You can tell it is the bikini season in the gym. Suddenly performance goes out the window and words such as ‘weight’ and ‘tone’ and ‘flab’ start appearing. Not one to entertain this sort of shite when it comes to training we promptly made a point of posting new records up on our whiteboard (basically lads came in to bench more, press up more, squat more, row more and trap bar deadlift all the weight we had). This promptly calmed some people down and now their focus is more on ‘performance’.
You see you CAN have it all. Do you think an athlete (aside from the usual contenders involved in ‘making the weight’) is really concerned about his/her physique? NO. The nice thing is that a byproduct of this is that they are buff and look good naked. They are always focused on just lifting more, making more gains, improving, improving, improving and to necessarily on the scales. So whilst we do measure body composition it is not the be all and end all. If you heard hwo I talk to my front row guys about this you would be shocked…..
I have been building back the depth of my squat. Ankle mobility is a huge issue for me. as you can see I can only get to full depth with the ankles raised. For a while I was obsessed about this only to realize that this form of squatting was actually preventing me from handling any heavy load and getting stronger. So out came the box squat and we are all progressing nicely. I normally do these AFTER a heavy squat session just to get some volume in… Here i demo some children’s weights going to full depth. Not perfect but hey, I am not putting this up to score brownies..
Plus I love Aerosmith.
The Academy lads met the Prowler on Weds and promplty couldn’t walk. Although I did a conditioning session this morning of the following:
10 Minute Jog at 8km/hr
10 minutes - DB Squats x 10 / Press Ups x 5 / INverted Rows x 5 as may circuits as poss
10 minutes - Prowler Sprints ( as many as poss) + 2 plates in the time frame
10 minutes - DB Swings x 12 / Band Pull Down x 6 / DB Rows x 6 ea
10 minutes - Prowler Sprints ( as many as poss)
I was spent after this. A good lunchtime feed and a post workout shake of hemp protein and rice milk helped with some Glutamine and Creatine. This is my ‘balls to the wall’ week of training. Back off week next week.
Heading back in this afternoon for a bench workout.
This is Conall, a really promising footballer taking apart the sled with a bear crawl. He is in good nick only to go and piss it up in Colorado over the Summer, although he is in a good community to make the gains he has made count and stick. Good luck!
The Academy lads are back in tomorrow. Apparently Eamonn couldn’t walk after the session which shows to me a) that the programme is in early phases yet and b) his nutrition sucks because it wasn;t that tough. They have been instrcuted to drink more good quality water and hone in on breakfast…watch this space. I am very excited about working with these bunch of lads as they are raw, tough and 100 per cent determined.
What do you think of the Lion’s selections ….no surprise there eh? love to hear your comments…
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
John, I am a 15 year old hooker playing at u16 level for cardiff blues south. I have been training with protein for around a year, and lately my weight has not increased ( 14st 2) in any shape or form.
I have been thinking of going on creatine, btu have heard bad things about it. What do you reccomend?
sean
WHAT IS YOUR DIET LIKE AS A FOUNDATION? OF ALL THE FACTORS THAT WILL MOST INFLUENCE HOW YOU GET ON WITH YOUR TRAINING ARE IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE A) WATER INTAKE B) NUTRITIONAL INTAKE C) PROPER TRAINING PROGRAMME AND D) SLEEP. CREATINE ETC REALLY DON’T PAY A HUGE PART AT YOUR LEVEL, NO MATTER WHAT THE ADVERTS SAY AND THAT INCLUDES PROTEIN POWDERS. IN FACT I WOULD SAY THEY ACTUALLY CLOUD THE WHOLE ISSUE OF GAINING WEIGHT. WASTE OF MONEY WITHOUT A - D FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS.
Alway enjoy your articles & perspective John- particularly as a S Hemisphere coach (Forwards + S and C) always good to compare how we do it to how it done elsewhere. Hey, isnt that AC/DC playing in the background?
Rugbia Floreat Ubique!
Will
you bet it is….then iron maiden
PS- Go Bokke!
But OMW Peter DeVilliers ALMOST cocked it up putting the subs on so early & making so many changes at once… its ALL to play for now!
Rugbia Floreat Ubique!
