Rugby Speed/Plyo/Agility
 

I play rugby union which involves training Tues & Thurs and play on a Sat. I 'm thrying to change my training week for variation. I would normally do the following-
Mon- Plyo/agility & Oly lifting
Tues - Upper Body & Rugby
Wed - Speed & Oly lifting
Thurs - Upper Body & Rugby
Fri - Rest
Sat - Match
Sun - Recovery

I am in midseason so volume is being cut down. The rugby sessions involve a huge amount of physical contact which is hard to recover from. may recovery methods could be improved.
I feel I need a new regime and have thought about cutting out an upper body session?

Any ideas?

You should vary it depending on how you're beat up. If your legs need to recover you should allow them to recover; if your upper body does then do that. If it's the whole body do that.

Don't be afraid to take rest days if you feel that you need it. Missing one or two workouts especially when they can do you more harm than good (working out while injured can incur greater injuries) is not worth it at all.

Depending on how you're feeling you might want to cut one the days a week and add in a lot of prehab work for everything.

What level do you play ruby at?

I play at All-Ireland league- National league level. Work as Fitness coach so can get pretty wrecked sometimes.
Thanks for advice. I find rugby is about managing recovery and not your training.

what recovery methods are you currently using?

It probably wouldn't hurt to cut out an upper body session since you've got two days of that each week. Or maybe just switch one day to lighter weight, higher rep deadlifts & presses.

What does your Oly programming look like?

John

I get sports massage, ice baths, some flexibility work but could do more and I do some cycling which I find helps too.

I've already dropped one upper body session and do prehab instead, in which I am already feeling the benefits.

Oly days at the mo

Snatch 3/2/1/1
CJ 5 70%
CJ 3x2 85%
CJ2x2 75%
FS 5x5 60% to 90%
SLDL 5x5 70%

OH Squats 5x2 80%
Back squat 3x5 80%
Snatch Deadlift 3x3 110%#
Push Press 5x5 80%
Pull-Ups 5 sets to max

Do a speed/plyo/agility session once a week.
What you think?

Robbie

Do you need O lifts twice a week in season? You may be serving two masters. Get the gains in the off season and try to maintain them for as long as possible during season.

For speed/plyo work - quality not quantity. Walk away when it starts to go to shit. It's really important to detach conditioning work from speedwork.

Recovery wise, it's a social game, but the Guinness shows some cruel love to those who flirt with it.

James

O lifts I feel are essential and I wouldn't feep prepared for a match if I missed my sessions.

Speed work is all 20 to 50m mixed with technique drills and plyo is 50 to80 foot contacts at the most.

The recovery and prehab sessions are critical.

As you can see the game has moved on from a social sport.

Yeah, but it's surprising how many pros seemed to have missed this.

By the way, please take no inference that I assumed as an Irishman you were also a beerhound.

I think the pros manage themselves or are being managed a lot better. It is a mazing the amount of so called S&C coaches who work within rugby and still push bodybuilding methods.

I like to sip the odd pint or 2. However you must earn the odd drink or indulgence.