POWER PLAY

How to boost your power like an All Black

01. STRENGTH

Explosive lifts, like jump squats, sled pushes and tyre flips, help to build baseline functional strength and power. “We want to build quality (explosive) muscle, not crappy, slow muscle,” says Gill.

02. PLYOMETRICS

Athletics-style plyometric drills, like hurdle hops, box jumps, skips, bounds and knee tucks, crank up the players’ fast-twitch muscle fibres. “That means a lot of jumping and a lot of accelerations,” says Gill.

03. ENERGY SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

Wattbike sprints help the players to boost their power endurance. “It is one thing being powerful, but in rugby you need to be powerful 20, 30, 40 or 50 times,” explains Gill. “So we do short, high-intensity sprints on the Wattbikes with short recovery periods, just like in a game.”