So you wanna get Rugby Swol? Here's the workout for you.

In one of his many works on the reality around us, the famous philosopher, Aristotle, stated that every ‘thing’, movement, or change has four types of causes: formal, efficient, material, and final. This article will go into each, in detail, to gain a deeper conceptual understanding of pre-season rugby strength and conditioning training. 

Just kidding!

We’re gonna look at how to get tough and buff for the season! Let’s get as injury-resistant as possible, and get ready to be an absolute stud and kick fanny this year.

But we will use, ironically enough, an old Greek man’s thoughts as a guide in designing our plan to becoming the next Ardie Savea.

You can skip straight to part two for the goods (including my super special, bullet-proof, 5 minute shoulder routine for Underhill-style tackling shoulders). But if you have three minutes, I recommend that you read through part one. It’s interesting, and will help you understand the second part better, which is the actual meat-and-potatoes recommendations for your pre-season training.

PART ONE: 

Whenever you’re designing a workout routine (or anything, for that matter), you have to have your end goal, or ‘final cause’ in mind; for example, you don’t just get in your car and drive for no reason; you get in your car and go to your buddy’s house, the park, the mall (ok I actually have no idea where kids hang out these days) or somewhere else you have in mind.

For us, this ‘destination’ is having our bodies and minds ready for the rigors of the rugby season, so we can stay healthy, and get the most out of each game and field session. What do we need for this to happen? These things:

Sufficient muscle mass:. If you don’t have enough HP, you’re just gonna get burnt, or cut in half. You need to build acceptable muscle mass to work with. This can be further broken down into 2 groups; Major muscle group mass, and supporting muscle group mass. We’ll touch on these in a second.

Flexibility: Functional flexibility doesn’t actually make you stronger, but it does give you a much wider range to use your strength. This is why inflexible athletes are constantly injured; their shoulders are absolutely jacked, but as soon as one of them gets a little extended on a funky tackle, the muscle is now outside it’s power range, and totally useless to help keep the joint in place.

Baseline anaerobic fitness: nobody’s favorite to work on. As Vince Lombardi said, ‘fatigue makes cowards of us all’, and anyone who’s ever done a serious conditioning workout knows the fear of the next whistle, bringing our burning lungs back to the reality of getting on the sprint line. However, this isn’t about getting in the shape needed to win the ‘25 Crossfit games; it’s about developing a baseline that is sufficient so that you’re actually getting something out of all the hard work you put in on the field. If you’re so fatigued that you can hardly stand 30 mins into a technique session, you’re not going to get anything out of that session (other than maybe a really embarrassing injury).

OK, so this is where we want to end up; and you know where you are at now in these areas. If you don’t, just ask your coach - he’ll gladly tell you.

Now here’s where the rubber meets the road; part two. What you are working with, and who’s doing the work (material and efficient causes, according to that dweeby greek dude) is you/your body. Now how do we get these two things to get us from where we are, to where we want to go? Here’s the plan for getting there, what you’re actually going to do to be ready to crush the season. 

PART TWO: The actual workout.

You need to incorporate all four of these categories into your workouts, but how much focus to give each one is athlete-specific, so you can make the best choice for yourself.

But remember: You NEED to be proficient in all four areas by the time preseason rugby starts if you want to be able to get the most out of your training and matches, every day, all year long. I recommend a higher focus on baseline anaerobic fitness, and flexibility at first, and then transitioning into heavy, major muscle group lifts, and smaller, supporting muscle group development.

note: For the sake of brevity I am going to assume that you know how to do the exercises listed below. If you do not, the ask a teammate or coach to teach you.

I recommend 6 weeks of training, 3 to 4 times a week for best results.

Anaerobic fitness (sequences of short, intense goes. Vary the active work time from 10-60 second goes, with a 1 active to 2 recovery time ratio):

- sprints (uphill/downhill)

- band resistance work

- bear crawls/scrum crawls

Flexibility (look to put a solid 5-10 minutes into each stretch):

- dynamic stretches that hit the major muscle groups

- band stretches

Major muscle groups (aim for mid-range reps, such as 5 sets of 5 reps):

- olympic lifts, such as cleans and snatches

- squats for muscle mass

- pull ups

Minor stabilizing muscles (increases speed, and provides all those big muscles you just made with the ‘wheels’ to actually work):

- ankles band work

- knee band work 

- kettle bell workouts (can easily be done with dumbbells)

If you hit a short, 45-60 minute workout, incorporating these four areas as needed, 3 times a week, for even just 4 weeks prior to your first practice, you’ll find yourself not only enjoying the field sessions WAY more than you have in the past, but also that your skill set will be getting significantly better than previous years. 

Why? When you begin to hit serious physical fatigue (nerd speak: when the mitochondrion in your cells begins to switch to different - and significantly less effective/more painful manner of energy production), your mind realizes that you’re in a very high-risk scenario; bodies and rugby balls are flying everywhere, your trying to run through a gauntlet of craziness, and the guy in front of you wants to hit you so hard that your head goes where your underwear is. So your mind, realizing the danger of your immediate environment, starts directing all conscious and subconscious energy towards keeping you safe; keep that knee stable on the cut, don’t let your face get wrecked in this ruck, etc.

This makes for not only a very unpleasant experience, but now your mind is no longer paying attention to the technique, skills, and strategies that it should be paying attention to, and the result is that you end up looking like captain last-pick, rather than Richie Mo’unga. 

BONUS:

Lastly I’d like to include a bonus, 5 minute-a-day program for bulletproof shoulders. I won’t wax eloquent on the absolute necessity of strong, flexible shoulders in rugby. I couldn’t find any data on this, but rotator cuff/acromioclavicular joint injuries might be the most common ways to get on the bench at any level of rugby. Here’s an easy program that takes only 5 minutes a day, and will give you the shoulder strength and flexibility needed to make it through the rigors of the year. You can work through this as a final circuit/cool down for your training sessions, but it can be done entirely on its own, and be just as effective.

Here you go:

- 1.5 minute bar hang. Pull up grip

- 1.5 minute handstand against the wall

- 10 pull ups, dead hang each time

- 10 handstand push ups against the wall

If you can’t make it through this circuit your first crack, just adjust it. Make the time 1 minute; make it 8 reps, or make the reps half reps. Just get through it. If this becomes easy-peasy by week two, bump up the numbers a bit. Your shoulders will thank you when that giant 8-man picks up the ball from 10 meters out, and you’re the only thing between him and the try line.

By adopting this training regime, or something similar, you will prepare your mind and body for the rugby-specific scenarios that it will be performing. You will notice a substantial difference in your enjoyment level of pre-season practices, and improve much more quickly in the skills you are looking to perfect. Best of luck on your season!

-John Prezzia, Head Coach at St. Martin’s Academy (KS)