JT4Rugby Training Log

**JT4Rugby** · 06-18-2011, 08:22 AM

Im looking to start weight training to improve my sporting performance in Rugby Union. My club coach prevented me from doing weights until this age because they wanted me to develop my skills,speed and fitness before weight training. As well as I have a history of injuries. I have alot of knowledge about training for rugby but not weight training for rugby so your advice would be very helpful, all the knowledge about weight training has come from other rugby blogs. Im currently focusing on my form so please dont rip me apart for my weak lifting

Thanks

**JT4Rugby** · 06-18-2011, 08:39 AM

Here is my current pre-season training programme. My aim is to put on weight (not necessarly lean) and increase my lifts by around 20-25%. I play on the wing so explosive power, speed and agility are key but at the same time I do need to increase my strength and size.

Monday - Max effort-lifts

Bench Press
Overhead Press
Shoulder Circuit
A- Shrugs
B- Laterial Raise
C- Rear Delt Raise
Pull ups
Push ups
Turkish Get-Ups (with medicine ball)

Tuesday- Club Fitness

Wednesday- Rest/Rehab

Thursday- Max Lower

Squat
Vertical Jumps
Deadlift
Walking Lunges
Backward/Forward Sled Drags

Friday- Repetition Upper

Swiss Ball Bench Press
Pulling Superset
A- Chin Ups
B- Band Pull-Aparts
C- Renegrade Rows
Traps/Arms Superset
A- DB Shrugs
B- Elbow Flexor Exercise
Grip Work (Plate holds)
Turkish Get-Ups (Med Ball)

Saturday- Rest

Sunday- Club Fitness

If any one could suggest tweaks to my programme I would be very greatful.

**JT4Rugby** · 06-18-2011, 08:53 AM

Good session today although my homemade sled broke :/ Got absolutely socked (my squat racks outside) but really enjoyed the session and I am starting to increase the weight now my form is improving. Although I think my deadlift form is poor and due to having a home gym I cannot really get that much advice.

Thursday

Warm up

Foam rolling
Squats
Mobility drills
1min skipping
Stretches

Squat: Bar x 10, 32kg x 8, 47kg x 6, 67kg x 6, 70kg x 3, 80kg x 3, 90kg x 3
Vertical Jumps: 38' 5x3
Deadlifts: 30kg x 10, 35kg x 8, 47.5kg x 3, 55kg x 3, 60kg x 3
Walking Lunges: 3x11 27kg
Backward Sled: 80kg x 30meters, sled broke....
Forward Sled: /

Then stretches

**JT4Rugby** · 06-18-2011, 09:13 AM

Once again I felt pumped up for this session and it went well although I am questioning this workout and its affectiveness, it would be useful to get your feedback.

Warm up

Foam rolling
Agility drills (should do on lower but I will learn)
Mobility drills
Stretches

Swiss ball DB bench press: 15x3 27kg (bad form, thinking of swapping exercises, any suggestions?)
Pulling superset
A- Pull ups 10,10,10
B- Band pull aparts 12,12,12
C- Renegrade rows 10,10,10
Traps/Arms superset
A- DB shrugs 12,12,12 13.5kg (Only have one set of spin lock dumbbells may get another pair because it is annyoying changing the weight and it cannot be done during supersets)
B- Curls 8,8,8 13.5kg (Let the abuse begin)
Plate Holds(grip): 40sec x 3 12kg
Turkish get-ups (med ball): 8,8,8 10kg

Stretch

**JT4Rugby** · 06-19-2011, 12:11 AM

Club Fitness

Jog around pitch five times
10x30meter interval sprints
Tag Rugby for 1.30mins

**JT4Rugby** · 06-20-2011, 09:48 AM

Please help me out here guys! Would this defrancos programme be better for me?http://www.defrancostraining.com/art...rds-part1.html

**JT4Rugby** · 06-20-2011, 11:36 AM

Great news for the up and coming season. We have been placed in a very tough pool because we mannaged to get promoted to National League 1 we are now playing teams such as Harrow and Cambridge

**BobisMighty** · 06-20-2011, 11:43 AM

Not a bad workout plan at all. I don't think that it's necessary to do the db presses on a swiss ball, especially if you're worried about form. so you can just do it on a bench if you'd like. i would do incline db press.

defranco's WS4SB is a great workout, especially for someone at your age and stage of physical development. i just think it would be better to do in the off-season than in-season, since you only have 3 days to lift.

