Russell worked out way to have last laugh in the gym

FINN RUSSELL reckons he is getting the last laugh after revealing how he used to annoy his team-mates with his training habits.

The Scotland favourite is famed for his happy-go-lucky approach to the game and is often seen smiling during highpressure games when others around him are more serious.

It is an approach that has served the stand-off well, bagging him a big-money move to star-studded Racing 92 in

France and earning him the reputation as one of the top players in the world.

However, the 27-year-old (right), who played for Stirling County and Falkirk before landing a move to Glasgow Warriors, has confessed his approach to weight training did not go down too well when he first joined the professional game as a youngster in 2012.

He said: “I remember when I first started at Glasgow, I’d go into the gym and do a little bit here and there.

“But gym’s never been a big part of my rugby. I understand now you’ve got to do it but I’ve never been solely focused on that; my position doesn’t require heaps of gym.

“But over the last four or five years I’ve started, not doing more, but applying myself.

“I remember back then, when I first started, I would come in and have a laugh and a joke and dance about. I’d be the only guy in the gym dancing, having a laugh.

“Some of the older guys would be looking at me as if to say ‘who’s this guy, what’s he up to?’. “I suppose they didn’t really take it well because they had never seen a young guy go into the gym and just dance around and not really do any weights. “I’d do a bit here or there but they had never seen that and, for them, it didn’t really sit right, I suppose. “But, the further I’ve progressed in my career, when I’ve seen them after rugby, after games or in the street or in the coffee shop or whatever, there’s a few of them I’ve had a laugh with [about it].

“It’s almost changed, because the position I’m in now compared to then is so different. It’s quite funny for me to have a laugh with them and wind them up about it now.”

Speaking on the Frizzashe Podcast, hosted by former Glasgow team-mate Adam Ashe, he added: “Back in the day it was all about lifting weights and getting as big and strong as you can, and that makes you a better rugby player.”