All Blacks Fitness Leading into the Rugby World Cup 2011

In 2007 I attended a Strength and Conditioning Workshop in Brisbane run by the Head Trainer of the almighty Brisbane Broncos, Dan Baker. 

Towards the end of the Workshop we had a Q & A's session when, being the only Kiwi, I had to ask Dan what he thought of the All Blacks "Reconditioning Period" leading up to the 2007 Rugby World Cup. At the time I was extremely confident about our AB's and understood exactly why the Sports Science Staff wanted to keep our boys out of the Super 14 in favour of a Recovery, Speed and Strength building phase.

Dan chuckled and simply replied;

"It's not how I'd do it...What'll happen to their match fitness?"

I brushed it off telling myself we'd get enough match fitness in the Tri-Nations and Rugby World Cup pool games. Alas...we dipped out to France in the Quarter Finals.

All Black Injuries
Now I should be careful here and state that I don't believe that the Reconditioning Period was the sole reason for our AB's bowing out of World Cup Grand Final contention but it only takes a couple of injuries to seriously inhibit a team's performance and lead to loss in a high priority match.

Coming back from the reconditioning period, we suffered major injuries, blow, after blow from players getting themselves into "unlucky" positions such as Chris Jack's Hyper-extended knees or simply pulling up short with muscle strains such as Conrad Smith and Reuben Thorne.

Then the most significant injuries ever to hit the All Blacks...Dan Carter and Ritchie McCaw both pulled out of the most important and devastating game since the previous world Cup, the Semi Final against Australia. Right when we needed the two best players the world has seen in their positions, they're forced off with injury.

Was it Typical Bad Luck or was it a Lack of Match Conditioning?

There's no way to be sure but Henry and co survived and the conditioning staff were given the boot. This time around there is no "Reconditioning Period". Every All Black, in the running for this year's World Cup is allowed to play in the Super 15.

Will this make a Difference to our Rugby World Cup Success?

So far there are few injury concerns to speak of and our teams seem to be performing well in the Super 15. We haven't done anything obviously conservative this time around and our boys seem to be getting plenty of rugby, with no talk of "needing a break from rugby".

We all know a fit All Blacks team can beat any side on the planet but will they remain fit enough?

Getting Back into Running

I love getting back into running because I know I won't have to put much time into it in order to get fast results. When I've had a big break from running it literally takes me 25-30mins of easy running before I feel my legs tighten and know that if I don't stop I'll be very sore the next few days.

The good news is that just that 25-mins at an easy pace is all I need to do to get improvements to my running fitness. Once I've built my running durations up and got over the initial adjustment period, it takes a lot more running to elicit the same results.

Start Easy to Avoid Pain and Maintain Improvements
If you're getting back into running, the worst thing you can do is go out without thinking about how long you should run for. A run should always start fun and easy but that's because we're fresh. If we get carried away and think that somehow we never lost any running fitness, then we're destined for a painful few days of recovery.

Now you might think that "the more sore we get the better the results" and it's often true that muscle soreness tells us we've done a challenging workout but if you're sore for more than 3 days then you're probably not training during that time.

If you're not training then you're missing the opportunity to improve or even maintain your fitness level. If your legs are sore they will come back stronger but in that time, your cardiovascular system isn't being exercised so will start heading backwards.

6  Steps to Easing Back into Running

1. If you can figure out and stick to the appropriate duration and speed for your first run then you'll have a great first run back. Figure out your first run details or follow those in step 2.

2. If you haven't run in a while but used to run lots, then start at 20mins and see how far you get running around a park at a 7/10. You can use the footpath if you prefer but stay on the flat to keep it simple.

3. Do exactly the same as above a few days later to consolidate. Don't go faster just because you feel better.

4. Next time run for 25mins at a 7/10 and consolidate a few days later. Follow this pattern for 4 weeks (taking you to 40mins) then peg the duration back to 30mins for an easy couple of sessions.

5. After your easy week go back to building up durations until you reach a duration you're happy with such as 50mins.

6. Now that you know you can run at a comfortable pace for your target duration it's time to slowly increase your speeds. If you have a means of monitoring your speed then record it each time you run and increase it in the same way you did your durations.

Increase speed in one session, consolidate the next. Do this for 3 weeks, then peg the speed back for a couple of easy runs. You'll soon hit a plateau which is when you should look at introducing hill and interval training.

