Yes, what's going on everyone? Welcome to the August live Q& A. We do these once a month here at Rugby Muscle on the YouTube channel. And yes, we're still on the Facebook group because I haven't managed to get this bloody Discord going up. There's a few rules and automations that have just been not working for us. And I want to make sure it's perfect before I release it out because I know that once we do... It's going to have a big impact and it's going to be something that we will really focus on going forward for how we do things here at Rugby Muscle. Well, for how we communicate. It's going to be a big avenue of communication for us. And so I really wanted to make sure that it is right before we throw it out. Otherwise people will get on there and basically do what they did with threads, right? They logged in and it, create an account, did all that stuff and then realized that it just wasn't working. So we want to make sure that that is avoided with the Rugby Muscle Discord server. So we're still going once again on the Facebook group. And With that being said, we will kick off. So, as usual, we have some pre loaded questions. And as usual, if you have any questions, you are welcome to ask them in the comments, either on the YouTube or on the Facebook. Once again, not on the Discord. If you have another question that could potentially be answered in a future Q& A or a future video. As always, please pop it in the comments below. I really enjoy answering these questions. It's how rugby muscle works because it, rugby muscle was built and designed around you guys. You rugby players who want to get the most out of yourself. Or just want to get a decent prep program together so that you can see progression in the gym with your rugby specific fitness, but also just with your health and fitness and, you know being jacked and tan because those are all good things. So with that in mind, like I say, if you have any questions, ask them in the comments below. Look forward to answering them we've got some preloaded already from the YouTube and from the Instagram. So I will head on over to answer those questions first whilst we were getting there. Before I do, I would like to announce that, right now, live at rugby muscle. com, not only can you get coaching, can you get access to the best damn amateur rugby year round strength and conditioning program via rugby muscle. com, that is Team Rugby Muscle. The best amateur strength and conditioning, best rugby strength and conditioning period is delivered directly to your phone on a weekly basis. That is teamrugbymaster. rugby master. com and not only do we have that but we also have a dedicated Brand new conditioning program the game ready fitness fast track that is designed To get you guys ready for the upcoming season. No longer should you be Questioning whether what you're doing is working. No longer. Should you be tired of being tired? No longer should you feel unprepared when you step out for that first game of the season You should be the fittest and best player on the pitch and part of that is by taking care of your conditioning Using an actual conditioning focused program We're not talking about tacking on five to ten minutes of weights at the end of a session We're not talking about Running a couple sprints or doing a Tabata or doing some sort of heavy intense CrossFit workout. We are talking about Specific energy system training to get you better at Rugby You will find that you will find a four or an eight week program both of which are purchased at Rugby Muscle. com And if you just choose Work with us or programs. I can't remember what the option is I'll actually change the link so it's rugby nostal. com forward slash fitness if you're watching this in the future it will be linked in there You can also get for this week only So if you're watching this before the first week of august enter the code fit And you will get 10 off and That's only for those that have an upcoming season in the next four to eight weeks and they have to get in shape This is designed for you. You're not throwing at a deep end. You're not going to Suffer week after week after week. You're just going to do specific energy system training Some of which is definitely intense. Make no mistake about it. If you want to get fit, you got to work hard. But this training is specifically designed to get you moving around that field Building out that rugby engine that is the game ready fitness fast track You'll find that rugby muscle. com forward slash fitness or I will link it actually i'll put a link in the comments Once i've done that We will get into the first question. After the fact and listen to this podcast thumbs up always does help out That's how you can show some love if you are new here Hit subscribe so that you don't miss any of the new and upcoming episodes so you don't miss anything from us and of course questions in the comments below And if you haven't if you if you don't even have a question Just let's just say hi in the comments below or give us a thumbs up because that just really that helps this this video feed this podcast get into everyone else's feed And so it allows us to have a bigger community, has other people to join us. Gives you good karma and costs you absolutely nothing. How about that? Alright, first question. Could you recommend a progression scheme