NEW: 24 Hour Fitness are offering all High School Athletes FREE access to their gyms between 2:30pm and 4:30pm - 7 days a week!
While training typically consists of two sessions a week within a team structure for developing ball skills, learning positional play and the rules of the game, it is very important to do your own fitness work at least 3 other days of the week.
The modern game of rugby union is one of the most demanding sports around in terms of the physical fitness levels needed to play at the highest levels. The game requires high levels of speed, agility, Strength, power and endurance in order to be effective at the top levels. This combination of requirements is rare in the sporting arena, and offers a considerable challenge to those who wish to play the game to the best of their ability. DO YOU?
A good rugby player who lacks fitness will not be able to perform to the best of their abilities nor will they maximize their enjoyment of the game.
So the key is:
GET OUT THERE AND GET FIT.
The five aspects to fitness in rugby:
Speed
Agility
Strength
Power
Endurance
In an average 80 minute game, you will run roughly 3 miles!. Much of this is at a high intensity. Use this to gauge how much you need to work on your fitness. Remember your enjoyment of the game increases exponentially when you are fit enough to last the full 80 minutes in a game.
For great information on fitness for rugby, and lots of specific drills to help improve whatever aspect of fitness you need to work on, check out:
Obviously to develop the five fitness aspects stated above, a combination of endurance training, speed and agility training and weight training is necessary. Be clever with your training - you don't have to get to the gym 3 times a week - push-ups, sit-ups and running can be done anywhere and provided you practice them consistently you will get results.