I'm going to start university in October and am thinking about off season weight gain to aid my Rugby(i'm a scrum half). I'm currently approx 83 kg with 24% bodyfat and having just returned from injury, with my increased exertion this percentage has started to fall. My target is 88-90kg with less than 10% bodyfat. I have a number of questions:
-What exercises would people advise for rugby specfically/muscle gain? I figure power stuff like squats and deadlifts but i’m keen to get other peoples input especially players of the game.
-In addition to the power workouts my arms could do with a size increase, should my arm workout be kept separate from power lifting or should i stick to compound exercises rather than exercising individual muscle groups?
-I’m currently on maximuscle cyclone in its recommended dose, is there a better protein shake complex for the money which ‘has everything’ or should i go for individual stuff (ie. creatine powder, glutamine tablets etc)? (remember must be available in UK)
-When attempting to increase weight should more tuna/meat products be consume or is it advisable to get protein bars/ another protein shake?
-Is it worth investing in a multivitamin/mineral tablets? If so which ones and are they available in the UK?
-Obviously this is a bit of a tricky question but how does one gain the weight while maintaining(or i suppose relatively overall reducing) body fat? I don’t mind putting on some chub but id like my weight to be as muscle filled as poss!
I may think of other questions but for the moment thats it, any elp is greatly appreciated.
Hi,
From my experience, a scrum half is not usually a large individual but is extremely fast and agile. At 24% body fat you have to get lean to increase your speed. Personally I would recommend losing fat and not worrying about your body weight.
Focus on getting strong and powerful. Use the basics like squats, different presses, cleans, deadlift, etc. Use low reps.
Think strong and light!
At 24% bodyfat you need to anything except bulk up, especially playing a sport like rugby. First I would recommend focusing on getting this down to around 12% by means of cleaner eating and sprints, which will help with your sport regardless.
You don’t want to bulk up and do a bunch of bodybuilding, this isn’t going to be the most useful training for a sports performance carryover. Squats and deadlifts are absolutely a great staple, try to think of movements that will develop explosive power as well such as power snatches and power cleans. Overhead squats will beenfit you great on the field as well. You also want some strict overhead pressing, bench pressing, rows, etc. Having a strong core, abs, and obliques is also of great importance to an athlete.
While I’m no expert and thus will not write you a program, my best recommendation would be a full body workout three times a week with an emphasis on power, and possibly sprinting on the off days for endurance and to help get your body fat down. Good luck and much respect, rugby is one bad ass sport.
assuming i get back down to my usual bodyfat (which is like 10%) i would be approx 70kg; at this point for my height and at the level i play (which is county and south of england)would be very light. In this scenario the above questions should have been asked.
I would be targetin something in the region of 85kg which is comparable to a number of players in my position. You are correct that speed, or rather turn of speed, is very important at 9 but this is not my problem; i have enough ‘gas’ for 9; i just need lean muscle!
Have a look at the article section on www.getstrength.com, it has a number of articles written by the crusaders and all black strength and conditioning coach, Ash Jones. Also check the fitness section on www.scrum.com and www.fitness4rugby.com
Build up the big 3 lifts, clean up your diet and your body comp should improve substantially. I don’t believe sprint training should be included this early in the off-season, as you can work on match fitness and tempo work closer to the pre-season, it only takes a few weeks, at most a couple months to build up the strength endurance required for rugby. But I’m no S+C coach or anything. Ashley Jones is, and GetStrength.com is has some damn good articles.
BTW, 70 kg is pretty light for any position, even Gregan topped out at 80 didn’t he?
if a dude came along to my team @ 24%bf wanting to play scrum half i would laff first and then tell him he is playing prop… sorry
loose some weight stick to the basics
mon
5 x 5 squat
5 x 5 lunges (with variations)
5 x 5 sldl (rotate in ghr)
wed
5 x 5 bench press or varation
5 x 5 push press
5 x 5 weighted dips
fri
5 x 5 deads or cleans
5 x 5 chins
5 x 5 rows
next 2-3months run a lot steady staet build your aerobic base. up to 80mins i belive cos this is the length of game. your a scrummy shoudl be childs play im a prop and i do this. so after wed/ friday workouts do this build up to 20mins then build up speed to desired spee then build up time to 80mins (only once a week the other can be shorter).
on any other day off do intervals
once this is achived… then come back here…
diet needs to be sorted bro post it up in the diet forum or soemthing you need to loose a lot of weight
dont do sprints until at the earliest 10 weeks before the season, some acceraltion drill could be included prior i.e. first 10meter with resistance etc to sort out starts etc but nothing more than than… would b included before DE/ RE leg day or prior to deads if splitting like that…
OK seems i may have messed up the body fat measurement by not having it set on athlete; when i redid it on athlete it said 16% body fat which is a bit more believable since if you saw me you’d know i shouldn’t be a prop!