If you have a gym membership then running on a treadmill will allow you to know exactly what speeds you're going and if you record each run speed and distance then you'll learn for future runs and see concrete improvements.

Treadmills are a good way to get monitor your progress

Walking to Jogging
The above steps are a brief guide for getting back into running and will only work for you if you've done a fair bit of running in the past. If you've never done much running then I suggest you use the same 6 steps discussed above but with walking.

When you're no longer getting challenged and find yourself becoming impatient, bring in a short jog to increase the speed of your workout. Jogging increases the demands of your workout a lot so once again, increase your speeds slowly and progressively to assure comfortable, ongoing improvements.

Summary
This article will sound very conservative to many of you but if you're looking to get back into running as a lifestyle change then your progress does not need to be fast. Running is far more fun when you're experiencing non-stop progress and planned recovery weeks as opposed to non-stop muscle soreness and chronic injury lay-offs.

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I Love Swimming

Jee I love swimming.

This video just makes me want to race...maybe not 100m right now but I should be able to last 25 or 50m at a decent rate...once :-) 

If you have never really got into swimming this video should give you some idea of why swimmers swim.

If you swim then let's have a race, just for the fun of it.


Directed by Lionel Hirlé & Grégory Ohrel
Music credits
Artist : DatA
Title : "Blood Theme"
Label: Ekler'o'shock / EOS Records
Publisher: Naïve Editions
Special Thanks : Alain Bernard,  Arena France Stade Nautique d'Antibes & Agence Tokyo Elegangz
 Canon France

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Winter Sports Training in the Wet - Part 2

Optimizing Each Individual's Trainings

Asking amateur team sports athletes to put in extra fitness training off their own back is a common request but often ineffective. Those who do it would have been training in their own time regardless of what the coach says. Those who don't won't unless they have an extraordinary reason to do so. In this post I'd like to offer athletes a range of training options they may have considered and how useful is mid to late season.

Running Fitness

A totally over rated form of training for team sports mid season is straight line, even paced running. It is about as specific to most team sports demands as cycling but involves far more impact. 

This form of training is great in the off season and early pre-season as a means of getting back some base fitness but has little purpose other than as a recovery session during the season. 

Games Based Conditioning
This is the most specific training an individual can do for their sport as it mimics many of the demands they experience on match day. Social leagues in the city make this form of training easier to do than ever before but it can do more harm than good.

Athletes playing and filling in for multiple teams per week often pick up over training symptoms in the form of muscle strains, ligament sprains and bruising which does not get time to recover between match day and social league games. I would only recommend these leagues for the fittest and injury conscious of athletes or the most unfit and least likely to do anything else between match day.

Gym Training
The most common forms of gym training I see team sports athletes doing is mirror training for next summer. If each athlete could be given even a generic but progressive gym programme to do in their own time it could prevent useless weight gain and injuries while improving performance.

Once a gym programme with exercises, reps, sets, weights and rest times becomes available athletes can develop a relationship with gym staff to teach and correct technique as regularly as once every few sessions, for free.

What many gym users don't realise is that most the gym instructing staff are employeed to either clean, walk the floor, introducing themselves and offering technical tips (which is not fun at all) or helping members who actually want their help. By utilising these qualified members of staff and a decent gym programme athletes can do some great training for no more than their gym membership.

Speed and Agility Training

While this form of training can put more strain on tired bodies between match day, performed with the right amounts of rests and work durations, speed and agility training is just what every team sports athlete needs mid week. 

The challenge with Speed Training is that few athletes know how to run a good session without a session plan or a coach with them. A good coach or team trainer will put together basic session plans for individuals to either use alone or with a couple of team-mates, mid week. 

Speed Interval Training

Improving each athlete's ability to perform repeated maximal sprint efforts with restricted recoveries holds the biggest potential for improvement in any team sport. It's very similar to the physiological demands of a fast match and can be designed specifically for the individual's fitness level and position. 

As with speed and agility training, speed intervals are near impossible to expect of an individual unless a suitable session plan is available to follow. Again, I believe the coach or team trainer who does not provide this to each athlete is missing an enormous opportunity to boost the overall performance of the team and capitalise on the opposition's complacency.

In Summary
Your club has a great opportunity to move up the ladder this winter by simply training with the same enthusiasm they have done in pre-season. It may take some creative thinking on the coach's part to maintain motivation but providing session plans and holding players accountable for doing them may lead to a turn around in the Winter Club Training Culture which is prevalent in New Zealand sport.

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