The rugby season is nearly over. If you’ve been lucky enough to remain injury free so far, I’d wager you’re being held together by physio tape and painkillers. My hat goes off to you if you are still going strong. It’s a rare thing at this time of the year for rugby players.

We’ve already covered the fundamentals of how to gain strength and develop your conditioning during the rugby season. Now it’s time to look at how to remain fit and free from injury year-round. In this article, I’m going to give you some information on injury prevention and some exercises to get you started.

The best way to prevent injury is to add two types of exercise into your programme: mobility work, and prehabilitation training. Let’s take a look at mobility work first.

Mobility work challenges your range of motion and prepares you for the positions you’ll be pushed into on game day.

Mobility: More Than Just Foam Rolling

Mobility work is becoming increasingly popular to improve your movement, and thankfully so. But this doesn’t mean just doing some soft tissue work on a foam roller. Good mobility work means getting warm and moving through your full range of motion on a regular basis. You need to challenge your body’s existing range to decrease the chance of being tackled or pushed into a compromising position that’ll hurt you on the pitch.

The Ready For Rugby Mobility Warm-Up

I’ve put together the routine below to help you improve your mobility, movement quality, and range of motion. These movements focus on key problem areas for rugby players such as the hamstrings, hips, shoulders, and trunk. Use this routine to warm up before you train. Watch the video demonstrations if you’re unsure of any of the movements.

The Routine:

To begin with, jump on a watt bike/rower/treadmill for around 500m at a comfortable pace or around 50-60% of a maximal effort.

• 5 Bodyweight Squats
• 5 Pogo Jumps
• 5 Reverse Lunge with Overhead Reach (each side)
• 5 Sectional Spine Rollouts Into Hand Walkouts with Push Up
• 10m Bear Crawl
• 5 Full Arm Plank Shoulder Touches (each side)
• 5 Mountain Climber with Trunk Rotation (each side)
• 5 Downward Facing Dog into Vinyasa Sweep
• 5 TRX Row

Bodyweight Squats

• Make sure your knees track over your toes.
• Maintain an upright torso.
• Keep your weight on your heels.

Pogo Jumps

• Rock back on your heels, allowing your toes to raise.
• Roll forwards onto your toes and spring into the air.
• Point your toes at the top of each repetition.

Reverse Lunge with Overhead Reach

• Keep a wide base with your toes tracking forward.
• Perform a deep lunge with your knee close to, but not actually touching, the floor.
• Reach both arms overhead and arch your back, keeping your head through your shoulders.

Sectional Spine Roll into Hand Walkouts with Push Up

• Focus on rolling your spine down section by section, slowly and with control.
• Reach your hands to the floor.
• Perform a controlled walk out.
• Maintain a strong posture in the push up.

Continue to Page 2 for More Ready For Rugby Mobility Exercises

Bear Crawl

• Maintain a flat back throughout to control your spinal position.
• Bring your knees up close to your body.
• Keep your weight shifted over your hands.

Full Arm Plank Shoulder Touches

• Maintain a strong torso with minimal rocking.
• Slowly raise your hand to the opposite shoulder, then replace it to the ground.
• Repeat on the other side.

Mountain Climber with Rotation

• Bring your foot to the side of your hand.
• Turn your torso over your raised knee.
• Follow your hand with your head.
• Keep the movement slow and controlled.

Down Dog into Vinyasa Sweep

• At the top of the down dog, keep your legs straight and your head through your shoulders.
• Perform a controlled sweep through, ensuring your elbows stay tight against your lats.
• Sweep your body up, keeping your hips close to the ground.

TRX Row

• Maintain a strong torso position throughout the row.
• Pinch your shoulder blades together and pull your elbows behind your body.

Continue to Page 3 for the Ready For Rugby Prehabilitation Routine and Exercises

Prehabilitation Prevents Rehabilitation

Prehabilitation exercises, often shortened to “prehab”, are movements used to strengthen potential problem areas. In rugby this is most notably the neck, shoulders, hips, and glutes. Prehab is used to limit the likelihood of injury and negate the need for rehab – hence the name. These exercises are worth their weight in gold for any rugby player, but they’re often overlooked because they aren’t very glamorous and won’t get him or her a ton of new followers on Instagram.

