About this Episode
In Episode 138, Ashley Jones, Strength & Conditioning Coach, joins us.
Specifically Ashley will be looking at:
- How performance training in rugby has changed in the last 30 years
- Influence of technology on performance
- Training methods which have stood the test of time
- The future of rugby performance
Strength and conditioning in rugby union has come on leaps and bounds over the last thirty years, but what does the future hold?
If you want to be one step ahead of the game, you’ll need to hear what Ashley Jones, Strength and Conditioning (S&C) coach with thirty years of experience, has to say.
In those thirty years, Jones has worked all over the world, including with both northern and southern hemisphere international rugby teams. He also boasts the personal accolade of NSCA Coach of the Year in 2016.
But before we dig into the future of rugby, it’s important to look at where the performance world has come from.
Jones was at the front line of those developments in the nineties.
During his first professional role in rugby, Jones wanted to ease his players into their preseason running. Unfortunately for him (and the players) the head coach had different ideas.
“I know these guys haven’t done a lot, so I thought we’d just do a forty-minute run and we’ll get on to the next session. The coach turned around and said no, take them out again, flog ‘em,”
The ‘flog ‘em’ mentality has been increasingly difficult to find in elite sports in recent years, but what has led to this change?
Well according to Jones, the education levels of everyone in and around the team have improved.
“I think the education of the coaches has grown in parallel with the education improvements of the strength and conditioning coaches, and also in parallel with the education of the playing group as well,” Jones said.
This means that everyone on the staff is working with a higher baseline of knowledge, potentially allowing higher-level conversations around load monitoring and training principles.
In some instances players are even educating themselves to the same level as coaches, this bodes well for the future of athletes and coaches alike.
“When I was working in Edinburgh, I had two players that were actually doing their master’s degree in strength and conditioning. So you can actually talk to the players about some fairly complex topics,” Jones said.
This level of player education is set to improve in the future with information readily available to any athlete who cares to google it.
But where does Jones think that the future of rugby will go? Well, firstly he thinks that the rule-makers will have a massive impact.
“I think the rule changes in the game will dictate where we go,” Jones said.
Those rules dictate the rest and work players undertake during a match, and therefore the conditioning needs.
“The year 2000 was the last season where we had unlimited interchange in rugby league. And I remember the time I was with at that stage we averaged 47 substitutions a game,” Jones said.
This had a significant impact on the type of physicality players brought to the game.
“You saw they saw the size of rugby league players changed significantly from the 2000 and earlier to what we have now, where it’s quite rare to have some of those monsters still playing the game,” Jones said.
Next to any rule changes, Jones is looking forward to the development of new technology and its impact on health and performance.
“I’m actually excited about some of the wearables coming through, for example, the use of the mouthguard for data collection and particularly for head injury observation is going to be extremely important moving forward,” Jones said.
These mouthguards can provide staff with real-time data on the impacts that players receive. This means that medical staff can track data on head injuries and reduce the risk of long-term injuries such as concussions.
If you want more information on these mouthguards, check out episode 95 of the Science for Sport Podcast.
Next to the education levels of athletes and technology improvements, Jones thinks that making the players one of the key stakeholders alongside other staff members can improve performance.
”The playing group themselves is a very, very important to connect with, what they bring to the table is often missed and can actually add value to the overall program and I think to build great compliance into the program itself by having them as one of the stakeholders in the group,” Jones said.
So there you have it. The past present and future of rugby performance.
If you want to hear more from Jones including some awesome stories from his coaching career, check out the full podcast using the link below.
