Re: Any tips for a newbie?
G’day Tom
I would agree with Ash’s comments on keeping an exercise for a least a 3 week cycle. Particularly any of the Olympic lifts which can be more technically demanding.
As to what I think of the program? Well it looks pretty solid but it depends on what your goals are and if these are achieved at the end of the program. At the Brumbies we work on the concept of whether an athlete is above or below the line in a certain quality. For example, if I thought you were above the line with your gym strength then I may have you doing more speed work than you are currently doing. However, if you still needed to put on more lean muscle mass than I would have you in the gym more!
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.
As for other plyos etc in addition to what Ash has suggested we would also do speed bounds, stiff legged bounds and borzov jumps (basically a single leg hop with the back leg supported).
Good luck and let me know how it goes
Cheers
Damian
