The Football Faq!((PLEASE READ BEFORE STARTING A THREAD ABOUT FOOTBALL Q's))

[BreezerD]

Depending on your age, 6ft is pretty short for a rugby player. Depending on your build and what weight you reach, you could play (optimally) at 6ft tall: Prop, Hooker, Openside Flanker, or any position in the backs.

[Rugby4ever]

Depending on your age, 6ft is pretty short for a rugby player. Depending on your build and what weight you reach, you could play (optimally) at 6ft tall: Prop, Hooker, Openside Flanker, or any position in the backs.

I'm 6 foot and I play Blind (16 years old). You can play blind so long as your effective at hitting the second breakdown, supporting your players and scavenging the ball from the opposition at the breakdown. Then again it depends on your style of play.

I'm more of a Blindeside where I make the big hits, and this season my tackle count is well above everyone else, even the backs, in the team. I'm the slower of the two flankers (Although fast still) and so I am used more for tackling and sometimes powerful bursts onto the ball, where as the openside is more for the seeking of the offload to gain ground and maybe popping it to me.

Like I was saying, you can be any position depending on your play style and if it suits your team. Were forwards orientated as our pack is massive and aggressive and so I'm a perfect blindside for ours. I'm big built with a broad frame.

[Rugby4ever]

I've found a brilliant training guideline for In season, Off Season and Pre Season guys. It's got examples too and plyometrics.

http://www.rugby.org/articles/rugtrain.htm

It includes Interval, Fartleq, Weights and Plyometrics. Have a look.

[xxtwistedxx]

I've found a brilliant training guideline for In season, Off Season and Pre Season guys. It's got examples too and plyometrics.

http://www.rugby.org/articles/rugtrain.htm

It includes Interval, Fartleq, Weights and Plyometrics. Have a look.

in the process of reading it. got the weight training section and decided to completely skip that. hope everyone sees why.

edit- actually got through that faster than i thought. the interval training seemed to be the most interesting and helpful. by actually giving a structured program and not just a generic "heres what you can try" but otherwise leaving the reader to guess. so kudos there.

two gripes i have are as follows-
1- bicep curls? tricep extensions? leg extension and leg curls? probably the 4 most useless bodybuilding style exercises for any athlete. work the bi's? pull variations. tri's? push variations. leg extensions? just friggin squat, throw, deadlift, or clean. leg curls? theres maybe 8 exercises off the top of my head that are far more useful than the simple leg curl machine. leave that stuff to the bodybuilders.
2- just a small gripe. i think they confused high intensity with high volume when talking about plyo's. intensity refers to the effort exerted. plyos are 100% effort exercises. volume is to the amount. sprinting 100's several times would be higher volume.

ive been training athletes over a range of sports and in season id never just tell them to stop working your legs. maintenance programs are designed for a reason. stick to 80% intensity during season then off start hitting 100-110% to failure.

[toad1]

for heavy day should I do like squat 3x5, bench 3x5, powerclean x 3 then weighted pul ups and dips?

then what sort of thing should i do in light workouts, use more dumbbells ?

yup sounds good. yeh light db work is good i do things like front raises, r.c work, bit of curls and some core and stabilty work.

Lewis Moody FOR SURE is among those, maybe Haskell too.

not even the same league as mccaw, smith and berger.....i don't remeber either of the being in the lions squad.

Any recommendations for a good pair of boots for someone playing in the centres? I don't want anything too flashy-looking.

i thought backs just bought the boots they thought looked best, only thing i would say is avoid those football(soccer) boots that are ankle breakers theres quite alot of them my moldies are ankle breakers. you'll know what i mean if you have a pare.

[RunningStrong]

not even the same league as mccaw, smith and berger.....i don't remeber either of the being in the lions squad.

I throwing out my (very biased) opinion and saying Martyn Williams, mostly for his ability at the break down than his physical presence. I'd like to know what the opinion is outside of Wales.

[toad1]

I've found a brilliant training guideline for In season, Off Season and Pre Season guys. It's got examples too and plyometrics.

http://www.rugby.org/articles/rugtrain.htm

It includes Interval, Fartleq, Weights and Plyometrics. Have a look.

just read that, i find it interesting that he has all the lifts done sitting down duno if i agree with that for rugby as i allways thought you wana try work your core when you can when lifting but i guess that would give you a better chance to isolate the upperbody muscles which might help you get a bigger upper body but again isolation is not something i think is good in the main lifts for rugby. also any program that doesn't squat and deadlift for rugby is just stupid and dissmissed buy me.

however the interval and plyometrics stuff looks good might copy some of it.

I throwing out my (very biased) opinion and saying Martyn Williams, mostly for his ability at the break down than his physical presence. I'd like to know what the opinion is outside of Wales.

he's much better than moody and haskel he's defo one of the best 7's out there, his link up play and 'cheating' is awesom.

[BreezerD]

My favourite thing about Martyn Williams is watching him get thrown around by Heinrich Brussow and Pierre Spies

[Frannycakes]

You guys ever lose a stud during practice/a match, and then where the stud was gets filled with dirt? This happened to me, but it's one of the back studs, I played a few games without it and never noticed a difference, but I'm worried come spring season the ground is going to be harder than the fall. Anyone know an easy way to get that **** out? I figured if nothing else just dig it all out with a nail or something.

