The Things I Do!

I’m a 31yr old rugby player who has been in and around the gym now for 13 yrs. Due to being serious bout my rugby I’ve never really made huge gains in the gym. Off season I would hit the gym hard but in season time it was hard to maintain these gains. I’m now coming to the end of my rugby career and due to being injured have spent most of the last few months only in the gym. I have made some good gains doing a sheiko program which i found on this site. At the moment my maxes are

Squat 185kg (ATG)
Dead 170kg
Bench 130kg

I’m 5ft 10in, about 13st8. I have managed to cut down to this weight from 15st when I was carrying a bit.

The reason i’m posting is quite simple. I recon i may have another season or two in me at the rugby barring injury. I still want to hit the gym as much as possible during this time and was wondering if any of you had any advice on what is the best sort of program to go on. I know some of you may say read all the threads but having someone tell me their experiences will help. I’m like quite a lot of guys, i wanna be strong as i can be but i also wanna look good. I do enjoy sheiko but it takes ages sometimes.

Your advice and help will be most appreciated

thanks

I had the same problem in college. I’d make big gains in the off season and lose them during season. What I know now and wish I knew then is it doesn’t take that much to maintain.

I had it in my mind that I had to do a certain amount in the gym so I’d end up overtrained with what I was doing on the field and in the weight room or I would just quit with the weights during season. Both lead to losing my gains.

If this applies to you just try cutting way back on the weights during season. Go heavy but not to the point of fatigue. Do primary movements, don’t waste resources on frivolous movements.

It is quite hard to find a program do it in the rugby season and keep gains up because of injuries, but it is not impossible, in my program during the season I keep it simple, core,legs and back on monday and wednesday, chest, triceps and shoulders on tuesday and thursday. I keep away from weights on fridays due to a matches on saterdays and I find this seems to work. Hope this helps