for strength training? Something for orientation during training? Ah, so I'm assuming you mean like, how you would, just something so you can wrap your head around, not just add more weight each week. Yeah, as far as schemes go, I have a few that I enjoy. It does vary on the program. It also varies on the amount of other stuff that you're doing, right? For example, if you've got 10, 15 minutes twice a week to get in your strength work, the progressive scheme that you're going to use is going to be vastly different to a session or to a progressive scheme where you've got four 40 minute sessions that you can dedicate all of that to strength because it's going to be different for those different situations. Likewise, all the other stuff that's going in. Is going to be different which means that your progression scheme is going to be different for that. But, for the most part, when we're talking about general rugby strength and conditioning programming, that you, to me, that means that what we're going to do is, you know, we're going to use some power, we're going to work some hypertrophy slash higher rep stuff. That means we're probably going to be doing some speed work, some conditioning work at other times in our training. And so that means that we're not gonna just go balls out for the strength stuff. And so what I propose is Something fairly fairly simple and in fact, that's probably the best for this q anyways, right? So for early beginners. So like if you're in your first couple years of strength training, or if you can feel like you can do this and still continually progress for like six to eight weeks, this is the scheme I would use. I would pick a rep range, whether that's three to five reps, whether that's two to four reps, maybe even four to six reps. And I would perform between two and four sets at that rep range and you would keep the same weight, right? So you pick a weight It doesn't really matter because after you keep continually to work at this Like the weight will solve itself and like say week one You I well, no, you you've got your rep range now and all you're going to do Is keep working until you can reach the top end of that rep range for all of your sets Whether that's two sets or four sets the sets would decoupled depend on You know all the other stuff that you've got going on if you can dedicate four sets then that's great If you're going to do two sets still also fine because you can still make progress in the scene that i'm giving So once you've hit the top end of that rep range for all of the sets in that session the next session you can add 2. 5 kilos to the bar or to the lift, maybe even five kilos. The next, whichever the next convenient increment is for you. Some people like to do 2. 5 on the upper body and one and five kilos on the lower body. That's fine. It would depend on how much you sort of, how easy those lifts are and how well you feel you are progressing. But basic premise is you keep working within that given rep range. So you're getting continually getting quality work within that range. And then once you've reached the top end of that rep range for all of the sets, you're strong enough, right? So you add more weight and then if you can, if you do it, so say for example, we're doing bench press, right? You get 80 kilos for week one on the bench press and you hit and you're, you're given rep ranges four to six reps. Week one, maybe you get six. Set six reps on the first one, five reps on the second set and four reps on the third set or maybe week two you get six, six, five, and then week three you get six, six, six. Okay, now it's time to add weight. Fairly simple. And within three sessions, you're adding more weight to that. And you've also got three sessions of really good solid heavy work under your belt. It's a really simple way of doing it. It's also a good way of auto regulating because days that you're fatigued. You're not expected to to beat that range. You're just expected to to get in that heavy work It's fairly simple. It's it's kind of easy to follow but It's it can grind you down if you're someone who's already Moving a lot of heavy work or moving a lot of heavy weight is already fairly strong. Finding long term progression is going to be difficult with that because you might just be stuck at the same, you know, 6 5 4 or 6 5 5 and you might be stuck at the same weight for weeks on end. Particularly if you can only, this, this, Regime works really well if you can hit a movement twice a week. Now, if you're, if you're a little bit more intermediate, a little bit more advanced, what I would do is just add weight each week, and I would lower my reps each week. And so I'd work in three to six week blocks. This is, this is a lot of what I do with Team Rubber Muscle and my own athletes. And we will go from... Maybe we're going to go from five reps to three reps to sets of two singles The the third week and then we'll repeat that or we'll go four reps three reps two reps or we'll go that's that's usually how we do it. It's it's five three one four three two. I don't mind five four three or even three, three, two. And what you do is you just add weight each week. So maybe you start at like a predicted one rep max. You start at like 70% for week one, 80% for week two, 90% for week three. And then, then you restart again, but you got 75, 85. That really