Tag Archive: strength

1. Strongman Training with Glenn Ross

   28th November 2014 11:41 am 1 Comment

   “Last year I pulled a 47 ton plane”

   

   Glenn Ross

   That can be added to the list of sentences I will never say! At the recent RFU Strength and Power Conference I spent the morning in the company of 4 time UK Strongman champion Glenn Ross.

   He and his two assistants, Eddie Hall and Johnny Kelay, went through a series of strongman training exercises aimed at getting stronger for rugby.

   The aim was to show the training routines that Strongmen use, and then how to apply them for rugby. They concentrated on grip strength and getting low- staying strong.

   Strongman Grip Training

   

   Eddie Hall doing the Farmers’ Walk

   Grip is a tough thing to train. “A shin bone takes 4 hours to cook” according to Glenn Ross, and the forearm is just as tough.  Grip can be trained specifically 3 times a week, at the end of your normal workout.

   Grip is important in grappling, grabbing and sheer rawness. Every ruck, maul and tackle should require grip strength. If you use straps when training to help you deadlift or power clean, then you are not working on your grip.

   Instead try the Farmers Walk. Eddie and Johnny demonstrated the Farmers Walk with a 300kg frame (pictured).

   Different size bars can be used to work on grip too. Glenn was big on getting into contact with local welders and builders merchants to get things built more cheaply.

   Scaffold bars can be used instead of power bars as they are wider and more awkward. The total lift won’t be as great, but your grip will have to work harder.

   Getting Low and Staying Strong

   Thick ropes can be used for pulling and towing, sleds, cars (planes!) or even holding in isometric positions leaning back at a 45 degree angle.

   Getting into a low position and being strong in that position is very important for scrummaging, tackling, driving with the ball, rucking and mauling. Glenn showed this with towing, pushing and log wrestling.

   When towing, get a really heavy object behind you. This forces you to lean really far forward and have your nose nearly on the floor. It won’t make you move fast, but it will get your body angle in a new position that you will find to hard to replicate in the gym.

   The log wrestle was interesting, it was like a sumo wrestler fight in a ring, with the 2 men holding each end of an 8 stone log and trying to force the other man out.

   Eddie Hall is 4 stone heavier than Johnny Kelay, but got shoved out 3 times in a row because Johnny was lower and had better leverage.

   Eddie was blowing hard at the end of this, even though it lasted for about 20 seconds (it was his first time doing this).

   Carrying Heavy Objects to get Stronger

   If you have seen Strongman competitions, you will have seen the competitors lift up Atlas Stones and carry them forward. “These are only 100kg stones” said Ross as Eddie and Johnny performed a short relay of pick up, carry and drop.

   They also carried a home made yoke which puts a tremendous load through the back and shoulders with 325 kg moving around on your back. Carrying awkward objects forces the body to adapt and adjust which has some transfer to tackling and rucking.

   Glenn’s tip for the yoke carry was to get underneath, then push the arms away at a 45 degree angle to create a natural table on the shoulders.

   Strongman training for rugby

   I am a bit of a cynic on this, because it seems that every rugby club in the country goes through a tyre flipping phase, following the run through ladders phase, and now the small sided games phase.

   The important thing is context. In order to get stronger and more powerful for rugby, a multi dimensional approach is needed. Some strongman training is beneficial, but it is the application of strength that is most useful.

   With developing players, lighter loads and different objects could be used. Like all training, strongman training should follow principles of overload, progression and recovery. The training has a massive fatiguing effect (details here).

   Glenn recommended doing a 2 hour training session every week, with 10 minutes rest between exercises. I don’t think many rugby coaches would appreciate that work: rest ratio.

   Instead, why not do 1 or 2 of these exercises in each training session? The little and often approach will work in and around your technical/ tactical sessions. It might be useful to do in winter when morale is sapped due to rain and mud.

   

   Eddie Hall before he was famous

   Glenn emphasised the fact that Strongman training is fun and that players enjoy it. It has to be put into context, or it will be an object in itself. I would do a Strongman competition type day at the end of each year, once the exercises have bee practiced and developed.

