Focus was to change perceptions around hypertrophy. There is a big culture of "body building" style training amongst junior players. The perception is that size is what makes you a good player. The lecture explores this notion.

1. STRENGTH & CONDITIONING
IN RUGBY
WPRA LECTURE SERIES

2. WRITTEN AND PRESENTED BY
Gregory Hunt BSc (Hons) Sports Rehabilitation
Founder of Sanari Fitness

3. HYPERTROPHY
DEBUNKED

4. DOES SIZE MATTER ?
HYPERTROPHY DEBUNKED
What does the data say?
Depends on position and level
However, success in rugby and size is not causal many other factors also must be in place for size to count

5. YAMAMOTOYAMA
RYŪTA
HEIGHT: 1.89M
WEIGHT: 265KG
RUGBY PLAYER?
He was ok but not great.
He is massive, so he should play elite rugby, right? Very unlikely, this guys heart would give out after 5 mins - no CV, no agility, likely to have poor skills base etc etc. Size
is negated by other factors.

6. ASASHŌRYŪ AKINORI
HEIGHT: 1.84M
WEIGHT: 154KG
GOAT!!!!!
Interesting to note this guy - only 70 Yokozuna (Grand Champions) ever, he was 68th and first Mongolian.
Although he is not a waif, in a sport that is known for giants, he is on the smaller side. Yet he is extremely successful - hall of famer. He blends power, technique, some
mass (definitely) and strength.

7. power, technique, balance, foot work ??

8. BILL SHOEMAKER
HEIGHT: 1.51M
WEIGHT: 44.5KG
RUGBY PLAYER?
One of the greatest jockeys of all time - Multi millionaire,
Rugby player at international level? Very unlikely. He would have to be unbelievably skilful and extremely rapid to make up for the size deficit. That said in 15 man union
rugby his body is also very unlikely to take the hits for very long before he would likely be injured. He is also going to struggle with defence

9. CONRAD SMITH
HEIGHT: 1.86
WEIGHT: 90-95KG
Yes he is bigger than your average guy on the street but as far as international rugby players go, he is actually slightly below average.
And yet he is one of the greatest of all time

10. CONRAD SMITH
•STARTED PROFESSIONAL
CAREER AT 80-85KG
•94 ALL BLACKS CAPS
•126 HURRICANES CAPS
•SUPER RUGBY PLAYER OF THE
YEAR 2012
•BIG ENGINE! 19.4 ON
YO YO TEST
94 appearances for all blacks
126 appearances for Hurricanes alongside Ma Nonu - equal most capped players
Super Rugby player of the year 2012
Reportedly has achieved 19.4 on Yo-Yo test

11. HE WENT FROM BENCH PRESSING JUST
60KG AT HIS FIRST GYM VISIT TO 90-95KG
NOW, AND HAD INCENTIVE TO CRACK 100
FROM A FORMER HURRICANES TEAM-MATE
ESPN Scrum
HYPERTROPHY DEBUNKED
he was one of the weakest in the gym for his upper body strength. But this is where the gym based strength doesn’t always transfer to the field of play.

12. “IT'S HIS SPEED OF INTELLIGENCE THAT
MAKES HIM SO GOOD…CONRAD GETS TO
PLACES QUICKER THAN OTHERS BECAUSE HE
JUST SEES THE GAME A LOT FASTER THAN
OTHERS”
Tana Umaga
HYPERTROPHY DEBUNKED

13. “HE'S REGARDED AS ONE OF THE BEST
[CENTRES] WE'VE EVER HAD AND I
DON'T THINK YOU'D BE FAR WRONG
WITH THAT VIEW”
Tana Umaga
HYPERTROPHY DEBUNKED

14. "I NEVER USED TO WORRY ABOUT
OFFENSIVE DEFENCE, JUST LOOKED AT A
GUY'S ANKLES AND USED TO JUST DIVE
THERE,"
Conrad Smith
HYPERTROPHY DEBUNKED

15. RICHIE MCCAW
HEIGHT: 1.87
WEIGHT: 107KG
PROBABLY SEEN BUFFER
BLOKES AT THE PUB!
Again 1.87m tall and 107kg he is still on the larger side but not a giant.
Yet he is the most capped All Black.
Notorious at the break down and has both rugby strength and intelligence
Also reported to score 19.2 on Yo-Yo test. Big engine

16. RICHIE MCCAW
BIG ENGINE!
19.2 YO-YO TEST

17. Building the Athlete
Model of physical athletic development (Hunt G.J., 2019)
Human
Athlete
Specify
Genetic, epigenetic & anthropometric constraints
Strength Speed
Balance Stability Mobility
Power
Proprioception & integration of HQ
Skill Acquisition
5 base movement patterns
Physical
performance
C.V.
CV base is king

18. Height = 1
Speed = 1
Strength = 1
Stamina = 1
Intelligence = 1
Height = 1
Speed = 1
Strength = 1
Stamina = 1
Intelligence = 1
All things being the same, weight would certainly be a deciding factor on its own.