simple way of getting in some, you know, of progressing, but also not burning yourself out. The problem with using percentages is that after a while, like once you get really strong set, someday 70% is going to feel really heavy. Some days 80% is going to feel really heavy if you're overly fatigued and you're just not going to be able to do that. And that's why I like. Some, you know, I like to go easy on those progressions because it's just, it gives you a lot more room to, to just move the weight more efficiently and faster when you're strong, but also when you're feeling strong, but also if you are feeling tired, you can still hit that minimum and get enough weight under your belt. Now if you are getting more and more advanced, you get more and more in tune with. You know, what RPE is and how many reps you might still have in a tank and how hard you're actually working because a lot of people Don't do that A lot of people think that they're working really hard when actually if you not even held a gun to the head said, all right Do one more they can actually knock out my rep. I remember when I was coaching groups of It was groups of mums, but this has happened to groups of guys. I've coached as well. I said, all right pretty Let's choose a weight that you think you can do for five and then you can't do any more and then they would do That weight and then we do another set with that same weight and i'd say okay keep going until you literally fall with the bar or two, you know, I literally have to pull you up and They got like 10 to 15 reps instead of five so it shows how much more harder you can actually train When you're in those early stages once you become More advanced then we're looking at rpes and we would do again 5 2 i'll do that Rep scheme so that you're still adding weight. But now instead of just saying, using specific percentages We're just sticking at rpe Eight to nine whatever you choose for that rental cycle. Maybe it's 8. 5 depends on what else you've got going on Maybe it's nine. Maybe it's even an actual top set like absolutely all out With a little bit left in the tank as far as not completely being a one rep max or an absolute max You know rep max set but it is heavy as you can do that day And you would just go from again five reps to three reps to one rep or five three two or four three two there's different ways that you could do it, but just The idea is that you're lifting more weight as the weeks go on and then you recycle and then you lift And the reps have to come down to accommodate those, that higher weight. Sorry to sort of expand this question out and make it seem like a really long winded, like, these are all different ways that you can do it rather than just a scheme. But there's just not, there's not, the right tool is for the right job. All these rep schemes are tools. I like them, these all work, but there are other ones that you can do. All right, we've got a question on the live one. Hey, James, thanks for joining us. Thanks for asking the question. Hey, would you recommend eating an estimated maintenance calories as the season begins or a slight surplus for best performance? I would recommend eating an estimated maintenance. Actually, I would recommend, it depends on your goals. A slight surplus is good if you've only got estimations. Because... You know, you could have an estimate if you get it, you can have an estimate in maintenance that actually because it's not a very good estimate, you're under eating. That's not good. The other thing that you can do is if you're worried is just make sure that you eat in a slight surplus on the Friday, maybe even a Thursday. And then you're going to be topped up and you'll be fine as long as you're not even if you're in a deficit eating a slight surplus on the friday is basically going to cover all of your bases And we've had lots of people come through that have lost weight week to week to week to week to week in season because of that and I think a lot of the time this is this is something that i've found In my years of rubbing muscle has rung so true is that so many people think that they need and I fell for this mistake myself. So many people think that they are under, you know, they're under fueled as far as nutrition goes when it comes to the game day. That's why they're getting gassed like they don't feel like they haven't eaten enough before their game. That's why they're getting gassed towards the end of the game. When in actual fact, it's they're under fueled, yes, by their aerobic system. Their aerobic system isn't good enough to continually fuel you throughout an 18 minute game. And maybe even for after like the first 20 minutes. All of a sudden, if you hit that wall, that's not food, my man. That is because you, your aerobic system is not good enough flushing out the fatigue blood, getting in that energy into your muscles and into your body to keep going. And that's, that's aerobic. Like, that's... That's something that really rings true to me because I remember being a younger player. I remember when I Used to eat so much on the friday and the saturday I remember going out for, like, there was a phase of a few months where every single game I went to, I would puke some, some, either right at the beginning of the warm up, or right towards the end of the warm up, or both. And I always assumed this