MUZZA'S BLOG - Steamers Strength and Conditioning Coach

 Week 4: Recovery

So far we have talked about finding a weekly training structure that works best for you and your goals on the field, running and building base fitness and how to structure your strength training. Another big part of maximizing your performance is recovery.

Recovery is often overlooked and not considered as part of a good training programme. Many athletes do not factor in recovery sessions or even rest days and find their performance will drop. Recovery protocols must be factored in every week but recognizing what the aim of each recovery protocol is also needs to be noted.

I use the term recovery protocol because there are many parts of recovery. Recovery begins every morning and finishes with a good nights sleep. Nutrition and hydration, stretching, decreasing training load, volume and intensity, hydrotherapy, sleep, T.V and other hobbies can all be considered part of recovery and the list goes on.

1. Typically Recovery sessions are only thought of at the end of the week after a game. But you must also consider recovery aspects during your training week.
2. Time between trainings: Do you have enough recovery time between each weight session to maximize your training potential?
3. Stretching: Are you allowing your muscles to return to resting length and are you stretching to reduce the chance of injury?
4. Nutrition and Hydration: Are you drinking enough fluids? Are you weighing yourself pre and post training to determine fluid intake?
5. Training Volume, Load and Intensity: Are you cycling hard weeks with easy weeks? Are you considering easy days after hard days of training?
6. Down time: Are you getting enough down time to freshen up and spend time on your other interests? Are you spending enough family time?

This list could go on and on but it is one that you need to consider and always factor in to your weekly training.

 
Pool sessions for rugby players are a very common and great way to aid in the recovery process and it acts as a great way to begin your training week. You need to know what you are doing in a pool session, is just sitting in a spa going to help you?

When I implement our recovery sessions during the season I consider 4 factors:
 

1. Blood flow and clearing waste products from the blood (often associated with muscle soreness)
2.  
3. Mobility around the joints and restoring range of movement
4. Flexibility and stretching to aid in restoring or improving resting muscle length
5. Relaxation and restoration of body function

All of these factors are closely related but by working through them in a systematic fashion it aids in establishing your recovery session structure and achieving your recovery goals. An example of a pool session that works through these factors is given below.

Using a typical 25m public pool:

Swim 8 Lengths of your choice 200m
Aqua-jog 8 lengths 200m
Blood flow and clearing waste products and Mobility around the joints and restoring range of movement

Pool Stretches: Leg Swings, Lunges, Pool Walking Forwards and backwards, Calf stretch, Quad stretch, Hamstring stretch….etc
Mobility around the joints and restoring range of movement Flexibility and stretching to aid in restoring or improving resting muscle length

Contrast therapy: Hot spa (2 – 5mins) and cold water submersion (2 – 5mins) Always finish in cold. This can also be done using steam rooms or showers
Blood flow and clearing waste products and Relaxation / restoration of body function

Plan and implement recovery sessions into your training week to allow your body to recover and train to your maximum potential.
 

Week 3: Strength and Gym Training

A big part of any athletes training regime is in the gym. Strength training is a massive part of any rugby players training at any level. In fact rugby players are a product of their environment and often we find players today hate training anywhere else but the gym, but that is another topic. When it comes to strength training there are many schools of thought of what is best, what exercises are best, what reps and sets are best.

So what is best? Simply follow the programme of your favorite rugby player or body builder for that matter?

At the end of the day the best programme is the programme that works for you. Keep asking yourself the questions: Am I getting the results I want? Am I performing better on the field? If not, your programme is not the best for you. If so, then it is the best for you, but as soon as you plateau or stop getting results then it is time to change.

Keep looking for the best exercises, reps and sets that work for you.
However……. remember you need to consistently train and have a proportion of repetition to see adaptation and gain results.

I am not going to give you exercises and weight programme's for you to follow but below is a basic guideline to reps and sets and some of the fundamental exercises you should incorporate into your strength regime on a weekly basis.

The following is an adaptation of the Repetition Max (RM) Continuum demonstrating the rep ranges you should follow depending on your training goal.

I am a great believer of compound exercises, as are most strength and conditioning coaches. Don’t stay away from isolation exercises but focus on the movements in the gym that occur over multiple joints. Below is a list of exercises that should be in your weekly strength training schedule:

Squats Bent Over Row
Lunges Bench Press
Woodchop Push Press
Chins Power Clean

This is not an extensive list but I would highly recommend you include these exercises into your weekly regime.

Remember keep it simple, do what is best for you, be consistent with your strength training and focus on your goal.

Week 1: Getting your training week right

Pre-season and getting it right for you from the start is one of the most important aspects of training which will aid in improving your physical performance on the field. The time to start training was yesterday and believe me you are already behind if you haven’t started yet. So get a training week sorted that suits you, stick with it and you will definitely feel the difference come your first game of the season.

Below is an example of a simple training week:

So, depending on your level of commitment, level of play, work and family commitments, age, training age, social status, whether your a morning person or you love to sleep, the list goes on, will all determine your training week.

Q: What do I eliminate if I can’t commit to 9 – 10 sessions a week?
A: What are your weaknesses and needs for you to be better on the field? Pick which sessions are most important to you and focus on them during each training week while still not forgetting, but maintaining your strengths.

E.g.

If you can’t do morning sessions due to work and need to focus on your aerobic fitness. Your training week might look like the above, Monday is a Run session / Aerobic fitness, Tues is Rugby Fitness with your club, Wed is a full body strength session, club again on Thurs, Fri is an optional gym (If not playing on Saturday), Saturday is a Game or Full body Functional rugby Circuit (Press ups, running, sprints, down and ups……etc) and Sunday is preferably a recovery session (Pool work, Jog, Golf). This week replicates what you could expect to do during the season and is preparing your body for a typical rugby week.

So where do you start? Establish a weekly routine that suits you. Don’t get too complicated and train every aspect every week during pre-season. Simply pick 2 or 3 aspects that you need to focus on e.g. Strength and Aerobic Fitness, or Reducing Body Fat and Fitness, and put together a week that suits you. If you need to improve your strength and put on mass, prioritise that over everything else. If you need to improve your aerobic fitness, then prioritise running over everything else.

Apply the K.I.S.S principle and you will be fine. Get out there and get started!

Download Steamers Current Training Regime

Yoyo Intermittant Recovery Test

Watch this space for the Yoyo audio file to be uploaded shortly enabling you to save the file to disc or IPod.

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