Prehabilitation work prepares and strengthens your body to deal with the hard hits.

My favourite prehab exercises use bands for glute and shoulder activation. The glutes are where rugby players generate much of their power, so keeping them firing with these bands improves power output and avoids some of the issues players can experience in this area. Similarly, we can protect the highly stressed rotator cuff by strengthening its muscles with band work.

The Ready For Rugby Prehab Routine

I’ve given four prehabilitation drills below. Do these movements after your mobility warm-up to avoid injury and keep out of the physio room.

The Routine:

To be completed after The Ready for Rugby Mobility Warm-Up

• 3 x 20 Glute Band Diagonal Walks
• 3 x 12 Glute Clock Faces with Band (each side)
• 3 x 12 Shoulder Clock Faces with Band (each side)
• 3 x 12 Band External Rotation (each side)

Prehabilitation Exercises for Injury Prevention: Glute Band Diagonal Walks

• Take a semi-squat stance with an upright torso.
• Sweep your leg inwards to outwards, keeping your knees tracking over your toes.
• Perform 3 sets of 20 steps: 10 forward, and 10 backward.

Prehabilitation Exercises for Injury Prevention: Glute Clock Faces with Band

• Take a semi-squat stance with an upright torso.
• Perform each rep slowly and with control.
• Push your knees out over your toes – don’t allow them to collapse inward.
• Perform 3 sets of 12 steps each side: 1 forwards, 1 to the side, and 1 backwards.
• Repeat four times on each side.

Prehabilitation Exercises for Injury Prevention: Shoulder Clock Faces with Band

• Start on all fours, with your knees and hands on the floor.
• Maintain a neutral spine.
• Keep tension on the band throughout the movement.
• Make sure your weight stays over your grounded hand.
• 3 sets of 12 hand placements each side: 1 forwards, 1 to the side, and 1 backwards.
• Repeat four times on each side.

Prehabilitation Exercises for Injury Prevention: Band External Rotation

• Keep your elbows bent at a 45-degree angle.
• Keep your elbows tucked in close to your lats.
• Rotate at the shoulder, bringing your hand away from your body.
• Perform each rep slowly and with control.

Injury Prevention Is A Year-Round Commitment

Injury prevention shouldn’t just be addressed toward the end of the year to keep you fit for your last few games. It’s something you should focus on throughout the season and off-season too. Freak injuries can still happen regardless, but you can have more power over their incidence by strengthening your problem areas and keeping your joints and muscles healthy with injury prevention work. The exercises given here are designed to do just that. They’ll keep your body mobile, resilient, and fully prepared, right up to the last game of the season.

More Like This:

• Ready for Rugby: A 4-Week In-Season Fitness Programme
• Ready for Rugby: A 4-Week In-Season Strength Programme
• Build 360-Degree Strength: Rotational Exercises for All Sports
• New on Breaking Muscle

Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The post Ready for Rugby: Exercises for Injury Prevention appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Rugby players have to couple sharp bursts of power with just as rapid recoveries.

In rugby, you have to mix bursts of power facilitated by the anaerobic energy system with quick recoveries using the aerobic energy system. A decent fitness programme for the sport should strike a good balance of anaerobic and aerobic training. My favourite way to develop these energy systems together is through interval training. I favour tempo training, maximal aerobic speed (MAS) training, and high intensity interval training (HIIT). Before we dive into our in-season fitness programme, you need to know a little more about the methods.

The Aerobic System

Aerobic system training isn’t particularly stressful on the central nervous system, and actually helps to improve your recovery. The principles in training this system are similar to sub-maximal principles in strength training. Here, you’ll mix tempo-based intervals with maximum aerobic speed (MAS) intervals.

Tempo Training Intervals

Tempo training intervals are a way of clocking up the metres without going flat out. You want to be going at around 60-70% of your maximal running speed, or a “comfortably hard” pace. You’ll be able to say some words, but not hold a conversation. In these intervals, you will be resting for longer than you work, so you shouldn’t ever be in a state of exhaustion.

