Programme Justification

Exercise Selection

Lower body core exercises selected include clean, back squats and single leg deadlift, which aim at developing power in extension of the knee hip and ankle, as well as eccentric hamstring strength (Kilduff et al., 2007; Crewther et al., 2011; Gamble, 2010). These exercises are important in running, jumping and contact force performance. Upper body core exercises aimed at developing push and pull forces used in contact situations, these were weighted pull-up, bench press, shoulder press and single leg deadlift (Graham, 2008; Baker & Newton, 2004; Iglesias et al., 2010; Gamble, 2010).

Assistance exercises included bicep curl (Iglesias et al., 2010), tricep push (Clark et al., 2008), lateral raise and dumbbell row (Beachle & Earle, 2008), all aimed at isolating muscle groups to increase stability for bigger and rugby specific movements. Lower body assistance included razor curl (Oliver & Dougherty, 2009a) and leg extension (Corcoran & Bird, 2009). Core stability exercises allow for efficient transmission of force between body segments; exercises included glute bridge (Akuthota & Nadler, 2004), bosu-squat (Drinkwater et al., 2007), Russian twist (Sata & Mokha, 2009), physio-ball back extension, plank (Parkhouse & Ball, 2011) and cable rotations. Flexibility influences technique and gait mechanics, therefore seated: hamstrings, adductors, back-extensors, standing: quadriceps, deltoid and pectoral stretches were included to improve flexibility (Beachle & Earle, 2008; Alter, 2004).  The athlete’s history of ankle injury means that a comprehensive prehabilitation plan is included. Exercises include single leg (Norris, 2004), instability (Reid, 1992) and strengthening exercise (Peterson & Renstrom, 2001; Rodriguez-Merchan, 2012) are included for the ankle.

Training Frequency

The athlete is considered to be of an advanced level training status. They have a history of weight lifting and high tolerance for intense exercise. As a result it is recommended that in the off-season 4-7 sessions should be completed per week using split routines (Beachle & Earle, 2008). This phase provides the opportunity outside of competition to develop strength and power (Corcoran & Bird, 2009). It has been found that higher training frequency will produce greater results in strength gains (Barnett, 2006). Bompa & Haff (2009) have indicated, for development of strength in advanced team sports athletes, 4-7 sessions should be completed per week (Bompa & Haff, 2009). As a result it was prescribed that the athlete perform 6 sessions for strength phase and 4 for hypertrophy phase in the early off-season stage (Beachle & Earle, 2008).

Exercise Order 

It is well established that during a training session the compound, larger movement power and core exercises should be performed first. This is due to the higher physiological demand of these exercises (Fleck & Kraemer, 1997). These exercises are fundamental to strength development and need to be trained when the athlete has a minimal amount of fatigue (Bompa & Carrera, 2005; Spereuwenberg et al., 2006). Split routines are used to allow a smaller number of muscles groups to be worked more intensely in a single session; they also prevent fatigue over a micro cycle with several days between sessions (Bompa & Carrera, 2005). Supersets allow more exercise to be performed in a session with limited rest between exercises (Fleck & Kraemer, 1997).

Training Load and Repetitions

For the core and assistance exercises the aim was for development of strength. It is recommended that the load should be as high as 80-95% of 1RM max for an exercise (Bompa & Claro, 2008). When aiming to achieve maximum strength it is important to lift a heavy weight for a smaller number of repetitions as a result it is possible to perform a larger number of sets (Iglesias et al., 2010). For exercises such as the power clean fewer reps will be performed, 1-5, per set and a higher weight than that for hypertrophy but lower than for strength, approximately 75-90% of max depending on the number of reps (Beachle & Earle, 2008) due to the higher physiological demand.

Volume 

Conroy & Earle (2000) suggest that high training volume; with low-moderate intensity is key for increasing muscle size. Therefore, hypertrophy is produced most efficiently through high volume, moderate intensity training with the opposite being true for strength training (Hoffman, 2002; Pearson et al., 2000). Training volume has a close relationship with intensity. With increasing volume it is important to lower the intensity so as not to increase risk of physiological fatigue prior to matches (Kraemer & Fleck, 2007). In preseason it is possible to incorporate a slightly higher volume and intensity levels due to the lack of competition for this period allowing for rapid gains in muscular development (Beachle & Earle, 2008).

Rest and Unloading Weeks

Bird et al. (2005) stated that for hypertrophy in advanced athletes 4-6 sessions should be completed per week, rest between sets should not exceed 90-120 seconds (de Salles et al., 2009) and no more than 90-120 seconds between exercises as this time period matches some intervals experienced in game play, however others can be as little as 33 seconds (Duthie et al., 2003). For strength development rest periods are set at 120-180 seconds (Bevan et al., 2009) with a similar rest period between exercises to simulate breaks in play for set-pieces. Unloading weeks are used throughout the season to allow for adaptations to occur and for physiological recovery.

Periodisation and Peaking

At the start of the rugby off-season, the primary focus for training is hypertrophy (Corcoran & Bird, 2009) due to the lack of time for significant gains in muscle size during competition (Duthie et al., 2003); there is no focus on skills or sport specific training (Beachle & Earle, 2008). After the initial hypertrophy phase, the training intensity is increased and focus switches to strength development (Corcoran & Bird, 2009) then conversion to power before the start of the season (Hendrick, 2002). The primary peaking target is for the start of the season and then to attempt to maintain physical conditioning for as long as possible, this period will have secondary weekly peaking cycles for matches (Beachle & Earle, 2008). The mid-season internationals provide the next primary peaking target and finally for the European cup final.