The rugby season is now officially underway and at FitFor we’re celebrating with a workout to honour the brave lads and lasses who play the game with such finesse.

So, what are the fitness needs for a Rugby player?

To be a successful player you need each of the following:

• Speed – Beat your opponent to score

• Strength – Fending off & making tackles

• Power – Hand-offs and side-steps

• Endurance – Gut-wrenchingly tiring, non-stop action

• Agility – Lateral movement, jinking, twisting and turning

Rugby’s tough combo: Speed & Endurance

Due to the nature of the game we need to combine speed with endurance. A tough combination to execute successfully but here’s how. We will do 3 running sessions, and to off-set the impact but keep up the cardio, we will also add some cycling and rowing workouts.

1. Hill Sprints – Treadmill or a real hill!

6-10 x 200m or 35-50 seconds sprints 80-90%+ effort) with jog or walk recovery. If you are exhausted – you can also stand on the side of the treadmill while you slow it down.

1. Fartlek

2-6 km with 20-30 seconds fast runs (75%+ of maximum effort) followed by 2:00 jog

Guide pace –

1. Steady jog

3-8 km at a pace you can achieve – between 7.5-12.5 km/h should suit most abilities

It takes cardio to keep that rugby spirit going

Additional cardio exercises

1. Spin bike – Hill/Sprint intervals

• 20-30 minutes

• 60 seconds hill – high gear – 60-70 RPM

• 30 seconds sprint – intermediate gear – high speed 100-140 RPM

• 30 seconds rest – gear down low – 60-80 RPM

1. Row intervals

• 15-20 minutes

• 10 x 1:00 hard

• 30-60 seconds rest

Building that needed Rugby Strength & Power

For strength & power, we are going to do a combination of equipment and body weight exercises:

Weights – Perform 2-3 sets of 10 reps

• Olympic lifts – Snatch and Clean & jerk (you may have seen these in the Olympics)

  • These lifts are very dynamic and definitely not for anyone with a back, shoulder, neck, knee or hip injury. The lifts are used by athletes (e.g. rugby players or track and field) to improve explosive speed and strength. You must be well co-ordinated, follow the correct technique and start with light weights.

  • The Snatch lifts the bar from the floor or knees (power snatch) to overhead in one movement

  • The Clean and jerk lifts the bar from the floor or knees (power clean) to the chest, then over head in a second movement

• TRX Chest Press

• Front squat with barbell

• Deadlift

• Tricep press with ropes

• Bent over row

Bodyweight – Perform 2 sets of your maximum

• Press-ups (push-ups)

• Pull-ups

• Dips

• Hanging knee raise

• Back extensions (maximum of 25 reps for this exercise).

Rugby  – Agility

Perform 3 sets of 10 reps of the following:

• Side to side bench quick step-ups

• Box jumps

Full strength, power and agility, click here for: Rugby workout video

Rugby – Flexibility

Perform the following stretches/exercises for 30 seconds after each workout. Click for video here: Rugby stretches/exercises

• Double knee hugs

• Lying glutes

• Hamstring (plus hamstring neural)

• Side lying quads

• Lunge (plus adductor lunge)

• Calf

• Downward dog

• Roller – Hamstring, calf, thigh, ITB