Diet for Rugby Player

I am 5’8", 150 lbs, 9 % body fat, 25 year old, who plays rugby for a club team. I am currently following WS4SB3, and doing two conditioning and two speed workouts a week. My current maxes are:
Bench 225x1
Box Squat 275x2
Deadlift 315 x 1

I would obviously like to add strength and some size, but I don’t want to lose too much conditioning as the season is only about 10 weeks away. I play scrumhalf and need to be in good shape to make it to each ruck, breakdown etc…

Here is my current diet (I have to workout in the morning before I go to lab, I am currently working on my phd in chemistry):
5:30 a.m.: 1 scoop Metabolic Drive + 1 scoop Vassive N.O.
6 a.m. Surge Workout Fuel during workout (soon, I haven’t received it in the mail yet)
7:30 a.m. Surge Post-WO
(On non-lifting days, I just have 1 scoop Metabolic Drive and 12 oz. milk first thing in the morning)
8:30 a.m.: 1/2 cup egg whites and 2 whole eggs w/ salsa, 1/2 cup dry oatmeal
10:00 a.m.: 2 yoplait light yogurts
Noon: 6 oz. chicken, 1 can green beans, 1 100 calories pack almonds
3 p.m.: 1 scoop Metabolic Drive and 12 oz. skim milk
6 p.m. Metabolic Drive protein bar (this is often before a night practice)
8 p.m. Salad w/ greek vinaigrette and walnuts
3 oz. salmon
sweet potato
2 small nectarines
10 p.m. 1 scoop Metabolic Drive and 12 oz. skim milk

Totals:
2700 calories, ~58 grams fat, ~300g carbs, ~250g protein

Any suggestions and constructive criticism will be appreciated.

I would say focus more on strength/putting on size over conditioning. I understand your fear of losing conditioning, but it is more difficult to do both of these things at the same time. You should be able 3-4 weeks before the season then focus on conditioning and get yourself in shape.

One thing that really helped me get through practices was taking regular Surge Recovery beforehand/before games. Even with poor nutrition during the day this helped me make it through practices feeling a lot better.

I agree with above, work on strength for a while at least. For conditioning you could try CT’s Hot Wheels in a Hurry .
I’d say focus on your deadlifting, I’ve found it to help a great deal in rugby, especially for rucks.

Word, weighted chinups atleast for me have helped a lot as well for tackling, etc.

[quote]mnewcomer29 wrote:

Totals:
2700 calories, ~58 grams fat, ~300g carbs, ~250g protein

Any suggestions and constructive criticism will be appreciated. [/quote]

Try tripling your fat intake, cut back on some carbs and keep training hard

[quote]pf wrote:
mnewcomer29 wrote:

Totals:
2700 calories, ~58 grams fat, ~300g carbs, ~250g protein

Any suggestions and constructive criticism will be appreciated.

Try tripling your fat intake, cut back on some carbs and keep training hard

[/quote]

Tripling my fat intake, would mean my fat grams would be roughly 180/day. That works out to roughly 1080 calories from fat. Assuming the same amount of calories, that would mean a cut in carbs of 270g per day, so I would only be taking in roughly 30g per day. I highly doubt that is optimal for gaining any size or strength.

How many grams of carbs per day would you reccomend?

[quote]Tstud_9 wrote:
Word, weighted chinups atleast for me have helped a lot as well for tackling, etc.[/quote]

Interesting, I would not have expected weighted chinups to help in tackling. Any other exercises that you guys try to make staples to help for tackling, rucking etc…?

Military presses help a lot, basically any upper body exercise going to help tackling. Although squats and deads wouldn’t go amiss either. Hmmm, lifting in general helps. You could add in some oly lifts for explosiveness though.

[quote]mnewcomer29 wrote:
pf wrote:
mnewcomer29 wrote:

Totals:
2700 calories, ~58 grams fat, ~300g carbs, ~250g protein

Any suggestions and constructive criticism will be appreciated.

Try tripling your fat intake, cut back on some carbs and keep training hard

Tripling my fat intake, would mean my fat grams would be roughly 180/day. That works out to roughly 1080 calories from fat. Assuming the same amount of calories, that would mean a cut in carbs of 270g per day, so I would only be taking in roughly 30g per day. I highly doubt that is optimal for gaining any size or strength.

How many grams of carbs per day would you reccomend? [/quote]

You need more fat to maintain high Testosterone levels.

In all honesty, if you are lifting heavy and playing lots of rugby I would simply recommend you increase your fat intake to ~150g per day and keep all other nutrients the same. You would probably end up gaining muscle and losing fat despite the increased total calories.

This will sound weird, but your getting alot of your protein from supps and Biotest products. I play rugby also and started at the same weight and height as you. I suggest alot of powerlifts and compound lifts as much as possible (as you can tell by my avatar and profile im quite biased) But i would up lean meats and honestly, dont worry about cardio.

Im sure thats what practice is for :-P. But then again i played a prop so i kinda giggled at our scrumhalf looking gassed 20 min. in lol. X2 on the olympic lifts for explosiveness, and if upperbody helps with tackling, i also suggest grip work. I hate to say it, but when a guy would break my ankles i had no problem tearin him down by his jersey :slight_smile:

For your diet listen to your body, if you’re tired eat more…

As the above posts, overall strength & size should be your goal in the off-season.

You need to be strong everywhere, with an emphasis on speed, and explosive leg strength/ power.

The WS training you’re currently doing is fine, as is the CT program linked above.

If you got hills in your area, add some hill sprints as well as some acceleration runs (start jogging up and increase the tempo until you?re sprinting). Especially good/ painful if the hills incline increases as you get higher.

If you got a training partner, take turns piggy-backing up the hill for a few.

Just remember, no matter how fit you are, you’re not game fit until you play a few weeks.

I’d also suggest you shock your system with some pre-season conditioning, about a month before the first game.

Our pre-season was always the cronulla sand dunes. real fun.

If available, do some sand dune work (otherwise intense HIIT or Fartlek) until you’re literally, physically sick. Once you clean yourself up, try and get another 10-15 minutes easier work in, if you can. Then have a few days off.

Trust me… the harder you push yourself at this session the better, it will make all the following conditioning work feel like a walk in the park.

Once your in-season, you’ll be lucky to get 2 (maybe 3) weight sessions in a week, unless you’re playing professionally. You’ll need a full body program.

In season, your goal should be to maintain (or slight gain in) weight and strength if possible, and to stay healthy.

Regards,
JC.

Oh, and another good exercise, med-ball throws, really twist and accelerate see how far you can throw the ball. Good for your passing.

[quote]mnewcomer29 wrote:
Any other exercises that you guys try to make staples to help for tackling, rucking etc…?[/quote]

More tackling & more rucking. Technique always wins.

[quote]jc2000 wrote:
mnewcomer29 wrote:
Any other exercises that you guys try to make staples to help for tackling, rucking etc…?

More tackling & more rucking. Technique always wins.

[/quote]

Yes, but where technique fails, insanity is always a good subsitute.

[quote]Tstud_9 wrote:
jc2000 wrote:
mnewcomer29 wrote:
Any other exercises that you guys try to make staples to help for tackling, rucking etc…?

More tackling & more rucking. Technique always wins.

Yes, but where technique fails, insanity is always a good subsitute.[/quote]

Or being very, very angry.

I’d avoid the guy with a bloody ear in his mouth over the guy with a anger in his eyes

True, but at least the guy with the ear in his mouth would have to go to the blood bin for a couple of minutes.