(Article first appeared in Men’s Health, May 2013 issue. For more visit: https://www.facebook.com/menshealthphilippines)
AGGRESSIVE. VIOLENT. FAST-PACED. ROUGH. EXCITING. These are just some of the words often used to describe the game of rugby. To the untrained eye, it resembles an unpadded game of American football — players get down and dirty on the field as they tackle one another over an oblong-shaped ball. With terms like ‘ruck,’ ‘maul,’ and ‘scrum,’ it’s a sport that’s still foreign to the average Juan even as it has already made sports headlines on our shores recently.
Our very own Philippine Volcanoes are now considered among the top five national rugby teams in Asia. Despite their big physiques, it takes a unique kind of athleticism to run the ball and take brutal hits during a game. How exactly do they develop that in the gym? We turned to some of the players to learn more about the sport and how they structure their workouts to prepare for their grueling games.
Rough Enough
For a rugby player to succeed in the field, they need to be armed with a variety of attributes. “There’s no substitute for speed and fitness,” says Chris Everingham, BN&D, APD, AN, a member of the Philippine Volcanoes and also a certified nutritionist and fitness trainer. “If you can do things for longer and at a higher level and work rate, those are things you cannot beat.” Naturally, a rugby player also needs to have a bit of brute force on his side. “You need strength when you compete at the higher level against countries like Australia, England, and Canada in the World Cup.”
The structure of the game will dictate how you use your physical attributes. There are two distinct forms of rugby, depending on how many players there are on the field. The two forms are known as “sevens” and “fifteens.” Fifteens is the full-scale version of the game that is played in the Rugby World Cup. Sevens is an abbreviated version that is set to make its Olympic debut in 2016. “Sevens is a quicker game than fifteens,” says Andrew Wolff, a veteran member of the Philippine Volcanoes.
“Sevens is basically seven players on a fifteen-a-side field. As you can imagine if you have seven players on the same sized field then you have a lot more space to run in. You’ve got to cover a 70-meter wide field with only seven players. So basically it’s the quicker and more agile players that will be able to break the line easily.”
As far as the similarities to gridiron football, there may be fewer than at first glance. Mainly, rugby doesn’t have the stop-start format of the American game. “The ball is the same shape and there’s a lot of running and contact. Those are probably the only similarities,” Wolff says. “Whether it’s fifteens or sevens, it’s a continuous sport which is played in phases and play is only stopped if the ball goes out, there is a transgression during the game, or someone scores.” Passing options are more limited, too. “We can only pass perpendicular to the side or backwards, whereas they can pass at any angle.”
For those looking to give the sport a try, Wolff recommends that you should start off with the non-contact version first. “Try touch rugby first,” he says, “it’s like a lighter version of rugby without the contact. There’s contact to a certain extent where you have to touch a player in [place of a] tackle but I think it’s a good way to learn the principles of the game. You learn the fundamentals of rugby and how it works and how the passing is and how to run with the ball.”
Strength for the Pitch
With all these attributes in mind, Everingham designed this sport-specific workout which you can also try. “This is an all-around body workout,” Everingham says. “It’s a blend of old-school, traditional strength training and a bit of new-school functional training.” He adds that both schools of thought address the key elements a rugby player needs on the field. “For example, the reason we do a back squat is that when you’re tackling, you squat then lean forward to tackle. You have to be able to do quite heavy weights with that. The guys you’re playing against might weigh more than 200 pounds so you’ve got to at least do that with some force.”
The same goes for the upper body work, too. “The swiss ball single-arm press mimics someone coming in and you’re palming or fending them off. What you’ll have is a rotation as well so it encourages that fending motion,” Everingham says. “If you do that with weights in an unstable environment, which the Swiss ball creates, you can simulate a real game.”
The volume and intensity of the workout depends on the objectives, as well as the season’s progress. “[Sets and reps] depend on the timing in the season,” Everingham says. This full workout he plotted can be used in many different ways depending on your goal. If you’re building muscle, aim to do 12-15 reps of each exercise per set. “If you want to focus on speed and power, you’re looking at lifting 90-100 percent of your 1-rep max for only 2-4 reps or about 10 seconds time under tension,” he adds. If it’s speed you’re after, you need to do eight reps quickly of about 40-50 percent of your rep maximum. Use this workout to shore up your fitness goals and you’ll be as ready to rumble as a rugby player in no time.
GET RUGBY PLAYER FIT
This workout plotted by Chris Everingham, BN&D, APD, AN, of the Philippine Volcanoes can be tweaked depending on your desired goal. Do 2-4 sets of each exercise resting one minute after each set. The number of reps and weight varies as follows:
Muscle Building – 12-15 reps,
Power – 2-4 reps with heavy weights
Speed – Eight reps with medium weight, done quickly
BARBELL BACK SQUAT
Stand with your feet shoulder width-apart. Hold a barbell across your back with an overhand grip and brace your core. Keeping your lower back arched, lower your body as deep as you can. Initiate the movement by first pushing your hips back, then bend your knees. Pause, then reverse the movement back to the starting position.
DUMBBELL CLEAN AND PRESS
Stand holding a pair of dumbbells on your sides. Perform a squat then explode up and lift both weights up to chest height. Quickly drop underneath the weights and catch them on your shoulders, with your elbows high. Press the dumbbells overhead. Pause, then go back to the starting position.
SWISS BALL JACK KNIFE
Start in a pushup position with your shins resting on a Swiss ball. Your body should form a straight line from head to toe. Without rounding your lower back, contract your abs and use your feet to pull the ball towards your torso by bending your knees forming a V in the process. Pause, then slowly return to the starting position.
DUMBBELL WALKING LUNGES
Grab a pair of dumbbells and hold them at arm’s length next to your sides. Step forward with your right leg and slowly lower your body until your front knee is bent at least 90 degrees. Be careful not to let your left knee touch the floor. Pause, then raise up and bring your back foot forward so that you move forward (like you’re walking) a step with every rep. Alternate legs with every rep.
MODIFIED CHINUP
Grab the bar with an underhand, shoulder-width grip. Hang with your arms completely straight and keep your body straight throughout the exercise and your legs resting on your heels. Initiate the movement by pulling your shoulder blades back, then continue the pull with your arms to lift your chest to the bar. Pause, then slowly lower your body back to the starting position.
BARBELL STRAIGHT-LEG DEADLIFT
Grab a barbell with an overhand grip that’s just beyond shoulder width, and hold it at arm’s length in front of your hips. Brace your core. Without changing the bend in your knees, bend at your hips and lower your torso until it’s almost parallel to the floor. Don’t round your back. Pause, then squeeze your glutes tightly and raise your torso back to the starting position.
SINGLE-ARM SWISS BALL PRESS
Lie back on a swiss ball with a dumbbell in your right hand. Keep the ball underneath your upper back while extending your left hand in the air, keeping your left shoulder blade off the ball. Push the dumbbell up, raising your right shoulder blade, while lowering your left arm down in a rolling see-saw motion. Ensure that only one shoulder blade is on the ball at any time. Continue this swinging motion for the desired number of reps then switch sides.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
