off season

[prop]

Hi firstly i’d like to thank this site for its great info, and the time and effort that goes to it. Also, I have read everything on gs and gs-platinum, but still have a question.

i was wondering about my upcomming offseason. I play prop and have nearly finished my first season in colts and am hoping to step up to grades next year. I take my rugby very seriously and am very dedicated. I think the one thing that let me down this year was my fitness, however in the offseason i also want to increase my upperbody size to compete against the older players, increase speed and strength, if i had to order from the most to least important to me it would be
1. Fitness
2. Upperbody size
3. strength and speed
5. mabey 2-3kg fatloss
I have a long time till next season, around 30 weeks but want to be in great shape for when club training and preseason games start to help push my case. I have had issues with my calves being to big for the connective tissue which has caused calf pain, however since avoid speed and power work for a while i think this has gone, but i dont feel like i have the conditioning in my legs to be running more than 3 times a week at the moment. So how should i go about my off season seeing as though i need to work on everything and i have a while to do so. I was also planning on joining a friendly touch comp and starting to wrestle and box again, i have unlimited access to the uni gym, track and a swimming pool, and have plenty of free time.

Sorry for the long post

Thanks heaps for any reply and all of the time you spend helping people with their conditioning.

[ashley]

Hi there I would have you in one of metabolic groups to begin with doing somwhting like the following 4 days a week:

Metabolic Group – 4 sessions per week

1 x Beastly Circuit Body Weight Blitz

Dead Lift/Power Clean from Hang/Front Squat/Push Press/High Pull from Hang/Bent Over Row/Romanian Dead Lift

6 reps on each exercise, do not put the bar down for the entire 42 reps, then do a hard 3 minutes on a bike, repeat for 6 times through, then:

Chins/Dips/Fast Step Ups (20)/Fat Man’s Chins/Hindu Push Ups/BW Jump Squat (20)/Push Ups/Lunges (20 each leg)

All upper body movements go to failure then move to next exercise in sequence, keep working through until you have finished 30 minutes

1 x Full Body Power Circuit

DB Snatch/Jump/Quarter Explosive Squat/Jump/Split Jerk/UBP/Cable Rotation Tackle Throw/UBP/Bench Press with bands/UBP 500 metres on rowing machine

5 reps on each exercise then 500 metres row on each circuit, repeat for 5 times.

Jump Options:

Knees to feet jump, Jump onto Box, Depth Jump (advanced), Repeat Hurdle Jumps, Band Jump outs, Tuck Jumps

Upper Body Plyos (UBP):

Clap Chest Push Ups, Clap Push Ups, Jump Ups onto a box, Med Ball Drop & Push away, Cross Over Push Ups, Med Ball Throw against a Wall, Wheelbarrow Arm Hops

1 x Full Body Strength

Select one (1) exercise from each of the following categories, use the same exercise for 3 weeks then change the exercise and repeat the 3 week progression

Lower: Week 1 – 5,4,3,2,1 Week 2 – 4 x 6 Week 3 – 2 x 5, 3 x 3 Week 4 – 4 x 6

1 x Full Body exercise

1 x Squat exercise

1 x Hamstring/Lower Back

1 x Upper Body Push/Pull super sets

1 x Upper Body Push/Pull

Select 3 exercises from each group and perform a super set, short rest only:

3 sets each exercises with the following reps:

Week 1 – 10,8,6 Week 2 – 8,6,4 Week 3 – 7,5,3 Week 4 – 4 x 6

Core Training:

After each workout out, select from the following options and do a core circuit, for 10 minutes total time:

Suit case Dead Lifts, Rollouts, Swiss Ball Leg Raises, Turkish Get Ups, Full Body Twist, Bicycle, Sprinter’s Sit Up, Boxer’s Sit Up, Rainbows, Swiss Ball Sit Up & Throw Med Ball, Russian Twist on Back Extension, Cable Wood Chops

As for conditioning I would do each of the following one session per week:

