The change is pretty dramatic, but we finally have a more “natural” hooker in place, and our props are larger than in years past.
We were running a front line where all three of us were similar, about 5’ 10" and 220 pounds. We were a small, but very effective pack that was lean and strong, able to hold our own in a scrum but mobile enough to string successful rucks together.
Currently I am 5’9", 195 lb.
I will be playing weak side loose, oppostie of a 160 lb guy we call “wild bill”
Again, I should stress that we are a small team, and we can’t always pick and choose the right types for the right positions. We have to make do with what we have.
On the plus side, a former U-19 Eagle and Italian Junior National Team member is joining us at 8-man. God bless him.
The GRUNT 3000 is a mechanical scrummaging machine on wheels. It uses hydrolics to provide resistance I believe, and I think this would be the most specific form of strength training available to all rugby forwards. The All Blacks use this in strength testing to assess scrummaging power.
Ok first off the madness over size has to stop. you must be fit first not big. BF should be around 12-14% any more and you are carrying extra baggage any less than say, 9%, and you’ll get hurt (assuming you dont wear padding).
220lbs is a big loosie and im guessing at USA level rugby is prob too big, meaning not mobile enuf.
The best open side loosies we have had at taka are all well under 220lbs and VERY fit. If you cant do a 3km (7.5 laps of a track) time trial in under 10:30 your too slow for snr A club rugby (NZ) flanker. The biggest i got to was 235lbs (20yrs) playing No 8 and still was doing 11 min 3kms time trials 6 weeks out. But i was prob best at 200lbs doing 9:30 3km runs.
Its great to be a has-been at 23…
If you are looking at playing hooker/flanker then you training shouldnt be that diferrent. If you are front row, you posterior chain should be legendary (deadlifts goodmornig etc), whereas a flanker basically needs to be able to smash someone and get to their feet as quick as possible to steal the ball (Matua Parkinson, Richie McCaw, Ropehead Smith).
You need to be fit to play both anyway so lotsa energy system training (varied between long stuff (90mins) and HIIT) with some sprint drills to teach you how to run (sounds silly but most people cant run properly/ efficiently).
throw 2-3 weight session on top of this and you is sorted, geezer
if you are doing long runs, try keeping it on sand, grass, soft roading as opposed to ashphelt. Your knees and hips will thank you later.
How do you fit lifting in to your seasons? That was always a problem for me. We had practice Monday, Wednesday, Friday and conditioning on Tuesday and Thursday, so lifting was always hard to fit in due to soreness and what not.