[Papa_GC]

Here are the people I think publish the best of the best on performance training:

Mark Verstegen, founder of athletes performance and creator of the Core Performance training system. He is the world's most renown name in performance training, his system is based on movement rather than body parts, and covers pretty much everything there is to do when it comes to improving performance.

Other strong names, if you don't know them, you are behind!

Mike Boyle
Ian King - Volume and load
Daniel Baker - Power
Verkhoshansky - Program Design

[BreezerD]

You guys ever lose a stud during practice/a match, and then where the stud was gets filled with dirt? This happened to me, but it's one of the back studs, I played a few games without it and never noticed a difference, but I'm worried come spring season the ground is going to be harder than the fall. Anyone know an easy way to get that **** out? I figured if nothing else just dig it all out with a nail or something.

Dig it out with the end of a paperclip.

[BreezerD]

I'm 6 foot and I play Blind (16 years old). You can play blind so long as your effective at hitting the second breakdown, supporting your players and scavenging the ball from the opposition at the breakdown. Then again it depends on your style of play.

I'm more of a Blindeside where I make the big hits, and this season my tackle count is well above everyone else, even the backs, in the team. I'm the slower of the two flankers (Although fast still) and so I am used more for tackling and sometimes powerful bursts onto the ball, where as the openside is more for the seeking of the offload to gain ground and maybe popping it to me.

Like I was saying, you can be any position depending on your play style and if it suits your team. Were forwards orientated as our pack is massive and aggressive and so I'm a perfect blindside for ours. I'm big built with a broad frame.

Built big at 168lb? :/

But yeah, being 16 makes a huuuuge difference.

[xxtwistedxx]

Built big at 168lb? :/

But yeah, being 16 makes a huuuuge difference.

damn our two flankers are 205 lol. both are college freshies too. eh 16 i guess can get away with that size i suppose.

[MiKeOnE29]

I've found a brilliant training guideline for In season, Off Season and Pre Season guys. It's got examples too and plyometrics.

http://www.rugby.org/articles/rugtrain.htm

It includes Interval, Fartleq, Weights and Plyometrics. Have a look.

whats up with weights only once a week in season? in season i try to get in twice a week, monday and wednesday and thats with games sometimes on saturday and sunday. If im feeling really nackerd on a monday after 2 games in a row i wont do anything, i just listen to my body. Obviously you arent gonna make huge gains in season but i thought twice a week at a bare minimum for maintenance. Plus the seasons like 8/9 months long

[Rugby4ever]

damn our two flankers are 205 lol. both are college freshies too. eh 16 i guess can get away with that size i suppose.

Not even colts yet and most people aren't stocky yet. I'm a bit heavier now, been hitting the gym alot.

[RunningStrong]

You guys ever lose a stud during practice/a match, and then where the stud was gets filled with dirt? This happened to me, but it's one of the back studs, I played a few games without it and never noticed a difference, but I'm worried come spring season the ground is going to be harder than the fall. Anyone know an easy way to get that **** out? I figured if nothing else just dig it all out with a nail or something.

If you can find a screw that's slightly smaller than the stud hold that'll work. Soak the bottom of the boot dirst to soften the mud up.

Whatever you do, don't screw the stud in while there's still mud in the hole, get a horrible lump in your boot then.

[toad1]

do any of you guys go to training and wonder why you went. we did a drill at training tonight and i had no idea what it was meant to do.....well for me anyway i think it was about the centres breaking the line and what you should do when this happens, but as i'm either in a scrum or at a ruck i found the drill wierd as anytime id go out in the backline to run a support line my coach would stop me and ask me if i would be there in a game. so i endend up just running across the park at a very slow pace as we where just doing 1 phase. so i ended up doing extra fitness with our scrum half at the end of the session. our tuesday training is getting so bad and what makes it worse is ive picked up what i think is a bicep strain which might effect the most important thing about rugby my deadlift 2moro night.

[swolepatrole]

do any of you guys go to training and wonder why you went. we did a drill at training tonight and i had no idea what it was meant to do.....well for me anyway i think it was about the centres breaking the line and what you should do when this happens, but as i'm either in a scrum or at a ruck i found the drill wierd as anytime id go out in the backline to run a support line my coach would stop me and ask me if i would be there in a game. so i endend up just running across the park at a very slow pace as we where just doing 1 phase. so i ended up doing extra fitness with our scrum half at the end of the session. our tuesday training is getting so bad and what makes it worse is ive picked up what i think is a bicep strain which might effect the most important thing about rugby my deadlift 2moro night.

wutwut?

[teriyakisaki]

You guys ever lose a stud during practice/a match, and then where the stud was gets filled with dirt? This happened to me, but it's one of the back studs, I played a few games without it and never noticed a difference, but I'm worried come spring season the ground is going to be harder than the fall. Anyone know an easy way to get that **** out? I figured if nothing else just dig it all out with a nail or something.

use water and a paper clip. let water soak into it to soften it up and then dig it out with the paper clip. repeat.

while you don't use the back studs as much as the front ones, you definately want to get it replaced or risk rolling an ankle.















anybody know how i can watch the IRB sevens without having to be in vegas?

