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Imagine being able to transplant your old boy rugby brain into a younger, fitter body; while you might never recapture your physical glory years, you should be able to wind the clock back enough to give those youngsters a run for their money!
Donât delay, start implementing this information today. The sooner you start trying to turn back the clock, the sooner youâll be able to show those younger players that there is life in the old dog yet! Coming soon to a rugby app near you.Â
There is no getting away from the fact that rugby is a tough sport. Playing and training for rugby takes a lot out of your body. Most ruggers are aware of this and are more than happy to put up with the aches, pains, cuts, and bruises that are an inescapable part of the game we love. Almost everyone who puts on a rugby jersey will, at some point in their career, end up injured.
Of course, we hope your rugby injuries will be rare and minor but, being a rugger, youâll probably rest just long enough to heal, and then youâll be back on the pitch, putting your body on the line for your team.
Rugby is hard on everybodyâs body, but, with age, injuries often take longer to heal, and their effects tend to be cumulative. That is to say that all those knocks start to add up. Itâs usually easy to spot an old boy (or girl) rugby player in a crowd; theyâll be the one limping!
So, does being an old boy mean you should hang up your rugby boots for good just because youâve got a few old aches and pains? Not necessarily. For starters, veteran ruggers bring a lot of experience to their teams. Theyâve been in the trenches for so long that skills that are new to younger players are hardwired into their nervous systems. Older players are a valuable wealth of rugby information. Yes, you could turn to coaching, but if you can still lead by example, why not do so?
In addition, there is a lot you can do to prolong your rugby playing career. You donât have to let old father time put you on the sidelines just yet. Yes, you WILL need to modify your training, and may even have to change the way you play, but rugby is a game of brain as much as brawn, and a smarter approach to training and playing could keep you on the field for many more years.
Imagine being able to transplant your old boy rugby brain into a younger, fitter body; while you might never recapture your physical glory years, you should be able to wind the clock back enough to give those youngsters a run for their money!
Of course, if you have suffered serious injuries in the past, you may need to do the smart thing and make the switch to touch rugby or take up coaching. As fulfilling as rugby is, no one should purposely risk their long-term health for sport. If playing rugby could cause you lasting harm, it really is time to retire. But, if you are beaten up but otherwise healthy, putting the information in this e-book could add years to your rugby career.
Donât delay, start implementing this information today! The sooner you start trying to turn back the clock, the sooner youâll be able to show those younger players that there is life in the old dog yet!
Rugby is a sport built around running. From jogging back to a scrum to sprinting to score a try, rugby players can clock up as much as 10k/6 miles of running per game. Because of this, most ruggers do a lot of running as part of their training. Unfortunately, and especially for old boy ruggers, running can be very damaging.
When you run, your feet hit the ground with about eight-times the force of your bodyâs weight. Thatâs a lot of force. But, if you are a built like an outhouse rugger who tips the scales at 100kg/225 lbs., thatâs enough force to cause serious pain.
There are precautions you can take to make running easier on your aging body. Good ways to make running less painful include:
If you can run without pain, there is no need to stop. However, consider implementing these tips to make sure you arenât doing yourself irreparable harm.
If even a short run leaves your feet, ankles, knees, hips, or back feeling like they are made of hot, ground glass, itâs time to drop running and use some alternative forms of training. The good news is that you can maintain and even improve both your aerobic and anaerobic fitness without running a single step.
Of course, youâll still need to run during rugby practices and games â thatâs unavoidable. But, if you cut running from your general fitness training, this should not present too much of a problem. So, what should you do instead of running? Letâs break down some of the tried-and-tested aerobic and anaerobic running alternatives.
Ruggers make good rowers. Some of the best indoor and water rowers started out as ruggers, and a lot of top-flight ruggers do a lot of rowing for fitness. This makes perfect sense because rowing offers a lot of benefits for ruggers.
Those benefits include:
Here are a few rugby-focused rowing workouts to try:
While you can use gym cardio machines like exercise bikes, cross trainers, steppers, and ellipticals for cardio, they are not as rugby-specific as rowing. If your gym or rugby club doesnât have a rower, petition them to buy one or buy one yourself and install it in your basement or garage. Itâs a good investment in your future rugby playing career.
Like rowing, swimming is a non-impact, full-body cardio workout that is tailor-made for ruggers. The water supports your body weight, and the low temperature can help ease your aches and pains by lowering inflammation. As an added benefit, swimming is also great for upper body flexibility and mobility â something that most aging ruggers need more of.
Of course, to get a good workout from swimming, you need to be a good swimmer. If you arenât a proficient swimmer, do yourself a favor and get some lessons. After a couple of months, you should be able to swim well enough to do a lot if not all of your cardio training in the swimming pool.
You donât have to limit yourself to swimming laps while staring at the bottom of the pool either; swimming is great for interval training, and you can also jump out at the end of the pool and do bodyweight exercise to create a water-based circuit workout. Things like pull-buoy floats, fins, and hand paddles can also add an extra dimension to your swimming workouts.
Still not sold on swimming? No worries! How about deep water running? There are two interpretations of deep water running. In one form, you wear a bouncy aid, paddle out into deep water, and then pump your arms and legs without touching the bottom with your feet. Your head should stay above the water throughout, and you can do aerobic and anaerobic workouts in this fashion.
Alternatively, stand in waist to chest-deep water and walk/run against the resistance offered by the wet stuff. The water will support a lot of your weight, but youâll still be touching the bottom. Both are great options for aging ruggers for whom ârealâ running causes more trouble than itâs worth.
Rucking in rugby is not the same as rucking for fitness. Fitness rucking involves strapping on a rucksack and going for a hike, ideally over rough, hilly terrain. Rucking with an appropriately laden backpack will elevate your heart and breathing rate as much as running, but with much less strain on your joints. If your training schedule called for a four-mile run, two miles of rucking will take roughly the same amount of time, producing similar results, but should be easier to tolerate.
