I'm sure with every training program there are faults. It is hard to find exact training programs (why would any team publish this?), but here is a cobbling together of what different clubs do.
1) Bath Rugby Club. This isn't a detailed program, just a note to the general public on training, but the Bath Rugby Club (pro team) on "how rugby players train."
https://www.bathrugby.co.uk/how-do-rugby-players-train. The only lifts they recommend are Squats, Deadlifts, Power Cleans, Bench Press and Military Press. Sound familiar? The rep range for squats and deadlifts is pegged at: 4 sets of 3 reps.
The strength coach added here
Page not found | Breaking the Gainline: The Hard Yards
“The standards we set are relative to body weight (BW). They are 2x BW squat/deadlift, 1.5xBW bench press, 1.3BW incline bench and bench pull and 0.5xBW pull-ups. Olympics lifts are more tailored but players should be capable of producing power outputs of 2000w. Players can and should hit these standards(...) for example, England’s 114kg (17st13lbs) Geoff Parling, a star of the autumn, should theoretically be lifting: 171kg Bench Press, 228kg Squat/Deadlift, 148.2kg Incline Bench/Bench Pull and performing pull-ups with 57kg on his back.
Here is a video of an upper body session:
Highlights of ME upper body session with Bath Rugby strength coach Jameson Mola - YouTube. The bench pressing is heavy and the form is great.
2) Below is the player Chris Robshaw of Harlequins talking.
"Pre-season we would be doing more hypertrophy sessions. We might do that in the first phase of pre-season, so for three to four weeks. Then once we’ve got that, the next three weeks we would be doing strength-based. Then throughout the season it’s more strength-based maintenance really. We’re doing potentially sets of four and then between four and six reps (...) I’m probably in the middle. We vary it, because we come back a little bit later in pre-season so as forwards we’re playing a little bit of catch up. So I’ll probably bench four fours (four sets of four reps) on 120kg, shoulder press probably four fours on 95kg and squat probably 140kg for four fours. Then you’ve got the props who are probably doing 200kg with the squats."
How to pack on muscle mass like England rugby star Chris Robshaw | JOE.co.uk
An article on his club's training:
All the players in the Harlequins gym, from hulking 17-stone forwards like Chris Robshaw and Joe Marler to athletic powerhouses like Danny Care and Mike Brown, share the same foundation to their strength-training routines – and it is surprisingly old-fashioned.
“We tend to be very traditional with our strength training,” explains the club’s Head of Human Performance John Dams, who oversees the players’ physical training. “Our general preparatory exercises are tried and tested and we don’t tend to vary them much. Squats, deadlifts and bench presses form a large part of our strength programme.”
Although players also do Olympic lifts, plyometric drills, medicine ball work and sled drills, their primary focus is always on these three basic but powerful exercises. Additional gains in strength come from adapting these exercises over time."
Five surprising gym secrets of pro rugby players - Telegraph
Here is another link related to their training:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fi...g-make-single/. The strength coach is a former competitive strongman who states "We build our programme on these traditional methods. If guys can squat, they will squat. If they can’t squat then it will be a variation of a squat as their main leg stimulus. The larger the compound lift – so the more joints it’s using – the bigger the stimulus." The video in the link quotes the best deadlift as 595 for 3 reps.
In a video here they are training and the coach asks the player to squat 170 kg for 5 reps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rg-dl6-qA0. Squats look to be close to depth (can't tell) and the player at the end is saying "c'mon brother, sets of 5 brother."
3) Here is an official USA rugby training program recommended for use by any American rugby player:
https://assets.usarugby.org/docs/rugbyu/ep3-goonan.pdf. Higher reps for a longer period, but based around compound lifts and reps drop to 5s or lower prior to the season and completely during the season.
4) This is a general guide from South Africa from untrained to professionals and has a lot of stupid shit in it:
http://www.sarugby.co.za/boksmart/pd...or%20rugby.pdf.
Even so if you skip to "Advanced Strength Program" for programs 20-26 it contains power cleans, squats, rows, shoulder press, bench press, chins, dips, high pulls, push press, "bent leg" deadlift. The rep/sets are generally pegged at 6,6,4,4.
The in-season lifting (#27) is basically squats, deadlifts, bench press for 4 sets of 5 and power cleans and push presses for sets of 6, with a lot of stupid shit added on top.
Keep in mind that it is generally agreed that you can't make gains during the season as the games are too demanding, so it is basically just maintenance. Many of the players play 30-35 games a season (not all in consecutive weeks), so they might only have 8-10 weeks off consecutively.
Rugby is NOT primarily a strength sport. As I noted the players run as much as 7000 metres a game. That said you do still need to be strong.
The top players play as many as 35 games a season. The games are fucking brutal. It is impossible to make gains during the season and perform the next Saturday. A top player has about 8-12 weeks off, not six months. They are also perpetually injured.
You are basing your opinion on one shit article.
I quoted the South African standard as: 1.8 (kg/kg.bw) for squats and 1.5 for bench press. So a 250 lbs guy has to squat 450 and bench 375 as a minimum. Is that too light?
Originally Posted by MBasic
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