Box

Wrestle

Swim intervals I can provide you with a few options if you wish

Cross Training

As for running I would start with 2 x 45 minute fartlek cross country style runs, I would so these schedule for　3 months and see where you are then and we can re-focus from there, so a weekly schedule may look like this:

Monday: Power Circuit, Boxing

Tuesday: Full Body Strength, Fartlek Run

Wednesday: Wrestle, Swim intervals

Thursday: Upper Body Size/Strength, Cross Training session

Friday: Body Weight Blitz/Beastly circuit, fartlek run

Weekend: Free/recovery

cheers, ashley

[prop]

thanks heaps, also do you have players stretch after every session? and yes some swimming examples would be appreciated. One more thing is it a good idea to add neck work, ie. shrugs and neck harness work mabey for uppewr body exercises or should I wait until the next phase of training.

Thanks

[ashley]

No worries at all, stretching is one of the options they use, we probably should do more to finish a session and will probably target it but we finish at varying times, some players like to do some extras, others like a hot/cold session, some will go for a surf, I leave a lot up to the individual to decide if it is best for them, I will also post up the off season plan we used this year in the next few days, cheers, ashley

[prop]

ok well after to talking to a few people and a few things happening it appears that i was wrong about a few things. Upper body bulk and full body strength are now my first priority, however i still really need to work on my fitness, but with my club we will do alot of fitness in the preseason, but again i want to be impressive in this. there is 22 weeks until the preseason starts, should i still go ahead with this plan or do a more strength based program and then move onto a fitness one after a while. Also if i do the strength program should i still do the boxing, wrestling etc. Thanks heaps and sorry for the change

[ashley]

Personally I feel that you need to train all areas concurrently otherwise you will fade in some areas just emphasise the areas which you need most work in and still keep on a strength power based program, or if you really want to impress start on the metabolic program I have attached on an earlier post with complexes and body weight circuits as well as strength and power, cheers, ashley

[prop]

so i should do the same weekly schedual, but do a strength/power gym program, like one of the ones you have already posted?

[ashley]

Yes mate that would do the trick, just see how you are feeling recovery wise and adjust number of sessions from there to ensure you are giving quality each session, cheers, ash

[prop]

Thanks heaps

[onspeed]

@ashley 191 wrote:

No worries at all, stretching is one of the options they use, we probably should do more to finish a session and will probably target it but we finish at varying times, some players like to do some extras, others like a hot/cold session, some will go for a surf, I leave a lot up to the individual to decide if it is best for them, I will also post up the off season plan we used this year in the next few days, cheers, ashley

Just for a comparison as Ash does with his rugby players we often let the sprinters and throwers decide what they would like to do in terms of hot/cold etc – many will have an easy bike ride or like the rugby guys get out for a surf .. its mental as much as physical and being able to take control themselves

on the stretching we do very little static stretches – except those individuals who feel they must do them – before and after workouts we focus on dynamic mobility which includes stretching in movement – science suggest a static stretch can actually inhibit peak power for a minute or three – in sprinters we have felt its more like the entire session! – have a look at stuff by eric cressey and mike boyle to get ideas around dynamic mobility – as a prop the ability to apply power in different body positions is I imagine a real asset
train hard big man!

[prop]

Hey, Im gonna do this program again, need to lose a couple kg , but also want some upperbody size gains, any ideas for my nutrition . I guess I’m confused about carbs, I know alot of the trainers on here have said only green carbs, but im finding it a bit expensive, and also I have done a low carb plan before and had no energy on it , heres what i was thinking:

Breakfast; Musily and milk, 4 eggs, lean ham, juice and tea
Pre workout: tin of rice pudding/fruit and
During: endura
Post: Protein/carb shake
Lunch: lean meat veggies potatoe fruit
Pre workout: tin of rice pudding/fruit and
During: endura
Post: Protein/carb shake
Dinner: Meat and veggies
Pre bed: cottage cheese yoghurt

Supplements: Mabey ZMA and a multi?

too much carbs? no enough

any input appreciated
cheers

[Author]

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