How much weight should you load into your pack? Start off with about 10-15% of your body weight and increase up to around 20-30% when you feel ready. Like any new training method, donât do too much too soon. Gradual increases are the key to long-term progression and pain-free workouts.
If you prefer, you can use a weighted vest instead of a rucksack. Be warned though, most weighted vests only go about 20kg/45 lbs. and you may soon outgrow that weight. They also make you look like you are wearing body armor…!
Whether youâre training for greater anaerobic or aerobic fitness or want to increase your speed, intervals and sprinting should be part of your rugby training. Interval training does not need to involve running, and you can simply transpose your chosen work to rest ratios onto your preferred cardio alternative.
For example, if your regular running-based interval training session calls for 30 seconds of intense work followed by 90 seconds of active recovery, you can replicate that workout using a rower, elliptical, or exercise bike and get the exact same fitness-boosting benefits. You could even hit a tire with a sledgehammer or punch a heavy bag â anything that increases your heart and breathing rate will get the job done.
Sprinting is a little harder to avoid. Sprinting is an integral part of rugby, and while you donât need to sprint for fitness, you do need to sprint for speed and power. The good news is that, when it comes to sprinting, quality is more important than quantity and you can get great results with less stress from something called sprint interval training or SIT.
With SIT, you sprint as usual but then take 2-4 minutes between efforts, so you recover fully and limit yourself to 4-6 sprints per workout. Providing you work at 100% intensity, this will trigger fitness improvements that are comparable to more labor-intensive interval training workouts and will also increase aerobic fitness, speed, and power. Needless to say, shorter workouts that involve fewer repetitions put less stress on your body than longer, more repetitive workouts.
Rugby is undeniably a sport that involves a lot of running, but that doesnât mean you have to run to be rugby fit. Cardio training in the form of rowing, swimming and rucking will transfer nicely to your rugby fitness and performance, while putting less strain on your already-battered body. Running in rugby is unavoidable, but that doesnât mean you need to do lots of running during training.
Strength and power are cornerstones of rugby fitness. These muscular fitness components are crucial for successful rugby and are what separate ruggers from soccer players! While players who are naturally strong and powerful are drawn to playing rugby, these aspects of muscular fitness need to be nurtured and trained.
Unfortunately, because these are high load and high-intensity activities, training for strength and power can be a problem for older ruggers.
Aging joints, scar tissue leftover from old injuries, and rugby and age-related posture problems, combined with a depleted recovery ability, can mean that gym workouts leave a lot of older ruggers with even more aches and pains. Ruggers are, by their nature, highly competitive, and that really comes out in the gym. Older ruggers will often try and match younger ruggers (and the younger version of themselves too) workout for workout, and rep per rep.
Unfortunately, this is a battle that even the savviest older rugger will lose. Not because of any lack of commitment but simply because time takes its toll on even the most robust, strongest bodies.
Strength and power training do not need to stop just because you are no longer in your 20s or 30s. In fact, itâs actually more important as you age. While you might not increase your strength and power by much at all at this stage of your training career, you should be able to maintain and then slow its decline.
The good news is that, because of the muscle memory phenomenon, you donât need to eat, sleep, and breathe strength and power training to maintain your performance. In fact, trying to do too much will probably have the opposite effect.
Instead of marathon-length gym workouts, you need to focus on workout quality and not quantity or duration. Get in, train smart, get out, and rest. Do that, and youâll find that gym workouts put more energy into your body than they take out.
Here are 15 rules for making strength training more productive for old boys:
1. Avoid strength training two days in a row â older bodies need more recovery than younger bodies. Take this into account when choosing or designing your strength and power workouts. A day on, day off schedule is best for older ruggers, and you may only need two gym sessions per week, e.g., Monday and Thursday.
2. Forget your 1RM; itâs no longer relevant â most ruggers have a good idea of their one-repetition maximum for lifts like squats, bench presses, and power cleans. While these numbers might give you pub bragging rights, they are no longer relevant when you start getting a bit longer on the tooth.
Donât try to beat your 1RM. And donât use them to choose your training weights, i.e., 70% of 1RM. Try to forget all about repetition maxes but, if you canât, establish things like your 5RM, 8RM, or 10RM â all of which will be less stressful than going for a 1RM.
3. Slow-tempo training is a joint saver â heavy weights are only one way to overload your muscles. While effective, heavy loads can take a toll on your already hard-worked joints. Instead of overloading your joints with more weight, try training with a slower tempo. Slower tempo training makes even light weights feel heavy, but is much easier on your hips, back, elbows, shoulders, and knees.
4. Ramp up to warm-up â warming up is even more important for older ruggers. One of the best ways to warm-up for strength and power training is ramping. With ramping, you do several sets using a gradually progressive weight to prepare your muscles and joints for your work sets.
For example, if your workout calls for three sets of eight with 80kg, your ramped warm-up sets would look like this:
20 reps 20kg/45 lbs. (empty barbell)
8 reps 35kg/77 1â2 lbs.
8 reps 50kg/110 lbs.
8 reps 70kg/155 lbs.
8 reps 80kg/175 lbs. (first work set)
These ramped sets provide you some useful training volume plus they allow you to judge how you feel and how recovered you are. If the ramped sets feel hard, you may want to adjust your work sets for the day.
5. Limit yourself to 2-3 work sets per exercise â you donât need to five sets of an exercise for it to be beneficial. In fact, doing set after set will just take a toll on your joints and delay recovery. Your energy is a valuable commodity, so spend it wisely. If you feel like you need to do more than three sets of any exercise, you are either not working hard enough or are resting too long between sets.
Apply this same rule to the number of exercises in your workout and per muscle group. You donât need to do more than 2-3 exercises per muscle group and, in many cases, 1-2 is all you need. Remember, quality is better than quantity.