For rugby, I suggest using 50m intervals as this is comparable to the distance you run in a game and the round number makes the maths easy. I also suggest using a rolling clock, starting your reps every 30 seconds at 00:00, 00:30, 01:00, 01:30, and so on. You should rest the remainder of the time. Depending on where you play, here’s what you should be aiming for 50m intervals in tempo work:

• Props – 11-12 seconds
• Locks – 10-11 seconds
• Hookers & Loose Forwards – 9-10 seconds
• Inside Backs – 9-10 seconds
• Outside Backs – 8-9 seconds

To get a more accurate pace for tempo training, time a max effort 50m sprint, then calculate your speed in metres per second from the result. For example:

1. If the 50m took you 6 seconds, divide 50 by 6. This gives you a pace of 8.3 metres per second (m/s).
2. To find the 70% you’re looking for tempo training, divide this figure by 0.7 (8.3 m/s / 0.7)
3. This is your 50m pace for tempo training. In this example, it’s 11.8 m/s.

For those wanting an additional challenge, add change of direction work. These pitch-based runs equate to roughly 50m each.

• Try Line –> Near 22m –> Return to try line
• Try Line –> Dead Ball –> Near 10m line
• 10m Line –> Far 10 –> Return to other 10 –> Half Way
• Try Line –> 5 Meter line –> Dead Ball –> Near 22m

As a progression you could also include down ups, or increase some reps to 100m – just make sure to extend your rolling clock to 60 seconds on those reps.

Maximal Aerobic Speed (MAS) Intervals

MAS running is similar to tempo running in that they are both sub-maximal. In this case, the training is based on a 2.4km test time. So first, go for an all-out 2.4km run. This should be as hard as you can possibly go. If you’ve got enough breath to be chatting to someone else at the same time, you need to be working harder.

Then, calculate your MAS score for interval work.

1. Take the total metres ran (in this case, 2400) and divide it by the total duration it took you in seconds. Let’s say it took you 10 minutes, or 600 seconds.
2. 2400m divided by 600 seconds = 4 metres per second (m/s)
3. 4 m/s is your MAS score. This is the pace that you should be running in each interval.

For rugby-specific training, I keep these intervals to 20, 40 or 60 metres. For 40m, you are aiming for a 10 second interval. For 60m, you are aiming for 15 seconds. And so on. I suggest changing up the distances and the work-to-rest ratios to have a mix of equal rest and more rest than work. As with tempo running, using a rolling clock is an easy way to monitor your speed and rest ratios.

Using the example 4m/s MAS score, a typical session would look like this:

• 6x40m/10s. Use a rolling 25s clock (1:1.5 ratio – 10s work: 15s rest)
• 6x60m/15s. Use a rolling 30s clock (1:1 ratio – 15s work: 15s rest)
• 6x40m/10s. Use a rolling 25s clock (1:1.5 ratio – 10s work: 15s rest)
• 6x60m/15s. Use a rolling 30s clock (1:1 ratio – 15s work: 15s rest)

This clocks up 1200m of running – a nice distance to cover you for any sessions or games missed due to weather. Both tempo and MAS training can be adjusted for other equipment such as the stationary bike or the rower. Simply re-test your maximal 2.4km time on those pieces of kit and proceed using the same principles.

The Anaerobic System

If you’re able to hold a conversation during anaerobic training, you’re doing something wrong.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Next, you’re going to use high intensity interval training (HIIT) to work the anaerobic system. In this method, each interval you complete is at 100% effort, and will incorporate “incomplete” rest periods, so you have no opportunity to fully recover between rounds. You shouldn’t be able to speak during the work intervals, and only able to say the odd word during your rest periods. Mix up the work-to-rest ratios so that sometimes you are resting longer than you work, sometimes the balance is equal, and occasionally, push yourself with rest periods shorter than work periods.

If you’re unfit, or coming back from injury, I would start with rest periods longer than your work periods, and decrease this over time until you are able to complete multiple reps at a 1:1 ratio. An easy way of assessing if you are ready to decrease the rest is by measuring the distance you complete on each rep. If you are hitting the same distance each time, it’s time to make it more challenging.