**toad1** · 06-20-2011, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by JT4Rugby

Monday -

Bench Press-4x8-12
db bench (incline or flat)
Dips 3-5MR at BW
Shoulder Circuit
A- Shrugs
B- Laterial Raise
C- Rear Delt Raise
Pull ups
Push ups
Turkish Get-Ups (with medicine ball)

Tuesday- Club Fitness

Wednesday- Rest/Rehab/BW work
Elbow Flexor Exercise

Thursday-

Vertical Jumps
Squat 4x8-12
Walking Lunges
Backward/Forward Sled Drags

Friday-
deadlift 3-5x3-5
overhead press 4x8-12
Pulling Superset
A- Chin Ups
B- Band Pull-Aparts
C- Renegrade Rows
Grip Work (Plate holds)
different core work,-have a look at the core curicuit on joe defrancos youtube page alot of them are killer, most of them are in my journal.

Saturday- Rest

Sunday- Club Fitness

most of it looks good. although if i was you i would simplfy it all down and work on just bench and squat and do more reps. one thing i wish i did as when i was younger would be more hypertrophy work. also keep doing the bodywieght stuff like the dips and the pull up/chin ups..........i've made a few changes that i would make.

i like keeping deadlifts in the low rep ranges no matter what, i have never been able to keep my form solid after 8 reps so seing as your learning id keep it that way.

look for programmes like starting strength and if it still exsists bill starr's 5x5 and have a read of jim wendler's 5/3/1 alot of good info in there.

**scott_donald** · 06-21-2011, 02:36 AM

ok JT...

here is my opinion...

first training is simple... stick to basic simple lifts... and of course running... you are a rugby player so from playing varying levels of rugby the main difference is - speed!!! of course speed does come from many means...

So for a rugby program -

agility work
acceleration work
top speed
speed endurance

power
strength
strength endurance

training should take into consideration your strengths and weaknesses... now using these you should work to your long and short term goals... of course training is very dependent where you are in the training year...

think about that...

as far as club fitness what is in there???

**JT4Rugby** · 06-21-2011, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by BobisMighty

Not a bad workout plan at all. I don't think that it's necessary to do the db presses on a swiss ball, especially if you're worried about form. so you can just do it on a bench if you'd like. i would do incline db press.

defranco's WS4SB is a great workout, especially for someone at your age and stage of physical development. i just think it would be better to do in the off-season than in-season, since you only have 3 days to lift.

Thanks for the advice man. I was worried about the swiss ball presses so I shall move to an incline bench. I am currently offseason I just have a few sessions at the club. So do you believe I should move onto the WS4SB program? Although I do struggle with recovery and the amount of time to train. I may have to do an early morning session before my studying on club training days. Thanks alot and by the way your log is great, keep it up!

**JT4Rugby** · 06-21-2011, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by toad1

most of it looks good. although if i was you i would simplfy it all down and work on just bench and squat and do more reps. one thing i wish i did as when i was younger would be more hypertrophy work. also keep doing the bodywieght stuff like the dips and the pull up/chin ups..........i've made a few changes that i would make.

i like keeping deadlifts in the low rep ranges no matter what, i have never been able to keep my form solid after 8 reps so seing as your learning id keep it that way.

look for programmes like starting strength and if it still exsists bill starr's 5x5 and have a read of jim wendler's 5/3/1 alot of good info in there.

I would like to do hypertrophy work although I am worried about losing pace seeing as a play on the wing although I do understand where you are coming from. I will take your advice and increase squats and bench reps. I love the bodyweight stuff although I do not have a dip station, do you think doing it on a bench will be fine?

Thats vey useful advice because I have noticed poor form when I increase my reps, I was pretty stupid and thought I needed to build up a base level of strength with more weights rather than worrying about form. Would you just increase the sets?

Would you recomend the WS4SB program as well as the two displayed? Thanks

**JT4Rugby** · 06-21-2011, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by scott_donald

ok JT...

here is my opinion...

first training is simple... stick to basic simple lifts... and of course running... you are a rugby player so from playing varying levels of rugby the main difference is - speed!!! of course speed does come from many means...

