I spent a few years at #1 (coming from #6), so I can FEEL you on the adjustment. You are just using muscles you aren’t used to, that’s all. As was mentioned above, try playing around with your bind.
The best exercises I recommend are power cleans, neck bridges (like what wrestlers do, dead lifts, weighted planks and good mornings - Just work the shit out of your posterior chain and your core so you can stand the other guy up.
A few other tidbits: If you are not doing so already, start taping your ears back (personally, I cant stand wearing a scrumcap) cuz caulifower ear is a bitch.
Second, make sure you get some time at #3 - even if it’s just in practice. I ended up with some SERIOUS muscle imbalances in my lower back and hips because you’ve got a second rower pushing on you right ass-cheek, but your open side flanker is pretty much just bound on for appearances, prairie dogging, getting ready to nail the scrum half - in other words, he’s not keeping your hip in or driving with the scrum like a blind side flanker would be, so you have a pretty serious asymmetrical load down there. That’s a LOT of fucking force that’s not being re-distributed to your spine evenly… Just sayin’
I’ve found that some of the exercises in Magnificent Mobility (the hip dislocates and other hip mobility work) were a GODSEND to me for keeping my hips/lower back healthy.
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I spent a few years at #1 (coming from #6), so I can FEEL you on the adjustment. You are just using muscles you aren’t used to, that’s all. As was mentioned above, try playing around with your bind.
The best exercises I recommend are power cleans, neck bridges (like what wrestlers do, dead lifts, weighted planks and good mornings - Just work the shit out of your posterior chain and your core so you can stand the other guy up.
A few other tidbits: If you are not doing so already, start taping your ears back (personally, I cant stand wearing a scrumcap) cuz caulifower ear is a bitch.
Second, make sure you get some time at #3 - even if it’s just in practice. I ended up with some SERIOUS muscle imbalances in my lower back and hips because you’ve got a second rower pushing on you right ass-cheek, but your open side flanker is pretty much just bound on for appearances, prairie dogging, getting ready to nail the scrum half - in other words, he’s not keeping your hip in or driving with the scrum like a blind side flanker would be, so you have a pretty serious asymmetrical load down there. That’s a LOT of fucking force that’s not being re-distributed to your spine evenly… Just sayin’
I’ve found that some of the exercises in Magnificent Mobility (the hip dislocates and other hip mobility work) were a GODSEND to me for keeping my hips/lower back healthy.
FUCK, I miss that shit![/quote]
Thanks mate, its good to know that others had the same discomfort when changing to the front row. I didn’t know there were so many rugby players here!
I will try those neck bridges and do powercleans more regularly.
I hate taping my ears, atm I am seeing how it goes, so far they get less messed up at loose head than no5. I really should check out that magnificent mobility dvd, I thinkk I am getting away with minimal mobility stuff just cause I’m young but I dont want it to catch up to me.
Sorry, didn’t realise it was the arm you are binding onto the tighthead with. The weight work I outlined is still good for the issue though.
Taping the ears is a plus; I always preferred headgear since it was easier and makes me less likely to get a head cut - they bleed like a bitch and blood-binning sucks.
Definitely do good mornings and heavy weighted ab work as they will help you hold your position. Get fucking strong at them since you can expect to be outweighed by at least 10kg and more likely 15-20. Your job is to set a good, stable platform for the drive with a good position instead of driving like hell like you do in the second row. The hit is where you get the chance to smash and then the rest is a wrestle. It’s different to the second row in that it isn’t all about pushing; the second row can give way more push to the scrum than you can, but they are depending on you to channel it.
Try to avoid tighthead till you’ve got at least a season of experience. It’s very hard and the amount of dodgy shit that can be done to you by the hooker and loosehead is amazing! (I’m talking loose binds so you don’t hit properly, angling in from the loosehead, slapping your bind away, angling you into the dirt, pull-push and so on…)
In my brief experience (as a second rower) it is always the second rows fault.
I’ve played tight-head a couple of times and it seems to be more about pulling the opposing loose head into a disadvantageous position while staying in an advantageous position than anything else. Of course you must eat too.
Yea and you can fuck yourself like me. First contact practice of the spring season, should be pretty chill, of course not i was out for like 7 weeks with a seperated shoulder.