A basic template for HIIT training would be as follows:

• 5 x 30 seconds work: 30 seconds rest
• Rest 2 minutes
• 5 x 30 seconds work: 30 seconds rest

Get creative and use whatever kit you have available to keep things interesting. My go-to pieces of kit are the rower, watt bike, battle ropes, prowler, and the punch bag. The ropes and punch bag in particular are great for players with lower body injuries as you can do them standing still or even seated.

Go After Your Weak Areas

Remember that you only need to work in the areas you feel are lacking. If you feel that you are not recovering well during or between sessions, go for more aerobic work. If you’re struggling to maintain pace for a full eighty minute game, include more HIIT work. By the middle of the season, you should have appropriated some match fitness, but it’s crucial to keep it topped up. Mixing the aerobic work with anaerobic exercise will allow for a complete development of your fitness whilst not pushing you too far.

Continue to Page 2 for the Ready for Rugby Fitness Programme

Ready for Rugby: An In-Season Fitness Programme

These intervals will keep you fighting fit through to the last match of the season.

To incorporate these styles of interval training into the Ready for Rugby: A 4-Week In-Season Strength Programme, complete an anaerobic HIIT session on Day 1 of each week, and a tempo or MAS session on Day 3 of each week.

Weeks 1 & 2

Day 1 – HIIT

Rowing Machine:

• 100m Sprint : 25s rest x 6
• 2 minutes rest
• Repeat.

Day 3 – Tempo Training

Run Intervals (On-Field):

• Straight 50m x6 (03:00/300m)
• Try line -> Near 22m -> Return to try line x 2 (04:00/400m)
• Try Line –> Dead Ball –> Near 10m line x 1 (04:30/450m)
• 10m Line –> Far 10 –> Return to other 10 –> Half Way x1 (05:00/500m)
• Half Way -> 22m -> Return to half way x 1 (05:30/550m)
• Straight 50m x 1 (06:00/600m)
• Straight 100m x 1 (07:00/700m)
• Complete three times for 2100m ran in total.

Weeks 3 & 4

Day 1 – HIIT

Rowing Machine:

• 100m Sprint : 20s rest x 6
• 2 minutes rest
• Repeat.

Day 3 – Tempo Training

Run Intervals (On-Field):

• Straight 50m x 8 (04:00/400m)
• Try line -> Near 22m -> Return to try line x 2 (05:00/500m)
• Try Line –> Dead Ball –> Near 10m line x 1 (05:30/550m)
• 10m Line –> Far 10 –> Return to other 10 –> Half Way x 1 (06:00/600m)
• Half Way -> 22m -> Return to half way x 1 (06:30/650m)
• Straight 50m x 1 (07:00/700m)
• Straight 100m x 1 (08:00/800m)
• Complete three times for 2400m ran in total.

More Like This:

• Ready for Rugby: A 4-Week In-Season Strength Programme
• Train Like a Rugby Pro – In Less Time and With Less Violence
• Build 360-Degree Strength: Rotational Exercises for All Sports
• New on Breaking Muscle UK

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Ready for Rugby: A 4-Week In-Season Fitness Programme appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In rugby, you don’t spend 12 weeks training to peak once – we have to peak almost every single weekend for 8-9 months. Because of this, gaining strength or size in-season can seem an impossible dream to chase, but in reality, you could just be going about it the wrong way. The push to develop strength or build mass when training and competing in rugby becomes too much, and ends up negatively affecting performance on game day. You simply can’t give 100% physical effort to multiple things and expect nothing to give.

Peaking every weekend for nine months takes its toll. Use big but effective exercises to keep your performance high.

A Weekly Undulating Approach

Step forward sub-maximal strength training. Put simply, you drop your training percentages by 10%, allowing you more energy for other areas of your training. By continuing with this method long term, eventually your old max becomes what you do for reps. Through my experience of working with professional, semi-pro, and amateur rugby teams I’ve found the most success when applying this through a weekly undulating approach – allowing the player to progress not only with gaining strength, but also building some size.

A weekly undulating approach is a fancy way of saying you’re working in different rep ranges week to week. Rather than doing four weeks of hypertrophy, followed by strength, followed by power, you incorporate rep ranges to cater for each of these goals weekly to stay close to your best week in, week out.

