There has been quite some reaction on perceptions that the Springboks are not fit enough (see Graeme Henry’s remarks on this issue). Some bloggers have made remarks like “they are professional athletes. How can they not be fit enough?” This is essentially what inspired this post because fitness can mean a number of things depending on how you define fitness and there is quite a difference between being fit and being sharp. 

To be sharp means that you can perform game skills with precision at extremely high intensities; at fast pace; for prolonged periods of time. This requires integration of skills-practice with fitness training. This is essentially where I think the problem lies with the Springbok team. Plumtree -the sharks coach- has complained that the Springboks come back to the sharks not sharp and fit enough. 

After what I’ve seen on the weekend I have my doubts about the fitness trainer(s) in the bok camp. 

Senior players can have quite a negative impact on fitness training sessions as these type of sessions I am talking about are intense and normally something that the older players tend to try and avoid. 

One of the black caps (NZ cricket team) pervious fitness trainers have told me how he struggled with senior players like Stephan Flemming during his tenure as fitness trainer because Flemming just didn’t want to do high intensity training sessions and essentially changed training schedules to suite his preferences. I think the same think is happening in the springbok camp with Matfield and Smit calling the shots in terms of fitness sessions. I can just imagine how hard it would be for a new fitness trainer to introduce something new/different –which is essence painful- to players who have won a worldcup and who have played 90 tests. I don’t think PdV has the stature, authority and knowledge base to enforce certain training habits. He is clearly relying too much on senior players to enforce S14 game plans. 

So what is this integrated high intensity training that I am talking about? A blog is obviously not a text book so I’ll keep it brief sticking mostly to the most essential aspects of it and hopefully this will help supporters to understand what Henry implies when he says the Springboks are not fit enough. 

The classic periodization model 

I wrote about peaking in one of my previous blogs (see here). To peak you follow a persiodization plan which is essentially a structured plan which aim to first develop solid base line fitness and then to sharpen-up for competition. 

By definition: ‘A logical phasic method of manipulating training variables in order to increase the potential for achieving specific performance goals’. 

By definition periodized training programs are non-linear. A linear training program would be constant and volume and intensity would not change (example 3 sets of 10 reps at 75% of the 1 repition maximum in a gym doing mostly the same exercise) 

The classical persiodization model used by athletes consists of base training, followed by strength training, followed by speed work and then by tapering. 

Figure 1: the classic or standardized periodization model. 

Notice how you start with high volume but low intensity and not a lot of focus on technique. During the early stages the coaches will work on certain things and the fitness trainer will have the players afterwards for fitness training. Scrums, lineouts, rucks, kicking and so forth are not really integrated with fitness although not totally separated from it. Players will do lots of scrums and lineouts and will spend time in the gym doing weights and on the field running and passing; just running; hitting heavy bags to improve base line fitness. The focus is on volume, lots of repetition but not neglecting technique; mostly trying to enhance sport specific base line fitness with lots of repetition at reasonable pace. 

When you enter the competitive season you would cut down on volume but increase focus on intensity and skill training. So less volume but at higher intensity and more integrated with technique or skill training. As the season progresses the volume drops considerably over time and the trainning sessions become shorter but pitch at extremely high intensity with lots of focus on technique (more about this later). 

Phase 1 – base training 

So in the beginning the team would do what we would call base training. 

•  Runners use continuous slow (CS) running (close to critical velocity) which if maintained long enough (1 hour + or until exhaustion) will drive VO₂ to VO_2max.
• Continuous slow running would enable the athlete to run for a longer time at VO_2max provided they maintain a speed close to critical velocity during training.
• This is the corner stone of the Arthur Lydiard system.
• Also used by the Kenyans

What does this mean in terms of team sports like rugby? Essentially with professional athletes they should have a solid strength and skill foundation which means that when the springbok coach starts to work with them he starts in the middle of the graph in figure 1 namely with an equal amount of work on skill and volume and reasonable intensity. Base training should actually be completed by the time the Springbok side assembles base training is done in the pre-season and at the home provinces/S14 franchises. 

What New Zealand did this year was they started with block work (see my previous post on this here) doing high volume work on technique at late stage 1 intensity and once they perfected the technique they moved over to phase 2 or interval training doing the same stuff but now at higher intensity. 

During the base line phase players or athletes will do interval training once a week. An interval session is where you alternate faster and slower runs on a continuous or repetitive basis in order to train/learn the body to work at higher intensities. The interval sessions will consist of 3 minutes runs at intensity 80-85% of heart rate max and the athlete will do 5 to 10 of these runs imterpurred with recovery runs of more or less the same lenght. The recovery runs will be of the same length but at intensity equal to 65-75% of the maximum heart rate. 

