CAT | Rugby Training
6
The burden of your dreams
1 Comment · Posted by amanda in Rugby, Rugby Training, Ruminations
Catching the clean (badly), September, 2010
This is not just for rugby players, but for everyone. I remind my husband of this when belief in his own dream falters. Perhaps this is simply “making sacrifices” – he knows we will need to move cities if he is to progress, but we love it here.
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The Rep Shed
1. Perform sets of 8 – 10 reps (stimulates hypertrophy)
2. Use gym rings – super efficient and quite cheap. I got mine on eBay for $58 delivered, they’re even cheaper now, see here: http://7h.it.cx/9n201v . Starting with pullups and dips is good. But remember, exercises should mostly be done in sets of 8 – 10 or so.
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I’ve been inspired by the release of The Sufferfest’s Angels training video! Here’s my periodised training plan chart for 2010/2011.
Periodised Rugby Training Chart
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The following quote reminded me of my current largest shortcoming: I tend to go off my feet.
“David [Pocock] has always been technically very good I think – he works hard to stay on his feet and get low over the ball and get in a good position” — Jim Williams.
Will practice hard for the rest of the season
David Pocock, news.com.au
Finding a pattern: tuning Crossfit for rugby specificity
——– UPDATE: 24 July, 2010 ——–
Pattern found: check out my Crossfit Style Rugby Sessions Calendar for daily rugby-specific WoDs.
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I know a little about training for rugby, and have had some personal success with devising and following training plans. I think it’s highly likely I’d be at least in the top 5 women in the country for workrate off the back of my own training program.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_rw-8XqNh0
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I've sprained a sternocostal joint (well, Shar did it for me)
And my little sterno-costal sprain (and it’s consequent muscular complications for the shoulder) is on the mend! Matt Stewart of SportsPhysioWest, Parramatta, is a genius.
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I’ve been enjoying the Crossfit sessions over the past few weeks, and am now ready to add in a few more rugby-specific elements.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S6xD8F9ECo
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CrossFit with a focus on Rugby
CrossFit gives you a set of functional movements, often combined into rounds, that taxes various components of fitness. From what I can see, the emphasis is on strength and power endurance, some strength and power development and some anaerobic endurance. Each WOD is roughly 30 – 60mins.
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12
Back from the Brink: avoiding overtraining
No comments · Posted by amanda in Rugby Training, Training
Last month, I was in a poor sort of way. I’d wake up after 10 hours of sleep, eat my breakfast, then have to lie on the couch for another couple of hours. My heart was either racing or pounding and I’d lost my appetite. I felt like falling asleep every time I drove my car.
A bit too much of this place...
This was not ideal when the rugby season was just around the corner. I’d been really pushing it with my training, with 13 or 14 sessions a week, including a fair amount of travel. To be honest, I think it was the travel killing me; it was interfering with my recovery, meaning I wasn’t reaching “supercompensation” (adaptation) before my next session. When I allowed this situation to continue for 3 weeks, I was, as they call it, over-reaching, an early stage of overtraining.
We rugby players are a determined and competitive lot, which makes injury quite frustrating when it strikes. You find your own way through it.
I ruptured my ACL last year at the National Championships and experienced everything the researchers predict: feelings of isolation, sadness, grief, blah, blah, blah. There were hours when I didn’t want to get up from the floor.
It is a kind of grief, and you get through it in your own way. I helped myself by making a 13-month periodised rehab and training plan and by buying myself an indoor bike trainer. This gave me a good amount of control over my situation, because I knew I could still reach my fitness goals in time for the 2010 season.
So, alas, why did I lose the plot *after* returning to the field? I played 7s with the Brumbies on Saturday and went to club training on Tuesday. The drills were great, I was so excited by them that I continued to train even though I knew I had an effusion and should stop. Like the proverbial bull at a gate. I’ve probably set myself back another three weeks at precisely the wrong time.
Lucy Zelic from the University of Canberra has posted an interesting article on coping with the emotional effects of injury, in which she states that 44% of athletes accept their injury at the start of rehab, but this number drops off to 39% at the end of the rehabilitation period, “indicating that symptoms of depression and emotional distress increased with time.”
For me, I have to say, it was not depression, it was a combination of frustration and excitement. Primarily, over-excitement – I just wanted to tackle people! Like a lunatic, I definitely had a brain-snap.
I’m not sure if anything can be done about this sort of thing, short of putting people like me in some type of restraining device or straightjacket. The Brumbies Women’s coach was a bit more subtle, saying “Maybe rest it over the weekend & don’t play in the Uni-Norths 7′s??” Yes, I think I did need the two question marks.
It’s easy to talk loftily about keeping the end goal in mind and what-not – sometimes your emotions sneak up on you and disrupt the best-laid plans. We all know that. But looking at it rationally, we always do have a choice about our behaviour, and something as simple as preparing properly for the session would help avoid silly mistakes like the one I made. For now, it’s ice, ice, baby.