This sub-maximal approach is the linchpin of this program, and you’ll use it for the main movement of each day. You will get to the gym, do the important work first, and use these big but effective exercises to make consistent progress. This way, if like most people, you have an hour to get in, work out, and get out, you’ve already done the good stuff. The rest can be a bonus as and when you find the time.

Have fun with it, stay within your limits, and enjoy the benefits on the pitch.

The 4-Week In-Season Strength Program

1. Take your 1 rep max (1RM), or an estimated version using the following calculation:

(((Weight lifted x reps competed) x0.0333) +weight lifted)

2. Times that by .90 to get your Training Max (TM).

3. Apply that new training max into the program below.

Week 1: Day 1 – Lower Body

1.  Jump or Throw Variation– 4 sets of 2 reps

(continue warm up, with mobilising and activation between sets)

Jump Variation examples:

• Box Jump
• Seated Box Jump
• Standing Broad Jump
• Single Leg Power Step Up

Throw Variation examples:

• Underhand forward throw
• Underhand overhead throw (for distance behind)
• Underhand overhead throw (for height vertically)
• Standing Chest Throw with jump

2. Back Squat – work up to 8 reps at 85% TM

3a. BB Glute Bridge – 4 sets of 6 reps

3b. BB Bent Over Row – 4 sets of 8 reps

(All A+B exercises to be completed as a superset)

4a. Weighted Plank – 4 sets of 30 seconds

4b. Rope Face Pull – 4 sets of 15 reps

Week 1: Day 2 – Upper Body

1. Jump or Throw Variation – 4 sets of 2 reps

2. Bench Press – work up to 8 reps at 85% TM

3a. DB Overhead Press – 4 sets of 6 reps

3b. Single Arm Pulldown – 4 sets of 8 reps each side

4a. Cable Woodchop – 4 sets of 10 reps each side

4b. Band Pull Apart – 4 sets of 20 reps

Week 1: Day 3 – Total Body

1. Jump or Throw Variation – 4 sets of 2 reps

2a. Bulgarian Split Squat – 4 sets of 6 reps each side

2b. BB Push Press – 4 sets of 6 reps

3a. DB Incline Press – 4 sets of 8 reps

3b. DB Chest Supported Row – 4 sets of 8 reps

4a. Biceps Curl – 4 sets of 12 reps

4b. Rope Pushdown – 4 sets of 12 reps

4c. Hanging Knee Raise – 4 sets of 12 reps

Week 2:  Day 1 – Lower Body

1. Jump or Throw Variation – 4 sets of 2 reps

2. Back Squat – work up to 6 reps at 90% TM

3a. BB Romanian Deadlift – 4 sets of 6 reps

3b. Chin Up – 4 sets of 8 reps

4a. Roll-out – 4 sets of 5-10 reps (ability dependent)