6. Weak links first â a lot of gym and rugby-related injuries are caused by muscular weak links. Core, hamstrings, and rotator cuffs are the most usual suspects. Donât relegate these crucial areas to the end of your workout, where you may forget them or just run out of time and energy to do them. Instead, do them first. If you turn your weak links into strong links, your chances of getting injured will be much lower.
7. 60 minutes or less per session â you can train hard, or you can train long, but you canât do both. If your workout takes more than 60 minutes, you must be wasting either a lot of time or energy. If you cut out the unnecessary sets and exercises, you should have no problem, keeping your workout to an hour or less. Less training means more recovery.
8. Pick your new big three â for many ruggers, squats, bench presses, and deadlifts are workout mainstays. Unfortunately, all three are also hard on your joints, mainly because they allow you to lift a lot of weight.
You donât need to quit these exercises, but it may be worth picking a new big three that are less damaging. How about Bulgarian split squats, single-arm floor presses, and hip thrusts? These exercises work the same muscles as the original big three but are much less stressful.
9. Donât forget to de-load â while younger players can train hard for months without end, older players cannot. Give your body a break by enjoying a de-load every 4-6 weeks. Donât skip training entirely during this time. Instead, just do a week of easier workouts. Donât worry about losing performance; youâll actually come back stronger.
10. Try accommodating resistance â using bands and chains take stress off your joints where there are most susceptible to injury, i.e., the bottom of each repetition. In contrast, they increase the load where your joints are stronger and usually more comfortable, i.e., at the end of the rep. You can use bands and chains with most barbell exercises, but they are especially useful for squats, deadlifts, and bench press.
11. Make the switch to single-limb exercises â bilateral (two limbed) exercises allow you to lift a lot of weight, and therein lies the problem. If your joints are showing signs of wear and tear, weight is not your friend. Unilateral (single limb) exercises naturally limit the amount of weight you can safely lift. They are also useful for balance, your core, and coordination. Try and replace at least a few of your regular exercises with their unilateral equivalents. Your joints will thank you.
12. Adjust your range of motion to reflect your flexibility and injuries â weâll cover flexibility shortly but, even if you work on this critical fitness component, age and scar tissue plus joint calcification may mean that some exercises are painful when you do them with the accepted range of motion, e.g., lowering the bar to your chest during bench presses, squatting to parallel, or deadlifting from the floor.
Avoid making existing problems worse by reducing your range of motion to reflect your flexibility. For example, floor presses and board presses mean you donât have to lower the bar to your chest in bench presses and deadlifting from blocks will save your lower back and hamstrings from the stress and strain of lifting from the floor.
Some lifters may view these adaptations as cheating, but given a choice between a shorter range of motion and not training because of injury, smart ruggers will adopt the former to avoid the latter.
13. Use isometrics â if your joints are really banged up, isometrics can help maintain strength and muscle mass while putting minimal stress on your joints. With isometrics, you lift and then hold a weight at a predetermined joint angle for time rather than raising and lowering it for reps. For example, with leg extensions, straighten your legs and then hold that position until you are no longer able to continue. Thatâs one set; rest a moment and then repeat.
The main disadvantage of isometrics is that they only increase your strength at 15 degrees on either side of the position you hold. This is easily remedied by adjusting your joint angle set by set.
14. Embrace training variety â doing the same exercises over and over is a good way to hasten joint pain. Doing the same movements increases joint wear and tear. Avoid this problem by using a variety of exercises that share similar movement patterns. Rotate your choice of exercise weekly, e.g.:
Week 1 â barbell back squats
Week 2 â goblet squats
Week 3 â Zercher squats
Week 4 â front squats
Week 5 â barbell back squats etc.
This will avoid movement pattern overload; the exercises are similar enough to maintain progress from one week to the next but also dissimilar enough to give your joints a break.
15. Use the instinctive training principle to guide your workouts â donât be a slave to your workout. As an older rugger, there will be days where you feel fit and full of energy, and other days when you could be an extra on the Walking Dead TV show. Donât ignore these fluctuations in energy and force yourself to complete a hard workout when you are having an off day.
Listen to your body and adapt your workouts according to how you feel. If you arenât feeling your best, reduce the duration or intensity of your workout and leave some gas in the tank for another time. Itâs better to withdraw and come back when you are feeling good than punishing yourself with a hard workout that leaves you down.
A lot of the info above cannot be applied to power and plyometric training. After all, how can you do an isometric power clean or a slow tempo vertical jump?! However, power training and plyometrics still need modification to ensure that they produce favorable results and minimal injuries. Apply the following guidelines to your power and plyometric workouts and also use any of the strength training guidelines that you deem appropriate.
1. Reduce impact wherever possible â most plyometric exercises involve a lot of impact. After all, plyos are jumping exercises, and what goes up must come back down again! Avoid impact whenever you can by jumping onto something and then stepping down instead of jumping over it or jumping down too. For example, replace squat jumps and hops with box jumps and hops. You can apply this same methodology to plyo push-ups.
2. Try deep water plyos â doing plyos in water might sound crazy, but it can be a real joint saver. It wonât take anything away from the amount of force you need to produce, but it will eliminate all of the landing impact. Squat jumps in chest-high water are an awesome high-intensity but reduced impact power exercise.
3. Low reps sets are best â we tried to steer you away from 1RMs for strength, but single, double, and triple-rep sets are best for older rugger power training. Low rep sets mean you can focus on quality, and your set will end long before you start to accumulate fatigue and joint stress. For example, instead of doing three sets of 8 box jumps, try doing 8 sets of three reps.
4. Replace the Olympic lifts with compensatory acceleration training â the Oly lifts are great for power, but not so good for your joints, even if you use the simplified versions of these exercises. Replace things like cleans and snatches with compensatory acceleration training, CAT for short. With CAT, you select a regular barbell/dumbbell exercise and then turn it into a power exercise.