was because of, number one, nerves, and just how it was, but the reality is what I was doing was, I was cramming in so much food, because I thought that was what was going to make me fit. It was only once I only once I got fit enough. And had a really strong robust aerobic system that I realized that doesn't really matter what you eat before a game like It can make a little bit of a difference, but it's not make or break I played with really good rugby players that some had even been experimenting with keto on a rugby game. That, like, some people think it's a really good idea. It's not. It's a terrible idea. But that just goes to show the, the small percentage effects that actually game day nutrition really does have. Now, me, that sells nutrition services as part of Rugby Muscle, probably shouldn't be saying that, but, but it's the truth, right? I would take someone who's under fueled but really, really, really fit. Every single day of the week versus someone that just doesn't have the aerobic system to cope for a game. But has eaten 5, 000 calories the day of and the day before. Because it doesn't matter how much fuel you've got in your system, if you don't have the transportation system, the energy system, the aerobic system to fuel and utilize all of that fuel to fuel, to, to feed that fuel into your, into your body to give you the energy. It doesn't matter how much fuel you've got, right? As far as carbohydrate goes or even as fat goes. So, that's the answer. Make sure you're eating enough, but I wouldn't stress about it. I would just stress about making sure that you are you know, your conditioning system, your aerobic system, and your high intensity, a lactic system is solid enough to get you through the game. Maybe if you're estimating your calories, eat at a slime maintenance. If you know your calories, You should know that like whatever your weight is hovering at the same If you can keep your weight hovering at the same weight each week You're probably going to be you're you're fueling just fine enough for a game of rugby Just don't be under hydrated and just be fit. All right, we'll go to The next live question actually because james the next question after this is also yours, which is pre loaded But before that we'll go to luca who says do you prefer? Chin or pull ups or lat pull down as a vertical pull exercise. Different tools for different jobs or the, you know, the right tool for the right job. If you're someone that struggles to do pull ups, then there is no magic in doing pull ups. I do like it as an exercise because I like moving your body through space, but... If you can't, if you can't do it, then you can't do it. Likewise, a lot of tall players, tall, ruppy players that I've worked with can't get a full stretch on a on a lat pulldown. Like, you know, the, the, the weight is already hitting the stack by the time that your elbows are about 160 degrees. And so you can't get a full stretch. So you don't really get a good movement with that either. It doesn't really matter. It depends on what you're trying to do. If you are going heavy, Probably put pull ups are going to be better when you're going heavy because you're it's harder to do moment to use momentum and you can really get a good contraction with those are like heavy pull ups as a strength movement. If you're looking at that rep range that I was talking about earlier when I was speaking to the answer in the first question, when we're talking about going specifically for strength in the, you know, the three to what a two to five rep range. I like pull ups. I like using weighted pull ups. I like that stuff quite a lot as long as you don't have elbow issues. That works really well. If you're going above 5 reps, I'd start to edge towards lat pull downs because your form has to be a little bit more strict and consistent. And you can really get a good squeeze on using those. But it doesn't overly matter. Those two are fairly interchangeable. Next question from the pre loaded questions. James. You asked, Sorry for the random question. What do you think about the new tackle laws implemented by the RFU for community rugby in the UK? Tackle below the sternum. No dipping. And no dipping significantly into the tackle as the attacker. Feel like it changes the game tremendously. And some will find it hard to adapt so got a few things to I might actually have to make a whole video about this But off the top of my head as far as this goes, I think there are a few things I want to address firstly it's not just the rfu the rfu are just getting out ahead of this Because i've heard that this is this is world rugby coming through and this is what they want to do. That's first secondly the Community rugby, quote unquote. I hate that. I don't know what the fuck that means, right? Cause, you ask anyone that's playing rugby, even, I mean, even at like level 8 or 9 in the UK, that's not that low. That's a, that's a good commitment you're, you're making to play that. You're taking it seriously. To be called, and to sort of be pawned off as a community athlete, is a bit of a spit in the face to rugby players. I don't like that at all, like. Like, you should have the same respect that other rugby players have, like, that any rugby players have. You should be playing the same game that you see on the TV. There's no, there's no reason that you