   Flipping tyres will not help you run around people! But, I wouldn’t want to try and maul against Glenn Ross.

   To learn how to apply the right techniques and exercises at the right time, why not come to one of our workshops here?

   We have several young rugby players come to our weekly weight lifting sessions.

2. 30 years of strength training

   21st August 2014 5:12 pm Leave a Comment

   45 today!

   I first started strength training when I was 15 years old. My Dad had given me his old power bar and I started using that in my bedroom doing curls, presses and squats. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was doing something. I worked at my part time jobs for six months to save up for a set of plastic spinlock dumbbells and a flimsy bench with bar rack.

   The Joe Weider dumbbells came with a training programme that was a split routine of bodybuilder type exercises. There was a heavy emphasis on curls and calf raises from what I can remember, all with pictures of a man in briefs looking like he had been dipped in creosote. I followed that three day a week programme for the next year or so.

   My first official training programme had an effect, I was eating well and I got stronger.  I was playing a lot of different sports at school before I left at 17 years old. That almost looks like an Athletic Development plan!

   In the intervening 30 years I have been exposed to many different training environments including the Army, Martial Arts, health clubs and Weightlifting. Currently I am working with gymnasts and seeing a whole different side of strength development.

   I have had good training, bad training, and downright ridiculous training. I have worked with many different strength and weightlifting coaches, as well as sports coaches who have helped shape my ideas. I have made a gazillion mistakes on the way, all of which have helped me improve.

   I wonder what I shall learn in the next 30 years?

   Further reading:

   • How to take charge of your fitness training
   • Get Stronger ebook  

3. Strength and Power in Rugby: Part 3

   13th May 2014 9:15 am 1 Comment

   The Rugby World Cup is in it’s knockout stages. National Fitness adviser Simon Worsnop looks at current strength and power measurements.

   Strength and Power Levels

   Since the onset of full time professionalism in both sports strength levels have increased so that today’s players possess higher strength levels than similar aged recreational players

   e.g.” the trained junior high school RL, senior high school RL College RL and NRL players are capable of lifting approximately 102, 115, 124 and 148% of their body mass, respectively, in the 1RM bench press” (1)

   Players also exhibit far higher levels of strength than in previous years e.g. 1RM bench press scores for Professional RL players in January 1993 were 113.1 for backs and 119 for forwards (2) and in 1996 O’Connor (3) reported scores of 106kg for backs, 100.1 for halves, 112.4 for back row, 123.4 for props and 99.7 for hookers; whereas Baker reported an average of 134.8 in 2001 (4) and 142.7 across all players in 2004 (5).

   Professional players also exhibit higher power levels e.g. NRL players were significantly more powerful in every variable measured (than student RL players) (6).

   The load at which the Pmax (maximum power) occurred was also significantly higher in the NRL players. This has particular relevance to the tackle area where the more experienced player is likely to be more powerful against the bodyweight of an opponent than is the novice player. Baker (7) also suggested that “results indicate that the difference in power output between teams of different playing levels may depend largely on differences in maximal
   strength.”

   As players become more experienced their strength training focus
   changes, as the players become stronger they have probably adopted the strategy of increasing power initially by increasing the absolute load while maintaining movement speed. However, once a base level of maximal strength has been attained and further large gains in strength are less likely to occur, it may be difficult to increase power by increasing the Pmax load; rather, power is increased by increasing the speed at which each load is lifted. (8)

   Benchmarks for younger players

   Players in the England U20 team can squat over 220kg, bench press approaching 200kg and power clean 160kg. Individual players at U18 level can bench press 135kg for 5 repetitions and one player can squat 200kg for this number. Now, this does not mean they are necessarily good rugby players, nor does it mean that they can transfer this force to the field- they may “train like Tarzan and play like Jane.”

   What this does show is how the strength levels of modern rugby players are escalating. This does not say that an eighteen year old player with poor strength levels cannot “make it” at top level; in fact if he is succeeding at age group rugby despite poor strength levels it could be argued that he has a greater chance. However in order to protect his body and compete in the collision in the modern game he would have to undergo a long term rigorous, planned strength development programme. 

