weights for rugby and improving explosiveness

ormondprop

have been doing weights for rugby for a while now doing between 3 and 5 sessions a week along with my training, all the usual stuff and am very happy with the gains i've made strength wise but i want to try improve my explosiveness as most the exercises i've been doing are just for strength mostly doing 3-4 sets of high weight for 6-10 reps, what exercises should i be doing to improve explosiveness or is it too late now as the season has started, which brings me to my second question what sort of sessions should i be doing now during the season, should i carry on doing the same with less weight and more reps and/or leave out some of the big exercises such as deadlifting and cleaning as they put extra strain on the legs considering i'd be training on the pitch 2-3 times a week and 1-2 matchs a week

Transform

what is your current program in full?

Whats your weight and height?

Yes you will most likely have to cut back the weight sessions to twice a week and on other days put in more recovery work like foam rolling, stretching, pre-hab, rehab work etc

Olympic lifting is fairly vital for developing explosiveness as would sprints (will be covered in your group training sessions i would saY)

g'em

There's a lot of rugby players who train in the gym I'm in and the coaches do a pile of personalised S&C programs for them that change according to the players' needs and what position they play in. Right now the programs mostly include power cleans, bench squats, benching, some accessory work and tons of prehab stuff. They'd all be working in the 3-5 sets and low rep range for maximum strength development. I *think* they only do about two strength sessions a week now, and that'll get diminished further as the season gears up.

ormondprop

i'm 6ft and 112kg, for my training i don't stick with a fixed program and just do different body parts(legs shoulders chest) with about 5-7 exercises and then core work, i spend about an hour in the gym
so day 1 i might do legs, squats, calf raises lunges, then do maybe bicep curls, preacher curls, bent over rows and maybe some neck exercises then 5 mins of corework,
day 2 might be chest so benching,chest flys, highpulls, pushups with feet on bench and hands on dumbells, tricep extensions, bent over rows and then core,
day 3,dead lifting, shoulder press, standing flys sideways and in front, shrugs and then core.

and then just redo it all over again

this is subject to change though i might add or remove bits. i always try get through it quick without taking too long a break besides when i'm doing some of the big exercises like dead lifting and squating. i always push myself as hard as i can so if i'm doing this and not feeling wrecked after it i'll stay and add in more exercises. some people might not like my method but it has being paying off and i'm very happy with the progress so far strength wise, but i'd love to improve explosiveness

Transform

what do you deadlift, squat and standing press overhead?

The program has very very little in the way of an explosive component in any way.

Triceps extensions, calf raises, biceps curls, and chest flys (really the whole structure of your program to be honest) have IMO zero benefit to you for your goals.

as gem mentioned - where is your prehab work, foam rolling, mobility work etc

ormondprop

this is just my weights, i train on the pitch 2-3 times a week and have matches aswell so plenty of stretching and cardio, i just add in them simple exercises like calf raises, bicepcurls etc insuperstes with other bigger exercises just so i'm not sitting down doing nothing while i'm resting between sets, i havent maxed out but at the moment i'm deadlifting 120 4 sets of 6 and squating 130 for 4 sets of 8,
i know this might not be a good routine but i have made very good gains in strength in the last 3 months during the off season and pre season, but now as the season started i'm going to stop trying to increase strength and work on explosiveness, which i don't know much about so need your help to make up a good 2-3 day week weights program to help with that

jugger0

Rugby player myself bud, squats,romanian deadlifts,benchpress,press,bulgarians,chins/pullups,rows,power cleans* all you need really. Forget that tricep/calf bull****, compound lifts are all you need!

* These are probably the best for explosive power IMO, great exercise, to be honest if you can get into the olympic lifts you'll be doing yourself a massive favour.

Will Heffernan

jugger0 wrote: »

Rugby player myself bud, squats,romanian deadlifts,benchpress,press,bulgarians,chins/pullups,rows,power cleans* all you need really. Forget that tricep/calf bull****, compound lifts are all you need!

* These are probably the best for explosive power IMO, great exercise, to be honest if you can get into the olympic lifts you'll be doing yourself a massive favour.

I'll try to ACTUALLY keep this short and sweet.

1. Great advice...keep it simple.

2. Re Olympic lifting.
a) Oly lifting is cool...I like it...if you have proper coaching and have someone that knows how to integrate it into your program...brilliant...if not...it's a waste of precious training time.
b) This explosiveness that everybody keeps going on about has nothing to do with the exercise...it's about the INTENT. You need to understand that more than you need to understand anything else about your training.

ormondprop

for doing the olympic lifting what sort of reps and sets should i be doing, should i be doing 3-4 sets of ten and doing it fast with small recovery time

g'em

ormondprop wrote: »

for doing the olympic lifting what sort of reps and sets should i be doing, should i be doing 3-4 sets of ten and doing it fast with small recovery time

There's a running jokes about weightlifters not being able to count higher than 3... it's because we never lift more than that number. We might push the boat out and do ginormous sets of 5 reps of squats but that's only when we've got a coach around to count them for us.

The olympic lifts are very cns intense - high reps do not a good weightlifter make. But more improtantly have them taught to you by a good coach who knows what they're doing. Done wrong and you could be asking for a world of hurt.

And if it's for rugby power cleans, maybe power snatches and clean pulls are really the only weightlifting lifts you need to worry about.

jugger0

Will Heffernan wrote: »

b) This explosiveness that everybody keeps going on about has nothing to do with the exercise...it's about the INTENT. You need to understand that more than you need to understand anything else about your training.

share your wisdom cos im only a youngin...

I always thought explosiveness=power, that they are the same so i assume if you train to move heavy weights quickly you'll build power, none of that 3 up 3 down BS. And thats why i put power cleans at the top of my list, its all about speed!