shouldn't. And if anything, right, it doesn't make sense that a game that is like, the sport at the level whereby the bodies and the professionalism and the, the athletes that you're, that are competing at this level are so high. The They are, like, increasing their risk for concussion just because these athletes are so huge and their collisions are getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And their, their schedule is, like, preposterous. Like, you talk about player welfare, looking out for these people. Those are the guys, at the top level, are the ones that need this this law. Like going to actually help out when you look at rugby the lower down you get the less real risk there is because there just isn't those high impact collisions, so I don't understand why that rule was made for like specifically for that I think it was terribly done I also think that the no dipping significantly into the tackle is just stupid as well and actually with that all being said the actual rule itself I think Isn't going to make a big difference. I don't think it's going to make a big difference to the game that you see. Because I don't think the referees understand how to handle it. I don't think the players are going to change the way they play significantly enough that the game really looks like that different. I don't think there's going to be red cards because of that. I just think that we'll basically, like, You know, when the seatbelt tackle first came in and started to become a penalty and sometimes even a yellow card. That was like a standard classic tackle. Same with like a lot of dump tackles. And now that they're ruled out, like, they rarely happen. And I think that's just what's going to happen to slightly higher tackles. I just don't, I don't see, and I don't think that's going to be as big of an adjustment as I once thought it was when this rule first came out. And when I, like, I'm not gonna lie. When this rule first came out, I thought this was going to be the death of rugby. I don't think, I don't think that anymore. I think that, if anything, like, this isn't going to have a huge effect on, and a huge profound effect on the community game, or the amount of players that play on amateur level. I actually think what's going to have a bigger effect is the out of touch, old folks that are in charge of this game. I think these people are potentially putting this game, well, not even potentially, they are driving this game into a point where there are a lot less people playing the game than ever, than I've ever known because they are so out of touch with the people that are playing. I think I think that these people are out of touch with the people that are playing the game. They don't think they care what the people playing the game actually feel like, want to do. I think they're just trying their best to appeal to some level of corporate... Interests that want to continue to sponsor the game and keep them in charge. Like, I truly think that. I think that they don't give a shit about the people that are playing the game. They don't boast about the cool physicality of the game. They don't boast about the, the players that play the game. They, they try to just say everyone's really happy people and how diverse we are. And it just doesn't track with what current rugby players are like. If, if anything, they seem like ashamed of, yes, there is a drinking culture that can put pressure on people. But it's also. Like something that can also be celebrated and be okay with, you know, both things can be true. And I think these people that are out of touch, not only are not appealing to the people that are playing the game, but they're making parents and teachers afraid of even just bothering, like, getting involved with rugby, to the point where a lot of schools and a lot of parents just don't want to touch it anymore. They're just like, I'm just going to stay away from this. This game scares me. I don't think I should play it. At the same time, The guys that do want to play, the guys that do want to get a physical, have a physical confrontation and do want the awesome The awesome physicality that rugby begins are now being denied the, or not even being denied, they're just not getting promoted, they're not getting How, shown how cool the game is and celebrated how cool the game is, and the physicality and the combative nature of rugby, they're not getting that Like that's not being celebrated and marketed as part of this sport Other sports such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA have seen a huge uptick in the last 10 to 20 years. And those sports are hugely combative, you know, they are, they are one on one combat. Yes, Jiu Jitsu without the striking, but you know, Muay Thai is picking up, MMA is picking up, like these are literally sports where it is one on one combat. And they are, I've seen it, I've been in the UK long enough, I've seen enough former rugby players Just say okay. It's too much of a commitment. I'm gonna instead go to Jiu jitsu and be in charge of my own and you know, I Took up jiu jitsu after I had to retire because of concussions But I just see I see a lot of people making that trend It's a shame because this game needs to be celebrated and I love rugby and it should continue you know in spite of the people that seem to be Apathetic to The community game