Yea and you can fuck yourself like me. First contact practice of the spring season, should be pretty chill, of course not i was out for like 7 weeks with a seperated shoulder.[/quote]
I hate contact training, someone always gets hurt cause you’ve got some people going hard and others backing off. Its essential sometimes though.
Had a good win on sat.
[quote]Theface wrote:
T Another thing that helped was not allowing my bind to get too far down on my opposition. One of my coaches was troubleshooting my technique one day and told me to shorten my reach on my bind and when I started doing this it decreased some of that post match left shoulder soreness.
[/quote]
[quote]flyhalfnightmare wrote:
Based on your description it seems like it is more of a rhomboid issue. As for scrummaging technique, I’m still pretty novice but it seems to me that it might help to rotate your arm so that your elbow is pointed more downwards when you are bound on, thus putting your rhomboids in a more biomechanically advantaged position.
[/quote]
I disagree with both of these points. I play tighthead at the moment (it’s much more fun) but have played alot of loosehead too. I also coach a junior side. Shorting your bind on the tighthead (ie binding closer to his armpit) allows him a much great leverage to rip his right shoulder down and pull the scrum down. By getting a nice long bind your arm will be much straighter and closer to his body making it much harder to rotate you down.
The same thing goes for bringing the elbow down. Watch any televised rugby game and you will often hear refs telling the props to get the binds up. Having your elbow down will rotate your body enough so that you actually make it harder for yourself to stay upright and keep your back flat. Again it also makes it easier for the opposing tighthead to pull you down. Also if the ref is on your side of the scrum and sees your elbow pointing down you will get penalised.
[quote]Theface wrote:
T Another thing that helped was not allowing my bind to get too far down on my opposition. One of my coaches was troubleshooting my technique one day and told me to shorten my reach on my bind and when I started doing this it decreased some of that post match left shoulder soreness.
[/quote]
[quote]flyhalfnightmare wrote:
Based on your description it seems like it is more of a rhomboid issue. As for scrummaging technique, I’m still pretty novice but it seems to me that it might help to rotate your arm so that your elbow is pointed more downwards when you are bound on, thus putting your rhomboids in a more biomechanically advantaged position.
[/quote]
I disagree with both of these points. I play tighthead at the moment (it’s much more fun) but have played alot of loosehead too. I also coach a junior side. Shorting your bind on the tighthead (ie binding closer to his armpit) allows him a much great leverage to rip his right shoulder down and pull the scrum down. By getting a nice long bind your arm will be much straighter and closer to his body making it much harder to rotate you down.
The same thing goes for bringing the elbow down. Watch any televised rugby game and you will often hear refs telling the props to get the binds up. Having your elbow down will rotate your body enough so that you actually make it harder for yourself to stay upright and keep your back flat. Again it also makes it easier for the opposing tighthead to pull you down. Also if the ref is on your side of the scrum and sees your elbow pointing down you will get penalised.
[/quote]
thanks for chiming in with this, I got the same response when I talked to my coach.
Make sure when you are packing down you are up on the balls of your feet. You should almost be falling over as the ref goes through the calls. Learn to anticipate the timing and go on the E of engage. When you hit make sure you chase your feet through. Don’t take big steps as it puts you off balance but rather pump your feet with short steps and keep your knees at an angle of a bit over 100 degrees and your back flat. That is the ideal position to push from.
Beer, chicken wings, song, women, nekkid people doing beer slides and the every popular “cunt of the match” drinking from his boots… I just don’t understand why rugby isn’t more popular in the US.
I remember on a road trip to Atlanta, I had to walk nekkid back to the van cuz I got kicked out of the bar for doing a flaming land shark - Good Times!
become a fly half and run away from trouble…no seriously as a prop we were instructed to build our traps, neck and whole back to absorb the pressure from the opposing prop and your hooker, plus flexibility on the shoulder to bind. After a while your body will get use to the pressures…either that or a compressed lumber.
[quote]sherro wrote:
Make sure when you are packing down you are up on the balls of your feet. You should almost be falling over as the ref goes through the calls. Learn to anticipate the timing and go on the E of engage. When you hit make sure you chase your feet through. Don’t take big steps as it puts you off balance but rather pump your feet with short steps and keep your knees at an angle of a bit over 100 degrees and your back flat. That is the ideal position to push from.[/quote]
Thanks
