Conditioning for Rugby League - Part 1

November 27, 2015

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Nathan Waters

Over the years I have been subjected to many different theories and programs designed to improve the conditioning of rugby league players. Many times we would get hammered with long endurance efforts in the offseason or sessions that involved repeat 400m sprints and other lactate threshold type sessions. While the lactate work has its place I would say that it is generally over used and still manages to break players down.

Below are some of my thoughts about conditioning for a seasoned player, someone who has done a few off seasons and has a good base to work from. I say this as too many young players are unable to push themselves hard enough to get the full benefits of this type of work and need to do a little bit of old school to learn what it feels like to take your body to the brink and know you won’t die. I will go more into this another time.

The best results I obtained were from an off season of conditioning based games that involved the ball. The test we used at the time was the Yo-Yo test. The season in which we done 800m and 400m sprints I achieved 18.6 on this test, the next year when we done a lot of conditioning games, I achieved a 19.8 or so. I put this down to the “fatigue masks fitness” saying, as after doing high amounts of lactate work you are so burnt out that you are unable to display your true fitness levels.

The other reason I prefer conditioning games is that it is more specific to our sport. A lot of the time we are walking or jogging at a low intensity during a game. When it comes time to explode that’s when it counts and I feel working on repeat sprints of 7 seconds or less is more optimal than the longer type lactate work. So in my programs you won’t see us run more than 7 seconds all out very often. The times we do it is for mental toughness, to build a base, and just to see who can hang in when it gets ugly, that’s not to say the repeat efforts of 7 seconds or less are easy.

I also like to use wrestling as a form of conditioning.  Many times you get very fit during an off season but the minute you have to make double or triple tackles during a trial game all of that work seems to be a waste as you feel just as busted as the blokes who were way behind during running drills. Having the ability to repeat efforts involving your body weight and that of your opponents is something that must be trained to be conditioned for the season.

There is a big difference between endurance and conditioning. Conditioning is specific to your sport, whereas endurance is more general preparation. For example you could improve your rowing time of a 1500m effort which would increase endurance but as a rugby league player it won’t necessarily improve your on field conditioning or performance.

This is just a brief view of some of my ideas on conditioning for rugby league. If you want some more in depth views on conditioning v endurance please read this article by Wolfgang Unsold :

http://www.strengthsensei.com/endurance-vs-conditioning-the-biggest-misconception-in-sports-specific-training/

On Field Warm Ups

February 29, 2016

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Nathan Waters

The warm up is commonly thought of as a way to reduce injury and that’s about all. Not much thought goes into it in terms of central nervous system activation or optimal levels of arousal for competition. It is simply done because that is what is expected.

The main thing I think of when designing a pre-competition warm up is that it is just that, a warm up. It isn’t a training session. For me the warm up serves to get the body moving, stimulate the CNS, and prepare the team mentally for competition. Many athletes hate to warm up so I take this into consideration and make my warm up as short as possible. I want them to feel activated, not drained or bored. This is what happens when trainers/coaches try to jam too much into the warm up and make it go for 30 minutes.

The warm up is broken down into general and specific components. The general warm up serves to increase body temperature and gradually increase range of motion and speed of contraction. It can consist of many different types of exercises such as body weight squats, skipping/marching drills, leg swings etc. This typically takes 5-7 minutes.

We then move on to the specific warm up which only takes about 10 minutes and for us as a rugby league team consists of some catch/pass, a defensive drill, and then kick/catch (backs) and ruck plays (forwards), as an example.

The general warm up is quite relaxed and we pick up the talk and intensity for the specific drills. The drills are short but intense which is trying to get us up to the work capacity that will be required for the game. Before we run out onto the field I like to do some CNS activation using frequency drills such as wide-outs or low jumps.

The reason for the warm up isn’t just to reduce injury. While this is of importance, by raising the body temperature your muscles are able to contract more rapidly and more intensely the higher its temperature (within a certain limit obviously). This allows the athletes to execute rapid and powerful contractions once they are on the field. 

For athletes that may start on the bench it is important for them to do something that gets them up to the level of play before they go out onto the field. Often you see them take a jog up and down the sideline, do some form of static stretch, and then run on. In the first 5 minutes they are blown out and struggle until they finally reach that level of preparedness that everyone else is already at. My tip to those on the bench is to relax, once you know you are about to go on blow yourself away with some burpees or short sprint shuttles. This way when you get on the field you have already been through that first period and start at a better level.

So pre-competition for a field sport athlete the structure of your warm up may look like this:

• General warm up – raise body temperature. Mobility drills, dynamic flexibility. Body weight squats, skipping etc.
• Skill/defensive components (specific)
• Frequency drills to excite CNS – low jumps etc.

No one can tell you what the best approach is for your athletes. It is something that has to be experimented with at training using different methods to find out what approach suits them the most. You have to know your athletes and the type of characters you have in the team. Don’t be too rigid in your approach either. You have to be able to change on the run adjusting to the needs of the team at any particular time. Your plan is just a guideline, if you cut one or two things out at times then so be it.

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