Is it just me or are sit ups a waste of time?
Every rugby player wants to be a little bit fitter, and in many cases a lttle bit trimmer. Most people at amateur level don’t have that much time to dedicate to endless hours in the gym, so it’s always good to know that what you are doing will make a difference.
I was given a book for Christmas that dispels a lot of the myths around fitness training, and is worth a read to make sure you aren’t wasting your time. I’ve included a couple of extracts below, and you can buy the whole thing for about a fiver at Amazon.
Why is it that I have been running 3 miles, 3 times a week, but my fitness and weight have stayed exactly the same?
Jogging is arguably the cheapest and most effective form of exercise there is and thousands of people have their usual 3- or 4-mile circuit that they run religiously every week – rain or shine. When in the early stages of a running regime, the improvements are initially encouraging with new runners who stick to their 3 miles, 3 times a week regime experiencing a dramatic improvement in fitness levels and weight loss. Accompanied by a firmer bum and fewer flabby bits, the incentive to carry on is obvious. However, after a few months despondency can set in when the improvements seem to slow down. All of a sudden, weight loss stops and fitness levels tend to plateau despite the fact that the regime has remained unchanged.
This is exactly where the problem lies – an exercise regime has to change if you want your fitness levels to keep improving and your wobbly bits to continue to disappear. The body adapts to anything you throw at it, and once it becomes accustomed to certain intensity and regularity of exercise improvements tend to plateau. Imagine a morbidly obese woman of 30 stone, who is incapacitated and whose only form of exercise is to press the button on the TV remote and walk to the bathroom, bedroom and kitchen. This is what her body has adapted to and it has been doing this for years.
So what if, hypothetically, her diet remained the same but you increased this level of exercise by getting her to raise her arms above her head 100 times a day? All of a sudden the body is doing more exercise than it has in years, so it must adapt and burn energy to perform this level of exercise, resulting in fat loss. However, eventually the rate of fat loss will plateau as the body adapts to the action of raising the arms 100 times a day. So, to encourage more fat loss we ask our fat friend to raise her arms above her head 200 times a day, and so on.
Although this example is taking things to an extreme level, the principle is the same for casual joggers. If you want to keep on improving your rate of fitness and fat loss, you have to continue to up the intensity to avoid a plateau, a process generally referred to as ‘overload’. You can increase the intensity by either running faster, further, up a hill or more regularly – the choice is yours.
If I want to build muscle, is it important to eat protein immediately after a workout?
A recent study of the more ‘mature’ adult demonstrated that those who ate a protein-rich meal immediately after training built more muscle mass than those who didn’t. Although a number of other studies have been carried out and demonstrate that protein consumed immediately after a workout may well be beneficial, research also suggests that if you want muscles then you have to be serious about protein all the time. Not just after, but also before training and during rest periods.
Having used gyms for years, I have witnessed many young lads produce bucket-sized cartons of protein shakes and polish off the contents before they’ve even showered in the belief that they have to quickly feed their fatigued muscles enough protein to feed the five thousand. Muscle growth is a gradual and on-going process, so although it is scientifically proven that eating protein straight after a workout is beneficial, it’s equally important that you eat protein regularly throughout the day to provide the body with sufficient materials to build more muscle.
As far as protein being the most important nutrient to eat after a workout goes, there is a general consensus that this is not actually the case. As much as Dr Atkins might have hated the word, carbohydrate is the essential nutrient needed to refuel the muscles after training so that you have enough energy for your next session. The insulin-producing effects of carbs are also hugely beneficial to bodybuilders: insulin is an extremely potent anabolic hormone, believed by some to be even more potent than testosterone.
Nutrition for Rugby
As the festive season gets into full swing, it’s easy to over-indulge on mulled wine, mince pies, turkey and chocolate, but it’s vital to stay in shape for those big matches in the second half of the season.
Rugby fitness expert, Sam Tomkins, provides an overview of rugby-specific nutrition and a guide to ensuring your body gets everything it needs to succeed.
Everyone knows that good nutrition plays a vital role in all sports – none more so than the physical demands of rugby – but exactly what constitutes ‘good nutrition’ is a very vague and misunderstood subject.
Many myths include: Eat as much protein as possible to help build muscle! Stay away from fats! No Carbs after 8pm!
Exactly what you should be eating will depend on your metabolic type and what stage of the season you are in, and what you are doing on that particular day (gym, training, match, rest etc) but here is a rough guide.
