Here We Go Again

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Preseason started again and if I’m honest it is the most excited I have ever been in my career. Much is to do with witnessing the hard work done of the pitch my Director of Rugby Simon Amor-mostly in the way of new signings

When I arrived last season at London Scottish it was very late and there was a lot of work to be done with the players. There was an element of fire fighting and learning about the players and the environment as I went a long. There just wasn’t time to strip the program back and start from fresh I just had to get the players strong and powerful. To be fair to the players they worked very hard but I wasn’t particularly happy with what I was able to give them.

This time around it is very different-I have spent a season with these athletes and over that time I have seen their strengths and weaknesses-whilst observing them work I have been  analyzing and taking in how they move and function in the gym and on the field. At the season  it was time to review and evaluate last seasons work and produce the next stage of London Scottish’s  Strength and Conditioning program. If I’m honest I’d give myself a 6 out of 10 solid job but much to improve on.

SEASON END

The season was long and hard-it was clear the players had given it their all and needed a break-4 week block of complete rest

OFF SEASON

I looked at an NFL type model making sessions available daily but they were voluntary set Corrective Exercise Programs for the players looking at an injury prevention and structural balance strategy.

PRESEASON

The Strength and Conditioning emphasis has been determined by the needs and objectives of the Coaching staff. The clear message was that the squad needed to be fitter for how we are going  to play. So with that clear instruction I have looked at a much more aerobic orientated first phase of training. This has been difficult and taken me out of my comfort zone as traditionally i have used a more power based approach-but having read Bakers paper on the use of Maximum Aerobic Speed to help with developing and improving the VO2 levels of athletes, I am much more comfortable with it – Recent trends in high intensity aerobic training for field sports Dan Baker .Another instruction from the coaching staff was to have a system where they could visually see where each player was at any time without me being there. We came up with a very simple traffic light system using 5 parameters:

• Lactic Tolerance (150M Shuttle Test)
• Aerobic Ability (O’Neill Test-Rower)
• Body Fat (7 Site Skinfolds)
• Strength (100kg Bench Press)
• Power (Counter Movement Jump-CMJ)

Along with these tests we are monitoring weekly load, fatigue (using CMJ) and ratios between front:back squat and external rotation if the shoulder:bench press.

Much thanks to Rob Walsh (Harrow/Middlesex Uni) and Jonathan Griffin (St Mary’s Uni) for sharing ideas over coffee 😉

Keep an eye on the blog – I’ll try to keep you all up to date on the progress of the players and how the new approach and systems are shaping up. Please post any questions/comments you may have.

ELKO

Whats an Easier Job….Preseason or In Season ??

The Preseason is the Strength and Conditioning Coaches busiest time-his bread and butter so to speak – So much planning, testing, retesting and so much to deliver. The Director of Rugby will hand 90% of the sessions to the S&C Coach (at least he should) in order to prepare the players for the tough season ahead and this will last anything from 6-12 weeks-it’s bloody hard work but of course very enjoyable (for the coach!!).

This is a challenge of course but in my opinion the In Season training is an even bigger strain on the S & C Coach. How do you keep getting Fitter, Stronger, Faster????

Honestly….you DON’T because you cant! In our league, The Championship, we have a game every week. Sometimes the games are on a Friday/Saturday-sometimes on a Sunday, so the week make up can mean an 8,7,6 or even 5 day turn around.

So to try and get my athletes any fitter, stronger or faster is pretty much impossible so the key to it is getting the players to recover and maintain what they have achieved in the busy Preseason period.

Its all about getting your players FRESH for the weekly battle.

I’ll Blog about what methods I use to help with recovery and maintain the performance levels of my Athletes as well as how I am preparing London Scottish for the Play Offs in March.

Elko

Equipment To Gain An Edge

Esher Rugby Club’s Head of Strength and Conditioning, Simon Elkinson, is always looking for way to give his athletes an edge in any way he can.

The ViPR is a great modality for Rugby players. It is just so robust, my athletes can throw it around indoors and outdoors. It can be manipulated into functional sporting movements, ideal for warming up my guys. It’s portable and easy to take to games. Below you can see the ViPR in action during a Championship game at Esher Rugby Club, flipping, lifting and pushing can be seen as the players ready themselves for the physical demands of high end Rugby.

See Elko Tonight on Sky Sports

Surrey Storm played Mavericks on Monday night  in Round 3 of the Fiat Netball Superleague. The game will be shown tonight as well as some behind the scenes film of the girls training and team building.

