Martin's Rugby Coaching Forum

Dear Martin,

Thank you for sparing the time to read this email, i really do appreciate it.

Having just started rugby i have conditioned my body reasonably well with weights.However i cannot find any specific neck exercises i can utilise.I tried bridging but felt very stiff the next day.

Would you know of any effective alternatives? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Kind Regards

David

Hallo David, good idea to train your neck muscles too! There are lots of excercises for neck muscles, bridging is one of them. I learned a lot from a couple of visits to a wrestling school. Bridging is one of them but one for the more advanced players.
At that school the wrestlers even demonstrated me an excersise where they start with a bridge and then stepped a full circle turning on their head!

This is what the wrestling coach advise me:

For starting rugby players elastic bands can be used. You can get special made ones or use the inner tube of a bicycle. (I know some players even use a towel...)

Once you are getting stronger you can start working towards the bridge position. I work my team with head resting on the floor in the push-up position, they can use their arms to control the movement of the body while the head moves from left to right.

I also know of players who atttach two little ropes to a scrumcap and tie a small weight at the other end, wearing this helmet they do headlifts while they support their shoulders by holding to a bar.

Good luck,

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Martin, Rugbyhead