Simply lower the weight as usual but then, at the bottom of each rep, try to turn the downward movement into an upward movement as quickly as you can. Accelerate the weight away from you as hard and as fast as you can and then repeat. As with all power exercises, focus on quality â 2-3 sets of 3-6 reps should be sufficient.
5. Understand that strength increases power â if, despite these interventions, you still find power exercises leave you feeling battered and sore, just drop them from your schedule. Remember, strength training also has a significant effect on muscular power. If you can lift heavy weights slowly, by definition, youâll be able to lift lighter weights faster. You might lose a little power by not doing power-specific training in your workouts, but thatâs a small price to pay if it means you can keep on playing.
If you want to stay strong for rugby, you need to pay your dues in the gym. However, like rugby, strength and power training can also take a lot out of your body. That doesnât mean you should skip these crucial forms of training, but you should be prepared to modify them to reflect your senior status. Itâs not enough to train hard, you also need to train smart if you want to prolong your rugby playing career.
As an older rugger, your body probably has a lot of miles on the odometer. Training for and playing rugby have taken their toll. The aging process is hard enough, but you have chosen to at least partially accelerate that process by exposing your muscles and joints to stresses that can leave you feeling old before your time. Youâve probably had a lot of fun doing it too!
If you want to keep playing, you need to start paying more attention to the holy trinity of injury prevention â recovery, flexibility, and mobility.
To keep your car, truck, or motorbike on the road, you need to service it regularly. This preventative maintenance will stop a lot of mechanical problems before they start. Breakdowns will still happen, but at least youâve taken some reasonable precautions.
Paying more attention to recovery, flexibility, and mobility is the equivalent of servicing your motor vehicle. It should prevent a lot of the problems that could otherwise cut your rugby career short. Your rugby body is like a high-mileage car, and you can keep it running if you look after it properly.
The older you get, the more playing and training for rugby will take out of you. Youâll need more time between training sessions and games to restore your energy levels and get over the small but unavoidable injuries that go hand in hand with rugby. Younger players recover faster and can often go from a hard match to an equally hard training session with no ill-effects. Older ruggers are not so lucky and need to pay more attention to the recovery process.
Here are seven strategies for faster, more complete recovery:
Whether you just finished a game or a training session, the recovery process should start with a cool down. Spend a few minutes doing some light cardio, such as walking or jogging, and then stretch all of the muscles youâve just been using as well as any others that feel tight. Flexibility is covered in the next section.
To recover properly after exercise, your body needs nutrients. It needs carbohydrates to restock your depleted glycogen stores and amino acids to repair muscle damage. If you donât supply it with these nutrients, your recovery will be slow at best, and non-existent at worse. To facilitate rapid recovery, your body is especially receptive to nutrients in the hours after exercise. Like a dried-out sponge, it will soak up almost anything you eat so that restocking and repair can happen as fast as possible.
This âwindow of opportunityâ is greatest immediately after exercise and starts to narrow over the next few hours.
To make the most of this you should:
This makes the most of the increased insulin sensitivity caused by training.
Contrast temperature therapy consists of alternating hot and cold treatments using different temperature showers, baths, or even the use of a sauna and cold plunge pool. Where cold causes vasoconstriction (the reduction in circumference of blood vessels), heat causes vasodilation, which is the opposite.
This combination of events creates a sort of pumping effect which helps eliminate waste products while increasing blood circulation at a cellular level, speeding up the recovery process.
To use contrast therapy yourself, alternate hot and cold baths or showers for one minute at a time. This is ideally done immediately after you have completed your cool down. Repeat three to five times and then shower/bathe as normal. While you might not have control over the exact temperature, just switching between very hot and very cold shower settings will still be beneficial.
To speed up recovery locally, such as in a particular area where muscle soreness is more severe, use a cold pack and a heat pack and place them alternately on the muscle(s) most affected. Make sure, however, to put a cloth between the packs and your skin to avoid burns and make sure the packs are neither too hot nor too cold.
Cryotherapy describes a range of treatments designed to lower tissue temperature. Cold and ice have been utilized for a very long time to reduce swelling, inflammation, and pain and to hasten recovery from exertion and injury.
Cold causes vasoconstriction, which is the narrowing of blood vessels. This decreases blood and oxygen flow to the muscles and drives out blood and metabolic waste products â specifically lactic acid. When you remove the source of cold, the blood vessels open up again, which results in a flood of freshly oxygenated blood into the area, enhancing recovery. This influx of blood helps to flush away more lactic acid.
Ice also acts as a natural pain killer. This may be useful after a really tough workout. Nerves carry information from your skin and muscles to your brain. That information can be pain, temperature, texture, or even the position of your limbs. Nerves aren’t great at carrying multiple types of information at the same item so, if you expose them to cold, the pain messages are blocked. This is called the pain gate theory.
As well as increasing circulation and reducing inflammation and pain, studies have revealed that cryotherapy could lower post-exercise cortisol levels, a catabolic hormone produced during times of stress. Conversely, anabolic hormone levels, specifically testosterone and DHEA, increase. Decreased cortisol and elevated testosterone and DHEA is the perfect environment for faster recovery.
Cryotherapy is, however, far from relaxing or enjoyable and is something most people who use it dread! There are several different protocols available to use. Options are:
Compression clothing is popular in the fitness world. Worn for warmth, support, and injury prevention, research suggests that compression clothing may also enhance recovery after exercise.
Wearing compression garments is believed to improve recovery by limiting post-workout inflammation. This is achieved by preventing fluid accumulation in and around muscle tissue so that recovery is less likely to be impeded.
Compression clothing increases tissue temperature, which ease aches and pains and increases mobility and flexibility while reducing the onset of muscle soreness.
Unlike cryotherapy, massage, stretching, and other more active forms of recovery enhancement, compression clothing should be used continuously during the post-workout period. This means youâll need to get used to the idea of wearing compression clothing while you sleep. Other studies suggest that the best results require wearing compression clothing for 72 hours.