Coverage starts at 5.30pm on Sky Sports!

ViPR Warm Up

Just a quick 3 min video showing one of my athletes using a ViPR to warm up-simple but effective!

JC On Road To Recovery

James Campbell is one of the athletes that I work with at Esher Rugby Club-since the end of last season he had been suffering from chronic back pain. The pain effected him in his personal life but in particular his training and rugby suffered. After finally getting in front of a surgeon, JC went under the knife. On the 12th of November he had a discectomy at Parkside Hospital in Wimbledon.

Since the surgery JC has been a different man, the effects were immediate-in fact apart from the scar on his back, JC was completely pain free. Since receiving an amber light to start back on the rehab I have been working with him 3-4 times a week, the aim being getting him back to playing for the play offs (12th March).

The early part of JC’s workout consisted of alot of floor work making sure his spine was strong and mobile and then getting him on his feet to facilitate his postural muscles to fire and support him in functional movement. The next phase has seen JC weight lifting again in the gym-high reps with low load ensuring good strong posture and correct patterns of movement.

In the last week JC’s surgeon has also given him the green light to start contact-this has to be a carefull process with constant monitoring of his reaction to each stimulis to ensure we dont over do it. It’s really a case of suck it and see, pushing the barrier daily untill he can go full contact.

In the video below JC uses a ViPR to do some conditioning before doing some controlled contact against stability balls. The idea behind this was to get him to brace for contact and for him to try and remain on the white line as best he could while being ‘bounced’. It must be noted that the athlete under went a thorough warm up before the session and had progressed up from controlled contact using a much more stable  target in previous sessions.

I’ll keep you up to date on JC’s fight to be fit!!!

Enjoy

Tip #002 Training the Youth Athlete

Recently I have been asked to help deliver a Long Term Athletic Program to the kids I coach at a Private Primary School in Weybridge, Surrey. This is a hot topic with Kelvin Giles recently presenting a lecture at the UKSEM on how the physical has gone out of Physical Education. Peter Twist of  Twist Conditioning is another champion of Youth Training and it is clear from both practitioners that the youth athlete of today is playing too many sports and games before being taught the correct movement skills to play them. The Youth Athlete of today is more sedentary than ever before, for example; fewer walk/bike to school, most kids spend 40 hrs sitting a week, Wii’s + Playstations are the choice of play.

Yet these same kids are expected play more sport and games than before. Put simply the kids of today are being set up to fail, by ignoring teaching the basic primal movements, squat, lunge, push, pull, carry,  multidirectional movement, body awareness,  coordination, speed, agility and quickness, we are failing the kids of today. How can we expect them to fulfill their potential and reach the top if this part of physical education is ignored.

Another important fact is that the 3 greatest causes of injury are

• Velocity
• Deceleration
• Direction Change

If you think about it this is exactly what the kids are exposed to every day in games and club lessons without the prior training of movement skills. Not only are they being set up to fail they are being set up to get injured and hurt!

The following are some great guidelines adapted from the Canadian Sport for Life Department:

Canadian Sport for Life

# Fundamentals (age 6-9) focus on physical literacy, gross motor skills

# Learn to Train (age8-12) learn overall sport skills

# Train to Train (age 11-16) consolidate sport skills + tactics with physical abilities

#Train to Compete (age 15-23) sport specialization, increase training intensity

#Train to Win (age 18+) focused, dedicated, competitive

In conclusion kids must learn to have movement literacy through correct teaching and planning rather than just playing games. This will lead to better sports performance and a reduction in the chances of non contact injuries.

Esher Boys Prepare for Camp at Esher Rugby’s Strength and Conditioning Facility

As there was no Gym facilities in Italy I had the squad work to a high intensity the week before we went, the video shows some of my players working hard in the gym!

What’s Your Opinion???

Anaerobic Testing

The 2nd batch of  Fitness testing is taking place at Esher Rugby this week as Esher prepare for life in The Championship. Tuesday night saw the squad complete the 150m shuttle test to measure anaerobic ability and speed endurance.

Head of Strength and Conditioning Simon Elkinson:

”I am extremely happy with the results for the 150 test, the boys pushed themselves and we had the club record smashed twice! Sam Ulph and Rob Kirby hit 780 m but new boy Gerard Mulled pipped them with a massive 785. There were improvements across the board and we very close to where we can play the rugby we want with the tempo we want.”

Tonight sees the squad complete an Aerobic Capacity Test.