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


Enjoy this programme and want more?

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