Ecamm Live Recording on 2022-06-17 at 15.04.10 0:00

Yes, what's going on everyone. Welcome back to the rugby muscle YouTube channel. This is a revision of the rugby physical preparation pyramid that I did about two years ago, because I was wrong quite frankly. And in this video, we're going to explain and see why

Ecamm Live Recording on 2022-06-17 at 15.06.53 0:25

So around two years ago, now I came up with the rugby physical preparation pyramid. This was my way of sort. Illustrating and really wrapping my head around and trying to explain to everyone else what you need to be doing as far as your strength and conditioning goes in order to improve your rugby performance and be the best rugby player that you can be the idea of the pyramid, not just being the fact that us in the fitness industry love pyramid, but also being the fact that the, why do you build out that base? The more potential you have to go higher and higher and higher with your pyramid, but you still need to have that base in. Kind of self explanatory, kind of obvious, but really to put this stuff down was quite big. And the original videos were very well received and people have got a lot out of them and, and understood how to, or what they're supposed to be doing in the gym to improve their performance. Now they say, if you are not looking back over your stuff and realizing how wrong you were, then you're not really growing well, lucky for me, I've done a bit of growing. I've done a little bit of rethinking and I realized that I've done a few things wrong, or I laid out a few things, mostly to do with the details, but how I got this roughly physical preparation, pyramid, slightly wrong. So I didn't re revolutionize or, or completely turn this pyramid upside down and make it an upside down triangle or make it a block. No, no, no. It's still a pyramid. The principles are still the same, but the main difference and the overall difference is that I've moved strength down from that middle tier to join with high trophy. So the main idea of the pyramid still applies. Everything still is in sequence. It's still the same idea. Not much has changed, to be honest, I didn't want to, like, you know, you shouldn't be making a change, but over two years, if you are drastically different than whatever you did before was bullshit. That's not the case with this pyramid. And it's just two minor changes. Firstly, we've bought footwork down from the top tier into the middle. I do see more and. Since we got back to Rupi, I see more and more the need for footwork to be emphasized, to allow you to not just do, you know, your agility things and beat defenders, or trying to make your tackles, but also all contact situations. All of that does require a deal of footwork. And if you aren't. doing that either in your game or improving it, you're gonna be holding yourself back. So that moves down a tier. The other one that moves down a tier is strength. And not only does it move down a tier, and become part of the level one, the base, the human, part of the pyramid, but it also joins with hypertrophy. You see how here, how I've lined it up as strength and hyper trophy, aerobic capacity and movement. this now forms the basis of what you need at the base of your pyramid in order to become a more efficient, more athletic human to then improve in the other areas. So the greater your stuff is here. There are more potential. You have further down the line. So why was I wrong? What did I change my mind here? And this is the, basically what I'm gonna get into in this video. I. Where I was wrong back two years ago was that I really wanted to differentiate strength and hyper trophy for rugby athletes, which kind of was unnecessary. So the reason that I feel like I got this wrong was back in 2020. Back two years ago, I was specifically training myself for hyper trophy. I was using park workouts. I was, my goal was hyper trophy. I lost a lot of muscle and a few of the clients that I was working with were also looking to improve their hyper trophy. We were away from rugby. It was a really good time to really try and induce some hyper trophy. We didn't have access to, you know, the heavy weights that we would need in order to improve strength. high trophy conditioning. There were lots of other goals, but hyper trophy was one of those main goals. And that created a level of bias. You see when hyper trophy becomes your only goal, and you'll see this with a lot of fitness channels, a lot of body building specific channels and advice that PDs people give. They tend to make hypertrophy more complex than it is. And that's kind of natural because hypertrophy is a very slow thing. It's something that takes a lot of time to come about. And so, rather than just do the simple thing and stay patient, we like to make things more complex to make sure that we're seeing progression. And rather than measuring our muscle, we're actually seeing progression and following a specific hyper trophy protocol for me, like that is really not necessary. Hyper trophy doesn't actually require much of a layered approach at all. In like the science is quite clear on that as well. There's, there's, they've done lots of different studies and like there's hypertrophy across the board. As long as you are getting enough volume. Enough heavy reps, enough weight, and you are obviously eating enough. Hypertrophy is not a case of like more complex or any level of complexity is better. It's just a case of a lot of people who start to stagnate