Strength for Sport Refertory*

"Alternate back-line structure" Bill Gordon-Thomson
"This paper is intended primarily as a tool to initiate creative thinking in back-line coaches, moving away from the traditional 5/8th, inside centre, outside centre back line structure, with the goal of breaking past the very effective patterns and structures faced in the modern game"
Australian Rugby Union. Level 3 Coaching Course. 2005 – 2006

"Andy Sheridan - an aberration or is prodigious strength the future of rugby?" Bruce Ross
"[Andy Sheridan's] example suggests that players with appropriate genetic endowment can achieve massive strength specific to the demands of their sport through the long term application of strength training techniques. However, in order to do so, these players currently have to almost defy the rugby world's orthodoxy in relation to strength and conditioning."
MyoQuip Blog

"Basic principles of biomechanics applied to rugby" Doug McClymont
"Position the body to best produce ground reaction forces. In principle this means both feet on the ground, but importantly also refers to the body position of the player when producing these forces. To maximise the effect of the ground reaction force the centre of mass of the body should be in line with the direction of the force. When massive forces are not required – passing, throwing a ball – this is not as essential."
Christchurch College of Education

"Basic strength training the key to success for Sydney University rugby" Bruce Ross
"the unprecedented success of the Sydney University Club in the past two seasons suggests that the application of modern strength training techniques has great potential for enhancing individual and team performance. Players can become very significantly bigger and stronger without sacrificing their effectiveness as players."
MyoQuip Blog

"Building bigger and stronger rugby players - the Sydney University experiment" Bruce Ross
"With the modern emphasis on structure and coordination in defensive alignments, bigger and stronger backs are better able to continually repel opposition attacks and also over the course of a game are likely to create physical and mental fatigue in their counterparts."
MyoQuip Blog

"Combinations" Ashley Jones
"Although these programs are just guides for training, they are the work of great strength coaches, such as Ian King, Charles Poliquin, Dave Tate, Louie Simmons."
Getstrength.com

"Conditioning" Nick Tatalias
"The players seen standing on the fringes of the rucks and mauls with hands on knees breathing hard are tired because they are recruiting a much higher percentage of their muscles in each encounter than the opposition players."
TurboCASH Wiki

"Conditioning the academy athlete" Matt Sanders and Patrick Hogben
"We aim ... to train a sixteen year old so that he develops the capacity to train as hard and as professionally as a senior international in the future."
www.community-rugby.com

"Contact conditioning the key to injury prevention" Nick Tatalias
"Even at top level international rugby I see player making tackles and entering contact in rucks and mauls with their heads down, which has the effect of rounding the spine cervical and upper thoracic regions of the spine. This allows the shoulders to slump and has the net knock on effect of poor rounded lumbar region of the spine. These poor contact positions will result in injury."
Contact Conditioning Coach

"Does intensive pre-season strength training protect rugby players from non-contact injury?" Bruce Ross
"Players at a leading Australian rugby club who undertook a high-intensity off-season strength training program experienced dramatically fewer non-contact injuries during the playing season than their less committed club mates. It is suggested that the lower incidence of injury might be attributable to an emphasis on improving basic strength and the use of rugby-specific strength equipment."
MyoQuip Blog

"Efficacy of rugby headgear in attenuating repetitive linear impact forces" Carissa L Knouse, Trenton E Gould, Shane V Caswell and Richard G Deivert
"Decreased attentuation in the occipital region as ell as significant differences in attentuation abilities between headgear types support the need for further investigation to examine the efficacy of rugby headgear"
Journal of Athletic Training 38:4

"Explosive advantage and the Polynesian 'welcoming committee'" Mark Calverley
"explosive power combined with excellent timing and efficient body positions."
www.community-rugby.com

"Explosive advantage and the Polynesian 'welcoming committee' - part 2" Mark Calverley
"a selection of tried and tested methods that can and will work in developing more explosive power."
www.community-rugby.com

"Front 3 strength program" Ashley Jones
Front rowers' program by Canterbury Crusaders Fitness Trainer
Getstrength.com

"Functional athletic speed training" Ashley Jones
Article by Canterbury Crusaders Fitness Trainer
Getstrength.com

"Half a million hours of rugby football: the injuries" J.P. Sparks
"The injury rate for Rugby football is the highest of all games at this school. Even so, the more than 4,500 boarders who have passed through the school in the past 30 years have each sustained, on average, only two football injuries, and few have been serious."
British Journal of Sports Medicine

"Interval training for fitness/fat loss" Ashley Jones
Article by Canterbury Crusaders Fitness Trainer
Getstrength.com

"Introducing the ScrumTruk rugby strength builder" Bruce Ross
"In exercising with ScrumTruk, the lower spine adopts moderate curvature necessary for effective pushing and avoidance of lower back strain. This position also triggers isometric contraction of the stabilising muscles of the pelvic and abdominal regions."
MyoQuip Blog

"Little player will beat big player" Jun Sano
"it becomes the 1st condition for a little player to exceed a large player's contact speed at the time of impact."
www.rugby.com.au

"Muscle building: squats, leg press or knee extensions - which exercise is best for the quads?" Raphael Brandon
"I conclude from the evidence that the squat is a very effective and sports-specific quadriceps strengthening exercise. However, it is probably best for well-conditioned athletes only."
Peak Performance