For compression clothing to be useful, it needs to be tight enough to do the job but not so tight that it is uncomfortable or cuts off circulation. Youâll also need several sets of clothing, so you can change as necessary.
The main advantage of using compression clothing for recovery is you can wear it as you carry out your regular recovery plan. It will enhance whatever else you choose to do and further speed up the post-workout recovery processes. If you already own compression clothing, this is a straightforward strategy to implement.
Supplements can play a role in enhancing post-exercise recovery. There are many supplements to choose from, but the best items for recovery include:
Whey protein â exercise is a catabolic activity, which means it causes muscle breakdown. Repairing this damage requires protein. Whey protein is rapidly digested, so it gives your muscles what they need as soon as possible. Because it is mixed with water, it is easy to consume immediately after your workout and any other time that solid food may be inconvenient.
Branch chain amino acids â the branch chain amino acids (BCAAs) are leucine, isoleucine, and valine and make up 70% of muscle tissue. These amino acids are heavily catabolized during intense activities like strength training. Consuming BCAAs immediately and during the days after a tough workout will help your muscles recover faster. They may also reduce the severity and duration of delayed onset muscle soreness.
Glutamine â glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body and as such, performs several vital functions including growth, repair, and recovery of muscle mass. Glutamine also plays a vital role in the replenishment of glycogen stores.
Fish Oils â fish oils, from the omega-three fatty acid group, are naturally anti-inflammatory and can help reduce post-workout muscle and joint pain. The regular supplementation of fish oils can also improve heart and brain functionality.
Creatine â creatine is a very popular, well-researched, and cheap supplement that plays a vital role in the production of energy within your muscles. Supplementation with creatine can increase your energy reserves and enhance recovery. Add five grams of creatine to your post-workout carb and protein drink to kick start recovery.
Sleep is arguably the most important thing you need for recovery. Most exercisers need at least seven hours of sleep per night, and older ruggers would do well to shoot for eight hours. Life often makes getting enough sleep hard to achieve. Use these tips to help you get the most from your zzzs.
Set a bedtime and stick to it â itâs probably been many years since you had a bedtime, but if you want to make sure you get enough sleep, itâs time to introduce one again. Having a set bedtime gets your body into the habit of going to sleep at a particular time each and every night.
Work back from the time you have to get up and go to bed at whatever time means you get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep. Factor in a little extra time of you like to read before going to sleep or have any other pre-sleep ritual.
Develop a pre-sleep ritual â in the same way that your warm-up prepares your muscles and joints for a workout, a pre-sleep ritual is designed to get you ready to get a good nightâs sleep. Doing the same thing over and over primes your body for sleep â itâs like a trigger. Create a pre-sleep ritual and then stick to it.
For example:
9pm â turn off the TV, make a warm drink, lock the doors and windows, and head upstairs
9.10pm â have a warm shower, clean your teeth, and dress for bed
9.30pm â set your alarm, dim the lights, turn off your phone, get into bed, and read a book until you start to feel drowsy
9.45pm â turn off the lights and sleep the sleep of the innocent!
Get a comfortable bed and pillows â how much did your car cost? $5,000? $10,000? How much did your bed cost? Probably a lot less! But which do you spend the most time in? The answer is most likely your bed.
A good nightsâ sleep starts with a supremely comfortable bed. Even the slightest discomfort will interfere with a restful night.
Good quality beds and pillows are not cheap, but, in terms of your health, they are vital. If your car cost ten times more than your bed, itâs time to reconsider your financial priorities and buy a bed that enhances rather than disrupts your sleep. If an entirely new bed is out of the question, consider upgrading your pillows, purchasing a new mattress, or at least getting something like a memory foam mattress topper.
Create a sleep sanctuary â your bedroom should be a room set aside expressly for sleep. It should not double as an office or a TV room. If your bedroom contains any form of distraction, invariably your night of restful sleep will be disrupted.
Some sleep experts believe that the low-level radiation and radio signals produced by electrical devices such as mobile phones, TVs, and tablets can interfere with sleep, even if they arenât in use.
Also, who can resist checking their social media or emails right before going to sleep? Those bright screens disrupt something called the circadian rhythm, which is how your body regulates its sleep/wake cycles. Watching TV in bed is also a bad idea; if you find the show you are watching is stimulating in any way, you will perk up at precisely the time you should be relaxing.
To that end, you should make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary. Fit dimmer switches or use bedside lamps to lower the lights, adjust the temperature so that it is conducive to sleep, remove any electronic devices to avoid distraction, and fit blackout curtains to prevent light pollution.
Consume slow-acting carbs and protein before bed â contrary to popular belief, eating before bed wonât make you fat. Providing you are within your calorie allowance for the day, it really doesnât matter that much when you eat.
Eating 30 minutes or so before bed can help you sleep more soundly. Not only will you avoid any midnight hunger pangs that might have otherwise woken you up, but your blood glucose levels will also be more stable too. Stable blood glucose levels help to keep your brain happy, and a happy brain is more likely to sleep well.
Eating certain foods also increases serotonin and tryptophan, which are substances closely linked to relaxation and sleep.
Good foods include:
To fuel muscle recovery and improve sleep, consume a slow-acting source of carbohydrate, some protein, and a little natural fat.
Avoid caffeine and alcohol â caffeine is a powerful stimulant. If you drink a lot of coffee, tea, or cola, you might have become somewhat accustomed to its stimulating effect and be tempted to drink caffeinated beverages too close to bedtime.
However, just because caffeine no longer gives you the jitters does not mean it wonât interfere with a good nightâs sleep. If nothing else, its diuretic effect could mean you end up having to go to the bathroom several times when you should be sleeping.
Also, consider the caffeine content in any fat burners or pre-workout supplements you are taking; avoid using them too close to bedtime. Seek out stimulant-free products if you are concerned about the effect of caffeine on your sleep.