So for a rugby program -

agility work
acceleration work
top speed
speed endurance

power
strength
strength endurance

training should take into consideration your strengths and weaknesses... now using these you should work to your long and short term goals... of course training is very dependent where you are in the training year...

think about that...

as far as club fitness what is in there???

That is the main aim for me to increase my speed but I have always struggled to know where to place it in my program:/ I am currently offseason so I will probably be performing 3-4 weights sessions a week with club fitness, club fitness currently is quite low intensity we perform a few sprints normaly around 10x10m, light jog around pitch 4 times, few passing drills, then sudden changes of directions while sprinting for around 10minutes then we move into tag rugby that is surprisingly hard work for around an hour. Thanks for the advice but how can I incorporate so many types of speed training into a week? is there any chance of a sample of season plan? Thanks for the help very useful

**JT4Rugby** · 06-21-2011, 10:47 AM

This is what I did yesterday...

Monday

Foam rolling
Passing (heart rate)
Medicine ball slams (fun)
Stretch

Bench Press: Barx10, 20kgx10, 35kgx8, 37kgx6, 50kg,x6, 52kgx6, 62kgx3
Incline DB bench press: 4setsx12 13.5kg (per DB)
Barbell rows: 4setsx10 35kg
Shoulder Circuit
A-Barbell Shrugsx15 35kg
B-Laterial Raisex10 7.5kg x 3
C-Bent over delt raisex10 7.5kg
Med ball crunch 2x20 ( had a cramp like pain in my abs, had for a few weeks, hopefully just a mild strain)

Overall not a bad session med ball crunches were disapointing due to pain in abs, I felt like I could have increased weight on bench press but was spending too long and felt like I needed to hurry up overall weight not the heaviest but form was spot on.

**BobisMighty** · 06-21-2011, 11:11 AM

Originally Posted by JT4Rugby

Thanks for the advice man. I was worried about the swiss ball presses so I shall move to an incline bench. I am currently offseason I just have a few sessions at the club. So do you believe I should move onto the WS4SB program? Although I do struggle with recovery and the amount of time to train. I may have to do an early morning session before my studying on club training days. Thanks alot and by the way your log is great, keep it up!

if you're find you have trouble with recovery, stick to 2-3 days. you can follow the WS4SB in-season template, and if you'd like add a 3rd day with some full body stuff. i like scott_donald's advice though. For someone your age, it would benefit you immensely to focus on agility and speed work now.

**toad1** · 06-21-2011, 02:30 PM

damn scott allways covers all the bases, yeh i forgot to say running is probably the most important thing about rugby.

Originally Posted by JT4Rugby

I would like to do hypertrophy work although I am worried about losing pace seeing as a play on the wing although I do understand where you are coming from. I will take your advice and increase squats and bench reps. I love the bodyweight stuff although I do not have a dip station, do you think doing it on a bench will be fine?

Thats vey useful advice because I have noticed poor form when I increase my reps, I was pretty stupid and thought I needed to build up a base level of strength with more weights rather than worrying about form. Would you just increase the sets?

Would you recomend the WS4SB program as well as the two displayed? Thanks

this is a bit of a rant of mine but adding muscles doesn't tend to slow you down, adding fat yes but muslce not really, i don't know enough about speed to say that for definite but i'm 95% sure 2-3kgs more of muscle isnt going to slow you down once you adjust to carrying it, ofcoure you'll have an optimimum wieght but you'll only know that when you get too heavy.

as for the dips do you have two couches/chairs, stairwell, most people have something in their house they can use for dips. if you can set them up high enough you'll be able to do dips easily, is it just a squat rack and a bench you have? i not a fan of dips on a bench it's a totally different exercise imo to proper dips and id rather not do it but thats up to you and why you wana do dips on a bench, if its a replacement for proper dips i wouldn't bother.

personally i wouldn't recomend WS4SB but thats manily cos i couldn't follow it, i did do his badass programe and it's one of the best programmes if ever done the strength progression in it just didn't suit me. WS4SB is a good program but id keep it even simpler than that. you honestly can't go wrong with just bench squats deads at your age, keep it simple learn your form on the big 3-5. starting strength is my favorite program for a new lifter.

as for building up a base level of strength for me that is something you should be doing all your life and continually trying to get stronger and stronger year on year and i also don't get this thing where people think building up a base level of strength is doing higher reps, it doesn't make sense to me, strength work is in the 1-3 rep range.

as for deadlifts if i was you i wouldn't go above 5x5, or just do form work with the bar.