   How can I get strong for Rugby?

   Strength levels are improved in the gym by the use of the major multi joint lifts used in Powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting as well as other more rugby specific rotational and “Strongman” type lifts.

   For a player, and hence a team to be successful specific partner bodyweight exercises around the tackle, ruck, maul and play the ball must also be practised as well as the supporting exercises derived from wrestling and grapple sports; these type of exercises were thought to be significant by Baker in contributing to the increase in power for NRL players throughout a one year period (9).

   To be successful, all of these forms of strength training must form part of the practice week even for the recreational player. And young players should be following an age- specific long-term athletic development programme.

   Some of the rugby and grapple exercises will be practised “bone on bone”, others will involve players with tackle suits. Exercises using tackle shields, tackle bags and wrestling dummies can also be used.

   Conclusion

   Because the collision is such an important part of the game we now longer see the “cup upset”. In soccer, though a team is clearly better it does not necessarily win a game and a club from the “lower reaches” will occasionally pull off a “cup upset”.

   This used to happen in both codes of rugby on a yearly basis, but now this is almost unheard of. This is almost certainly due the greater intensity of the collision and the variation in strength levels between the two teams. Though TV commentators on such games between teams from different divisions often say, “the higher fitness levels prevailed in the end” they are missing the point as cardiovascular fitness levels will be similar.

   Skill and decision making levels will be different, but the major discriminators will be size and strength- the team that is weaker and 5-10kg a man lighter or significantly physically weaker will in the end succumb because of the importance of the collision

   See our Get Stronger programme here

   References

   1: Differences in Strength and Power among Junior-High,
   Senior-High, College, and Elite Professional Rugby League Players Daniel Baker JSCR 2002, 16 (4), 581-585.

   2:(Evaluating players fitness in Professional Rugby League Rudi Meir Strength & Conditioning Coach 1 (4) 1993

   3: (Strength & Conditioning Coach 4 (1) 1996)

   4: (Comparison of Upper Body Strength and Power between Professional and College-Aged Rugby League Players Baker JSCR 2001 15(1) 30 -35)

   5: (An analysis of the ratio and relationship between upper body pressing and pulling strength JSCR 2004 18(3), 594 – 598).

   6: Comparison of Upper Body Strength and Power between Professional and College-Aged Rugby League Players Baker JSCR 2001 15(1) 30
   -35.

   7: (A Series of Studies on the Training of High Intensity Muscle Power in Rugby League Football Players JSCR 2001 15(2) 198 – 209

   8: (Comparison of Upper Body Strength and Power between Professional and College-Aged Rugby League Players Baker JSCR 2001 15(1) 30 -35).

   9:(Comparison of Upper Body Strength and Power between Professional and College-Aged Rugby League Players Baker JSCR 2001 15(1) 30 -35)

4. Strength and Power in Rugby: part 2

   9:10 am 2 Comments

   What about the Ruck and Maul?

   The ruck is specific to rugby union and is where the tackled player is off his feet and tackled to ground. The average ruck lasts in the region of 4 or 5 seconds and therefore the primary physical determinant for success is power. There are over 100 rucks and mauls per game and the ability to maintain the effectiveness in the ruck for the full length of the game is also dependent upon strength endurance and cardiovascular endurance.

   A maul is created when the tackled player remains on his feet and players from either team enter the maul to secure the ball and/or gain territory. The maul lasts between 8 and 20 seconds (and sometimes longer) and therefore strength and power endurance come into play, particularly in the muscle groups used to grapple. There are approximately four rucks or mauls per minute of possession. The number of rucks and mauls entered per game by players of different positions varies.

   The Set Piece 

   The scrum is common to both rugby league and rugby union but the laws and interpretations of them have diverged so much that there is very little resemblance between the two.

   The scrum in rugby league has been effectively de-powered and very rarely is a push seen whereas the scrum in rugby union is a highly skilful sub set of the game requiring extremely good technique and a high degree of explosive and static strength.

