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.
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
The Wilf Paish rugby tests – named after the late British Olympics athletics coach – examine a player’s general fitness. All you need is a pitch, cones, 30m tape measure, stopwatch and a helper… MORE
Before you begin training in earnest, you should establish what base your players are starting from. In the first of two articles on testing, we look at different ways to measure running fitness levels… MORE
There’s no need to go to the gym to perform the simple press-up, which should be part of any rugby conditioning programme. Here are 10 types to integrate into your players’ training… MORE
What you do just before your workout begins can have a big impact on what you are able to do during your workout. Many athletes prepare for a training session by carrying out some routine stretching exercises, but it's important to remember that stretching helps to improve your static (non-moving) flexibility and may not do such a good job at preparing your body to move quickly and efficiently. That's why I recommend that you focus on 'dynamic mobility exercises' before every workout. MORE
Initial power gains from the gym will soon drop if you don’t adapt your training programmes. So make exercises more specific to give your players the most transferable gains before the season starts. MORE
