in rugby. Match analysis provides us with the information that will determine work and rest periods that simulate actual game situations.

Training programmes can often be monotonous and even the most motivated player feels the need for a change. Provided the specific work such as speed, intervals, weights etc. are performed consistently over a given period, it will be productive to provide an alternative form of training. It is often just the change that is required to ‘lighten up’ the regular routine and avoid boredom and ‘staleness’.

A well trained rugby player may not receive any direct benefits from including aerobic based rowing but may obtain indirect benefits over time from assisting with the optimisation of body weight and body fat, thermo-regulatory adaptation, physiological and psychological recovery, needed variety, and the prevention of injuries, burn-out and over-training. The indirect benefits are still specific – if not physiological then definitely outcome specific – as these ‘indirect’ benefits are important factors in maximising the development of endurance performance. The debate, therefore, stems from more than questioning the transfer (or cross-over) of peripheral physiological benefits.

Rowing will improve the strength and power of the upper body ‘pulling’ muscles. These particularly include the back, forearms and biceps. Rugby will continually stress these muscles because of their involvement in gripping, holding, squeezing, and pulling. When a player is wrestling to take a ball from an opponent, holding or lifting a player off the ball in a tackle or maul, these key muscles will come into play. Increasing the drag on the rower will provide a higher resistance. Combining this with a low stroke rate and maximal efforts on each pull will improve strength and power in muscles that are an essential part of being a better rugby player.

The addition of low intensity exercise to the rest period did not adversely affect physiological recovery and had a significantly beneficial effect on psychological recovery by enhancing relaxation” Because the rower is non-impact this is a safe and sure way to keep the heart rate up and therefore increase the blood flow. You would need to row for between 30-40 minutes at a heart rate of around twice that at rest. If this is then followed by a good stretching routine it will help avoid post match day aches and pains.

If a player is injured and unable to play or take part in full club training, then alternative modes of activity must be found. In consultation with the medical staff a program of rehabilitation should be put in place as soon as possible following the injury. If it is a leg injury and does not allow weight bearing but encourages movement around the injured joint, rowing is an excellent form of training. This encourages a high heart rate response that will help maintain or at worse, slow down the inevitable decline in stamina during an injury period. Once a certain level of strength, balance, range of movement and endurance have been restored, players need to focus on functional exercises that resemble the movements of rugby such as speed agility and dynamic strength.

Hard Week: High Intensity Intervals during injury or replacing running equivalent

Row for 10 strokes flat out to measure explosive anaerobic power. Monitor will show peak power value for each stroke plus average peak power.

Standards for the peak power test:

This test is designed to identify the ability of the player to repeat short maximal efforts with minimal rest. Player completes 10 seconds and average power is recorded. Rest time 25 seconds and repeated for a total of 6 repetitions .Both work and power decrement can be calculated from the results.

20 second test. Row as far as you can in 20 seconds.

This can be done either by a single 12 minutes test or 4 x 4 minute stepwise test where blood lactate levels are measured between each step. The single 12 minutes test is less likely to be influenced by poor technique. The 4×4 stepwise test will identify aerobic and anaerobic threshold power levels which is useful for prescribing future training session intensities.

1000m followed by 3min rest, 750m followed by 2:30min rest, 500m followed by 2min rest, 250m followed by 2min rest, 750m finish. Record time taken when rowing.

6 x 30s maximum effort with 30s recovery between intervals.

Low/Medium Intensity Aerobic Conditioning (Recovery, Off Season)

Circuit training is an excellent method of simulating the demands of the game.

Even more specific to the demands of match play would be interval workouts that combine ‘physical work’ with running. This would prepare players to work intensively and make appropriate transitions between upper body/trunk strength tasks and running. This kind of workout would provide a close match of both the energy system and physical task demands of forwards’ match play.

Speed Training

3 sets x 8 reps 100m row @ maximal pace

– 40s recovery between reps 3-4mins between sets

3 sets x 8 reps 10s sprint / 10s cruise / 10s sprint @ maximal pace

–1 min recovery between reps 3-4 mins between sets

3 sets x 10 reps 10s sprint @ maximal pace

–6 med ball slams into ground – recovery between reps 2-3 mins between sets

Speed Endurance Training

500m intervals

Target time sub 1:42

2 mins recovery between reps

As many reps as possible

6 x 500m intervals

4 x 250m intervals

500m Target time < 1 min 35s all 6

250m Target time < 55s all 4

Additional target – maintain a drop off of less than 10s for

both 500m & 250m

Intervals of 50m up to 500m, increasing 50m per interval, and back down

Maximal pace throughout 1:1 recovery for each rep

Aerobic Training

Target Pace:

Rep 1 sub 3:15, Rep 2 sub 3:20, Rep 3 sub 3:30

Target Pace:

All sub 1m 40-42s

1:1 recovery for all reps

Rep 1 – 2 min row @ sub 1m 40s / 500m pace

Rep 2 – 3 min row @ sub 1m 45s / 500m pace

Rep 3 – 3 min row @ sub 1m 48s / 500m pace

Rep 4 – 3 min row @ sub 1m 50s / 500m pace

Rep 5 – 10 x 30s row @ sub 1m 35s / 500m pace

30s recovery between reps

Rep 11 – 20 x 10s row @ sub 1m 30s / 500m pace

3 x 2000m (3:00 recovery between reps)

Some Information supplied by Concept 2 Indoor Rower & Peter Herbert BSc, MA, Accredited Exercise Physiologist, Rowing conditioning specialist.

Rowing Fitness for Rugby