   The scrum in rugby union now involves two packs of approximately 900kg hitting each other from approximately 1m apart. Good individual and group technique will concentrate this force in one direction through quite a narrow point, and at the centre of this is the hooker (Scrum coaches please do not ring up to say I am not an expert- I know, I am painting a general picture!!).  In order to withstand these forces the hooker needs to be strong, and able to absorb large forces through his spine.

   Rugby union is a late specialisation sport, yet young players are often pigeon holed into positions at any early age. Approximately three quarters of hookers in today’s premiership did not start in that position;therefore they have not had the muscular adaptation over a period of time to develop their bodies for that position. It could be argued that the game’s administrators should look at ways of ensuring that all younger players scrummage. 

   The line out is peculiar to rugby union and involves jumping and lifting both which require technical skill aligned with strength and power. At top level this will mean a 120kg player being propelled upwards by two powerful 110kg players to a height (feet off the ground) of approximately 1.75m before catching and passing a ball and then landing on the ground again.

   Think “forces”, and then ponder the necessary long-term physical and technical preparation required to succeed and stay injury free.

   Part 3 appears tomorrow

   See our Get Stronger programme here 

5. Strength and Power Developments in Rugby over the last 10 years.

   9:05 am 7 Comments

   Strength and Power in Rugby

   Now that we have reached the knock out stages of the Rugby World Cup, I thought it would be a good time to review how the game has changed over the last 10 years.

   Simon Worsnop is the National Adviser with the England Under 20s team and has kindly written the following post.

   Both codes of rugby are defined as collision sports i.e. players purposely collide with each other. Other collision sports are American Football, Australian Rules Football, Ice Hockey and Gaelic Football. These sports are very different in their laws and therefore technical and physical demands.

   Rugby League and Rugby Union: the collision

   Rugby Union and Rugby League sit in between the extremes of Australian and American Football. Both sports require speed, agility, a high level of strength and power and also a moderate to high level of cardiovascular fitness.

   The two codes of rugby have common and different forms of collision. Both codes of rugby involve the ball carrier being stopped and sometimes put to ground by one or more opponents. In rugby league the tackled player retains the ball, in rugby union there can be a contest for the ball in either a ruck where the tackled player has gone to ground or a maul where the tackled player is on his feet.

   The different components of fitness have a bearing on the outcome of the collision/tackle area. A team that dominates the tackle area will normally win the game. The ball carrier needs to use good footwork (agility) to try to avoid a collision or to find the edge of an opponent and enter the collision on his own terms. The ball carrier needs power to break through the initial impact and acceleration to get away if he breaks the defender.

   When the tackle is made the defending and attacking players need strength to dominate the collision to finish it on their terms. For the defender this will involve leg strength to lift and drive his opponent and also upper body strength in order to twist and turn the ball carrier.

   To get a picture of the intense nature of the collision in modern rugby just watch “rugby big hits”  The characteristics of the collision have fundamentally altered rugby since the onset of professionalism.
   To subjectively observe this buy a game DVD from the 1960s or 70s of either code and compare it to today’s games.

   The collision has altered for a number of reasons; the players are bigger (particularly the backs), the laws of both games have changed e.g. in rugby league the 10m rule means the players are running a minimum of 10m before they collide. The players have got stronger and this generally translates into greater acceleration and therefore greater relative speed at the impact.

   Now, before old timers from both codes shout me down I am not saying that yesterday’s players were anything but skilful, aggressive and tough and I am not arguing that the games are better now than then.

   What I am saying is that the games that are played now are different and that is primarily due to full time professionalism and with it years of strength training.

   Can you repeat this power and strength throughout a match?

   The ability to express muscular power under game specific fatigue appears critical to preventing fatigue-induced decrements in tackling technique.
   Fatigue will result in progressive reductions in tackle technique; there being a significant association between estimated endurance (VO2 Max) and agility and fatigue-induced decrements in tackle technique (1)

   Therefore fitness levels have implications for the injury of players as the  majority of rugby league injuries occurred in the tackle (2)

   The tackle area as a site of injury was also found to be the case in International Rugby Union where “the incidence of match injuries at international level was found to be higher than previously reported. The tackle, ruck, and maul elements of match play presented the highest risk of injury for all players”. (3)

   Thus, there are specific minimum standards of cardiovascular endurance that players at any level of rugby should have as a defence against tackle-induced injury.