"Muscular strength and endurance conditioning" Mark Godwin
"Not only is strength and endurance required for the physical side of the game, muscular development may assist in injury prevention."
Eliteperformance Sports Conditioning

"National Athletic Trainers' Association position statement: head-down contact and spearing in tackle football"
"Each time a player initiates contact with his head down, he risks paralysis. Therefore, increased attention to the frequency of head-down contact occurring in games and practices is needed."
Journal of Athletic Training 39:1

"Nick Tatalias on explosive strength training for rugby" Bruce Ross
"Nick Tatalias suggests that forwards who are exhausted after scrums and mauls may need greater strength and better anaerobic rather than aerobic conditioning. He argues that changes to the Laws of Rugby have increased the proportion of explosive actions in a game and consequently the need for explosive strength training"
MyoQuip Blog

"Otago University study warns that body padding may not prevent serious rugby injuries"
"Padded clothing helped protect players from cuts and bruises but could not protect them from serious shoulder injuries, such as fractures, dislocations and ligament damage."
coachesinfo.com

"Overhead strength training" Richard Dryden
"An area which is sometimes overlooked and often under-trained is the strength and conditioning for the arms, lats, and shoulders in overhead situations."
Getstrength.com

"Resistance training and rugby" Iain Fletcher
"We just have to look at the size, strength and power of the modern elite player to realise the impact of resistance training on the game."
www.community-rugby.com

"Rugby training: how rugby training should reflect the varying energy demands of players field positions" Raphael Brandon
"both front row and back row forwards complete many more high-intensity efforts per match than backs, with front row forwards performing over three times more than outside backs. While the average duration of high- intensity efforts are similar, at around five seconds, across all four positional groups, the average rest periods for the forwards are significantly shorter."
Peak Performance

"Rugby union: explosive power: which forms of training are best for increasing short-term energy supplies and explosive power?" Alun Williams
"probably the most important aspect of strength training for explosive power is that the athlete consciously and maximally attempts to move the load as fast as possible during the concentric phase of weight training, independent of the apparent speed of the motion then produced."
Peak Performance

"Strength and conditioning for rugby defence" Ashley Jones
Article by Canterbury Crusaders Fitness Trainer
Getstrength.com

"Spinal injuries in rugby union, 1970-2003: lessons and responsibilities" Paul T Haylen
"During the 1970s and early 1980s, medical researchers identified a significant increase in the frequency of spinal injuries among rugby union players ... As a consequence, measures to reduce spinal injuries were proposed, and some were implemented ... . There was a subsequent reduction in the frequency of spinal injuries recorded during the late 1980s and early 1990s in the United Kingdom and Australia, but not in New Zealand (up to 2000) or South Africa (up to 1997)."
The Medical Journal of Australia

"Strength and power" Ian Taplin
"Tackling, lifting, scrummaging, winning collisions, mauling and wrestling for possession are some of the situations in which physical strength is critical for successful performance."
www.community-rugby.com

"Strength-speed emphasis" Ashley Jones
3-week program by Canterbury Crusaders Fitness Trainer
Getstrength.com

"Strength training for rugby/rugby league players" Ashley Jones
"This plan is an amalgam of the Westside training philosophies of Louie Simmons, Olympic style lifting and strongman training, and a combination of both traditional periodisation theory and conjugate training preparation. "
Getstrength.com

"Strength training for rugby union"
"it must be remembered that absolute strength is the basic quality that influences all types of speed strength."
Sports Specific Strength and Conditioning Consultants

"Strongman training for sport" Ashley Jones
"this type of training is excellent for strength endurance and also strengthening those support muscles that are not easily targeted, but they do not replace the fact that maximal strength and strength-speed type training is best developed using weights in the gym."
Getstrength.com

"The benefits of explosive strength training for rugby football" Bruce Ross
"Rugby football involves prolonged physical engagements between players where they are subjected to loading substantially greater than their own body weight. An ability to very rapidly generate force is advantageous in these areas of physical engagement. In addition to basic strength training, players need to undertake activity-specific training for explosive strength."
MyoQuip Blog

"The impact of professionalism in rugby"
"Dave Reddin, the RFU's fitness and conditioning coach, estimates that an average forward now weighs 8kg more than his pre-professional counterpart, tipping the scales at around 108kg (17st). Backs, who typically weighed around 80kg a decade ago, are now 10kg heftier."
Guardian Unlimited

"The short term goal or the long term objective" Richard Dryden
"Rugby players need to consider the variety of improvements they wish to make and then plan for these whilst taking into account the other commitments they have agreed to during this time - study, club play, club practice, other rugby commitments, work, etc."
Getstrength.com

"Trunk stability" Calvin Morriss
"Trunk stability is an area of fitness that is receiving increasing attention and could be a critical factor in players' longevity."
www.community-rugby.com

"What are the fitness standards required for this so-called 'high-intensity intermittent exercise'?" Alun Williams
"the varied type of physical performance qualities required for the game, including the ability to accelerate or sprint at maximal pace for short periods (eg, three seconds), maintain a fast striding pace for the duration of the average move (eg, eight seconds), recover during differing rest periods in order to repeat these types of exercises, jump, change speed and direction, use upper body muscles, and so on."
Peak Performance