Lifting stats in the NRL (Rugby)

[Marenghi]

This is exactly what Im talking about: What a "resonable" strength performance is, depends on what maximizes the end goal: sports performance. And that may neither be the "strongest possible" or any arbitrary high standard via scouting selection because that might select for other characteristics/players than best rugby performance. Nor arbitrary standards via training, because, as I said, ressources are finite.

So it is an empirical question, not what you, I or others mean what should be "good".

[DeriHughes]

This is exactly what Im talking about: What a "resonable" strength performance is, depends on what maximizes the end goal: sports performance. And that may neither be the "strongest possible" or any arbitrary high standard via scouting selection because that might select for other characteristics/players than best rugby performance. Nor arbitrary standards via training, because, as I said, ressources are finite.

So it is an empirical question, not what you, I or others mean what should be "good".

I'm not suggesting that strength should be the only characteristic selected for. But, empirically, a coach should have an absolute number in mind for the force he needs his players to be able to exert (as well as how high they can jump / how fast they are / their skills / their psychology etc). That is not a multiple of bodyweight.

[Chris McCarthy]

Ed Hall would tear people apart on the Rugby field...assuming they waited 5 minutes for him to get there (rolls eyes).

[Marenghi]

I'm not suggesting that strength should be the only characteristic selected for. But, empirically, a coach should have an absolute number in mind for the force he needs his players to be able to exert (as well as how high they can jump / how fast they are / their skills / their psychology etc). That is not a multiple of bodyweight.

I understand you - I´d have the same impulse: "He should be able to run/lift that and that".

Out of experience (subjective, not objective!) surely a coach has some numbers. I doubt these are optimal numbers, hence its an empirical question that has to be tackled.

[DeriHughes]

Ed Hall would tear people apart on the Rugby field...assuming they waited 5 minutes for him to get there (rolls eyes).

They do wait for the props to get there for a scrum... I wouldn't want to pack down against him anyway! Probably wouldn't add much round the park though.

[Glasgow_Jock]

Ed Hall would tear people apart on the Rugby field...assuming they waited 5 minutes for him to get there (rolls eyes).

Agreed.

No point weighing 180kg+ & having a 500kg dead lift & a 400kg+ squat if you can't make every second to third breakdown because you're too busy breathing through your hoop on the 22m line most of the game.

From what I understood pro rugby players are "constant intermediates" in the strength department because as mentioned their resources are "finite" and they simply can't set aside the time for recovery to reach advanced levels of strength training.

As to what is a "reasonable" level of strength is, so long as you're *stronger* than the guys you're competing with for your position and the opposition then it's "sufficient", and you're able to transport your "sufficient" size & strength around the field for 80 minutes making an arbitrary % of breakdowns the scout, coach etc deems "sufficient".

There was a point about genetics & rugby I agreed with; Jonah Lomu reached the top largely because he was blessed with the genetics to accelerate his teenage 6ft 5in 19st plus frame in to his opponents at "great" speeds for 80 minutes given his bulk.

[DeriHughes]

From what I understood pro rugby players are "constant intermediates" in the strength department because as mentioned their resources are "finite" and they simply can't set aside the time for recovery to reach advanced levels of strength training.

As to what is a "reasonable" level of strength is, so long as you're *stronger* than the guys you're competing with for your position and the opposition then it's "sufficient", and you're able to transport your "sufficient" size & strength around the field for 80 minutes making an arbitrary % of breakdowns the scout, coach etc deems "sufficient"

A lot of pro rugby players could make novice-like progress, at least in the off season, because they've never run anything like an LP. I would argue that the props should be on advanced SRA cycles, given the importance of strength to their role on the team.

Either way, 'intermediate' strength levels for these guys - properly trained, from school - should be a lot higher than the numbers we currently see. And getting your strength to a 'sufficient' level only works until a coach decides to get his team 10 / 20 / 30% stronger. That changes the definition of 'sufficient' for their opponents, who are behind the curve by then.

[Sean Herbison]

Hard to conclude anything other than either strength isn't a major priority for them (which would be an odd decision given its importance to their sport), or their coaches don't know what strong looks like or how to get someone there. The amount of bragging about squats and pulls in the low 200s suggests the latter.

The athletes aren't the ones doing the bragging though. Have you ever had an article written about you, even in a low-key publication? The gap between the level of understanding the author has and the level they should have to write about a topic can be pretty vast. That's why you hear phrases like "Olympic Powerlifting" or "amazingly, he can lift more than his own bodyweight!" It's not surprising that the random author of an internet article doesn't have a basis for what is or is not impressive for someone who trains with weights. And it's not a good sign when the author compares these guys to Hafthor Bjornsson right off the bat.

The best player ever, Richie McCaw, was not a genetic freak at all. He dominated by being the fittest player on the field, the smartest (nearly a Rhodes scholar) and by being more willing to endure physical pain.

I don't know McCaw, so perhaps that's true, but two of those three (and arguably all three) are heavily influenced by genetics.

[Pluripotent]

The first team that makes a 500 lbs deadlift an entry level requirement would likely make a sweep of everyone else, and sports would be forever changed.

The first country that has no national currency or central bank and lowers taxes/regs to world historic lows would be the next super power, and the world would be changed forever.

Why does nobody do these things?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Too many jobs at stake, doc.