4b. 45 Degree Row – 4 sets of 15 reps

Week 2: Day 2 – Upper Body

1. Jump or Throw Variation – 4 sets of 2 reps

2. Bench Press – work up to 6 reps at 90% TM

3a. DB Overhead Press – 4 sets of 6 reps

3b. Seated Cable Row – 4 sets of 12 reps

4a. Russian Twist – 4 sets of 10 reps each side

4b. Banded Neck Isolations – 4 sets of 15 seconds each way

Week 2: Day 3 – Total Body

1. Jump or Throw Variation – 4 sets of 2 reps

2a. Split Squat – 4 sets of 6 reps each side

2b. BB Push Press – 4 sets of 6 reps

3a. Dips – 4 sets of 8 reps

3b. Bench Pull/Prone Row – 4 sets of 8 reps

4a. Biceps Curl – 4 sets of 12 reps

4b. Rope Pushdown – 4 sets of 12 reps

4c. Hanging Knee Raise – 4 sets of 12 reps

Week 3:  Day 1 – Lower Body

1. Jump or Throw Variation – 4 sets of 2 reps

2. Back Squat – work up to 4 reps at 95% TM

3a. BB Glute Bridge – 4 sets of 6 reps

3b. BB Bent Over Row – 4 sets of 8 reps

4a. Weighted Plank – 4 sets of 30seconds

4b. Rope Face Pull – 4 sets of 15 reps

Week 3: Day 2 – Upper Body

1. Jump or Throw Variation – 4 sets of 2 reps

2. Bench Press – work up to 4 reps at 95% TM

3a. DB Overhead Press – 4 sets of 6 reps

3b. Single Arm Pulldown – 4 sets of 8 reps each side

4a. Cable Woodchop – 4 sets of 10 reps each side

4b. Band Pull Apart – 4 sets of 20 reps

Week 3: Day 3 – Tota l Body

1. Jump or Throw Variation – 4 sets of 2 reps

2a. Bulgarian Split Squat – 4 sets of 6 reps each side

2b. BB Push Press – 4 sets of 6 reps

3a. DB Incline Press – 4 sets of 8 reps

3b. DB Chest Supported Row – 4 sets of 8 reps

4a. Biceps Curl – 4 sets of 12 reps

4b. Rope Pushdown – 4 sets of 12 reps

4c. Hanging Knee Raise – 4 sets of 12 reps

Week 4: Day 1 – Lower Body

1. Jump or Throw Variation – 4 sets of 2 reps

2. Back Squat – work up to 2 reps at 100% TM

3a. BB Romanian Deadlift – 4 sets of 6 reps

3b. Chin Up – 4 sets of 8 reps

4a. Roll-out – 4 sets of 5-10 reps (ability dependent)

4b. 45 Degree Row – 4 sets of 15 reps

Week 4: Day 2 – Upper Body

1. Jump or Throw Variation– 4 sets of 2 reps

2. Bench Press – work up to 2 reps at 100% TM

3a. DB Overhead Press – 4 sets of 6 reps

3b. Seated Cable Row – 4 sets of 12 reps

4a. Russian Twist – 4 sets of 10 reps each side

4b. Banded Neck Isolations – 4 sets of 15 seconds each way

Week 4: Day 3 – Total Body

1. Jump or Throw Variation – 4 sets of 2 reps

2a. Split Squat – 4 sets of 6 reps each side

2b. BB Push Press – 4 sets of 6 reps

3a. Dips – 4 sets of 8 reps

3b. Bench Pull/Prone Row – 4 sets of 8 reps

4a. Biceps Curl – 4 sets of 12 reps

4b. Rope Pushdown – 4 sets of 12 reps

4c. Hanging Knee Raise – 4 sets of 12 reps

More Like This:

• Train Like a Rugby Pro – In Less Time and With Less Violence
• Why Your “Max” Isn’t Your Max – The 6 Types of Actual Maxes
• Build 360-Degree Strength: Rotational Exercises for All Sports
• New on Breaking Muscle

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Ready for Rugby: A 4-Week In-Season Strength Program appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Phaidra’s grandfather, with whom she spent quite a bit of time as a child, always introduced her to others with the phrase, “Phaidra can do anything,” to the point where she simply believed it as a matter of course. Her uncle, a basketball player, taught her technique and played with her from the time she was five years old. Her father, a golfer, frequently brought Phaidra and her sister to his tournaments, where they got early and significant exposure to the world of golf (and to driving the golf cart). Her mother took up running in her thirties and now, close to thirty years later, still runs ten miles a day. And a childhood friend became one of her very first football playmates, in second or third grade. Tackle, if you please.

Phaidra’s assumptions about her own potential continued into college and then in law school. While she did not participate in formal athletics in college, it was after her first year of law school that she rediscovered her love of sports. In fact, she credits rugby with helping her persist in law school, a path she was questioning because she wasn’t sold on becoming a lawyer. But, as a believer in the educational importance of the experience, she was able to use rugby to help her strike the life balance she needed to finish school.

Phaidra discovered rugby through a basketball acquaintance. She had eligibility to try to walk onto the University of Wisconsin basketball team when she came across a woman who invited her to a rugby practice. At the time, she had no idea what rugby was, but she was intrigued when she heard it described as “like soccer and football,” and doubly so when she learned there was an element of tackling. After the first practice she attended, it was pretty much history. She went on to play professionally, developing a sophisticated understanding of the sport through playing multiple different positions (including flanker, prop, and front line). She was also on multiple World Cup teams and even got in extra practice for a time with the all-male Chicago Lions.