will start to do that. And maybe they're not even stagnating. Maybe it's just the fact that hypertrophy takes such a long time that they take a while to see their gains. And if they'd have not made their training complex, There's a real good case to say that they would still have elicited the same amount of hypertrophy. It's just that, that those people, that where hypertrophy is their own goal or their only goal happen to make things more complex and then like associate that gain in muscle, not due to just the sheer amount of time, but the complexity that they've then added to their training. specific strength might require a bit of a layered approach, but probably not. If we're talking about just rugby players and how strong you need to be in order to improve your rugby performance, I'll come back to that in a second. You see most people actually train pretty poorly for strength. I actually, they train pretty poorly for hypertrophy as well, but the fact is that. I've seen it time and time again in the gym. When people try to get stronger, all they do is consistently test out their one rep max, this is not the work that is needed to improve your strength is not the same as the work that's needed to test your strength. Those two are completely different things. You need a decent amount of volume to build strength, nothing crazy, but you do need some, you can't just go in, test your max and then think that's your work done? No, you need a good deal of volume in order to build that. Luckily, I've already said you need enough volume as well in order to create hypertrophy, you also need a good deal of muscle to build strength. So you can see here why these two are starting to be a little bit more combined. The goal of strength in rugby strength and conditioning is not to see how strong a one rep max Scott, you can do it's to be strong enough to Eli. All of the other things that you want to do on a rugby field. So, you know, you're not building strength for strength's sake, you're building strength in order to be more powerful in contact or to be stronger specifically in the scrum. That is not a one red max that is scrum specific strength whatever roles you are doing on the pitch. They are supported by your strength, but strength is not the, the overall or a one rep max strength is not the overall outcome that you want. And by looking for specific, like by taking our training from power lifters and from bodybuilders, we've overcomplicated this process more so than it needed to be. And I'm definitely find myself guilty of doing that. When I recommended the strengths in the middle of the pyramid and hypertrophy was at the bottom, let's just put them together, make things a lot more simpler. So the solution here. Getting big, getting strong. You don't need to really ring out that sponge. I'm not sure if that's how you spell ring, but you don't need to really like use this level of complexity when it comes to strength or hypertrophy. When it comes to rugby, you need to get strong enough in order to, or. If you get strong enough, you are going to grow a muscle. There is no need to overthink this hyper trophy concept. Also, if you grow enough muscle, and if you eat enough, your strength is going to increase. These two are very, very, very, extremely tightly correlated. So as far as your concerns as a rugby player, that's what you should be focusing on. You don't need to really E out the top level of hyper trophy. In order to build enough of a base of your pyramid to improve in all of the other areas for rugby. No, you don't need this to be complicated. All you need to do is stay consistent. If you go back to what I said earlier about the guys that are trying to build muscle, adding complexity E is often seen as the thing that it it's like growth, but more often than not, it's just time. If you consistently do this over time, you're going to get stronger, get bigger, save the complicated and the periodized stuff for the rest of the pyramid. That's where sports periodization comes in. It's the sports side of things. Muscle and strength should be this underly. it should be this underlying goal that we keep ticking over at the minimal, because we don't need to force it because the amount of work that we need to do that is going to take away from our other areas. but also it's going to give us less of an effect when it comes to our overall performance. So. The more I think about this, the more, I think getting big and getting strong should be as simple as possible to allow you not just the enough time to stay consistent over a long period of time, but enough time in your training week in your training blocks to focus on all the other areas that you need to in order to improve your rugby performance. So if we revisit the base of the pyramid, strengthen hypertrophy, now go hand in hand there at the base, you have to lift heavy and then you'll get big and get strong. As long as you are eating enough to fuel that growth you and you push the, with the food and with the weights to keep the numbers moving over that the numbers on the scale, the numbers, when you put the tape measure on your biceps, the numbers, when you are lifting. As long as they are slowly increasing over time. And that's not necessarily every single week. And you know, you periodize this properly where you will undulate. So you'll go down at times and, rebuild back up. That's the basis of strength work. So that's how you should be doing it. It doesn't need to be complicated. You