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.
| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |
|---|---|---|
| [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeNHyHShpdA[/embedyt] | [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR4SmHtw2S0[/embedyt] | [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvtMVZKkdJc[/embedyt] |
Summarizing @ 3-5 reps per exercise, this whole program will be finished earlier than you would expect! Images are a work in progress…
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Walking backwards 1/2-way Toes in, 1/2-way Toes out |
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| PART 3 beginning
Lateral neck slides |
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| 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!
| Exercise | Images | Done |
| Tripling | ||
| Skipping | ||
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Skipping 1-2-3-doublehop
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Galloping (dadummm dadummm)
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| Sprunglauf | ||
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A-skips and B-skips, both with double bounce recoveries. B-skip = American skipping.
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Sideways hops back & forth 1 leg
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Forward/back hops back & forth 1 leg
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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!
