Extreme Fitness Training - November 13, 2008

by Ben Hanson

After posting the tire sled article last week, I got the following email from Hugh at Eskimo Rugby, a rugby coaching website.

Quality! I have been looking for these instructions for a while Ben. Good job. How beneficial do you think it would be for rugby players?

I'm not sure if Hugh has read my bio or not, but I happen to know a thing or two about conditioning for rugby. Early this summer, I sat down with our coach and told him I wanted to take responsibility for the team's fitness training this season. Seeing that conditioning has traditionally been one of our weaknesses, they readily agreed to give me 30-45 minutes each practice to devote to fitness. In the weeks leading up to the season, I came up with many of the ideas I incorporated into our team's fitness regimen, including the tire sleds. Needless to say, it was a roaring success, helping us run over the competition, outscoring our opponents 319-99 this year.

In addition to Hugh's email, I've also fielded a few conditioning questions on the messageboard recently. It's no secret that jogging is about as interesting as watching paint dry. It's also become evident as of late that many people haven't the slightest clue of how put together an effective fitness routine that doesn't involve the monotony of jogging or the uninspired notion of sprinting on a treadmill. With that in mind, I decided to post a partial list of the official St Paul Pigs Rugby Club fitness routine for all to enjoy. Because these routines are very intense, you should be sure to consult with a physician before beginning.

Each day at the beginning of practice, we would do one of these routines before getting into the nuts and bolts of the game. Don't be discouraged if you're not able to complete the full workout at first. These are difficult routines that take getting used to. They're also a lot easier to do if you have a partner or group of friends to train with. In fact, they're all designed to be group exercises to measure rest time, but if you don't have a training partner, a stopwatch works just the same.

Interval Sprints

Perhaps the simplest of the exercises in our routine, interval sprints are done over a set distance with very limited rest time. To do them, set up a cone at each end of your predetermined distance, we use 50 meters, and have both groups start at the same end. Group 1 sprints the distance, and as soon as they cross the line at the other end, Group 2 goes. As soon as Group 2 crosses the far line, Group 1 sprints back and Group 2 follows.

I found it works best to split these up into sets of 3 reps down and 3 reps back, or 6 total sprints. After the set of 6, rest for a short period and repeat. Over time, you should be able to do 5 total sets of 6 sprints. You can also monkey with the rest period between sets once you become more proficient. When the team first started, I allowed for 2 minutes rest between sets. At the end of the season, we were only resting for 1 minute between sets.

If you don't have a partner or group to train with, keep a stop watch handy and limit your rest between individual sprints to no more than 15 seconds. Once you know your limits, gradually decrease the rest time to 7 or 8 seconds between sprints.

Up-Down-And-Backs

This is another basic exercise that requires 30-40 meters of grassy space and some marker cones. It's one of those things that seems like it would be easy until you try it. After that, you hate it, yet respect the hell out of it for kicking your ass.

Start off by placing the marker cones at 5 meter intervals in a straight line. Have each partner or group start at the same end. While Partner 2 waits at the start, Partner 1:

Sprint 10 meters to the 3rd cone
Hit your stomach and get back up
Back pedal 5 meters
Sprint 10 meters ahead and repeat

As soon as Partner 1 gets to the half-way point, Partner 2 starts. As soon as Partner 2 crosses the far line, Partner 1 starts back and so on and so forth. If you're looking to mix things up a bit, you can change when you drop to your stomach. Instead of hitting your gut after running forward, try hitting your gut after your 5 meter back pedal. As insignificant as this may seem, it makes a dynamic difference in how your body changes direction.

If you're feeling extra sadistic, you can forego your rest period while your partner is running by doing fun things like burpees, star jumps, or Turkish get-ups.

For running without a partner, time how long it takes you to do the exercise and use that as your rest time.

Sandbag Hill Sprints

For this exercise, you'll need to find a hill and buy a sandbag. You can find 60-70 lb sand tubes at most hardware stores or home improvement centers and you can find 50 lb bags of sandbox sand in most gardening centers. Which ever style you get, you'd be well advised to reinforce it with some duct tape to extend it's life.

The format of this exercise is the same as the interval sprints in that there is a block of sprints and short rest periods punctuated by longer rest periods.

Step 1: Partner 1 sprints up the hill with the sandbag, sets it down, and jogs back down.
Step 2: Partner 2 sprints up the hill, retrieves the sandbag, and jogs back down with it.
Step 3: Repeat the process 3 times.
Step 4: Switch positions so that Partner 2 now carries the bag up and vice versa.
Step 5: Repeat 3 times.
Step 6: Rest 2 minutes.

Repeat Steps 1-6 three times.

If you don't have a partner:

Step 1: Sprint up the hill with the sandbag, set it down, jog down the hill.
Step 2: Sprint up the hill, retrieve the sandbag, jog down.
Step 3: Repeat 3 times.
Step 4: Rest 2 minutes.

Repeat Steps 1-4 three times.

Tire Sled Relay

This exercise will require 2 sandbags and the tire sled you just built. Place a cone 25 meters from the starting line. Start with one sandbag in the tire sled and the second sandbag next to the sled.

Step 1: Drag the sled backward 25 meters to the other cone.
Step 2: Sprint back to the first cone
Step 3: Pick up the second sand bag, carry it to the tire sled waiting 25 meters away, and place it on the sled.
Step 4: Turn the sled around and tow it (facing forward) 25 meters back to the original starting line.

This is a great exercise, but requires a fair amount of equipment.

Tire Sled Hell

This drill is best performed in groups and works great in a team environment. It also requires a decent sized patch of land. The way I ran the drill was to split the team up into equal groups for each tire sled we were using. Then, I put a 50 lb sandbag in each tire sled and set up a course about 150 meters long.

One person in the group started out by dragging the sled while the others in the group had to run down the 150 meter course and back. The person dragging the sled only had to drag it as far down the course as they could, but they could not stop moving until they encountered their group and someone relieved them. Once relieved, the person formerly dragging the sled immediately joined the rest of the members in their group and continued the jog up and down the course until the person dragging the sled needed to be relieved. This worked great with groups of four or five in 30 minute increments.

Often, people neglect fitness routines because they're dull and monotonous. Hopefully, this post gave you a few ideas to help spice up your training.

Posted by Ben Hanson at 1:39 PM

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