Here is a short summary of the intervals used during this stage of the training program: 

• Duration of runs is 1-4 minutes- close to max speed interval runs.
• Train close or above Lactate threshold levels; the purpose to improve lactate removal or buffer capacity.
• 1:1 or 1:2 work:rest ratio @ 80 to 85% of heart rate max or 85-102%+ of speed at VO_2max .
•  Lactate keeps increasing as the session progress until it reaches max levels.
• Glycogen depletion mostly in fast twitch fibres’.Anaerobic energy production.
• Used mostly during the endurance and strength phases of training.
• Active recovery is used at 50-80% of work speeds. 

Phase 2 – Interval training 

The following graph illustrates how the training progress from longer intervals to shorter intervals during the phase 2 training stage. 

Figure 2: Phase 2 training. 

A sort of 3 day rotation is now used namely 1 day for each of the training zones. In day 2, the athlete spends the majority of the time in Zone 2. The goal is to keep the heart rate up, but not to overload the athlete. In terms of rugby this could mean that the players do rucks, line outs and scrums at a continuous pace for 30 minutes. The emphasis is on continuous work at a reasonable intensity. This is normally done in smaller groups in the form of small sided games pitching 3 players against 3 other players and they will keep rotating through different squares/block in which different skills are practiced example in block A lineout jump, block B lineout mauling and rucking, block C tackling with rucking and leg driving, Block D competing for the ball at the breakdown. 

In day three the same games/skills are practices but now at faster pace with short recovery intervals in between. Notice the 2-3 minute recovery after 3 intervals before another set of 3 intervals are done. As the season progresses the 2-3 minute intervals are taken out. 

The aim here is:

•  To improve endurance capacity (VO_2max)
•  To increase the ability to recover faster following high intensity exercise bout
• Predominantly central adaptations  

Intensity is manipulated with the size of the grids and the number of players in the grid. See Table 1.

Table 1: Manipulating training intensity with numbers and grid sizes when using small sided games. 

The smaller the playing area and the fewer players in the group the higher the intensity. Players need to know what the aim of the session is and they need to get constant feedback regarding their heart rates. They will wear heart rate monitors and trainers will be able to provide feedback. There is high emphasis on technique and precision of execution during these sessions. 

Phase 3 training – Sprint training 

This training is done during the competitive phase. The sessions are shorter but pitch at extremely fast pace/intensity namely repeated short sprints lasting 30-60 seconds each. The aim is to try and increase the overall time of the training session; spend more time training at max level. Top class athletes can keep going for 3 to 4 minutes using 30 sec exertion followed by 30 seconds recovery.  

Characteristics of sprint training are:

• Short duration (10-30 seconds) max speed interval runs that “prevent” or delay glycogen depletion and lactate production.
• 1:1 or 2:1 work:rest ratio @ 112%+ of V_max maintained for up to 1 hour.
• Lactate levels stay low;
• Glycogen depletion same in all muscle type fibres’;
• High fat burning
• Allows athlete to sustain VO_2max for up to 83% of total run time. 

In team sports you will use small sides games but in small areas with only 2 to 4 players in a group. They will work extremely hard against each other for 10 to 30 seconds have a rest of the same length and then repeat the activity. At the same time there is an emphasis on skill namely hand, arm and leg positions, body height during contact, explosiveness on impact, leg drive and so forth. 

Players will have two of these sessions in the week before the the test. It is short but intense and keeps the neuromuscular system primed and getting the players ready to work with precision at high intensity. 

My feeling is that this type of training are not done by the Springboks and this is why we run out of puff and lose our precision in the last 10 minutes of the game. 

Our players might be strong but they lack game specific sharpness and fast pace fitness. 

There is of course a lot more to it as I don’t have anything on how to periodize and train during a long season or how to integrate gym work with sport specific fitness training. Hopefully this will provide some understanding why the Springboks might be “fit” and strong but not game specifically fit and strong.

In summary 

Peter de Villiers was quoted as follows regarding the fitness concerns: “It is true that our guys were tired towards the end of the All Black game,” he said. “But that was from them having to make a lot more tackles in a very high intensity game. Stats that we have from our GPS system show that this was our highest intensity game to date. The pace was the fastest we’ve had and the intensity of the collisions was the highest too,” he said.

So what am I saying. I am saying that with the new rule interpretations the game has sped-up. South Africa has always played a very structured game. High intensity training integrated with skills have never really been part of our training regimes. 

If you have relatively average skills (as copmpared to the All Blacks and Wallaby’s) at the breakdowns and poor lactate buffer capacities your precision at the breakdowns and your ability to keep your focus will deteriorate to very low levels once the legs turn rubbery and the feet start flopping from the high lactate levels in your system. We need to adjust our training methods to include high intensity rugby specific training sessions.