With the 2^nd half of the season about to get under way and the BC high school seasons looming in the next few months, coaches must find a way to balance their limited time schedules to get their athletes up to speed.  Finding the correct balance of skill work and tactical work, positional work, team work etc, we must find the time to ensure our athletes are conditioned well enough that they have the ability to execute the tasks we are asking of them.  We are all aware of the role fatigue plays in diminishing ones play, but how do we find time when we only have about 90 minutes twice a week to facilitate this?

 I have included some sample progressions that we will be using with our club athletes along with some basic principles.  Please ensure each session begins with a proper warm up to ensure safety and reduce injury risk.   With this, we need to consider the following: 

• Most of our athletes finished the first half of the season off with a decent conditioning base. Unfortunately, the two months off over the holidays has them starting back at square one or in some cases worse.
• Rugby is a multi-energy system sport and we must have a rough outline as how they play off each other when putting our conditioning sessions together.
• We have limited time during the week to get the most out of our athletes. Many have school, jobs or poor excuses for not having an extra 15-20 minutes to get to training early to do this on their own or as a group.
• Do we leave the conditioning to the athletes to do on their own or do we incorporate it into drills and throughout practice to ensure the work is getting done?

Without getting overly scientific, we need to look at developing the aerobic system first as it will help to aid in the recovery of our shorter, more high intensity bouts.   As the athlete's progress, so does the intensity.

Suggestions:

• Training sessions 1 and 3(Tues)-Tempo Runs. Keep in mind the conditioning levels of your athletes. This will determine where you should start (You may incorporate handling drills or a kick and chase during the striding phase. The goal for the athletes is to get as many laps as possible in the given time):
• Novice-Stride the length of the field (moderate intensity), walk or jog the width, stride the length, walk or jog the width. Repeat this for 6-10 minutes
• Intermediate-Sprint goal line to 22m, jog or stride to opposing 22m, sprint to goal line, walk or jog the width and repeat down the opposing side line.
• Elite-Sprint goal line to 40m, jog to opposing 40m (20m distance), sprint to goal line, walk or jog width and repeat down opposing sideline.
• Training session 2 and 4 (Thurs)-Interval skill work. Intensity is high and Work to rest ratio is 1:1. As the athlete's progress, include an active rest. Active rest would incorporate light jogging or light skill work. Use this time to cue the importance of keeping form high even while fatigued. Generally look to incorporate active rest on bouts that last over a minute. This keeps the athletes engaged and forces the mental aspect of staying sharp while fatigued.
• Novice-:60 seconds of work, :60 seconds rest x 5 (10 mins total)
• Intermediate-:120 seconds or work, :120 seconds of rest x 6 (12 mins total).
• Elite-:180 seconds of work, :180 seconds or rest x 3 (18 mins total).

Active rest: Keep the heart rate slightly elevated while still keeping a low level or work.  I use basic movement patterns like jogging, shuffling, backward running intermixed with light handling or hand eye coordination drills.

Once I feel the athlete's have the ability to recover from the above drills, we move to more specific types of anaerobic conditioning work.   In an average 80 minute game, the athletes will rarely be sprinting with a max effort for more than 2 minutes total with bouts lasting approximately 5 seconds.   I don't feel we need to start digging up scientific journals to see where I am going with this.  Watch any high level rugby game and you will also note that the majority of bursts occur within a short radius and will include some sort of change of direction before contact is made or the ball is off loaded.  With these factors in mind, we should structure our sessions in a manner that will suit these needs.   The two systems we will be working are: the phosphocreatine system (under :10 seconds in duration with about :60 seconds plus of recovery) and the glycolytic system (:10 to :45 seconds in duration with a short rest of about :20 to :45 seconds).

Things to consider:

• Backs will tend to have more rest between high intensity bouts than forwards.
• Backs will most likely have more sprint intervals and they will be over a longer distance than forwards.
• Forwards will have more contact (rucks, mauls, scrums, lineout's etc) and should include some sort of physical work coupled into their conditioning (bag work, wrestling drills, pummelling etc).

Suggestions:

• Training sessions  1 and 3 (Tues) Forwards-10meter get up and go-6 x :60 seconds work, :60 seconds rest.  Start on stomach, sprint 10m, touch line with foot, return to start, get to stomach and repeat.  Count total number of lengths completed.  Backs-20 meter shuttle-6 x :60 seconds work, :60 seconds rest.  Start on goal line, sprint 20 meters and back, count total number of lengths completed.
• 6 sets is a guideline-you may start with 3-4 sets and work your way up to 6 plus.  Usually the first three sets will give you a guide as to how fit your team is.  If the drop off is significant in total lengths from the first to the third, you may consider adding an extra minute to the rest time after three sets, then continue with the last three. 
• As the teams fitness improves; backs can incorporate a light jog or skill during the rest, while the forwards may include wrestling, pummelling or bodyweight strength movements in.
• Training sessions  2 and 4 (Thurs) Forwards-5 meter ground starts x 10-athletes should be encouraged to decelerate over about 10-15 meters, jog back to the start as rest and repeat (refer to:  http://bcrugbynews.com/show_news.cfm?ID=431 for information on starts).  Backs-15 meter single leg starts x 10 (5 each leg)-athletes should be encouraged to decelerate over 10-15 meters, then jog back to the start as rest and repeat.   Once all sprints are repeated for each group, they should progress to: Forwards-5-10-5 meter shuttle x 10 with 22 meter and back jog to recover between bouts.  Sprint to 5 meter line and back, 10 meter line and back, 5 meter line and back (alternate which foot touches the line on each turn).  Backs-10-15-20 meter burst with equal jog/deceleration x 10 with jog back to start line as rest.  Sprint 10 meters, jog 10 meters, sprint 15 meters, jog 15 meters, sprint 20 meters, jog 20 meters.   You may incorporate a slight change of direction on each burst, or have the athletes back pedal or shuffle on the jog portion for the same distances.

All of these are just examples.  I have kept ease of set up, duration of time allotted and a realistic approach to what our local clubs may be able to execute through some simple progressions.  The goal of this is to get your athletes in the right direction.  I have many more specific sessions that I have planned and used with all of the teams and athletes I have worked with and I would be happy to share them should anyone be interested (contact me at joe@level10fitness.com).   Ideally, I would have the athletes including more change of direction/reaction work, power and start work as well as linear and lateral speed work,  but given time constraints, we can look to incorporate all of this once a base has been developed (refer to: http://bcrugbynews.com/show_news.cfm?ID=476 for more information).  Good luck and don't be afraid to get creative.  The intervals are guidelines, but so are the movements.  If you find it difficult to keep focus of the group, keep the intervals the same while manipulating the distances covered or skill involved (as a guideline, I would avoid sprinting over 40 meters without a change of direction with an unfit group to reduce the chance of injury).  As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Yours in Strength,

Joe McCullum