More recently, Phaidra has pursued her interests in CrossFit and bobsledding. She is currently focusing her training for the bobsled combine in June, with an eye on a spot on the next US Olympic team. Rugby and CrossFit have taken somewhat of a backseat until then, but each sport she has pursued has afforded Phaidra the opportunity for increased self-awareness and self-development. For example, rugby reflected a chaotic time in her life, but it also saw her develop into a more mature person and discover who she was as she learned to deal with her issues with more finesse. In this newer chapter involving bobsledding and CrossFit, Phaidra strives for the best results in the most efficient and technical way possible. Even if she doesn’t actually make the bobsled team, the journey is as important, as it symbolizes a new horizon in her life, where she has a better handle on who she is and how that relates to who she was and who she wants to be.

Given that Phaidra is clearer today about her goals and her path, it is probably not surprising that her plan in five years is to be doing more of the same things she’s doing now: still pursuing athletics, but with other layers, including television personality, philanthropist, and non-profit supporter. Phaidra has also spent time as a motivational speaker, focusing frequently on school-age children and discussing with them issues of leadership and a stance against bullying. She imparts to her audiences that who they were doesn’t matter – as leaders, what matters now is the choices they make going forward. Which side of the line are they planning to stand on?

Phaidra meditates daily. Connecting spiritually is big for her. It focuses her, quiets her mind, and gives her an opportunity to show gratitude. She loves meditating on the beach, traveling, meeting new people, and otherwise connecting with positive things and individuals. Indeed, when asked what advice she would give to people who might need a bit of inspiration to pursue their goals, she commented that each of us is our own biggest judge. So sometimes we have to remember that each of us needs to forgive ourselves – we are the only ones who can do it. Everything we want to do and become is solely up to us. Nothing matters but now, maintaining a perspective that rebirth and new possibilities are available at any moment. She suggests everyone live each day as if it’s his or her last and try to find the silver lining in every minute, every experience.

As a final thought, Phaidra commented that Olympic athletes need support. There is a perception that these athletes have incredible pools of resources and financial backing, but this is far from the truth. Olympians tend to pursue their passions and strive to be the best in their sport despite the fact that it is not a lucrative endeavor. Professional athletes have a better situation, of course, but athletes in sports like bobsled and others that are not marquee events need support too and often find creative ways to raise money.

Phaidra Knight is living up to her grandfather’s beliefs about her, taking them on as her own and allowing them to take her to the most wonderful and unexpected places. We at Breaking Muscle wish her luck in June and look forward to cheering her on.

The post It’s Up to Her: Professional Athlete Phaidra Knight Controls Her Destiny appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Before We Get Started

Because you’re only training two days a week, you have to make those workouts count. Make sure your mind is clear and focused on the task at hand. We may be only training two days per week but we need two workouts per day – one in the morning and one later on that day or night. Testosterone levels have been found to peak between twenty and fifty minutes after the initiation of exercise, it’s for this reason we’ll perform shorter, more frequent workouts.

A big portion of your results will not come from the program itself, but the effort and commitment in which you dedicate yourself. A program can never predict how your body will react on a day-by-day basis, so I won’t give you a program. I’ll outline a basic template. This enables you to personalize the template specifically for YOU.

Let’s Hit It

I believe the basic lifts are the best and most efficient ways to develop the human body for athletic success. The typical way a strength coach will build a power athlete is with a combination of speed and maximal strength training. Maximal strength is foundational to all other elements of athleticism (power, speed, agility, etc.). As such a player with higher levels of maximal strength tends also be more efficient within their chosen sport.

What Is Maximal Strength?

Maximal strength is your ability to produce the highest level of force possible. Based on motor unit physiology, after ten seconds, your ability to maintain maximum continuous force has been shown to decrease. So any set or exercise that lasts longer than ten seconds of continuous tension isn’t directly training maximal strength.¹ In general, maximum strength is best developed with 1-5 repetitions using loads above 90% of 1RM, and a combination of concentric and eccentric muscle actions, 3-6 sets per session, 3-6 exercises per session, also allowing for longer rest periods.

