Off-Season Programme
Okay so you’ve had some time off and now you’re looking to ramp training back up again ahead of Pre-Season in a few weeks.
The Off-Season is basically a Pre-Pre-Season… it’s your opportunity to get ready for Pre-Season, which is the cornerstone of your preparation for the rugby season.
So what do you need to focus on?
A reverse engineering approach:
1) What will you be doing in Pre-Season?
2) How can you physically prepare for that?
1) Most Pre-Season blocks start with a General Physical Preparation (GPP) phase. Therefore, our Off-Season training needs to get our bodies ready for that.
General Physical Preparation: a phase of training to lay the building blocks for future specific/performance training.
Building blocks include development of strength, speed, power, mobility, agility, and fitness.
2) So, if GPP is the ‘building blocks’, Off-Season is the ‘foundation’.
Off-Season Programme
Programme Aims:
develop a foundation in all areas of physical preparation for rugby
correct/prevent niggles to maximise Pre-Season.
develop lifting techniques in the gym - choose exercises you’ll be using through Pre-Season
Programme Structure:
The schedule laid out below is based on training 5 days a week and covers the following components:
2 x total body gym sessions
2 x conditioning sessions
2 x prehab sessions
Complete this programme for 3-4 weeks.
NB- if you are new to training, completing 2x gym, 1x prehab, 1x conditioning should be enough to get started with!
Day 1 - Total Body Gym
Warm up:
light intensity cv: bike, row, jog
Spider-Man’s, hamstring floss, hip cradles: x10 all round
Air squats, backward arm swings, side lunges, downward dog press: x12 all round
Broad jump for distance: x3 max efforts
Main Lifts:
A) Squat (any variation) - 3x12
B) Upper Push (any variation) - 3x12
Accessory Circuit: 3 rounds
C1) KB RDL x15
C2) Split Squat Hold + Cable Row x10/10
C3) SA Arnie Press, half kneeling x10/10
C4) Air Squats x30
Trunk:
Front Plank - x1 max effort
Day 2 - Prehab + Aerobic Steady State
Prehab:
Foam Rolling: total body
Stretches: hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, calves, pecs, lats
Circuit: 2 rounds
Banded Clams / Side plank clams x20/20
YTWs x10
Lateral Lunge to Hip Lock x8/8
Press Up Position Shoulder Taps x15/15
Copenhagen Plank x20s/20s
Single Leg Floor Touches x15/15
Steady state:
Bike, X-Train, Treadmill or Swim x 30 minutes at heart rate zone 2-3*
*HRZ 2-3 = 60-70% max heart rate.
Calculate your HRZ 2 = (220 - age) x 0.6
Day 3 - Rest
Day 4 - Total Body Gym
Warm up:
light intensity cv: bike, row, jog
Spider-Man’s, hamstring floss, hip cradles: x10 all round
Glute bridges, backward arm swings, side lunges, hamstring swings: x12 all round
Box Jumps: x5 max efforts
Main Lifts:
A) Hinge (any variation) - 3x12
B) Upper Pull (any variation) - 3x12
Accessory Circuit: 3 rounds
C1) Lateral Lunges, DBs in Front Rack x10/10
C2) Swiss Ball Hamstring Curls x15
C3) SA Row, hand supported on bench x10/10
C4) SL Calf Raises x15-20/15-20
Trunk:
Side Plank Leg Raises 3x10/10
Pallor Press 3x10/10
Day 5 - Rest
Day 6 - Metabolic Conditioning
AMRAP 1 - 5mins
Row 250m
Dynamic Walkouts x5
Squat Jumps x10
Press Ups x5
Rest 5mins
AMRAP 2 - 10mins
Row 250m
Med ball slams x10
Walking Lunges x10m
Down-Ups x10
Walking Lunges x10m
Row 100m
Day 7 - Prehab
Foam Rolling: total body
Stretches: hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, calves, pecs, lats
Mobility: crucifix rotations, scorpions, walking hamstring sweeps, cobras
Circuit 3 rounds:
Turkish Get Ups x5/5
Cable Shoulder External Rotations x20/20
Monster Walks x20/20
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