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

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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 88
mid-season, which performed 12 and 13 pull ups, respectively), backs completed greater number pull-ups compared with forwards as a result of a significantly small body size. The number of pull-ups completed by the backs from pre-season (2.74 ± 2.66) to mid-season (4.2 ± 3.08) increased then remained constant from mid-season to post-season (4.73 ± 3.52). In addition, the forwards shoulder and arm strength remained constant throughout the season (pre-season = 1.43 ± 3.2; mid-season = 1.69 ± 3.66, post-season = 0.58 ± 0.99). As in the 1 RM bench press, there were no significant improvements in pull-up strength for both positional groups throughout the season. With upper body strength being important for success in rugby (Hrysomallis, 2010; Meir et al., 2001), the lack of improvement in muscular strength in the preparatory phase, is of concern, as it may limit the participants ability to successfully challenge and overcome their opponents during contact phases (Meir et al., 2001). 5.3.5 Muscle Endurance Push-ups Rugby players, especially forwards are required to repeatedly wrestle for ball possession hence rugby researchers have predominately used the 1 minute push-up to assess a player’s ability to sustain continuous muscle activity. In the current study, the backs completed a greater number of push-ups at all three testing sessions but with a significant difference only being observed at pre-season testing. Given that forwards in this study have a significantly 89
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PHYSICAL FITNESS OF ELITE WOMEN'S R
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to ack
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In both positional groups, no signi
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2.3 PHYSIOLOGICAL DEMANDS OF RUGBY
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4.3.3 Speed .......................
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LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table I: Body M
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CHAPTER ONE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLE
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2007). Static exertion requires gre
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From the time men’s rugby union b
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• 10 and 40 m speed • 1 RM benc
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(Gabbett, 2007; Quarrie et al., 199
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Physical performance characteristic
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CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITER
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LEOPARDS No of Women’s Clubs: 7 N
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2.2.3 International Women’s Rugby
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2.3.1 Movement Patterns Time-motion
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Analysis of work-to-rest periods in
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2.4.1 Body Mass There has been a ma
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Table I: Body Mass (kg) of female r
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Table II: Stature (cm) of female ru
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Table III: Comparison of 10m and 40
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etween age groups (Durandt et al.,
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Durandt et al., (2006) indicate tha
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Table IV: Comparison of Vertical Ju
Page 49 and 50: to allow accurate comparison (Duthi
Page 51 and 52: 1988; Ueno, Watai, & Ishii, 1988).
Page 53 and 54: staff with regards to selection and
Page 55 and 56: male rugby players may be associate
Page 57 and 58: Union. The players were sub-divided
Page 59 and 60: Body mass Skinfolds (biceps, tricep
Page 61 and 62: held at 90 degrees to the surface o
Page 63 and 64: knees extended (straight), and bare
Page 65 and 66: controlled manner to the center of
Page 67 and 68: withdraw from the test if they are
Page 69 and 70: CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS 4.1 INTRODUCTI
Page 71 and 72: the descriptive analysis indicated
Page 73 and 74: Sum of skinfolds (mm) 200 180 160 1
Page 75 and 76: Percentage Body Fat (%) 40 35 30 25
Page 77 and 78: Within forwards, there was a small
Page 79 and 80: 10m speed (sec) 2.4 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6
Page 81 and 82: 40m speed (sec) 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 * * *
Page 83 and 84: No difference was apparent within p
Page 85 and 86: Pull ups 10 8 6 4 2 * * Forwards Ba
Page 87 and 88: 50 40 * * * Forwards Backs Push-ups
Page 89 and 90: CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AN
Page 91 and 92: Cup (Schick et al., 2006). Attentio
Page 93 and 94: skinfold thickness throughout the s
Page 95 and 96: likelihood of injury during a train
Page 97 and 98: can be possibly attributed to a gre
Page 99: provide a good measure of the upper
Page 103 and 104: A reasonably high aerobic fitness l
Page 105 and 106: these two broad positional groups h
Page 107 and 108: physical fitness, it may also be ac
Page 109 and 110: The current study has described the
Page 111 and 112: Baker, D. and Nance, S. (1999). The
Page 113 and 114: Crewther, B.T., Gill, N., Weatherby
Page 115 and 116: Ellis, L., Gastin, P., Lawrence, S.
Page 117 and 118: Hrysomallis, C. (2010). Upper body
Page 119 and 120: Maud, P.J. (1983). Physiological an
Page 121 and 122: Rienzi, E., Reilly, T., and Malkin,
Page 123 and 124: Spencer, M., Bishop, D., Dawson, B.
Page 125 and 126: APPENDIX A PARTICIPATION INFORMATIO
Page 127 and 128: APPENDIX B CONSENT FORM Faculty of
Page 129 and 130: 3.SPEED AND ACCELARATION 10 m (sec)
Page 131 and 132: Forwards Backs Vertical Jump (cm) T
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