Stop drinking caffeinated beverages around 3-4 hours before bedtime and, also, donât use alcohol as a sleep aid. Alcohol can put you to sleep, but it disrupts the normal flow of your sleep cycles. You might sleep the whole night though but could still wake up feeling tired, not to mention dehydrated.
Flexibility often declines with age. The is doubly-true for ruggers because an accumulation of scar tissue and old injuries can leave your muscles knotted and resistant to stretching. Unfortunately, lack of flexibility can increase your risk of injury â both chronic and acute â while you may have been able to pay stretching nothing but a little lip-service in your youth, it needs much more attention now you older.
To avoid becoming as stiff as a board, all senior ruggers should commit to stretching regularly. Not just after training, as part of your cool down, but daily. The less stretching you have done in the past, the more stretching you need to do now.
You know if your flexibility is not as good as it should be. If you canât bend down and touch the floor without rounding your back, your hamstrings are tight. Be honest with yourself about your flexibility and start stretching regularly to restore it. In yoga circles they often say that âflexibility is youthâ and if you are a long in the tooth rugger, youâll find that regaining lost flexibility will take years off your body.
The best stretching for fixing poor flexibility is static developmental stretching. Static developmental stretches are held for 30 or more seconds, and the depth of the stretch is increased gradually as your muscles relax. As rugby is a full-body activity, you need to stretch all your major muscles. Prepare your muscles for stretching by performing some light cardio to increase your core temperature and boost blood flow to your muscles.
When you stretch a muscle, you reach the natural end of your muscleâs elasticity â called the point of bind or POB for short. If you stay at the POB for 15 seconds or so, you will feel your muscles relax slightly, and you should then be able to move into a deeper stretch. This happens more readily if you a) relax mentally as well as physically and b) do not hold your breath.
Continue extending the POB until you reach your real end of range. Once you are there, hold for a further 15 to 30 seconds to maximize your flexibility training. To recap:
To save you inventing your own stretching plan, hereâs one for you to follow.
Mobility and flexibility are often confused but, where they do overlap, they are also different. Where flexibility pertains to muscles, mobility pertains to joints. While flexibility can affect mobility, mobility is mainly the result of joint health and integrity.
A joint is a union of two bones. The end of each bone is covered in a smooth, tough substance called hyaline or articular cartilage. The joint capsule is lubricated and nourished with synovial fluid. A long rugby career can leave your hyaline cartilage roughened and damaged, and age can lead to a decrease in synovial fluid production.
Synovial fluid is produced on demand. Thatâs why, after a warm-up, your joints usually move more freely and with less pain. However, if you want to keep your joints working and feeling good all the time, you need to maximize synovial fluid production not only during workouts but between workouts too.
Mobility exercises are simple movements that take your joints through a gradually increasing range of motion to increase synovial fluid production. Doing mobility exercises daily will ensure your joints get more of the lubricating, nourishing synovial fluid they need.
The good news is that these exercises are easy and donât require special equipment. You can (and should) do them at home every day to keep your joints in tip-top condition.
Work through this list of movements but omit any that are excessively difficult or cause you pain.
Sit with one leg extended in front of you, so your foot is clear of the ground. Make big circles with your foot in both directions and then perform the same exercise with your opposite ankle.
With your legs bent and feet flat on the floor, extend and bend one leg to mobilize your knee joint. Repeat the exercise for the same number of repetitions on the opposite leg.
Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart and your hands by your sides. Push your hips back and descend into a quarter-depth squat.
Imagine you are standing sideways on to a knee-high barrier. Step sideways and over the imaginary barrier and then step back over again. Pick your knees up and over the barrier but try not to lean forwards from your waist.
Stand side-on by a wall and rest your hand on it for balance. Swing your inside leg forward and backward. Keep the leg loose and gradually increase the height of the swing as you feel able. On completion, change legs and repeat. Once you feel proficient, perform this exercise without the additional support of a wall.
Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart. Lift your chest, push your hips back and squat down until your hips are just below the level of your knees. Stay in this crouched position for three to five seconds and then stand up. Make sure you push your knees outwards using the muscles on the outside of your thighs to give yourself room to squat deeply. Try not to let your lower back become rounded.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hands by your sides. Bend laterally and slide your hand down the outside of your thigh as far as comfortable. Return to the center and then bend to the other side. Keep your shoulders squared â no twisting at the waist.
In a standing position, keeping your arms relaxed, rotate your upper body while keeping your arms loose. Your arms should gently swing around and touch your back. Swing in the opposite direction and then continue swinging for the desired number of repetitions. This is a variation of a tai chi exercise which is said to stimulate your internal organs.
With your hands by your sides and arms straight, shrug your shoulders and pull them up as high towards your ears as you can. Do not drop your head forwards to lessen the distance! Lower your shoulders and then repeat. If you want to, feel free to roll your shoulders forward and backward too.
Lower your head, tuck your chin into your chest and then look up towards the ceiling. Do not force this movement as the neck is a complex and relatively fragile structure. On completion, turn your head from left to right and try to look back over your shoulders.
Stand with your arms raised and hands at ear-level with your palms forwards. Raise your arms towards the ceiling and lower them back down. Keep your shoulders pulled back and chest up. Next, raise your arms to shoulder level, so your hands are turned palms-down. Reach forward as though you are performing a press-up and then pull back. Alternate overhead push / pulls with horizontal push / pulls for the desired # of reps.
Interlace your fingers and raise your arms to shoulder-level. Raise one elbow and make a wave down your arm that passes through your wrists and down to your opposite arm. Send the wave straight back and repeat. Donât be surprised if the wave travels more easily in one direction than the other. This becomes easier with practice!
So, how many repetitions of each exercise should you perform? The answer to that question is: it depends. Do as many as you need to do for your joints to feel well lubricated and loose. Some of the exercises are slightly more strenuous than others, so donât feel you have to do the same number of each movement.