19. Opposition weight + force they can produce +
overcoming your own body weight
=
Energy required to stop the opposition
So you have to over come your own body weight against gravity and other external forces and over come the opposition momentum - a product of their mass and
velocity (force).
This does not mean that if you are the smaller player in the contact that you will loose. Tackle technique, your strength and speed all play a factor BUT you do have to
work harder to match the momentum of the opposition which is energy sapping

20. Height = 1.4
Speed = -0.3
Strength = 3
Stamina = 1
Intelligence = 2
Height = 1.8
Speed = 1.2
Strength = -0.2
Stamina = 1
Intelligence = 3.1
REALITY

21. THE STATS
HYPERTROPHY DEBUNKED

22. Applied Physiology and Game Analysis of Rugby Union: Sports Medicine 33(13):973-91 · February 2003
Mass of all players at all levels has been going up.
But so has the mass of humans in general.
Rugby players maintain 20-25% above the general population consistently over the years ??

23. Applied Physiology and Game Analysis of Rugby Union: Sports Medicine 33(13):973-91 · February 2003
As expected. Professional players are not only bigger but the mass is leaner - they have more actual muscle mass

24. Applied Physiology and Game Analysis of Rugby Union: Sports Medicine 33(13):973-91 · February 2003
However, contrary to what would be expected, vertical jump heights where actually lower for first class players.
This is extremely important as rugby is a power sport. Meaning we should see these results at their largest for first class players. So… this means the first class players
looked great but not as functional.
Granted this study is only up to 2000 and a lot has moved on since then but the data is still interesting to see how professionalism changed the sport during this time.

26. AVERAGE WEIGHT OF A FORWARD BETWEEN 1987
AND 1999 INCREASED BY 5KG (11LB), WHILE THE
AVERAGE WEIGHT OF A BACK INCREASED BY
5.6KG (12LB).

27. HOWEVER, BETWEEN THE 1999 AND 2011
TOURNAMENTS FORWARDS GAINED 3.9KG (9LB)
ON AVERAGE, AND THE BACKS ONLY 2.9KG (6LB).
weight gain slows down towards 2011

28. By 2015 it was actually slightly smaller for some teams

29. FOR EXAMPLE, THERE WERE 94 TACKLES AND
164 PASSES IN THE AVERAGE WORLD CUP GAME
IN 1991. BUT 20 YEARS LATER THE FIGURES HAD
ROUGHLY DOUBLED. IN 2011 THERE WERE AN
AVERAGE OF 197 TACKLES AND 253 PASSES.
The main reason being for the slow down in players size, is that the speed of the game has increased dramatically. Meaning too much mass and you will struggle from a
CV point of view.
The initial “kick” we see in stats is from the game turning professional. This particularly affected the average size of the backline players.

30. GENETICS
HYPERTROPHY DEBUNKED

31. Building the Athlete
Model of physical athletic development (Hunt G.J., 2019)
Human
Athlete
Specify
Genetic, epigenetic & anthropometric constraints
Strength Speed
Balance Stability Mobility
Power
Proprioception & integration of HQ
Skill Acquisition
5 base movement patterns
Physical
performance
C.V.
Forms the foundation along with epigenetics.