and what it means outside of just patting themselves on the back to how diverse they are And I ain't getting political about this. This is just, just, just the facts. Let's catch up on the comments here. James says, sorry I was just repeating what the RFU phrased it as on their websites. Yeah, no, no, I wasn't, I wasn't, I know that's what they said, and that, I'm annoyed that that's what they said. I'm annoyed that the RFU referred to the lower levels of rugby, you know, the, the Pyrewords. Community rugby. I feel like I mean, that's that's even level three. That's like semi professional players A lot of them potentially even close to being full time And they are you know, and hopefully being you know on the edge on the cusp of being full time and now branded community players Like I just I feel like that sounds really patronizing Hey, mishezgree 100% Yeah, I think rugby will evolve I don't I just like it's I don't think it like the game can survive easily with these new law changes I don't know whether it's going to change with the people in charge That's what i'll say All right Luca I almost missed the other question that you asked there mate. Sorry about that He says what bronco time do you think a 17 year old second row should be aiming for? Couldn't care less about that question Ha ha ha ha ha. Whatever, like, whatever you did four weeks ago, a little bit better than that, don't care. Doesn't matter. Just, just get fitter. Just get as fit as you can to play your best. Doesn't, couldn't give less of a shit about Bronco at times. Alex asks Just a bit of fun, as I know you're looking at team training videos before the World Cup. Disregarding bias, if you could pick any team to train with based on the exotic location or facilities, who are you picking? Thank you. Easy Fiji, right? Done. Like, beautiful place. Really, really, really nice people. Enjoyable rugby. No pressure. Like, and also as far as like, strength and conditioning goes, you're dealing with ridiculously good raw athletes that you've still got a ton of like, low hanging fruit that you can get out of as a strength and conditioning coach, potentially. That's who I'd pick. No brainer. I think a lot of other, like you say, without bias, I do, I wouldn't want to coach England. Do you, do you see the England Instagram anytime they put anything up about training ever? Everyone just loves to hate on the, like, the English love to hate on their own team all the time. When Eddie Jones was in, it was a get Eddie Jones out, get Steve Warwick in. Steve Warwick was in. Oh, this guy doesn't know what he's doing. Like, it was get, get Marcus Smith in for years. He came in, didn't make a big difference. Now when he's in, like, people are still complaining. It's, it's, I wouldn't want to do that. I mean, that pressure is probably a, like a smidgen of the pressure that the New Zealand press give the guys in charge. Poor old Steve Hansen. I mean, even Ireland, like, you've got, like, with those teams, England, Ireland, New Zealand, you've got amazing facilities, you've got amazing players but... Like I just wouldn't want to deal with all this fucking shit that you get from those from the press there Probably on the opposite side of things. You've got south africa who like they seem to be behind their lads no matter what Like I love the bias south africans. I'm all for it it's like I Irish get behind their their crew quite a lot. But the south africans man, those guys are Those guys are another level I think I'd like, as far as home nations, Scotland would be a fun project. They'd have, cause they'll have good facilities. And I like the lack of pressure from, like Scott seemed to have. Like when you look at their team, they should be doing a lot better than what they're doing. I think that they've started to come good. I like the fact that there's a little bit of freedom as well. Like if you have a position that you. That you think, ah, we need to develop a new player for this position in a few years. They just go and get someone from Scotland, or just find someone with, with like, some sort of Scottish roots to go play for them. Like, that's cool. But then again, I'd have to be in Scotland, so I'm not doing that. I'm going back to Fiji. Fiji would be where I'd be. No, no question. Hamish says, is the Bronco a good thing? Nah, it's not mate. It's, it's a five minute, ish test, which when do you ever run for five minutes consecutively for rugby? You don't. Like if you want to do a time trial, like in a Cooper's run, you know, three K fine, but the Bronco is less than that. And you, so your speed that you're never really going to operate in a rugby. They say that it's an agility component because you step and you turn around, but that's not an agility component at all. Like, agility component, like you're not sprinting, you're just hitting a line and turning back around. If there was like a, a T that you'd have to run, or if there was an agility thing that you'd have to run, maybe we'd do that, but no. You're either measuring the aerobic system by doing like a longer 3 to 5K run, that, that's a good measure of the aerobic system. Just as simple as a bronco probably a better measure of the aerobic system or you're doing like a repeated sprint test. So, you know there are a number of those i'm, not a big fan of testing in general because I just don't