don't need to specialize in certain different lifts. You don't need to build certain muscle to increase a certain lift. No, you just need to get big and strong enough. The more you force it, the less return you're going to have. However, the more you keep this ticking over the rest, it's going to support the rest of your performance and everything else on this physical preparation pyramid. same thing for aerobic capacity, right? This is talking about getting fit over long periods. This is not something where you increase the intensity and that's going to increase your output. In fact, if you get your intensity too high, you won't improve your aerobic capacity. Your heart will be working too hard for you to improve more on that in all of the other videos on this YouTube channel understand this is something that is going to take a long period of time. And that's a good thing because over time as you get better and as your aerobic base builds out, it stays for longer as well. So it's not something that you need to consistently do. Like once you've got fit enough, the amount of what they need to do to keep that topped up is very minimal. Then we're looking at aerobic capacity that is getting fit over long periods of time. I'm talking well, 80 minutes is a rugby game. That is why rugby is completely aerobic. You've got, well, not completely aerobic, but then we're looking at aerobic capacity, which is getting fit over a long period of time, namely 80 minutes. Right? Because that's how long a game of rap is. Even if you're playing sevens. Yes. You'll say, ah, it's only seven minute halfs, but it's also played over a day. This sport is fueled by aerobic system. The stronger aerobic system is the better your recovery. The more you're going to perform your high intensity bounces and the better you're gonna be at your high intensity bounces, cuz you recover. That is what aerobic capacity is about. You cannot force your aerobic capacity to improve by increasing intensity. In fact, intensity has to stay low. By definition in order to get the improvements from aerobic work. If your heart is working too hard, you don't get those improvements. So you have to keep your intensity low. You have to increase the amount of time that you are using or not even increase, but just put in the time that might be over weeks, months. That might even be years Well, not before you see a benefit until you stop seeing consistent benefit in your game. A lot of you could be doing aerobic. For years on end and continually see yourself getting fitter and fitter and fair on the rugby pitch. The cool thing about the aerobic system and all of this stuff actually on the base is that it takes a long while to build, but once it's there, it's, it's gonna stay right. If you're someone that's taken to go back to the strengthened hypertrophy, if you're someone that's taken five, 10 years to get a good deal of. the amount of work that you need to keep. That is very, very minimal to keep a good deal of that strength is very minimal. In fact, you could do nothing and you would still like keep a lot of your strength. A lot of your hypertrophy, you wouldn't just lose it and shrivel up over the course of like one month and lose all your gain. That's not how this stuff, particularly on the base works. Same thing for movement control. Movement control is about moving more efficiently and free. And if you can just build good basic movement, I'm talking your basic movement patterns, your squats, your lunges, your runs, your Jo, your locomotion, your rotation, all different movements that you need for rugby, but also just for general movement. If you can build that up, you are going to see that that's going to take its time, but you are also going to keep those good movements. You're not gonna lose your movement quality over time. Right? But if you get that movement quality to a really decent. It's very rare that you'll see someone then stop being able to sprint effectively or stop being able to do whatever movement they need for rugby effectively because they've stopped working their movement control. this is something that, again, takes a while to build up, depend on how you know, how low on the rung that you start. But over time the better you get, the more this stuff stay stays and has an effect. Again, it's like everything else. And this is a main feature of this, the components of the base of this pyramid is that if you get good enough, then that's all that's needed. You don't need to force this. You don't need to ring out that sponge. As I mentioned earlier, if you get fit enough with your aerobic capacity, if you get STR strong and big enough, we're talking about your strength and your hypertrophy, and if you move well enough, then your time in the other areas can be really well. If you are not good enough at any of these three things, you are severely holding yourself back. That's why it's the base in the pyramid. You need to get this in order to build out the rest of your pyramid and get as higher pyramid. As you can remember, you're going to be judged on the size, AKA the height of your pyramid. So the why do you build this out is great, but there's no use building it wider and wider and wider without getting that height that your, that base then allows. and so general points for the base of this pyramid. Before we wrap this video up is that these three things all feed into each other, right? So the stronger and the bigger your muscles get to an extent, the easier all of