[Bignik92]

this has really been annoying me recently but during preseason my tackling was amazing I was dumping and shoulder charging left right and centre but I injured my shoulder pretty bad and it jus destoryed my tackling all season.

Any tips on how to build it back up to where it was cos its pretty weak now "/

[toad1]

wutwut?

the gym and being strong is slowly becoming more important to me. as our season has gone to ****, we where challenging for promtion last year and this year we're in a religation fight all cause of a change in coaches and a loss of a few players.

this has really been annoying me recently but during preseason my tackling was amazing I was dumping and shoulder charging left right and centre but I injured my shoulder pretty bad and it jus destoryed my tackling all season.

Any tips on how to build it back up to where it was cos its pretty weak now "/

your tackling is fine, its just a mental thing because you don't wana hurt your shoulder. have cofidence that your shoulder is fine and your tackling will come back it can often be a subconsious(i think thats how thats spelt) thing and your body not wanting to hurt itself again. its like that whole thing where you can never punch yourslef as hard as you would punch someone else and how you hit harder when you have a weapon in your hand.

[GregNuthurst]

Thought you guys might like this, showing how rugby strength levels really are. From a S14 team.

"The body mass, 1RM bench press and 1RM squat for high forwards and backs were 109.53?4.85kg,
144.3?15.1kg and 178.8?28.0kg and 94.27?9.53kg, 136.7?13.3kg and 166.7?27.3kg respectively"

Oddly, I was just reading a NSCA journal and had some data from a pro rugby team (I'm guessing Wales, but could be anywhere). Mean bench was lower at 125kg but mean squat was 180kg.

Must be something about that 180kg/400lb mark.

[CanuckLock]

anybody know how i can watch the IRB sevens without having to be in vegas?

Subscribe to Setanta, or Setanta-i. Setanta-i will at least allow you to go back and re-watch matches. Check your region though to make sure they show Sevens.

Anyway, this is my first season playing rugby, and at the age of 26, it's rather overwhelming. This thread is great though. Will really help the rest of the season and during the off-season!

[teriyakisaki]

Subscribe to Setanta, or Setanta-i. Setanta-i will at least allow you to go back and re-watch matches. Check your region though to make sure they show Sevens.

Anyway, this is my first season playing rugby, and at the age of 26, it's rather overwhelming. This thread is great though. Will really help the rest of the season and during the off-season!

i'm in the states. central coast of california to be exact. whats setanta?

[xxtwistedxx]

Oddly, I was just reading a NSCA journal and had some data from a pro rugby team (I'm guessing Wales, but could be anywhere). Mean bench was lower at 125kg but mean squat was 180kg.

Must be something about that 180kg/400lb mark.

i think it just gets to the point of how useful is a massive squat in rugby? lotta leg mass to drive that much weight and the energy to use it. takes some serious fuel to power that much muscle for 80mins.

[BobisMighty]

i think it just gets to the point of how useful is a massive squat in rugby? lotta leg mass to drive that much weight and the energy to use it. takes some serious fuel to power that much muscle for 80mins.

yes i agree. actually what seems to be helping me more in terms of leg drive are speed squats. i do them in pendulum, waves, 50%, 55%, 60% of my 1RM. i do 10x2 with 30 seconds rest between sets. the higher your max is, the higher your speed squat is. i relate this to the fact that if you have a squat max of 400lbs or more, you'd have a speed squat of around 200lbs, which sort of becomes the equivalent of driving a flanker off a ruck.

[BobisMighty]

Also, thought you guys might find this interesting.
http://www.ergo-log.com/stretchorrest.html

article about how dynamic stretching is better for recovery from sprints.
the study was done with cycling but i'm sure it applies to regular sprinting.

i wish they showed which dynamic stretches they used in the study.

[toad1]

i think it just gets to the point of how useful is a massive squat in rugby? lotta leg mass to drive that much weight and the energy to use it. takes some serious fuel to power that much muscle for 80mins.

ive never thought about it like that.

it's something ive allways found strange about rugby as you never really hear about proper huge squats like 250kg plus the only player ive found with a massive squat is andrew sheridan and well he's allways injured. i think the fitness demands on the legs also plays a factor in it as the volume of running will take its toll on the legs but most guys have really big bench presses and i allways though rugby was about leg strength and leg drive not big presses. like my mate txt me 2day saying he just read some stuff sayin matt giteau benches 170kg. whether thats true or doesn't really matter. its just the fact you can find stuff about guys benching 170kg odd and not much about them squating well over 200kg which is what i would of thought seing as they bench so much. surely rugby players can't be that top heavy.

[CanuckLock]

i'm in the states. central coast of california to be exact. whats setanta?

Only the best channel for rugby and football.

setanta.com/us

Setanta-i is the broadband version and allows you to watch on-demand.

Sorry, can't give the hyperlink due to my post count.

[monatu]

Super 14 starts tonight, yeew