KEY INFORMATION

TIME & LOCATION

For this session, we need a hill with a ~10% gradient.

WARM UP

• Start with an 800m at a “talking jog”;
• Activation (see below subsection);
• Coordination drills; (not just a warm-up, this is an important part of the whole training)
• and 4x Gradual 60m accelerations ( up to: 60%; 70%; 80%; and 90% respectively).

ACTIVATION

During our warm-up we want to prepare the body for movement by activating our system. Although the Activate warm-up for rugby training and games (find the adult version here on the World Rugby Site), we have a chance to mix things up with something similar. In fact, I wonder if the below program didn’t actually inspire the activate program itself! For those people who are curious, or who want to incorporate this mobility and activation focused program, you can watch the following 3 YouTube parts.

Summarizing @ 3-5 reps per exercise, this whole program will be finished earlier than you would expect! Images are a work in progress…

Image	Done
Walking backwards 1/2-way Toes in, 1/2-way Toes out
PART 3 beginning Lateral neck slides
Forward walking lunge with high knees & twist
Chest sinks Squat down, grip something in front, move sternum in and out
Foward walking lunge; high legs, arms to sky laced palms up
Knee rolls Regular knee roles
Lateral shifting lunge Lunge to aductor stretch, bounce back, repeat
Straight leg figure 8s, chin down
Lateral lunge with ankle tilts The straight leg ankle remains stiff such that foot comes of ground and pivots around edge
Trunk rolls
Spiderman crawl
Leg swings forward & back. Integrate chin movement.
Toe touch hammy walks
Leg swings right & left each leg
Reversed lunge with palms to ceiling
Squatting internal rotation
Duck walks Stay in squat position and walk forward
Toe roll
Walking 1 leg romanian deadlifts
Reindeer arm circles Shoulder roles but instead of straight arms, reindeer
Frankensteins with a skip
Fighter shoulder rolls backwards Arms down shoulder roles
Walk backward with long reaches
Standing arm circles with wrists fully extended and palms facing out
Walking ankle grabs
Fighter shoulder rolls backwards
Lateral crossover lunges
Thumb lookaways. Put one of your thumbs up, and look outside, and repeat. Change thumbs/sides. Start head center, look at thumb, then move head to outside direction of thumb arm and look. Repeat
Sideways lateral crossover lunges High knee over lead foot travelling sideways ending in a curtsey squat
Jaw massages
Do a quick antirotation test and release
5min personal needs

COORDINATION DRILLS

The following coordination drills aim to develop our balance, and help us master different movements which will support our efforts to become better at general running (sprinting is a highly coordinated activity), and finally to apply it to our chaotic world of rugby!

GRADUAL ACCELERATIONS

4x Gradual 60m accelerations (up to: 60%; 70%; 80%; and 90% respectively).

Main FOCUS AREA

Today we run: 10x HILL SPRINTS 

• Each sprint should last ~10s. I run roughly 60m, but don’t worry about distance too much!
• Sprint as fast as you can: have the intent to run maximally fast
• Walk slowly and adapt your walk so that you arrive back at the start line in about 2 minutes
• Repeat.
• Don’t worry if it doesn’t feel “heavy”, it’s not that kind of workout; it isn’t an endurance-builder nor a VO2 max developer like the 10x400m in our previous block, for example. Try and stay consistent. You’ll probably start to feel it as you proceed (I’d estimate at rep 6 or 7 😉).
• If you feel lightheaded or overwhelmed, take a double-rest (4 minutes) and try again and retry the 2 minute rest. If it happens again, you are done; try and improve next week!

COOL DOWN

We will perform the 800m talking run that we started with, followed by an unstructured set of stretches to kick-start our recovery.

RESULTS

Coming soon!