Rugby Union Training Culture & Style
Every professional sporting organisation or club has a ‘culture’. There are 5 provinces in Australia for the Super Rugby competition each with their own culture. They all play Rugby Union and all lift weights, run and train speed. The coach has his own coaching style. Different players will identify with certain styles and this is why you will see some players perform under some coaches and not under others. 
In terms of training some coaches like to combine skill conditioning games, while others like to separate them. If a coach has a forward background or mentality they may prefer tough sessions focused on conditioning. While back coaches will tend to prioritise speed. Rather than a blanket, one-size fits all approach, most professional Performance Coaches now prefer to individualise programs. Believe it or not, but a coaches best friend is actually an Excel spread sheet which allows us to cut, paste and calculate the exercises and prescriptions for every athlete. While the individuals training programs may change, the training principles and variables that we use to achieve the physical characteristics for Rugby Union do not! Below is the list of the Physical Characteristics of Rugby Union that I use when writing professional training programs. Click here for more detail on the Perfect Rugby Animal. Strength
- Control / Stability / Rehabilitation
- Hypertrophy
- Power
- Speed Strength
- Applied Rugby Strength
Speed
- Acceleration
- Max Velocity
- Speed Endurance
- Agility
- Reaction
- Quickness
Endurance
- Glycoltic Power
- Glycolitc Capacity
- Oxidative Power
- Oxidative Capacity
Flexibility
- Static
- Dynamic
- Ballistic – moving
- Neural
Happy training! David Boyle David Boyle is a Level 3 Master Coach and Board Member of the Australian Strength & Conditioning Association Please click here to learn more about David Boyle and purchase his Rugby Union Training Programs.