Russian texts on joint mobility (the incidence of osteoarthritis in Russia was much lower than in the âdecadent Westâ) suggest you build up to performing one repetition per year of age so a 45-year-old rugger would complete 45 reps of each movement.
In many ways, this makes perfect sense â the older your joints, the more they will benefit from mobility exercises. Strive to increase the number of repetitions you perform but only as your body comfortably allows. As with all forms of exercise, patience is a virtue, and you should make haste slowly.
Recovery, flexibility, and mobility might seem like âsoftâ topics, especially if your previous training was all about working hard. But, as an old boy, they are the cornerstones of your ongoing playing career. If you want to continue playing, you must learn to put back into your body what rugby takes out.
As an old boy, cookie-cutter training programs are not ideal. Age, and playing, injury, and training history will all affect which modifications you need to make to your workouts. For example, if your knees are shot, you may want to make changes to your cardio and lower body workouts but can still train your upper body like a young buck.
Because, of this, weâve produced two example programs you can use for inspiration in your own program design. Of course, you are free to follow these workouts as they are presented but donât feel you have to. Use them as a framework and then make modifications based on your specific old boy knees.
In addition, make sure you use the adaptations outlined elsewhere in this guide to modify your workouts according to your needs. For example, if full squats aggravate your knees, you can do box squats, slow-tempo squats, or paused squats to crank up the intensity without punishing your joints.
Here are two programs â one for pre-season, and one for post-season.
Cardio is important for your general health and fitness. Youâll be doing plenty of running and sprinting in your team practice so for this workout you should avoid impact and give your joints a break. This workout should predominately be aerobic in nature because the remaining workouts of the week are anaerobic. Rotate exercise modalities and training methods to avoid pattern overload. For example:
After years of gym training, most older ruggers are about as strong as they need to be, and also as strong as theyâre going to get. There is no real need to spend hour after hour in the gym pumping iron. Instead, strength training should focus on maintaining muscle mass without overloading your joints or over-stretching your ability to recover. Two modified whole-body gym workouts per week should be sufficient.
This means each workout should focus on compound exercises and workout quality â just a few main exercises and work sets should suffice.
As with the cardio program, key exercises and intensity levels should be rotated to avoid pattern overload and unnecessary joint wear and tear. For example:
This workout is freeform and should include whatever you feel you need to work on to keep your old-boy rugger body on the field. At the least, you should do a few minutes of light cardio followed by stretching and mobility exercises. Set aside 30 minutes for this session but donât feel you need to do a whole lot more. The idea is to enhance recovery, and not tire yourself out.
Good options include:
For more rest and recovery day ideas, check out these programs:
Cardio is important for your general health and fitness. Youâll be doing plenty of running and sprinting in your team practice so for this workout you should avoid impact and give your joints a break. This workout should predominately be aerobic in nature because the remaining workouts of the week are anaerobic. Rotate exercise modalities and training methods to avoid pattern overload. For example:
After years of gym training, most older ruggers are about as strong as they need to be, and also as strong as theyâre going to get. There is no real need to spend hour after hour in the gym pumping iron. Instead, strength training should focus on maintaining muscle mass without overloading your joints or over-stretching your ability to recover. Two modified whole-body gym workouts per week should be sufficient.
This means each workout should focus on compound exercises and workout quality â just a few main exercises and work sets should suffice.
As with the cardio program, key exercises and intensity levels should be rotated to avoid pattern overload and unnecessary joint wear and tear. For example:
This workout is freeform and should include whatever you feel you need to work on to keep your old-boy rugger body on the field.
Good options include:
As an older rugger, youâve earned the right to use the instinctive training principle and adjust your workouts according to how you feel on the day. If you are feeling less-than-stellar, dial back on your training intensity and volume. There is no need to be a slave to your program.
However, it is not a good idea to embrace the instinctive training principle to such a degree that you donât know what workout you are going to do on any given day. You still need to adhere to the other principles of training to ensure your workouts are productive, i.e. progression, recovery, and specificity.
Avoid wasting your valuable time and energy on unproductive workouts. Use the old boy training modifications outlined in the previous chapters and these examples to plan your workouts in advance.
Weâve covered a lot of ground in this manual, discussing cardio training, strength and power training, and recovery, flexibility, and mobility too. But there are still plenty of additional things you can do that will help prolong your rugby training career.
This chapter contains a host of tried-and-tested information that may keep you in the game longer. They arenât in any particular order so jump in, wade through, and apply whatever tips and hacks apply best to you.
Calcified, stiff joints often lack synovial fluid, the stuff that keeps them mobile and moving smoothly. Neoprene knee and elbow sleeves will keep your joints warm, increasing synovial fluid in the process. In addition, they increase kinesthetic awareness and provide a small but welcome degree of support. Make neoprene knee and elbow sleeves part of your workout wardrobe.
Collagen helps maintain the integrity of your cartilage, which is the rubber-like tissue that forms and protects your joints. As the amount of collagen in your body decreases as you get older, your risk of developing degenerative joint disorders such as osteoarthritis increases. Taking collagen supplements has been shown to reduce inflammation and stimulate collagen synthesis in the body. This may help promote pain relief for hard- charging senior ruggers. Take between 8-12 grams daily.
Not a supplement fan? Donât worry â you can get collagen from bone broth. You can buy readymade bone broth, but itâs so easy to make you might as well do it yourself.
Simply take a kilo/two pounds of any type of raw bones and put them in a slow cooker. Add four tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to speed up mineral extraction and 5-10 grams of gelatin powder.
Cover the bones with water and then cook on low for 24-36 hours. Keep the liquid and discard the softened bones or give them to your dog. Portion out and freeze the liquid. Use as stock in cooking.
Aches and pains are inevitable, but you should avoid treating them with high and prolonged doses of anti-inflammatory medicines such as ibuprofen. Instead, treat inflammation naturally with fish oil and turmeric or, more specifically, curcumin, which is the active ingredient in this golden spice.