You must have built a solid foundation of strength before you can incorporate specific speed work in your program. I’d say a solid foundation of strength would equate to a 1.25x body weight bench press, 1.5x body weight squat, and 1.75x body weight deadlift.

Our Pre Lifting Prep

Self-myofascial release techniques prior to a workout can help to decrease muscle density and allow for better warm-up. Use foam rolling for myofascial release, include a dynamic warm ups to add range of motion and activate dormant muscles. For mobility, it’s important to focus on exercises that open up the hips and thoracic spine. Also include some stretching for chronically tight areas.

How to Lift

Every time you lift a bar, you must lift as fast as possible. The faster you lift a weight, the more you’re going to activate the nervous system and the high threshold motor units (HTMU). You’re probably thinking to yourself “What the hell are high threshold motor units?”

Your muscle fibers work together in groups or units to perform movements. High threshold motor units are the strongest groups of muscle fibers in the human body, but they’re only used for the most difficult tasks. That means you must push yourself in order to reach the level of intensity needed to recruit these high threshold muscle fibers, and the more you do that, the more you’ll potentiate your body to get a physiological response to build strength. Obviously when the weight gets heavier the bar won’t move as fast, but it’s the intent to accelerate is what’s important.

You’ll start the lifting sequence using sub-maximal loads (Under 70% 1RM), and slowly increase the weight by 5-10% 1RM with every set until 85-90% 1RM has been reached. At this point you’ll begin your official work set. Your lifting sequence for the technical – or high skill and non-power – strength based exercises ONLY should look something like below. In this case we’ll use a technical lift as an example.

• 60% 1RM x 6 Repetitions
• 70% 1RM x 5 Repetitions
• 80% 1RM x 3 Repetitions
• 85-90% 1RM x 3-5 Repetitions (1st official work set)
• 90% 1RM x 3-5 Repetitions (2nd official work set)
• 95% 1RM x 3-5 Repetitions (3rd official work set)

Order of Exercises

The order we select our exercises can have a substantial impact on how our bodies adapt to the training template. We prioritize the most important areas for when the body is fresh and most efficient at learning. Technical or high skill type exercises should always be performed first. When we execute a new movement we are creating a sequence of nerve impulses specific to that movement. The more we practice that neurological sequence, the better that brain learns that particular movement pattern.

After our technical work, our speed and/or ballistic work should be performed next. Our non-power, strength based exercises should be performed third in this continuum, leaving our assistance or isolation exercises to be performed last. If the exercise doesn’t serve a function, leave it out. Our exercise continuum looks like this:

1. Technical or high skill, Olympic style lifts, clean or snatch variations/progressions.
2. Speed and/or ballistic, plyometrics, bodyweight, medicine ball drills.
3. Non-power strength based, compound movements, lower/upper body pressing and pulling.
4. Assistance or isolation, pre/rehabilitation, self selection.

CREATE YOUR OWN PROGRAM

Warm Up: Self-myofascial release (foam roller or tennis ball), a dynamic flexibility/mobility circuit followed by some stretching for chronically tight areas.

• a) Olympic style lifts | 3 X 3-5
• b1) Plyometrics | Medicine ball based | 3 X 3-5 (superset)
• b2) Plyometrics | Bodyweight | 3 X 3-5 (superset)
• c) Compound movements | Lower/upper body press | 4 X 3-6
• d) Compound movements | Lower/upper body pull | 4 X 3-6
• e. Pre/rehabilitation exercises. This is really dependant on the individual. Pick 2 exercises 2 X 8-12

Template Notes:

• Every time you lift a bar, you must lift as fast as possible.
• Lower body press = Squat. Upper body press = horizontal or vertical press.
• Lower body pull = Deadlift. Upper body pull = horizontal or vertical row.
• There are no rest interval prescriptions for this program. You should attempt the next set as soon as you feel capable of performing the set well without a drop-off in performance.

Rugby league players must possess power, strength, speed, dynamic flexibility, agility, balance, coordination, and overall athleticism. If your goal is to look and feel athletic, then this is the perfected the strategy to achieve it. And for those of you who play other sports, if your strength and conditioning needs look similar to those of rugby players, you might give this program a try, too.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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