your aerobic work will become not. Necessarily, if you're talking about doing like long runs, but the easier your fitness will be on the rugby pitch, because you'll be stronger in those contact situations, you'll be using less of a percentage of your overall total strength to stay fit. Likewise. If you stay fit, then it's easier to build muscle build strength because you can get more work done in the gym. likewise, if you move really well, you can build your strength and your hypertrophy because you are moving really well. You can recruit muscles properly. You can do movements really well without getting injured. You can also, if you move really well, stay fitter because you are not using as much wasted energy moving poorly turning poorly, running poorly with poor mechanics, the better you move, obviously the more energy you save and therefore the fitter you. also, if you get stronger, right, you're able to then have more control in your movement because you can control stronger muscles easier. That's why gym nests have fantastic. They're all jacked because. Really strong and they can control their muscles properly. So that helps them to move properly. Same thing for your aerobic system. If you are fit, then you are less likely to have movement breakdown as you get into the later minutes of a game or just in general, right? You don't get tired as easily. Therefore your movement doesn't break down as poorly. These three things don't just feed across each to each other. They feed up the pyramid. I haven't got the rest of this on this slide. going up the pyramid where you've got your footwork. You've got your speed. You've got agility. You've got all these other things up the pyramid. These are all benefited by these three things on the base. That's why they're there Also, please note that the stuff on the base of this pyramid, a lot of people who are successful, rugby players particularly will have these naturally you, you know, we can look at, you can point to lots of people who are naturally really big and strong, or you can talk, look at people that are naturally really fit or that move really well. They already have a leg up and they might already have the potential because of their birthright without ever stepping in the gym or doing any of their strength, conditioning work. To be a higher level than some people who train perfectly ever could reach. That's just genetics folks. That's just the way it works. So not only is this pyramid like a training goal, it's also this pyramid is like a deciphering of the physical components that you need to be a successful red player. It doesn't mean you necessarily have to work at strength and hypertrophy. If you already have it, then it's already there. You've already got a good base before you've started. These are all, as I've said earlier, long term training goals, these aren't things that you are going to focus on just for a month and then, and then move on to everything else. These should, these three things should be under underpin. Pretty much all of your rugby specific training year round. That doesn't mean that they're the main focus probably ever. Maybe aerobic can be maybe, maybe these three things can be no. That doesn't mean that they have to be the main focus that year round, but it does mean that they probably should be there, which is benefited by the fact that we said, you know, your strengthen hypertrophy work. Doesn't have to be that complicated, nor does your aerobic capacity work have to be complicated nor even does your movement control. You just have to put in the work. It's not complicated, but it has to be there consistently. and so that helps you stay at long term whilst you're shifting your focus on all the other areas that you need to focus on for your rugby strength and condition. And so that's, that's kind of it, right. That's, as simple as I can make this stuff. And. That's what it should be. It should be simple, cuz we're looking at the base of the pyramid. We're not looking at anything fancy. We're not looking at you know, going from a 250 kilo squat to a 255 kilo squat. We're looking at getting strong enough to allow you to do everything else in rugby and, and then maintain that strength, maintain that hypertrophy, maintain that aerobic system and maintain that movement. Quality that you've got by building this base over time. You're slowly gonna keep widen in this space by working at these things. but you're also going to make sure that you are building that pyramid up and up and up and making that pyramid taller over time. Doing this stuff is going to allow you to do that. But that is not your only focus. Okay. I've belabored this point enough, hopefully by now you get it. If you have any questions or thoughts, or even just comments for the algorithm. Pop them in the comments below. If you're down there and you haven't given it a thumbs up, please do take that one second. To give this a thumbs up. If this is your first time on the rugby muscle YouTube channel, please consider hit and subscribe because I'll be expanding this pyramid. I'll be doing a lot more talks on rugby, specific strengthening edition. I'll be in lots of interviews on the rugby muscle podcast. So if you don't wanna miss out on any of that stuff, hit subscribe. And if you'd like to outsource all of your thinking for your rugby strength and conditioning links to work with rugby muscle will be in the description below. Thank you guys so much for watching. I'll see you in the next one.