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Strength and Conditioning
Introduction
with Ben Pegna
One of the biggest challenges for the aspiring young rugby player with access to social media and numerous information sources is deciding who to listen to, and who to take advice from in a world where the person who shouts loudest is an expert.
In a sport like rugby, where physical well being is crucial, it is essential that you are listening to the right people.
Put another way, can you afford to be risking your safety, and jeopardising your sporting dreams, simply by listening to the wrong people and acting on second hand advice from some guy down the gym?!
Throughout the site we will help you overcome this problem by highlighting what you should be looking for when seeking advice, and the type of people you should be listening to, and the qualifications you should be ensuring they possess.
We will also go one step further and bring you advice from some of the best people in the sport.
This is an area where I personally made several mistakes at the beginning of my career in my eagerness to bulk up and get stronger.
Whilst playing club rugby in Wales I managed to obtain an excellent training programme that had originated from the AIS in Australia and was designed specifically for one of the experienced Australian international second rows. He had passed it on to one of the welsh national team players, who in turn passed it on to a team mate of mine, who then passed it on to me, a 20 year old openside flanker who was relatively undeveloped and inexperienced in lifting weights!
The programme was undoubtedly excellent, and I did gain lean muscle mass and got very strong over the next three months.
The problem was that the programme had been designed for a mature athlete, not someone of my age, and with my limited experience lifting weights.
It didn't take into account how many matches I was playing, or had played that season or the volume of training I had done recently or was used to doing.
In addition I followed the programme unsupervised, with no guidance.
I followed the programme to the letter, and got very strong, squatting in excess of 200kgs whilst weighing around 95kgs.
However, it wasn't long before I started breaking down with injury, and in the next season my first as a full time professional in the English Premiership with London Scottish I pulled both hamstrings several times which more or less scuppered my season.
In short, if I had been supervised, had lifted with better technique and had a programme tailored for me, or at least advice as to an appropriate workload for me, then I believe my injury nightmare that season would have been avoided.
Hopefully you can avoid the mistakes I made!
To start with then what is S&C?
Strength and Conditioning, or S&C as you will hear it described is the terminology that describes all physical training, from weight training in the gym designed to improve strength through to the cardiovascular training designed to improve your fitness or conditioning, which is the correct terminology in sports science.
When seeking advice concerning your physical development you need to ensure you seek out a qualified S&C coach, who is able to provide advice that will help you attain your physical goals, whilst keeping you injury free.
The preference would be that you were able to work on a one to one basis with an S&C coach who would write you a personalised programme and then train you over a period of time.
Due to finances this is an unlikely course of action for most of us though.
There are a couple of possible next best scenarios that offer you potential solutions:
1. Group together with some team mates and see if an S&C coach might help you out with a preferential rate.
2. Go for a consultancy and have a programme written for you with exercises explained.
You would then go away for a few weeks and train independently using the programme and then come back to the coach who would re-assess you and make the necessary adjustments.
The benefits of this approach are that you would have a good personalised programme.
The downside, however, is that you will not have a coach watching you train and correcting faults.
To partially overcome this problem you can train with a partner, and ask them to film you with the camera on their phone and then you can review your technique in between weights sets and alter accordingly during a session.
You can then also record progressions in your development to show your coach during the review.
There is also some excellent software and apps available now to help with the analysis of technique and this could help too.
In between your training sessions you can then access resources like I Dream of Rugby where you can watch videos of experienced weight lifters and you can compare your technique to theirs.
3. Another alternative option is to try and see if your club team can get a Strength and Conditioning student as an intern with your school or club team.
Most second or third year students on an undergraduate S&C degree, will have a good insight and education base already and be able to source and offer good advice. You might also be able to obtain the assistance of recent graduates.
The benefit here is that you will have a coach with you who is competent but also needs to clock up as many working hours as possible and will want to immerse themselves into helping you, so it can be a great win-win scenario.
Either of the above methods represents a good first point of reference, from which you can go and speak to other people.
I would advise following this route ahead of advice from a men's magazine, and in some cases from the recently qualified personal trainer at the local gym.
If you are going to use a personal trainer at the gym, try and enquire what qualifications and experience they have. Many personal trainers can now attain qualifications in only a few weeks.
The average S&C coach though will have a minimum of three years at university, additional on the job training and work experience and also other practical qualifications from governing bodies. Some may even have Masters degrees.
Generally these are some of the qualifications that you should look out for:
ASCC: If a coach is accredited from the UKSCA and the coach has their ASCC qualification then they will be more than competent in key fields of physical development.
BSc, MSc: In addition look out for further depth to the qualifications, possible BSc and MSc qualifications in S&C.
ASCA level 1 upwards: Qualification from the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association (ASCA).
CSCS: From the USA based National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).
If you are confused about this area of rugby and would like more information then look online at:
www.uksca.org.uk and www.nsca-lift.org where you will find more information.
Remember these key points:
1. The key to the game of rugby is being uninjured and on the field!
You will improve from playing, and playing consistently over a period of time.
Make sure that the training you perform doesn't risk injury, you need to be consistent on the field.
2. In relation to this, nobody watching on the weekend sees what you do in the gym in the week.
Your rugby coach cares about what you do on the pitch on match day!
You can be strong in the gym, but ineffective on the field for several reasons.
Do everything with the question in the back of your mind: Will this make me a better player?
3. Technique and form of movement above weight lifted.
The biggest mistake made across all gyms the world over is that individuals attempt to lift heavier weights than they should with incorrect technique.
You will gain more in the long term from correct technique or 'form' as it is referred to than incorrect technique, and heavy weights that do not use the intended and correct muscle groups.
