@damian 225 wrote:
I’m also going to kick a sacred cow here and say that I feel upper body power is over rated. I think it is more appropriate for the lower body where you are trying to take advantage of the stretch shortening cycle for sprinting and jumping etc.
I would also be careful as to how ‘specific’ you think you are in the gym. Just about everything in the gym is general compared to playing rugby. I like the idea from Ian King who looks more at transfer than specificity. Something may not look specific but if it is transfering what you want into your sport than that is what you are after.
This is an interesting point.
It has been on my mind since this post.
There are 2 ways to look at it …
1. General – I know you are not suggesting we stop Upper Body Power work totally – but this is where I would disagree slightly in that if we are careful about the stresses on the lower body we can still get a CNS power stimulus – which might be different than a strength stimulus(?) from Upper Body Power Work. Might be very useful for older athletes.
2. Specific – In Rugby this might be very appropriate for some positions – Front Row etc. In some cases Strength Work is suffcient in the gym – IF the field work is powerful enough to maintain the speed aspect, so therefore powerful upper body stimulus is ok, but a certain amount of faster arm and Upper body work is needed. So in that sense whole body power work (cleans etc) will develop or maintain that.
Interesting thought though