I play for a club team in Massachusetts. I play 8 but also prop and flank when needed. I've played for 4 years.

I play hooker.

My maintstay of weightlifting exercises are...

Powerclean and press
Deadlift
Bench press
Squat
Seated overhead press

I also do

Dips
Close grip pulldown
Leg press
Hamstring curl
Biceps curl
Spider curl
DB shoulder press
Incline bench press

I find that the powerclean and press is a very good dynamic exercise and is one that really gets me working - it seems to work almost everything.

Powerclean and press...

Load plates onto bar
Shoulder width, stand in deadlift position
Go from deadlift, through hang-clean to front-squat with the bar
With minimal dip, press the bar overhead
Lower the bar

I am a Prop
Played a handful of games at hooker (which I enjoy, easiest position in the scrum )
And one on the wing (at 17 I toured with the university and they thought I was too young to play in the front row in seniors. Second game I was back up front where I belong!)

Played since I was 13, now 32.
I played Junior rep footy for the ACT (Brumbies) but didn't really get too far with seniors (I concentrated on my degree and then rugby)

Played 199 senior club games - injured my knee in the 199th which resulted in surgery 1/7/2011.

Getting much fitter and hope to be on deck for the start of the season late march/early april.

I don't do any specific rugby training at the moment, I train to be healthy - I am well past the age where I should think about changing my body for the game.

In Division 1 MARFU during college (a long time ago now), I played hooker, then migrated to flanker. When I played in SuperLeague for a NY team (C-side), I played hooker, and when I really started getting heavy, I played a bit of prop (open/tight).

I gave up the game when my son was born almost four years ago now mostly due to time committements, but I am starting to think that maybe I can make it work.

In any case, when I was in my "prime," I balanced long runs and hill work with 30-45 mins sessions of a mix-up routine (3-5 mins each then cycling thru until the alloted time was done):

*Push ups (mixing ways of doing them)
*mountain climbers
*squat jumps
*sti ups (mixing ways of doing them)
* duck walks (squat like a duck w/ feet flat and go back and forth between 2 cones)

I'm a wing. I play for women's team in MA. My recent weight gain has slowed me down ;(

I'm a Loosehead Prop in an amateur Rugby Union team in Wales.

Workout wise, I train with the team once/twice a week, usually functional training involving skills and CV.
I cycle to work a few times a week to keep my legs in good condition.
In the off season I do lots of circuit training. I find the game is far more physical and more of a running game than when I played as a boy.

ouch on the neck injury, been there done that n funnily enough a car crash fixed it lol unfortunately it messed my lower back up alot. So am now training for flank (blindside, i was a quick prop but am a tad slow at flank).
Hope your neck is ok now
I don't really do rugby related excercise outside training, its more fun based; running, walking, hula hooping, unicycling (brill for core workout) on top of the large amount of gardening i do.
Am really missing playing prop thou

I played flanker for 6 years and then I was switched into hooker two years ago. For lower body I love my deadlifts, squats, lunges and calf raises. For upper body I like pullups (assisted for now), triceps dips, rows, lateral raises and bicep curls. I also try to do a yoga class once a week for my flexibility, especially in my hip flexors and hamstrings.

Hey guys! I'm glad I found this group.

I'm a hooker. My team is in the MARFU Div. III.

I definitely work on my shoulders, back and squats. Especially going against some huge props in scrums, my shoulders/back feel like crap the next day.

I used to play lock, abut that was before I figured out training was important...

Now I referee and have a training programme focusing on different sprinting training (anaerobic capacity, and anaerobic tolerance) and different kinds strength training. I'm trying to do more of it, I now know training is important but lack motivation and energy...

Been playing for 10 years now started in college in Virginia and moved to Richmond and started right back into it.

Being an American I have to support the Eagles . . . 2x Olympic Gold Metal winners and reigning Olympic XVs Champions . . . . that being said rugby was only in the Olympics 2 times in the 1920s . . . . but WE WON! HAHA!

Over my 10 year rugby career I have played every position . . when I entered college I was more fit and was a back and then once I realized that I could drink beer and eat pizza EVERY NIGHT in college, I started to move my way up to the FRONT ROW!

I would love to speed up and slim down and get in the loose three!

Trying to get through the SPARTACUS Workout

Yup, it's 7s. I want to be in Rio, refereeing it. Dream Big, right?

Awesome. Ive just joined this site and pleased to find such a group.

Im a League player (5 years) and Union player (11 years) in the UK and Played in Australia too.

Am a qualified rugby coach/sport scientist...so anyone with questions id love to help. Equally, I love to learn from others too, so always looking for new knowledge about the game and training/fitness methods and tactics.

Im very surprised but happy to see so many girls in this group playing rugby. Im all for it (did my thesis on socio-psychology of female rugby players and their self identity - that was not the title though).

I, personally, like to keep my workouts very simple. Rep scheme, 3-4 sets 10,8,6,4 - getting heavier each time. I always have a spotter and use forced reps.

Bench press then press ups to max, squat (varies of back/front/overhead), Pull ups, shoulder press (or upright rows) , then a finisher...either such as power cleans, dead lifts, or mini circuit such as, BB jammer press, curls, hang cleans, hanging leg raises (4-5 rounds of 6-10 reps depending on heaviness).

Later in the month (just got back into it after lay off) ill add complex training where you do a similar plyometric exercise after the weight exercise. e.g. weighted squats followed by body weight squat jumps. This is excellent for maximal strength and power improvement above weights on its own or plyometrics on its own.

Good luck everyone if your season is just starting! Enjoy the game, have fun, esp the socials and feel free to ask me any questions if you want.

What do you all do weightlifting/strength training wise when you are in-season? I transitioned into lifting heavier (less reps), compound lifts, power moves but I get sore from them and don't want to be sore in-season.

Primary: TH/LH Secondary: 8/Lock (goal is to try to play every position once! But only abt 5min max in the backline)

I do A LOT of squats!!! 100-200 per day depending on weight lifting routine
Endurance running
Sprints
Interval training ( ex: run 3min jog 2min, stoping every 5 minutes to do a specific exercise [burpees, push ups, down ups, squats, and so on])
Stregnth training and body weight workouts
Also I try to keep a clean DIET, because NUTRITION IS KEY!