Will
John your a rugby Genius! I Wish I had your knowledge. I hope you don’t mind me leaving a comment. Here’s where I’m at, at the minute if you would care to listen. For Years I have been a massive rugby fan. My Dad used to play but I was to young to remember. But it’s in my blood. This year I turned thirty and at Christmas time after agonising for years about training to Play Rugby I Finally begin to. I was 17stone 6 pounds with no experience of been in a full contact sport. Right now I weight 14 stone 10 pound and I’ve never felt so motivated to play rugby union. In april I went to a training session with the limerick city titans rugby league, It was full contact. But due to me been under conditioned I cracked a rib/ I thought that would of made me see sense and not to be taking up such a phsical sport so late in my life/ But after training through my injury at home alongside good nutriition,protein shakes, cardio, weight training and sprints I’m dying to give it another shot. My heart is with union so My goal is to try out for my local side. Their in divsion 3 a.i.b. Do you think i’m setting my goals to high for a lad in his twilight? also I dont have massive muscle defination but I have built up serious core strenght in my arms legs and upperbody. Do you think that because i wont look the part will have an effect on much larger guys taking me serious? Sorry for annoying you with this personal query.
martin..thanks for your comments…what’s stopping you? hit the gym now stick to the big core lifts such as the deadlift, bench, pull ups and squats and you will be just fine! Go for it.
On that circuit I challenged my training buddy - I knocked out 11 on circuit 1 - 7 prowler sprints - 8 circuits in block 3 and - 10 prowler sprints in block 4. I must say that was probably the toughest conditioning circuit I have done in a while. Let me know how you get on if you decide to give it a go. Albert ( my training buddy) had a photo of me, he thought I had passed out….
Hi all,
Thanks for your comments, I have tried my best to answer them so feel free to scan them at your will, will.
J
Hi John,
I have a q abt the NO-Xplode supplement ( Link below), its effectiveness and safety for players between the age of 17-19
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/bsn/xplode.html
There is a school rugby team that is currently using it (it has raissed a few eyebrows over here), and they show dramatic improvements in the 2nd half of the game. They have scored 80 % of all there points in 7 games in the 2nd half.!!
Could you pls elaborate what exactly this supplement does as do you reccomend this suppliment to rugby players who are teenagers? and could there be long term side effects?
Looking forward to your reply,
Cheers,
Bilal
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Bilal,
Not overly familiar with the application of this supplement. Although, I can see why by the contents. This is a massive stimulant.
I would wonder if it had any effect whatsoever (even a placebo effect). Things to consider - maybe they are more or better conditioned. How many games are won and lost in the last quarter? Answer = most of them. Are their overall diets better? Even a drop in hydration levels can bring about a huge decrease in performance.
In general supplements at school boy level are over-played. Get their diets right before EVEN glancing at them, let alone using them. Most shchoolboys get by on MArs bars and cheese on toast….
John
Hey Bilal (& John,. hope you dont mind me adding my 5 cents!
RE: the opponents you are tracking- as a former schools 1st XV coach, boarding master & sport scientist, I suspect the results this team are acheiving are due primarily to better conditioning AND the psychological effect both to THEM & all of you, the opposition! It sounds like you’ve all been psyched out into believing these boys are supermen before you’ve taken the field! We have HEAPS of school teams in South Africa on supplements (plus having RIDICULOUS amounts of coaches for schoolboy level- defence coach, forwards coach, S & C coach etc- what happened to EDUCATION right!?) and the effect psychologically on boys/ schools who’re NOT is MASSIVE! But on closer inspection, the schools who’re on supplements also have good S & C programs & thats where the bulk of their benefit comes from. I taught at a smallish school & we enjoyed a measure of success against the ’super schools’ by simply playing smarter (more accurate technically) & training harder (up to date S & C methods) and I suggest your team & others in your league would benefit from firstly being more positive psychologically & then looking to upskill yourselves (coaches & players) in technique and S & C - it can be done mate- but it takes time… ‘You cant rush perfection’! GOOD LUCK & let us know how it goes!
couldn’t agree more, Will. Toughness comes from the preparation that you do before hand in the thick of training. That toughness will spill over, not only in the way you play, but also with the individual level of one’s confidence. I know that if the lads have been put through a really tough session on Tuesday (at a higher intensity than the match) then no matter what the opposition are taking, doing, drinking, is irrelevant because ‘I guarnatee that they would not have done what we would have done on Tuesday’ mentality will prevail.
Agreed 100%, but there is something fishy when this same s&c coach has a track record of feeding capsules in the past before games which have had players vomiting after games!!
Now isn’t that a bit dodgy?!
yep….but then I have had young lads go green at the thought of eating their veggies..
Hi John,
Could you pls let me know what you think of the below speed product.
Do you think it could be effective, since I have heard many s&c coaches being very critical of 30 day crash programs.
http://www.speedexperts.com/
Looking forward to your reply,
Harry
Hi,
fitnessforrugbyblog.com to GoogleReader!
SonyaSunny