32. YOUR GENETIC INHERITANCE WILL
DECIDE YOUR HEIGHT AND YOUR MASS
Approximately 80% of you height is determined by genetic factors. The other 20% is from predominantly environmental - especially nutrition as a foetus ( mother
nutrition, whether she smoked, took drugs etc) and access to a healthy diet growing up.
As an adult (18 yrs plus) you can expect to gain 10-15kg of lean mass through nutrition, supplementation (legal) and training. So if your parents and grandparents aren’t
big, they had a healthy diet and weren’t from impoverished areas, the chances of you being big aren’t great. There is a chance through various genetic mutations and
mechanisms that you may gain larger mass than your parents but very unlikely
Unless you juice but even then your frame and body type will dictate the extent. This is not advocating steroids. Far from it. However, it is important to raise this as
steroids abuse is rampant in sport, social media, and celebrity life. This gives young males growing up a very skewed image of what the average male looks like and most
importantly what is actually possible through legal methods of training.
It is important to understand that trying to maintain the mass will often come at a cost to other aspects of your performance, such as CV, skills, power. Especially if you
are trying to maintain it over and above what your genetics will allow.
Consider position changes to play at a higher level - it is important to be adaptable as you grow. We all develop at different rates meaning that although you were tall for
your age at 15 you may not be so tall (relatively) by the time you are 20. So by 20 you may not suit second row any more or at least not at the level you want to play. This
is exactly what happened with myself. At 13 I started at second row as I was 181cm (one of the tallest in my class/team at that age) however, by 18, I had worked my way
through back row and ended up in full back and centres 181cm and 84kg. Average weight of international centre is now approximately 90-95kg. So would have to re-
think position if I wanted to take myself further.

33. SUMMARY
HYPERTROPHY DEBUNKED

34. WEIGHT IS JUST ANOTHER VARIABLE SO WHY
SPEND SUCH DISPROPORTIONATE TIME ON IT?
the issue is that it is engrained through media and development rugby.
we develop at different rates. The bigger kids that have developed quickly have a big advantage early on, which reinforces the idea that size conquers all and their style
of play
But once development has settled this is not as true. As the level of play increases so does the average size, meaning you can’t out muscle any more. You have to out
think and be athletic. But the skills sets of these early developers are often adversely affected as they are not forced to develop “thinking rugby” early on.
Bottom line for developing players is that the size will come. So pre-18 spend your time on skills, CV, mobility, stability, power and “thinking rugby”. Post 18 begin to
worry about building any size.

35. “TOP PLAYERS ARE GOOD AND THEY ARE BIG”
NOT
“TOP PLAYERS ARE GOOD BECAUSE THEY ARE BIG”
you can’t just be big at the top level - you need the whole package

36. ATHLETICISM FIRST, THEN SIZE
Prediction is that players weights will come down a little more assuming the recent trend of rule changes stays the same. However, with the advent of Rugby X there may
well be a schism forming with 7’s and Ruby X forming their own very very distinct player profiles from 15’s. This is already noticeable. My personal feeling due to
concussions, fears over safety in global media and World Rugby looking to grow participation and viewership all the time; the first option will be favoured. Speeding up
the game and so requiring smaller, faster, more agile players - to a point.

37. REFERENCES
▸ Slide 5 - https://live.staticflickr.com/3021/2707080684_337c6e9156_z.jpg
▸ Slide 6 - https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?
q=tbn:ANd9GcRaDE_YNA8iu2tY7ZWx5LAHCW7cO0A6On2crgjd_Fdt8mQi6cRe&s
▸ Slide 7 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UBxTTh2KOc
▸ Slide 8 - https://i.pinimg.com/236x/37/94/9b/37949b1d666e42203518287f724c601b.jpg
▸ Slide 9 & 10 - https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/
2014/11/19/1416357974538_Image_galleryImage_08_November_2014_Rugby_Un.JPG
▸ Slide 11 - http://en.espn.co.uk/scrum/rugby/story/60093.html
▸ Side 12 & 13 - http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/editors-picks/9830741/Big-hearted-Conrad-Smith-skinny-small
▸ Slide 14 - http://en.espn.co.uk/scrum/rugby/story/60093.html
▸ Slide 15 & 16 - https://i.pinimg.com/originals/51/da/00/51da00a42efe6b77969bcfe28cab8654.jpg
▸ Slide 18 & 20 — https://www.talkingrugbyunion.co.uk/images/e-009434/nemaninadolo-3.jpg
▸ Slide 18 & 20- http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Joe+Cokanasiga+Northampton+Saints+v+London+9M380cCtlNxl.jpg
▸ Slide 22-24 - Duthie, Grant & Pyne, David & Hooper, Sue. (2003). Applied Physiology and Game Analysis of Rugby Union.
Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.). 33. 973-91. 10.2165/00007256-200333130-00003. https://www.researchgate.net/
publication/9018034_Applied_Physiology_and_Game_Analysis_of_Rugby_Union
▸ Slide 25 - 29 - https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34290980

38. STRENGTH & CONDITIONING
IN RUGBY
WPRA LECTURE SERIES