Week 6 – Off Season Set Up

Off Season Set Up
Author Ashley Jones

Just thinking over the last few days, as we pass the mid point in the Super rugby, what to do in the gym next off season, how to change it up, get more improvement in certain areas. This is just the first draft and is sure to undergo quite a few changes, hopefully improvements, before it is implemented in November. I will determine which group players will start in based on needs and discussion with the player themselves and the coaching staff, I anticipate that we will have more players in the strength and power groups, I will add more information as if develops, cheers, ashley

Size Group

4 sessions per week

1 x Lower Body Strength

Select exercises 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 – 6,5,4 Week 2 – 5,4,3 Week 3 – 4,3,2

1 x Full Body exercise

1 x Squat

1 x Single Leg Squat

1 x Hamstring/Lower Back

1 x Full Body Power

2 x Full Body exercises do a jump exercise after each set

2 x Squat (Band Box Squats & Quarter Explosive Squats) do a jump exercise after each set

2 x Upper Body Push (Band Bench Press & Barbell Split Jerk) do an upper body plyometric exercise after each set

Alternate between 6 sets of 3 reps at 60 – 80% (weeks 1,3,5) and the 3 sets of 6 reps at 30 – 50% (weeks 2,4,6).

Jump Options:

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

Upper Body Plyos:

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

2 x Upper Body Push/Pull

Select 2 exercises from each group and perform a super set, short rest only, first workout of each week do the following methods:

Upper 1: Week 1 – 5,4,3,2,1 x 4 Week 2 – 6/12/25 x 3 Week 3 – (7,5,3) wave x 2

And second workout of each week do the following scheme:

Upper 2: Week 1 – 12/10/8 Week 2 – 10/8/6 Week 3: 8/6/4

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

Strength Group

3 sessions per week

2 x Full body Strength

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

3 sets each exercises with the following reps:

Week 1 – 6,5,4 Week 2 – 5,4,3 Week 3 – 4,3,2

1 x Full Body exercise

1 x Squat exercise

1 x Hamstring/Lower Back

2 x Upper Body Push super set with Upper Body Pull

1 x Full Body Power

2 x Full Body exercises do a jump exercise after each set

2 x Squat (Band Box Squats & Quarter Explosive Squats) do a jump exercise after each set

2 x Upper Body Push (Band Bench Press & Barbell Split Jerk) do an upper body plyometric exercise after each set

Alternate between 6 sets of 3 reps at 60 – 80% (weeks 1,3,5) and the 3 sets of 6 reps at 30 – 50% (weeks 2,4,6).

Jump Options:

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

Upper Body Plyos:

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

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

Power Group

3 sessions per week

2 x Full Body Power

Select different exercises for each session

2 x Full Body exercises do a jump exercise after each set

2 x Squat (Band Box Squats & Quarter Explosive Squats) do a jump exercise after each set

2 x Upper Body Push (Band Bench Press & Barbell Split Jerk) do an upper body plyometric exercise after each set

Alternate between 6 sets of 3 reps at 60 – 80% (weeks 1,3,5) and the 3 sets of 6 reps at 30 – 50% (weeks 2,4,6).

Jump Options:

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

Upper Body Plyos:

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 exercises from each of the following categories, use the same exercise for 3 weeks then change the exercise and repeat the 3 week progression

3 sets each exercises with the following reps:

Week 1 – 6,5,4 Week 2 – 5,4,3 Week 3 – 4,3,2

1 x Full Body exercise

1 x Squat exercise

1 x Hamstring/Lower Back

2 x Upper Body Push super set with Upper Body Pull

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

Metabolic Group – 4 sessions per week

1 x Beastly Circuit

Power Clean from Hang/Front Squat/Push Press/Jump Squats/Good Morning/Bent Over Row + 3 minutes on Bike Hard

6 reps on each exercise, do not put the bar down for the entire 36 reps, then do a hard 3 minutes on a bike, repeat for 6 times through

1 x Body Weight Blitz

Chins/Dips/Band Good Mornings (20)/Fat Man’s Chins/Hindu Push Ups/Hindu Jumper Squat’s (20)/Rope Climb/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 Throw in Smith Machine/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 Lower Body Strength/Upper Body Size

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 – 6,5,4 Week 2 – 5,4,3 Week 3 – 4,3,2

1 x Full Body exercise

1 x Squat exercise

1 x Hamstring/Lower Back

Upper: Week 1 – 5,4,3,2,1 x 4 Week 2 – 6/12/25 x 3 Week 3 – (7,5,3) wave x 2

2 x Upper Body Push super set with Pull

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

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Love your work!
Can I just ask 2 things…
During the whole body power sessions, how many jumps do you tend to perform between sets. I know that will depend on the player but just roughly.
Also what are wheelbarrow arm hops?
Cheers Ash,
Adam

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Cheers Adam you are too kind, jumps are usually just 3 – 5 reps between each set of a power exercise, as for wheel barrow hops have a partner hold your legs you are in a push up position and you hop from two hands jumps at a time as your partner walks you along, cheers, ash

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Ash,
my first time in this site,,,an its a great set up for off season, but I’m little confuse about full body exercise, and pls give me details about it,, and also pls give me a easy example how to pick an execrise from your off season set up to do it each week1,2,3

cheers,
Judah

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Hi Judah and welcome to the crew, great to have you on board and I hope we can assist you in reaching your training goals, as to your specific question, full body exercises are usually exercises that use a range of body parts, they are also called systemic exercises since they place a loading on the entire body not just specific muscle groups, I probably include most of the Olympic an d modified Olympic movements into this category, also DeadLift is a perfect example here as well, although with Deadlift I would place into the hamstring and lower back category or if you were not doing an olympic exercise it could easily be a first choice full body exercise, so as to examples:

Full Body – DeadLift

Squat – Front Squat

Hamstring/Lower Back – Good Morning

Upper Body Push – Incline Bench Press

Upper Body Pull – Weighted Chin Ups

I would hold onto these movements for 3 weeks and then change, maybe using a sets and reps structure such as:

Week 1 – 4 x 6

Week 2 – 5 x 5 or 2 x 5, 3 x 3

Week 3 – 6 x 4 or 5,4,3,2,1 (working up to a max single)

cheers, and hope this helps out, ash

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Ash,
thanks alot for your help.

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Hi Ash,

I am also new to the site, and thank you also from my side for all the mind blowing info you guys post up here. I have 2 questions, the first regarding the post above. Could you please explain the rep progression of week 2 of the Metabolic group – Lower Body Strength/Upper Body Size

Upper: Week 1 – 5,4,3,2,1 x 4 Week 2 – 6/12/25 x 3 Week 3 – (7,5,3) wave x 2

If I understand correctly, the trainee will perform 6/12/25 reps and 3 sets. What is the reason for the high reo count, especially the 25 rep sets?

My second question refers to muscle size maintenance during the season. How do you ensure that the Super14 guys maintain their size and weight through the duration of the season?

Thanks for your time,
Jacques

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