Physical fitness of elite women's rugby union players over a ...

Strength and conditioning coaches may provide support to the athlete in the form of technique
analysis, motivation, goal setting and psychological reinforcement during training.
Ratio Scaled Strength
It is common practice to normalise strength performance by dividing the absolute strength
outcome variable by body mass, to account for differences in body size in rugby (Atkins,
2004; Crewther et al., 2009). Research has shown that when expressing strength using
absolute values, forwards are significantly stronger than backs (Duthie et al., 2003). However,
when accounting for differences in body mass using ratio scaling the performance favours the
lighter backs (Atkins, 2004; Crewther et al., 2009). During pre-season and off-season testing,
the absolute expression of strength was greater for the significantly heavier forwards, but after
ratio scaling these performance measures favoured the significantly lighter backs throughout
the season, with a significant difference being noted at mid-season (backs = 0.91 ± 0.14;
forwards = 0.71 ± 0.18).
Pull-ups
The pull-up is often called a test of arm and shoulder strength and is used to assess the muscle
strength of the elbow flexors and shoulder extensors (Jenkins & Reaburn, 2000). Pull-up
performance is largely influenced by body size, as individuals with larger body mass are
expected to complete fewer pull-ups (Vanderburg & Edmonds, 1997). Contrary to these
findings, this research noted no significant difference between forwards and backs for pull-up
scores. However, with the exclusion of large residuals (same participant at pre-season and
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