In-Season Rugby Training

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

Hey all,

I am an aspiring rugby player, I am 21, 165 (up from 150 at the new year), I am looking to up my speed and get bigger/stronger overall. Over the past year I have done some Waterbury programs, some Cosgrove programs and a few others.

My lifts are BP: 165, Squat: 245 and DL 275 (those were last tested a few months ago and I am sure they have gone up since).

My team practices tues/thurs evenings (6-8) and games on sat. I am looking for suggestions on what programs I can do (including sprint training suggestions). The only time I get to train is 1 hour between 3 and 6 (changes every day) and would like to get the most out of it. I have been told not to train every day, but I am eating everything in sight in order to assist recovery, and trying to get my 8 hours a night (hard as I just started a new summer job).

I have seen much more improvement doing fullbody/upper-lower/push-pull splits than I ever did doing body part splits so I would prefer something in that sort of line, but will be open to any suggestions. I was thinking weights mwf and sprinting tu/th, but that may hamper my performance too much at practice which will make it harder for me to make the team each week.

I have also been doing the olympic lifts and am enjoying them so any programs including those would be great as well.

Thanks

2

Some of the guys on our team are doing the conditioning/strength training that the US Eagles do. It’s working out pretty well. Go the teams website (just google us eagles rugby) and check it out.

3

The way I see it, you’re already doing 2 conditioning workouts per week, together of 80 minutes of collision sport.
You will have a hard time recovering from anything but the most basic workout. Any volume will be too much.

What I have seen working is:

Squat + Push press + Power clean (full): 5x5 @ 55% on monday, 3x3 @ 85% on wednesday

Throw in a few pull ups if you feel strong.

Although the guys doing it had a higher “base” than you, it should up your strength and speed. Stay away from any hypertrophy work. Rugby is no fun if you can’t walk without pain.

Just my $0.02

PS. If you are not already sprinting yourself half to death in training, fire your coach.