Fitter teams win more games – it’s as simple as that. Of course, we know that most clubs will not have a fitness trainer or a well-equipped gym.
But there is a lot you can do yourself. Whether you are a player or a coach we have lots of exercises designed specifically to improve your training and get you rugby fit.
The fitness and conditioning drills in this section look at how you can help your players to get fit, stay fit, avoid injury and recover more quickly, take a look to see the impact it can have on your training.
How many times have you seen a close game decided in the last 10 minutes because one team is fit and the other is running out of energy?
Don’t be a part of that losing team! Working on fitness is something every rugby player can do to improve results for their team.
This session is fun, easy to set up and works your players’ footwork and conditioning. The players will be jumping and side stepping around a “shipwreck” trying to avoid “pirates”.
The game further develops the decision making elements from the initial session. (You can also get the players to set up the “wreck”.) MORE
If your team are struggling for fitness, then running them up and down the pitch is one way of improving their conditioning. A better way is to use a ball. This session uses some simple exercises to improve skills as well as lung capacity. MORE
Nic Dolly, from Build U Fitness, gives us a full body workout that your players can do at home, which will help test your cardiovascular and strength endurance. MORE
Paper title: ‘Injury prevention effects of stretching exercise intervention by physical therapists in male high school soccer players’; Publication: Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports J Med Sci Sports. 2020 (11):2178-2192; Publication date: November 30th 2020 Stretching is considered by many sportsmen and women as an integral part of a training program particularly when performed... MORE
Coronavirus is spreading to every corner of the globe, and is almost certainly going to have a huge impact on the way we live our lives, including the way we participate in sport, exercise and leisure. In the first part of a three-part article, we take an in-depth look at the characteristics of coronavirus and the challenges it poses to all of us. MORE
With little wriggle room for making mistakes in your fitness preparation at the business end of the season, you need to mix rest and hard work for the best returns. MORE