**JT4Rugby** · 06-22-2011, 11:58 AM

Toad, thanks for the advice man really useful. I have just read 'never let go' by Dan John and he has very similar advice to you I think I will stick to the basic lifts then build up from there.

**JT4Rugby** · 06-22-2011, 12:04 PM

The main piece of information I gained from this session is that I need new boots, serious blisters! Anyway this is what I got up to....

6laps of pitch
dynamic stretches
passing drills
3x30m sprints
then into a few touch rugby games with the seniors for around 1hour

It was a very light session but was very fustrating, as soon as a found a gap and was away I cramped up in my calfs. I dont have a clue what it could have been, I drunk plently throughout the day. Oh well no other problems. Fitness starts in a week so I will put a few tabata training sessions in this week so I wont absolutely destroy myself next week.

**JT4Rugby** · 06-22-2011, 12:10 PM

Took your guys advice and I have started putting agility stuff into my routine I did this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhPN7B9bisU Have you guys got any cone drills that you like to use?

I really enjoyed the agility training, fun and light.

**BobisMighty** · 06-22-2011, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by JT4Rugby

Took your guys advice and I have started putting agility stuff into my routine I did this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhPN7B9bisU Have you guys got any cone drills that you like to use?

I really enjoyed the agility training, fun and light.

I love the agility ladder. I used to use it often, until they took it out of my gym. I have to get another pair. I haven't done too many cone drills, but the ones i've done have been team drills, about not leaving gaps when coming up or back pedaling on defense.

**toad1** · 06-22-2011, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by JT4Rugby

Took your guys advice and I have started putting agility stuff into my routine I did this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhPN7B9bisU Have you guys got any cone drills that you like to use?

I really enjoyed the agility training, fun and light.

thats dude's got some fast feet, but he'd get slated at our training his head and chest are down lol....no point having feet that fast if you can't see where your going......

i just leave the agility work and cone drill stuff to what i get at rugby, we get enough of it.

**JT4Rugby** · 06-22-2011, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by BobisMighty

I love the agility ladder. I used to use it often, until they took it out of my gym. I have to get another pair. I haven't done too many cone drills, but the ones i've done have been team drills, about not leaving gaps when coming up or back pedaling on defense.

Its a great way to train I really enjoy it. You should get an agility ladder I find them really affective or you could make one like me, its half drawn on the concrete with chalf and the other half is sticks tapped to rope, aha it does the job

**JT4Rugby** · 06-22-2011, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by toad1

thats dude's got some fast feet, but he'd get slated at our training his head and chest are down lol....no point having feet that fast if you can't see where your going......

i just leave the agility work and cone drill stuff to what i get at rugby, we get enough of it.

That is actually pretty useful, I need to put my head up when training and maybe carry a ball, bit stupid of me not to! I can imagine him getting smashed ha, I have started training with the seniors who are about 100lb heavy so I will make sure to keep my head up!

We dont do much agility at rugby so I need to work on it at home

**JT4Rugby** · 06-22-2011, 02:13 PM

Toad is this the program you where talking about? http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wi...inner_Programs and would everyone else agree with this?

**toad1** · 06-22-2011, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by JT4Rugby

Toad is this the program you where talking about? http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wi...inner_Programs and would everyone else agree with this?

yes, thats the one but it was actually had bill starr's 5x5 i had in my head but they are very very similar programmes.

bill starr's 5x5 goes more like this; (i only have an old spreadsheet of it)

MONDAY
squat 5x5, bench 5x5 clean(row) 5x5, 2 sets wieghted hypers, 4 sets weighted sit ups

WEDNESDAY
squat 4x5, press 4x5, dead 4x5, 3 sets sit ups

FRIDAY
squat 4x5,3,8 bench 4x5,3,8 clean(row) 4x5,3,8 wieghted dips 3x5-8 bb curls 3x8 tricep extensions 3x8

i can't find the actual program and what the %'s of lifts are. like the squats on wednesday are a fair bit lighter and your set of 3 on the friday is your final set of 5 on the monday. it's also meant to be cleans but on my spreadsheet i've swaped it for rows. i actually made some great gains on the program. i duno if i could squat 3x a week these days my rugby training is killing me i'm strugling to fit in one leg day at the moment, running is becoming far more important for me.