think a lot of people like Like that the question earlier, right? He said Lucas, you know, no, no disrespect to Luca at all, but this is like what Bronco time, it doesn't matter what time, you know, there is no time that you can get that's going to say, Oh, that means you're a good player. There's no time that you can get that means that you're necessarily even a bad player. There's just, there's just you. And improvement and you don't need to test to see improvement what you'd like what people like to do a test is To see how they measure up to other people, but that doesn't reflect on how well you play so the best test to play to see how you play rugby is Play a game rugby and see how you play rugby I've done a whole video on this. You can search test Testing or you can even search bronco and you'll find my full explanation and rant on that I think this might be the last question in this one. We might have one more after that if I can find it. Yeah, there's two more. So let's see if we can get to both of them before the hour is up. First one I don't know the name of this person. He just gives a user blah blah TJ, I'm enjoying your videos. Do you think 7 low intensity runs in combination with 3 to 4 strength sessions a week? is overtraining. Is it important to take a full day off once a week, even not doing any low intensity workout? There's no reason that you couldn't do that, providing the intensity of the low sessions. The, you know, the low intensity runs is low enough. I'd still taper the volume on those days before higher intensity workouts. Right? So if you say, if you're doing, if you're doing four strength sessions, I'm assuming you're doing an upper lower split or it doesn't matter if you're doing before a heavy lower body day, I would, I wouldn't, I would even sort of taper the, even if it is a low intensity run, I would taper that like the length of it because you'll still. Even if you run really low intensity and nice and easy for 45 minutes, that still risks carrying a level of unnecessary fatigue into that lower body day, or that, you know, the heavy lower body work. So, I've just been mindful of that. So, you know, you could restrict it to like 20 to 30 minutes, or probably even better than that would just be to move that 20 to 30 minutes to... Another day and add that on to the end. So rather than doing like 20 to 30 minutes on the day or the day before heavy lower body work you and then 60 minutes like the day following, you would just do not no conditioning the day before your heavy lower body work. And then the next day you would do 80 minutes. And that 80 minutes, you're going to get more out of that 20 minutes because when it, when you're doing low intensity work, there's a level of, well, there's a time that it takes you to get to you know, the adequate amount of work to work on your aerobic capacity, right? So if you go out on a run, say the first five to 10 minutes is, is not in zone two, it's not in that aerobic zone where you're developing aerobic system is, is getting your body up to that. To that level, once you're already there, then it's all money in the bank, right? So if you're doing a 16 minute session, you're just adding 20 minutes on the end. As long as you've got the capacity to do that, that's going to potentially give you more reward 20 minutes there than it would do its own 20 minute sessions. Now there are different rationales and reasons for for not doing that, but. That's what I would bear in mind. Just, just understand that there are all options. So if you're doing something just to say that I run every day, like, that's one thing, but if you really want the most productive, there's probably something to be said. You don't even have to take the full day off. You could just do strength work that day, but there would be different ways of managing your fatigue and getting the most out of yourself. Now. If you, like I say, if you want to just say that you train every day or you want to go for a run every day and that's something that's important for you for other reasons, that's fine and it won't necessarily cause you massive negatives. Here we have one is swimming a good conditioning session for rugby? No. I, I don't like swimming for rugby three reasons, right? Number one, it's kind of inconvenient, right? Like, Way less convenient than any other fitness session that you could do. Like, if you go run, what's the barrier to entry? You put a pair of trainers and you go out your front door. If you're, if you're doing some conditioning on a bike at the gym at the end of some weight sessions, like, that's just that time there. If you happen to go swim, you've got to you know, go to the locker room, get your gear on, shower and do all your stuff afterwards as well. Like, it's just, it's just a lot less convenient. Also, whilst you're doing it, it's not as fun, right? You can't, like, if you're doing zone two, or if you're doing, whatever you're doing, you can't quite zone out. It's just not as effective. On top of that particularly if you're someone that is concerned about adding too much body weight, like you want to stay in shape, swimming, unlike any other method of conditioning, because you're being immersed in water, can give you a level of hunger and I've experienced this firsthand and and it's like quite well documented in the science, can give you