With the entire Edinburgh squad set to resume pre-season training next week, Edinburgh and Scotland Sevens hooker Steve Lawrie sheds some light on the hard yards the players have been putting in so far this summer.
“At the moment, the fitness and conditioning staff are trying to get us bigger. So we are doing a couple of weights sessions in the morning – we do our heavy lifting in the morning – and then towards the end of the week, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, we have conditioning.
“It varies from doing running sessions and strong-man events (which includes dragging chains, flipping tyres and some bag work). These are more specific for front-five players and then we also do our running sessions to determine our fitness levels.
“It is going well and all the boys are putting it in; that is the beauty of it. Especially with experienced like Simon Cross, who have done six pre-seasons, high standards are set. These guys are all mad keen to do the work while in times gone by there were punishments handed out to players.
Steve is in for next season and you can join him by signing up for a 2008/2009 Edinburgh Rugby season ticket. The package includes all nine Magners League matches, all three Heineken Cup Pool games plus the opportunity for both you and a friend to attend the Wasps friendly on Saturday 23 August (kick off 2.30pm). Call 0131 346 5180 to reserve your place.
“The attitude has been absolutely outstanding from the boys and no-one cuts corners. We would have weights at eight or nine in the morning, but that will change when all the guys return for pre-season purely because we’re going to have to fit 40 guys in the gym. There will be the graveyard shift which starts at 7 o’clock in the morning for some guys. Then we will have lunch and have a session in the afternoon.
“In between sessions we will do pre-hab and flexibility sessions with the physios just to keep ourselves fit. When you are loading your backs, hamstrings and quads, if you don’t maintain them then something is going to ping, especially in pre-season.
“It is all about looking after yourself and making sure you do the right things. After a heavy running session, we will do a leg drain (putting our legs up against a wall) just to flush the muscles and enable us to be ready for our next session.
“Pre-season is also about doing the right things off the pitch as well, especially when you are on holiday. You need to switch off from rugby because otherwise you get saturated by the game, but you have still got a level of maintenance to do.
“The fitness coaches have given us programmes that we must adhere to and we have got a couple of weight sessions per week working towards the first day of pre-season. That is to keep you ticking over otherwise if you let it drop off then it would be an absolute nightmare. The boys want to do it because otherwise you would be blowing and, at the end of the day, it is our job.
“The gym at Murrayfield is slightly different to your average high street gym; there is everything there geared towards making you a better rugby player.
“The coaches are using more of a holistic approach to their training. There is a lot of Olympic lifting which you probably wouldn’t see in a normal gym. We do a lot of clean snatches to maintain the strength and stability in the joints.
“The facilities are outstanding and there is everything you need. There is a lot of technology there as well with computers to determine where we are physically so you can get an individually tailored fitness programme.
“We will get weights in the morning and then we will have a break, flexibility and then lunch. After that we get flexibility in the afternoon or another weights session; depending on what day it is.
“Rest periods are also an essential part of a fitness programme, especially because of the nature of the impact sport we are playing. The way we train is the way we want to play, so it is extremely physical. You have got every guy in the squad competing for 15 places. Rest time is massively important and so I tend to have a 30-minute sleep in the afternoon.
“The fact that the food and supplements are provided by Edinburgh is really good and helps us get to where we want to be as professional rugby players.”
