Periodisation
4 Sessions Per Week in the Pre-Season Most weeks (10-12 weeks)
2 Upper Body, 2 Lower Body. 1 speed + 1 strength focus.
6 weeks increasing intensity up to Christmas break
4 weeks building into trial games
*Often we would “touch” the lower body on an upper body day with 2x10 Goblet squat or do some push-ups and chin-ups on a lower body day. I liked this extra micro grease the groove stimulus. It seems to keep them healthier and maintain / gain more strength.
Before trial games and in-season 1-3 sessions per week depending on the time between games and travel.
Session structure
Standard session
Part 1. (5 minutes)
3-5 Movements to prepare for the session
Part 2. (10-20 minutes)
1-2 Heavy movements to a top 1-3 repetitions.
Part 3. (5-10 minutes)
3-6 Accessory movements in 1-2 circuits.
Pre-Game Session
The day before the game was often an optional session
- Very short warm-up
- Power movement - often power snatch or box jump
- DB Bench Press or similar
Not much more.
10-15 minutes max.
I never used game day weight training for guys who were playing.
Those who didn’t play got the best sessions of the week with 40-60 minutes of gym plus 30-60 minutes of conditioning. Often there was sled work in those sessions as a great form of conditioning and running strength development.
Key movements
Power Clean, Power Snatch, Vertical Jump, Standing Long Jump, Weighted Box Jumps, Jerk.
Front Squat, Back Squat, Speed Deadlift, RDL, Low Box Squat (mostly to encourage depth).
Bench press (sometimes banded), Standing Press, Dips, Weighted Chins & Pull-Ups (we didn’t have good incline benches).
Other movements
Posterior Chain Volume - GHD, Pull-throughs, Reverse Hyper, Deadball over the bar, banded goodmornings, 45 degree back extensions, Jefferson curls.
Upper Body Volume - DB Presses, DB Rows, Reverse Flies, Seated External Rotations, Curl Variations
Abs - Wheel rollouts, strict toes to bar,
Loaded Gait - Sleds, Woodway, Farmers walk
Other training stimulus
Players did a circuit of POSE running type drills that create a Knee Ability Zero type effect. This was with the physiotherapist and I can see now it was a great compliment to our program.
I did mobility for 2-3 minutes on the field and sometimes within the part 1 of the weights sessions and our players were more mobile than they had been.
Players ran intervals on the field for 3-10 minutes 0-2 times per week.
Some players would get physio or do pilates etc as well as the program.
Culture
Players competed in the gym.
We celebrated their wins.
Sessions were short and intense.
We had loud music most of the time (if it was going well).
We had shirts off when they wanted.
It was meant to be an enjoyable experience.
Each mini-squad trained the same movements at the same time for the key movements.
There were 4 groups of 10-12 in the pre-season and 2-3 groups in-season depending on the day of the week.
Most players started to know their numbers and the names of the lifts. Most had only really valued their bench press number in the past.
Things I would change (Video)
- Make strict Nordics a standard
- Use cross-bench pullovers to open up overhead ability + more natural knee extensions and pancake work.
- Have all players able to full snatch 50% bodyweight
- Test all players on sleds, forwards and backwards
- More higher repetition squatting with 30-50% loads
- ATG Split Squats
- Patrick Step-Ups
- Tibs and Calves
- Super high repetition work for the rookies (more Dense Strength)
- Smith Curls & 3 Position Flies to open up the pecs and biceps
- Be smarter with the use of Short and Long range
- Less emphasis on singles all the time - more fast 3-5’s.
I made this video at a different time from the rest of this article.
Things I wouldn’t change
Building a culture of loving the gym and enjoying getting the work done
Squat and press heavy
No top speed running emphasis (only in game related drills)
Chase the numbers and keep players accountable to them
CMJ weekly
Grip test before all strength sessions and games
Aminos before weights, no protein shakes
Who I learned what from
Trae Williams - make bigger quads with high repetition leg press / hack squats
Ben Patrick - go heavy on Patrick step-ups, gain range on ATG Split Squats and Cross-bench Pullover. Bulk the tibs and calves.
This is a rugby sevens athlete I had a few day camp with. Trae is a phenomenal athlete! He loves heavy hack squats for quad development and full nordics. He ran 10.10 to be the 5th fastest Australian in history as at 5’7” in his early 20’s.
I don’t think I’ve seen 100kg treated like that before or since. He weighs around 73kg.
During my second period at the Roosters I introduced juggling. Players generally learn it quickly and built more of a connection with me and their own ability to take on new skills.
Ultimately we won and the Roosters were the most successful team in Rugby League in recent decades. This we know for sure. To what extent the physical training influenced that we can’t say.
Many players overcame chronic issues they’d had in the past and said they felt strong and powerful on the field. Players from other teams commented that we seemed to be super human or doing something differently.
We were doing things differently and you can too!
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