questions from a beginner

ok recently I have started trying to get into weights in an attempt to improve my body/strength for university and hopefully university rugby team. anyway I am looking for a fair bit of advice in regards to upper body exercises and the like.

all the exercises I do are at home, using a bench, dumbells, barbells and bodyweight exercises

my workout scheme
I do abs every morning when I wake up doing simple bodyweight exercises such as plank, crunches, press ups and the like
I then have rugby training twice a week on a Tuesday and a Thursday and have rest days on a Wednesday and Friday (although still do the ab workout)
I then have 3 days where I am using my weights at home- 2 days doing a variety of upper body exercises, mainly focussed on the chest
and then 1 day focussed on shoulders.

I know I am neglecting legs but having played rugby since the age of 7 my leg muscles are fairly well developed.
ok so firstly any advice on improving my workout and any exercises I can do to improve my focus areas of chest, shoulders and abs (especially the obliques)

my other main question is in regards to forearms, last year I broke my forearm playing rugby and had to have a metal plate inserted which still remains, now having returned to rugby when I am tackling my forearm is feeling the contact much more, so basically any exercises I can do to build the forearm (specifically if it is possible the inner forearm)

anyway sorry for all the questions but you all seem knowledgeable people and I hope I haven't made too much of a fool of myself!!

Forearm - sit on a chair/edge of a bench/bed with your legs fairly close together. Lie your arms, palms facing upwards, on your legs and with a barbell simply flex the wrist back and forward. Keep going until you really feel the burn in the forearms. Your hands should be overhanging the edge of your knees so that the forearms are in effect supporting the weight of the barbell as you flex the wrists.

If you have access to a chin up/pull up bar then I'd recommend doing those. Great workout for your entire upper body, including abs and forearms. They can be quite tough at first but build it up with a low number of reps and you'll soon find yourself being able to increase the reps.

As for your obliques...side planks are a good start, likewise side crunches or throwing a twist in each time you do a situp.

I personally wouldnt advise a beginner to spend time doing isolation movements for the forearms or abdominal workouts.
You'd be better off just sticking to the basics - deadlift, squat, clean, presses, chins etc.
These will provide a workout for your whole body and will develop your forearms and abs better then any crunch or wrist curl.

A nice little forearm exercise is simply trying to hold some plates between your fingers for as long as possible. You can do it with the weights on the end of a bar, and leaning over with a straight back, picking up the plates between your fingers and squeezing for a long as you can before you can no longer hold them. Go heavy though- 40 kgs or so.

What position do you play in rugby because you will need to focus your training differently for different positions.

I would suggest that you build u your shoulder muscles because you will use them a lot for tackling in rugby. You can do dips or shoulder press or just google shoulder workouts.

Also if you want to pack on some muscle then make sure you are eating right. Eat a lot of meat such as steak and chicken. Also try and have a protein shake after your wrkouts.

Compound movements. Seriously do NOT neglect the legs at all.
Squats and deadlifts are musts, and they are pretty much whole body exercises.

Generally avoid isolation movements, bodybuilders use those but you are trying to improve athletic ability, and it saves time anyway.

As a rugby player you need to train your nervous system to engage the core along with the muscles you are targeting.
So preferably do standing shoulder press rather than sitting, as it braces your core muscles. And bent over rows rather than sitting cable rows.

Other great core exercises include one arm dumbbell bench press and waiter walks (google it).

One more thing remember the different rep ranges:

1-3 reps builds power or explosive strength, this is very applicable in rugby for any position

3-5 reps builds strength, focus on this range if you are a front or second row

8-15 reps builds muscle, you can throw this in once or twice for each workout but this builds your appearance more than anything else

15+ reps builds muscular endurance. Nothing wrong with this but remember this doesn't burn fat any better than the above ranges, a big mistake many people make, especially women looking to "tone up".


Good luck mate. I was a rookie a year ago but I have made gains however the biggest gains I have made are in learning.

Champagne_Socialist wrote:What position do you play in rugby because you will need to focus your training differently for different positions.

I would suggest that you build u your shoulder muscles because you will use them a lot for tackling in rugby. You can do dips or shoulder press or just google shoulder workouts.

Also if you want to pack on some muscle then make sure you are eating right. Eat a lot of meat such as steak and chicken. Also try and have a protein shake after your wrkouts.

I play backrow, and yes trying to be more careful with diet currently, at training we had a biomechanics guy come and do some fitness work with us which I found really effective

my ab workout is crunches (twisted and normal) leg raises, knee ins? (might be called reverse crunches?) plank, side plank
for shoulders I am doing, shoulder press, reverse flys, rows, delt lifts (front and sides) and shrugs
for chest- bench press, flys, press ups, I could really do with more exercises for chest to be honest

the one problem I also have which is slightly embarrassing is that the bench I bought is pretty cheap and the barbell that came with it can only hold about 40 max before it is bending really badly :L but It seems pointless buying another one when I will (fingers crossed) be off to uni in just over a month

Interesting post mate.

I know you say you get good results from rugby but you should still train your legs. Exercises like deadlifts and squats are the staple routine for all rugby players. Most don't do much more then those two so they have to be doing something right...

Also when you train any muscle using weights (not cardio) it releases testosterone into the body which will aid with your muscle growth in general, training legs which are the largest muscle groups will then release the most testosterone.

One other thing it might be worth mixing it up and training your core a little less. Like any other muscles they can become fatigued and can get used to any exercise repeated too often. Just like you don't want to train legs all the time why train your abs every day? Instead try some harder exercises involving weights and work them exactly how you would any other body part (lower reps and sets with heavier weights etc).