**JT4Rugby** · 06-23-2011, 12:31 PM

Originally Posted by toad1

yes, thats the one but it was actually had bill starr's 5x5 i had in my head but they are very very similar programmes.

bill starr's 5x5 goes more like this; (i only have an old spreadsheet of it)

MONDAY
squat 5x5, bench 5x5 clean(row) 5x5, 2 sets wieghted hypers, 4 sets weighted sit ups

WEDNESDAY
squat 4x5, press 4x5, dead 4x5, 3 sets sit ups

FRIDAY
squat 4x5,3,8 bench 4x5,3,8 clean(row) 4x5,3,8 wieghted dips 3x5-8 bb curls 3x8 tricep extensions 3x8

i can't find the actual program and what the %'s of lifts are. like the squats on wednesday are a fair bit lighter and your set of 3 on the friday is your final set of 5 on the monday. it's also meant to be cleans but on my spreadsheet i've swaped it for rows. i actually made some great gains on the program. i duno if i could squat 3x a week these days my rugby training is killing me i'm strugling to fit in one leg day at the moment, running is becoming far more important for me.

I am going to follow something similar but as you said squating 3x a week is too much with rugby training so I may cut it down to two squat days and on the 2nd replace squats with something else, thanks.

**JT4Rugby** · 06-23-2011, 01:52 PM

Did the same drills on the agility ladder this morning, went well again. In the afternoon I did some work on my lifting form with just the bar I worked on squats and powercleans because powercleans are new to me and I have been doing box squats up to this point. I was pretty happy with the improvement in my form although I still seem to struggle with my squat depth, I also struggle at the start of deadlifts and powercleans. Has anyone got any advice on stretches etc etc...

I will record myself and post it on here when I figure out how to do it, hopefully tommorow.

**BobisMighty** · 06-24-2011, 07:55 AM

Originally Posted by JT4Rugby

Did the same drills on the agility ladder this morning, went well again. In the afternoon I did some work on my lifting form with just the bar I worked on squats and powercleans because powercleans are new to me and I have been doing box squats up to this point. I was pretty happy with the improvement in my form although I still seem to struggle with my squat depth, I also struggle at the start of deadlifts and powercleans. Has anyone got any advice on stretches etc etc...

I will record myself and post it on here when I figure out how to do it, hopefully tommorow.

problems with depth almost always come from tight hip flexors. here's a video of stretches i like.
http://www.70sbig.com/blog/2011/02/3-stretches/

**JT4Rugby** · 06-25-2011, 01:41 AM

Cheers Bob, felt the benefits from the stretches straight away.

Warm up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-OB4...eature=feedlik (great drill, enjoyed it)
Dynamic stretches
Hip Flexor stretches

Bench Press: Barx10, 15kgx8, 35kgx6, 50kgx5, 55kgx5, 55kgx5, 55kgx5, 55kgx5
Squats: Barx10, 30kgx8, 50kgx6, 72kgx5, 72kgx5, 72kgx5, 72kgx5, 72kgx5
Forward Sled drags: 140kgx10mx5
Pull ups (8minutes): 8,8,3,4,3,3,2,3,1,3,2,2,2,1,1= 46
Push ups (2minutes): 44

Foam Roller
Stretch

Not a bad session. Disappointed with the the amount of Pull ups and Push ups but I was working on doing them with correct form and therefore I discounted a few of the reps due to bad form. Sled drags, just thrown in there because I felt like it although I will be performing them on seperate days in the future and I may throw lunges in there instead. Bench Press and Squat still rather light but you have to start somewhere although I could have gone heavyer with the squats but the ground was slippery because it was raining (my homemade squat rack is two posts in the ground) so therefore I could'nt get my footing right.

**JT4Rugby** · 06-26-2011, 05:56 AM

Boiling hot day today in the uk. Had a 7 a side touch tournament, It was suprisingly hard work in this weather. We played for around 5hours so I am pretty dam tired although we did well and came 3rd out of 20teams.

Thread: JT4Rugby Training Log

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JT4Rugby Training Log

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Monday

Tuesday - Club Fitness

Wednesday - Active Rest day

Thursday-Agility AM Light work/rehab PM

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