As a simple rule our diets will consist of macronutrients (carbohydrate, protein and fat), and to a lesser yet still important degree, micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and trace elements).
As rugby players our bodies are under a tremendous amount of stress, with a huge demand on our energy system due to the nature of the sport. If our bodies don’t receive what is required energy-wise, then performance and training will suffer.
One of the many questions asked is, “What should I be eating prior to a game, or prior to training?” but just as important is what to eat throughout the day and immediately after training or a match. I’ll be drawing up some meal plans in the next couple of weeks which should help to solve these questions, but an understanding of the Glycaemic Index will give you a useful guideline to follow.
Click to enlarge, then zoom in
The Glycaemic Index compares the blood glucose response to certain foods and then ranks them against reference foods. The higher the GI rating of a food, the quicker glucose is released into our body and so the quicker it is available as an energy source.
Low GI foods provide a steady trickle of energy into your system and can sustain performance for longer, and this is what we should be trying to stick to as rugby players. Swapping high GI foods for low ones will keep your energy levels up and help to minimise fat gain. Try to make up meals using foods from the first two tables only.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates (CHO) will form the majority of your diet, as this is our body’s main source of energy. The best way of determining the different CHO content of foods is by using the Glycaemic Index (Have in a pop-up maybe).
Pre-activity - Eat between 500-600g of CHO daily > 4 hours before exercise.
During activity - CHO and electrolyte drinks help to delay the onset of fatigue, but you must ensure plenty of water is absorbed as dehydration can have a significant adverse effect on performance or training.
Post-activity – Eat 1g of CHO per kilogram of body mass every hour for up to 8 hours.
The generally agreed intake of CHO is between 60-70% of the total energy intake or 6-10g/kg of body mass per day.
Proteins
Proteins supply amino acids, which are the building blocks for all protein synthesised in the body, and for bodybuilders, it is essential. So is it important for rugby players?
Yes, protein is vital for everybody whether they be sports people or not. But especially for people who are looking to build strength and using weights. The reason for this is that protein aids in the process of rebuilding muscle once it has been broken down by weight training and has been shown to speed up recovery allowing you to visit the gym on a more regular basis.
However, there is a ceiling effect when it comes to protein intake and it is not a case of ‘more is best’. This is because there is only so much protein that your body can break down and utilise. The excess can be stored as fatty deposits and lead to an increase in body fat.
Complete proteins contain the eight essential amino acids in the right proportions, and are found in red meat, chicken, fish, dairy products and eggs. The problem is that some foods that are high in protein are also high in saturated fat (not good!) – for example lean beefsteak has approximately 22.4g of protein per 100g and 28.8g of fat.
With the exception of skinless turkey and chicken, the only unprocessed animal foods that provide a good proportion of protein without large amounts of accompanying fats are egg whites, shellfish and fish.
As rugby players we should be looking at a requirement of 2.0-2.5g/kg of protein per day - around 20-25% of our total energy intake.
Fats
Fats are just as important as the first two macronutrients, as our body needs essential fats, but we have to be very careful when it comes to the type of fat we are ingesting. The fats we should be looking to avoid are the saturated fats and the trans fatty acids. The two essential fats our body can’t produce naturally are linoleic acid (omega 6) and alpha-linoleic acid and these can be found in linseed, rapeseed, flax and olive oil as well as oily fish.
As a general rule of thumb try to avoid foods that have more than 20% of their calories coming from fat and those that do not show the fat content - that normally means it’s high. The daily intake of fat should not exceed 15% of total energy intake.
Keep the low GI foods in mind over the Christmas period and this will help to avoid wasting all that hard work done in pre-season, and allow you to pick up where you left off when the season resumes.
Fitness Training for Rugby
As the new rugby season draws closer, pre-season training steps up a gear and Rugby Fitness expert Sam Tomkins has produced two free guides for readers of The Rugby Blog.
The first is a guide to Interval Training, designed to improve fitness levels specifically for rugby. Sessions have been created to emulate the demands of a rugby match so that you can hit the ground running in September.
The second is a Strength Training program to build muscle and improve stamina, with specific sessions for pre-season and in-season.
Both are in an easy to print format so that you have no excuses for not taking them with you to training. For more information, or for a personalised training program, contact Sam Tomkins of 3 Peaks Fitness.
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