7 great ways to warm up

1. Steady state to rugby active

Players will not arrive at the same time, nor in the same state of mind. You need to get them from their steady state up to rugby active.

If you are lucky, they will organise a game of touch rugby. If not, encourage a gentle game. It will certainly drag a few out of the changing rooms quicker.

Try Rondo-type activities, again which can be set up by the players. See examples here.

2. Minds on

Once your team is ready to start properly, a briefing is needed. Say something to introduce the session and the warm-up: what is going to happen and how long it is going to take.

Outline themes but keep it brief. For example: “Our focus is: pressurising the opposition and accurate execution at the breakdown.”

3. Work-ons

A warm-up is a good time to train areas that need improvement from last week. You can do some small area handling, contact work or tackling techniques.

It is an ideal warm-up activity because it will be working SLOWLY on techniques you have covered already. Don’t work on new techniques in a warm-up. This is a revision time, not a development time.

4. Fire up the real core

Make sure you cover some core skills, if not covered in the “work-ons”.

A couple of minutes could be spent on a ruck technique for instance, using ruck pads for some low level resistance. Or you could have a couple of small passing exercises, based on 2v1 or 3v2 scenarios.

5. Personal time

Within the warm-up, have a couple of short breaks to allow players to adjust their kit, take on fluids or stretch stiff muscles. Whether you include dynamic stretching or not, some players will want time to activate sore body parts from previous matches or training.

6. Body prep

Your warm-up should help players prepare themselves for the amount of contact you are going to do in practice. But it should not be too intense: Try a gradual build up in a small space.

7. Something FRESH

All warm-ups should contain something a little fresh if possible. Keep players challenged by giving them a different exercise or variation on a previous exercise.