MSM, glucosamine, and chondroitin make for a fine joint care cocktail. Available individually and together, these supplements are said to promote cartilage health and regeneration. Stack with fish oil and turmeric for best results.
Muscle mass and strength tends to decline with age, and in men, thatâs due mainly to a decline in testosterone production. If you want to stay strong and avoid muscle loss, you need to hit the gym regularly. Increasing your testosterone levels naturally will also help. Safe, proven testosterone boosters include:
Getting more sleep is one of the most anabolic things you can do for your body. When you sleep, your body goes into repair and recovery mode, increasing your production of human growth hormone and testosterone in the process.
The older you get, the more sleep you need to recover from playing and training for rugby. Make sure you strive for 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Not just at weekends but during the week too.
Canât sleep? Consider using melatonin for a few weeks to reset your circadian rhythm and reestablish regular sleep habits.
The expression âthe mind is willing, but the body is weakâ seems to have been tailor-made for older ruggers. You might still be able to play hard and train harder, but you WILL need longer to recover after matches and workouts. The sooner you accept this, the happier and healthier youâll be. If you are fit, healthy, and train sensibly, your performance should not decline too much as you age. But it will take longer to recover from games, training, illness, and injury.
Make sure you take this fact into consideration when planning your workouts and your playing schedule. For example, donât plan a big training session for the day after a game. You might have been able to do that in years past, but for older ruggers, thatâs a recipe for pain.
As another saying goes, you canât burn a candle from both ends, so if you push your body hard, you need to recover harder. Make sure you review the previous chapter for recovery-boosting strategies.
As a younger player, you probably did fine on a diet of beer and pizza. That is one of the joys of youth! Unfortunately, youthful energy and indestructibility donât last forever. As you age, your body will start to break down more quickly, and your energy levels will drop if you donât provide your body with the proper fuel.
Older ruggers need to pay attention not just to training and recovery, but to their diet too. You donât need to give up the food you love, but you do need to make sure that you cover all your nutritional bases by eating plenty of natural foods, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fat. Also, make sure you are consuming adequate protein, which is vital for proper muscle growth and repair. Shoot for around one gram per pound or two grams per kilo of lean bodyweight.
Donât turn eating healthily into a religion but do make sure that, 80% of the time, the food you eat provides you with more than just a source of energy â think about nutrient density too.
We all have types of training or exercises we donât like, and that we are probably bad at. In many cases, weâre bad at stuff that we donât like because we donât do it. Unfortunately, the things we are bad at are usually the things we need more of.
Hate stretching? Thatâs probably because you are as stiff as a board, and therefore you need to stretch. Hate cardio? Itâs probably because you are woefully unfit and need to do more of it.
Think about the exercises and types of training you like the least and commit to doing them more often. Turn your weak links into strong links. Start your workout with whatever you need to work on and consider ending your workout with that same thing â a strategy called bookending. Alternatively, try âgreasing the grooveâ where you work on whatever you want to improve little and often. For example, spend a minute or two stretching one muscle group several times each day.
Your core is the center of your physical strength and power. It really doesnât matter how strong your arms and legs are, how flexible you are, or fit or fast you are, if your core is weak, you are an injury waiting to happen. Not only that, you wonât be able to perform at your best.
Old-school ruggers often boast about how in âtheir dayâ all they did for their abs was weighted sit-ups and hanging leg raises. Maybe thatâs why so many of them end up retiring early? A strong core will protect your back from injury and also ensure you can efficiently transfer force from your legs to your arms and vice versa.
Bracing exercises are generally best, as they replicate the demands your core is exposed to during rugby. Suitcase deadlifts, single-arm farmerâs and waiterâs walks, planks, hill climbers, and Pallof presses are all excellent core exercise choices that are also easy on your spine.
Unless you are a professional rugger, you probably play this crazy sport of ours because you enjoy it and itâs fun. It provides you with a competitive outlet, has given you a great social life, gave you a reason to get and stay fit, and may have even provided you with opportunities to travel.
What a great sport!
But, if you are an aging rugger, there may come a day when the fun stops and the aches and pains outweigh the thrill of playing or training for what is arguably one of the toughest sports around.
Donât flog the proverbial dead horse by continuing to play rugby if you no longer enjoy it. Instead, get out while the getting is good. Itâs better to leave on a high than on a low. You donât have to quit the sport; with all your playing experience, youâll probably be a welcome addition to the coaching staff, or you could become a referee.
You donât have to take the aging process laying down, and there is no need to give in gracefully! However, if you want to keep playing rugby long after when most athletes have packed up and gone home, youâll need to make some adjustments to your workouts and even your lifestyle. But, in return, youâll be one of many âgray headsâ that still enjoy playing rugby and help keep those lippy youngsters on their toes!
Rugby is often viewed as a young playersâ sport, but that doesnât have to be the case. While there is no way to stop the aging process, there is a lot you can do to slow it down so that you can continue playing rugby into your late 30s, 40s, and even your 50s. You might even play into your 90s, like Roy Easton, currently the worldâs oldest rugby player.
The good news is that you wonât have to train more than you have in your youthful past. In fact, youâll probably need to train less, and the training you do will need to be smarter and not harder. You will, however, have to make a new commitment to things like recovery, sleep, flexibility, and mobility.
You may also have to give up some of your favorite exercises in the gym and change your workouts too, but thatâs the price you have to pay if you want to continue being a terror on the rugby pitch. Donât let past workout performances affect your training mindset and program design â look at the big picture and think of the future.
There will come a point where rugby is no longer the sport for you â at least at the level you are currently playing it. However, that doesnât mean you have to give up rugby. Touch rugby is increasing popular and walking rugby is a good option for senior players. You could always try your hand at coaching or refereeing.
Your rugby prime might be fast approaching, or even behind you, but you donât have to go down quietly! If you want to keep playing, make sure you adapt your workouts to respect your advancing age, and you could extend your playing career by a few years!
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