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

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English female rugby players is that their bodies are placed under greater physical demands during the season as they have a structured and highly competitive international and domestic season. As a result of the high physical demands and greater preparation time (off-season and pre-season) for regular competition, their muscular skeletal structures are more highly developed. For both positional groups, percentage body fat decreased significant between pre-season and mid-season. At post-season, the percentage body fat increased significantly whilst no significant changes were reported for the forwards. These findings are in agreement with a study (Gabbett, 2005a) of senior rugby league players whereby percentage body fat decreased during the pre-season period. In the current study, the loss in body fat may also have been a result of the frequency of high level aerobic, anaerobic and muscle strength training performed during pre-season. 5.3 PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS 5.3.1 Flexibility Sit-and- Reach test Testing the combined flexibility of erector spinae, external rotators of the hips, hamstrings and gastrocnemii muscles has been an integral part of health-related and sport specific assessments for many decades (Holt, Pelham & Burke, 1999). Many exercises designed to increase strength and aerobic capacity tend to decrease the flexibility of the erector spinae and hamstring musculature hence less than ideal flexibility in these muscles may increase the 82
likelihood of injury during a training session or competition (Holt, Pelham & Burke, 1999). On the other hand, it has been suggested that highly extensible muscles, which do not possess the necessary coordination and stability, may lead to joint dislocations and ligament strain (Cowan, Jones, Tomlinson, Robinson & Polly, 1988). Changes in flexibility occur after stretching exercises and flexibility training is used in the warm-up before training or competition (Lambert, 2009). There were no statistically significant changes in flexibility over the competition season within each positional group although there was a non-significant decrease of 3.94 cm and non-significant increase of 5.45 cm during mid-season and post-season, respectively. As tightness in any of the muscle groups may contribute to the limitation of movements whilst measuring sit-and-reach flexibility (Holt et al., 1999). It is difficult to explain the practical but non-significant change in flexibility throughout the season as the players as stretching was an integral component of the recovery sessions. Further research, need to utilise protocols that will separately assess the four muscle groups involved, as this will enable the strength and conditioning coach to get a better understanding of the exercises or work load that may result in the limitation the muscles range of movement. 5.3.2 Muscular Power The vertical jump has been used extensively as a measure of explosive leg power in contact sports as it is highly related to dynamic performance activities such acceleration and breaking tackles (Nicholas, 1997). The vertical jump height reported for participants of this study 83
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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
Page 43 and 44: etween age groups (Durandt et al.,
Page 45 and 46: Durandt et al., (2006) indicate tha
Page 47 and 48: 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: skinfold thickness throughout the s
Page 97 and 98: can be possibly attributed to a gre
Page 99 and 100: provide a good measure of the upper
Page 101 and 102: mid-season, which performed 12 and
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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