Week 1

I already posted a blog detailing the first two days of the internship/first two days of pre-season so I will jump ahead and fill in the remainder of the week.

WEDNESDAY 25/6

Most of the days start pretty much the same way with a Therapy session. In these the players work with coaches and physio's to help improve any weaknesses they may have, or to help eradicate any tight/sore spots. They use a mix of resistance bands, and different SMR tools like lacrosse balls and foam rollers. The coaches sometimes use trigger point therapy also on particular players to work on areas that need a bit more work.
An indoor rugby skills sessions followed this which involved a lot of simple movement and handling drills using footballs and rugby balls.
Breakfast followed this session and there was a brilliant selection of food. I had two beef steaks, an omelette and some chicken salad. Hardly a bad way to start the day.
Things then started to get a little hectic as the players had 3 sessions back to back. First up was Speed out on the sprint track. Only short distance as they're working mostly on acceleration rather than top velocity or speed maintenance at the moment.
This was followed by weights which again was full body. A mixture of movement to target general weak areas and positive movement patters.
Finally there was some off-feet conditioning to finish off. This consisted of a cross-trainer session put together by the S&C team. It was interval based and definitely worked the players hard.
The day was finished off by another meal and individual recovery methods.

THURSDAY 26/06

Prior to Therapy, there was an S&C Presentation to start off the day today. This was mostly covering the wellness and RPE based things that the players are being asked to carry out to help monitor total work output.
Therapy followed this. I won't keep on about therapy - it's pretty much the same every time apart from players picking up tighter areas as a result of training the day before.
Food followed this.
Next up was a running session - this was similar to Tuesday's session in that it was Tempo based but there was a slight increase in total distances covered for the majority of players.
During the running session - I got the chance to do a one-on-one off feet conditioning session with Harlequins legend, and England and British & Irish Lions winger, Ugo Monye. This was pretty awesome to be fair. I know it's just part of the job, but it was my first real "starstruck" kind of moment in that I was personally working with such a big name. I love this internship!!!! So Ugo did an off-feet conditioning session which was interval based. It looked like hard work because he looked as if he'd been in the shower by the time he finished. Fair to say these guys put the work in.
After running they had skills again, today outside. Again just things to gradually increase the amount of rugby they do.
Yoga followed this. Today group 1 did Power Yoga, and group 2 did Hot Yoga. I definitely want to give Hot Yoga a go next week as the boys seem to really enjoy it. It's similar to Bikram but in 40 degree heat. Looks intense but I want to give it a go.
More food to finish off the day and the off to bed.

FRIDAY 27/06

Therapy - enough said.
Indoor skills. The coaches have been mixing these sessions up to keep the players' minds fresh. Today they basically played big games of basketball which was cool. They players enjoy it as just doing rugby all the time get tedious for them so it keeps them interested whilst working on handling and co-ordination skills.
Speed followed up at 10:00. Today this was done outside on the pitch so times were slightly slower but some of the guys still hit some impressive times. Particularly Ollie Lindsay-Hague and Charlie Walker. Very quick. Jack Clifford also hit a good time for a back row.
Weights was up next. Again this was a total body session and was high tempo with low rest so the guys got a good sweat on.
To finish off the day today the players had a conditioning challenge.
Hopefully you read my blog "First Day - 20.06.2014" where I explained about the prowler session I took part in with the S&C Team - well the players did this today. But as some people have picked up niggles the groups were down on numbers so they required members of staff to join in. I got roped into doing it by Gaz (who was also doing it along with Batch, Slim and Roberts - one of the physio's). I was not particularly happy but Henry can't do it because he has a bad shoulder, and Richie has buggered off to Glastonbury (in his first week at the internship he did two days - he's got a lot of making up to do!).
Now I have had a lot of respect for professional sportsmen in the past, but my God I am now really able to comprehend how physically fit these players really are.
It was an 80kg sled (60 for those under 90kg bodyweight) and again it was 8 lengths per player in 4 man teams. There was the option to use a "joker card" for someone to replace someone for one rep (for instance of someone was dying then someone fresher could do a rep for them).
I was in a team with Jack Clifford (back row, captained England U20s to World Cup Victory last year), Paul Doran-Jones (prop, multiple caps for England) and Stan South (second row, Academy boy).
I genuinely almost died. I finished my 7th rep and my legs wobbled under me and I just collapsed. It was embarrassing and I feel a bit shit that I died in front of the squad. Stan South pulled the Hero card and used a joker to take my final rep and smashed it! The team finished with the best time of the day at 9 minutes 11 seconds.
It took me a long old time to recover from that. I felt like dog shit for a long time.
So like I said, I now understand just how incredibly well conditioned these guys are. They found something easy that literally almost killed me. Time for me to practice what I preach. This prowler is going to become my friend and enemy over the next few months as I'm going to use it to do my conditioning after weights.

So there you go, week 1 complete.
Next week we get a few more players back (those involved with England Saxons at the end of the season) and the week looks pretty similar to what was carried out this week.
I will most likely cut down the blogs to weekly as otherwise it will be a whole load of repetition.

Hope you enjoy reading the blogs, I just want to show a bit of insight into how things run as part of an S&C Team.

Til next time.