Hi Ash,
Absolutely spot on – awesome programme and layout. I work with boys aged 18-22yrs at the smallest (45 players) and only private rugby academy/campus in South Africa – Rugby Performance Centre (RPC) under directorship of Alan Zondagh (http://www.az-rugby.com) .
The boys stay on campus for 10 months of the year and up to three years in a row. This type of specific conditioning and programming I am now starting with the second and third year guys – and its working wonders! The 1st-year boys I spend a lot of time on teaching technique, getting your brain to work and concentrate before, during and after every lift/exercise/drill to enhance the learning effect.
One of the best aspects of your programme is that each session is short, effective, specific to 1 goal and high intensity – allowing for ample recovery during sessions as well as making it possible to have a couple of sessions on a day. There has been a lot of focus on recovery techniques amongst the scientific researchers here in SA. The most significant finding has been that the most popular and effective form of recovery amongst team sports is to relax with team mates and de-brief/discuss the match/session – after this contrast bathing, compression garments and massage followed.
My own thoughts, and maybe we can get some responses on this, are that there is a huge lack in proper planning of sessions, resulting in some sessions going to 120min even 180min – coaching and/or training sessions! Maybe the research is focusing on the symptoms and not the causes of burn-out.
If we plan specific, stay focused on the goals we want to achieve, teach 1-3 new skills in a session properly and walk off the field in 60 minutes or less, we might have less needs to recover!? Any thoughts anyone?
Ash, thanks for a great programme and all the guys from GetStrength – you have an awesome site and your contribution to this industry is priceless and much appreciated. THANK YOU!
Train hard, train smart, recover well!
regards
sean