a level of hunger beyond the calories that you expend doing that swimming session. So, It just spikes up your hunger level to go beyond so that you eat back Not just the calories that you burn but potentially more because you're just that hungry And even if you're monitoring your calorie intake so that you don't do that It just like that extra level of hunger just causes you a bigger level of stress that is not needed You know and if you're still willing to swim in spite of all of that I would just say most people like particularly heavy rugby players It's hard to keep swimming, like, in that right aerobic zone. A lot of people won't have good enough technique to stay there. A lot of people will work just way too hard. And when you're working hard, you want to be... The harder you're working, the more specific you want to be, because you're working the specific muscles and patterns that you're doing in the game. The less hard you're working, right? So when you're doing, like, zone 2 aerobic work, it doesn't really matter what it is, because you're working the heart, not the muscles and the moving patterns themselves. And so swimming doesn't tick any of those boxes for the vast majority of people because you, your technique, you'll find it way too hard to stay in that aerobic zone. And if you're not in that aerobic zone, then you want to be more specific. Can be fun, can be a decent way to recover, but I wouldn't worry about that as far as conditioning goes. Yes, you could potentially do water running. I know people sometimes ask about this. You could, you could definitely do that, and that could definitely be more of a high intensity sprint session or something. Or maybe even like some sort of Zone 2. Maybe to work around injuries, but I wouldn't prioritize, I wouldn't make it a main recommendation for a method of improving your conditioning. Okay, swimming. No, there's just better ways to do it. Last question because we are running out of time. Hamish, thanks again. Just found the channel coaching kids rugby in Portugal. Cool, man. Excited to see Portugal in the World Cup. I was in Portugal last year doing some coaching myself. I'm interested in fitness for under 14s, under 16s, particularly in the off season. Body weight strength, some level of strength work. The priority for kids is technique over anything, right? That's, they're at the prime age to build some level of muscle, to build some level of strength. You could do that with the most basic bodyweight stuff. There's no harm in adding some weight, so like, real basic squat pattern, pull pattern push pattern, upper body pull, upper body push, hinge. just real basic stuff. And you don't have to do anything other than the basic stuff because they'll just continually improve with that. I'd say and just really hone in, not add weight until their technique is pristine and just keep going from there. I wouldn't worry. Yeah, strength. So he said fitness and strength, because I was going to say I wouldn't worry too much about developing like their fitness outside of just. Getting some low level of aerobic work a couple times a week at most if that's what they want to do. If they're really interested in that stuff, that would, that would be a huge benefit to them. But I wouldn't grind them into the ground. I would just make it fun for kids. So just get them out playing as much as they can and they should, they should develop. On top of that with their strength. And then that's it. Low level conditioning if, if they are really unfit. Some, you know, low intensity runs a couple times a week would be great for them as well. And that would be all the benefit they'd ever need. That would be all the work they'd need until, yeah, 16 ish. And they'd be great. But the main thing is that they keep it fun and they enjoy it. Alright, that was fun. That was a good podcast. We, we went over the 45 minute mark. 46 minutes. Cool. Thank you guys so much for watching. If you, watching or listening if you're listening on the podcast, of course if you are interested in Revolutionizing your conditioning for rugby and finally actually being fucking ready to play rugby this season then You want to get in? on game ready fitness fast track, the brand new rugby conditioning program, which you'll find at rugby muscle. com forward slash fitness. This is a four or eight week program, depending on when your season starts that gradually builds in to build you to become the fittest version of you ever. And the fittest player on the pitch. Every session is laid out for you between two to four sessions. Most sessions last in the front 20 minutes to 40 minutes at the most. Some of which go a little bit longer, some of which are intense, but it is a specific energy system conditioning program for rugby. Go check that out. rugby muscle. com forward slash fitness. If you're interested in team rugby muscle, or elite one on one coaching or consulting, just rugby muscle. com for all of that stuff. If you've made it to the end of the podcast, give it a five star rating if you haven't done so already. Hit thumbs up, hit subscribe. All that good stuff. Pre season's right around the corner. So is the Rugby World Cup. It's exciting times to be a rugby player and a rugby fan. And I'm excited to be there with you along the way. Thank you guys so much for watching. See you in the next one.