   Part 2 of this piece will appear tomorrow.

   See our Get Stronger programme here

    References

   1: (Influence of Fatigue on Tackling Technique in Rugby League Players Tim Gabbett Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 22(2) 2008).

   2: (Rugby League Injuries and Playing Position Tim Gabbett Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 19(4) 2005).

   3: (J H M Brooks, C W Fuller, S P T Kemp and D B Reddin A prospective study of injuries and training amongst the England 2003 Rugby World Cup squad Br. J. Sports Med. 2005;39;288-293).

6. Monitoring and Assessment of Strength and Power in High Performance Athletes- Mike McGuigan lecture review UKSCA conference

   26th March 2013 8:33 am Leave a Comment

   Mike McGuigan works for the New Zealand Academy of Sport and has moved from sports science to coaching. He reviewed how he collects data, but more importantly how he can use it to help the coaches and athletes within the sports.

   Using an isometric mid-thigh pull test

   Here the bar is placed under a fixed pole and the athlete stands on a force platform. The 3 second isometric pull produces a high reliability for peak force measurement, but not for rate of force development.  This test is easy to administer for large groups of athletes and saves time instead of loading up barbells for cleans.

   McGuigan uses the data and publishes it on a spider chart using the z-score which is (athlete’s score-team average/ team standard deviation). The disadvantage of this system is that if the good players aren’t testing it screws the average up, player’s z scores can go up even if their actual performance declined.

   Now you have modified z-scores and you can plot these against benchmarks. You can manipulate the scale for lower level athletes to allow progress.

   The Eccentric Utilisation Ratio (EUR) of CMJ to SJ performance

   The Counter Movement Jump (CMJ) is 10-15% more than the squat jump (a static jump which eliminates the Stretch Shortening Cycle) and this gives a useful indicator of athlete power. (I use both in the Jump Higher programme)

   McGuigan then highlighted the need to develop measures that allow decision making on training emphasis- to fine tune the process for each athlete.

   Measuring load management and fatigue monitoring gives a power profile for each athlete, plus some hormonal and perceptual measures. A measure of monotony was (average load/ standard deviation of load sessions). As you know, monotony of training is a key factor of overtraining.

   How to measure effort: the Global RPE

   The Global RPE is taken 30 minutes after the session, it allows the athlete to reflect on the whole session, rather than what happened in the last 10 minutes.

   In practical terms, 10-15 minutes of recovery is enough, it is tricky getting the athletes to stay longer, and waiting for them to get home leads to adherence issues.

   If you multiply RPE by the duration of the session over the course of the week, this gives a good indicator of training load. Then each session can be compared to the SD over all the sessions.  Montotony and strain are good indicators of actual work done and how it relates to the athlete.

   Summary

   Quite a lot of information in this lecture, but it was the first one of the day, so I was fresh. McGuigan was good in relating his transition from researcher to practitioner, and finding useful tools that actually help the coaches.

   More on testing here 

7. Strength and Power Concepts, Jim Radcliffe

   15th August 2011 3:03 pm 10 Comments

   “The best way to get in shape is not to get out of shape.”

   Jim Radcliffe strength coach at Oregon University has been coaching there for 26 years (That is longer than most “S&C coaches” in the UK have been alive). Unlike a lot of people who have been in situ for a long time, he isn’t resting on his laurels in a comfort zone of repeating the same thing year after year.

   Instead he has developed an outstanding sequence of practices and structures that allow him to deal with big numbers of big guys in limited time. Here is a review of some of his workshops at GAIN in 2011.

   The Warm Up

   Teach and train the warm up. Working on “pillars of strength” routines that warm up the body from the core outwards. One of the first exercises taught is the “hip hinge”.

   Stand as if ready to jump, fingers on hip bones. Then imagine a table has hit your thighs, pinch your fingers and bend forwards. Keep working this movement forward and backwards.

   Then work on a progression from hip hinge to hip extension. The weight training exercises such as good mornings, deadlifts, catches follow this progression.