I’ll stick to the power exercises for the time being, as i said before with my activity associated with playing (i.e. aerobic) i’ll get that % down to low single digits; which would put me at like 74Kg; from there i’m looking to get to 85kg.
Any tips on potein shakes/ vitamin supplements in the UK? Replying to previous poster, you are correct about 70kg being very light, the lightest well known pro player at 9 is pichot for argentina who is 75kg; i’m aiming for dwayne peels weight which is 85kg. On a side note all these are incomparable to byron kelleher who is 94kg and is the same height as the previous 2!
squats
more squats,
some more squats,
Deadlifts
more squats,
Deadlifts,
powercleans,
deadlifts
perhaps some more squats,
I’m 100Kg hooker in the uk and since going big three based my sprint times and strength and power over/on the ball is much much improved
oh and as a scrum half having stronger forearm and wrist strength will help develop a lovely crisp pass. I used to see/do an exercise with half a broom handle with a brick connected via a long rope. We would stand with our arms straight out from the shoulder and wind the brick up from the floor onto the broom handle - can;t remember what it was called other than ‘that f*@king thing that made my arms burn like hell’
Dont wast your time doing any kind of singal joint shit, stick to squats, deadlifts, bench ect. Also you need do these properly so get some coach to show you. Of all the compound lifts I’v done to improve my rugby game the zurchan squat worked best for me, but of course you need to do them all. It would also be important maybe every week or so to include some plyo or speed squating of some kind, this is espeacaly important as the seson starts to get closer.
Weight training for rugby is actully prity easy, you can get all fancy with westside temps and shit like that if you want but at the end of the day if your strong and fast then that will carrie you.
Dont get to side tracked by the weights paticularly during the seson. I know plenty of guys who skip training once a week to workout instead and they never get their game cause there handleing and skill is shit.
Good luck
I would imagine that scrum-halfs should stay small so they would be harder to tackle.
The posts here are all good, but don’t neglect cardio if you’re not already doing it. It is my experience that cardio is more important for rugby than strength training, but this isn’t to say that strength training shouldn’t be done, either.
I’ve looked into plyometrics; which exercises in particular would you recommend?
Again to an extent you are correct about scrum halfs having to be small, i dont want to compromise my elusiveness but at the same time i need to more powerful to break tackles as well as to be effective in defence.
k so you have magically dropped 8% bf ok… so you are no longer fat fine
do this is qualify from defranco training i know it is yank football but to me train strnegth for a american footballer train fitness like a footballer then you will be a rugby player…
mon- max upper
max press/ chin up to 5’s or 3’s
assistance bd press 3-4 x 6-8
lats ss upper back 3 x8, 3 x 12-15
(chest supported row, bent row, lat pulls ss with reverse flys, bent raises, seated cleans, pull overs)
curls
tuesday- max lower
max squ or dl variation up to a 5 or 3
lunges high rep 3-4 x 12-16
GHR variation 4 x 6-8
rep ab circuit
thursday- rep upper
rep effort press/ chin (see his site for variation
shoulder exercise 4 x 8
lat ss upper as above 3-4 x 8, 3-4 x 12
triceps ss curls
friday- dunamic lower
plyometrics (box jumps, weighted box jumps, broad jumps, vertical jumps, depth jump/ box jumps) 8 x 1-2
heavy extended range lunges 4 x 5
heavy hip flexor movement 4 x 5
crunch ss obliques
with 2 steady state and an inteval circuit and then in about 2 months change it up into another mesocycle.
[quote]bouloux29 wrote:
I’ve looked into plyometrics; which exercises in particular would you recommend?
Again to an extent you are correct about scrum halfs having to be small, i dont want to compromise my elusiveness but at the same time i need to more powerful to break tackles as well as to be effective in defence.
[/quote]