   Sprint progressions he uses are:

   • Starts  (from various positions).
   • Accelerations from 5-25 yards
   • Barefoot speed drills.
   • Sprint intervals (notice that these are last once the mechanics are right).

   “Keep healthy, refreshed, sharp”

    Radcliffe defined the various aspects of strength as follows:

   • Core strength : bodyweight vs gravity
   • Absolute strength: overloads regardless of condition
   • Relative strength: overloads/ % of bodyweight
   • Dynamic strength: overloads / degree of speed
   • Elastic strength: overloads/ degree of rebound.

    With Athleticism increasing from top to bottom.

   Within these concepts the type of overload can be changed to affect the training outcome:

   • Resistive Overload: Gravitational, inclination, external.
   • Spatial overload: range, saggital, frontal, transverse planes
   • Temporal overload: Operating rate, impulse

    Does Weight Training make you slower?

   “The more weight you lift, the slower you move.” So time in the weight room can make you train slow to be slower, or train fast to be slower.

   It is better to concentrate on “movement efficiency” how you project your hips. You need more force, but then move faster too. Work on “Flex, extend, rotate” to apply this force.

   The long term objective is explosive power which comes from:

   • Functional Strength
   • Directional Speed
   • Transitional Agility.

   The short term objective is Power (endurance) reliability which comes from:

   • Work capacity (not necessarily more, but better)
   • Recoverability
   • Stamina.

   The training cycle

   Radcliff uses 14, 21,or 28 day training cycles, and uses a multitude of formats within that. He categorises the lifts as either single joint , double joint or multiple joints. He then uses sets and reps  as either fixed, plateau, stimulation or wave.

   All of these are adjusted during the training cycle to allow adaptation and stimulation to take place. So even if the lifts stay the same, the ways, means and loads on them differ all the time.

   The weekly cycle

   Within the week, Radcliffe looks at training different emphases. For example a few days might be on vertical jumps and tosses, another on horizontal jumps with bounds and hops. He uses different complex patterns that utilise strength and power together such as:

   • Squat\ Jump
   • Pull\ toss
   • Push | Pass
   • Lunge\ Bound.

   Radcliffe is dealing with big numbers of players remember (30 is a small group) so the system of training has to reflect this.

    Summary

   As Oregon have had some great successes recently, no small amount of credit can go to Radcliffe.

   What I liked about Radcliffe (and all the presenters), was how he had consolidated his thoughts and practices into easily digestible chunks for the young athletes.

   He has a system that is adaptable, rather than off the shelf, and has been proven in practice. Over the 4 years he has the guys, he can see the progression and introduce his key principles. That is what makes him one of the best strength trainers out there.

    Next: Plyometrics and Agility.

   I use these principles when designing strength training for sports programmes

8. Starting Strength Training 3

   19th January 2009 10:14 am Leave a Comment

   Ok, so lets look at some of the things I would put into chunks of training.
   The session might be divided into:
   Warm Up
   Session Part1,2…etc
   Warm down\ Finisher

   The overall priority of each bit must be that it has a specific purpose, it can’t just be doing stuff.

   Warm ups: I get athletes moving, so that it can either complement the session, or it is getting them ready to work harder.

   For example, if the session is going to consist of barbell single plane lifts such as deadlift, front squat or snatch, then the warm up could either be multi directional movements that complement them, or it could be a barbell complex that consists of these lifts but with smaller weights.

   I have seen many national governing body strength sessions that start with a 5 minute bike ride, some gluteal activation by lying on a foam roller and some theraband work to activate rotator cuff muscles. This might be okay as a warm down, or for some light activity at home, but it certainly does not mentally or physically prepare you for the session to follow, and it certainly does not provide any association with sport.

   As the athlete develops, the warm ups can become more vigorous and more varied. At the beginning stage, they may actually be the session itself, with any other time spent on coaching some techniques. So, a typical warm up could be 100 skips plus 20 body weight exercises for 8 sets. For beginners this is a work out, so I would follow this with some technical work with dumbbells. As time progresses I would increase the loads, sets and reps of the dumbbell work to make this the work.

   This is incorporated into our Get Stronger programme.