In November 2005 Auckland Rugby, through their then coach Pat Lam, installed a ScrumTruk, one of the first Myoquip machines to be exported from Australia. Now, almost five years on, the machine is still helping the Auckland squad in developing "strength and flexibility through the hips, back and shoulders"
The current strength and conditioning coach at Auckland is Simon Kent, proprietor of Dynamic Fitness Solutions. Simon sees the ScrumTruk as a very flexible tool for developing players:
"I use it with the boys in a number of different ways. It's a great way of teaching good body position especially for our young players. For the front row boys we load up the weight and the boys practice their engagement, with the heavy weight they can hit and 'squeeze' holding the position in an isometric hold.
"The more I am involved with the physical preparation of rugby athletes the more I believe in the importance of having strength and flexibility through the hips, back and shoulders. This enables the athlete to apply force more efficiently on the rugby field, the ScrumTruk is one tool that helps develop hip and back strength.
"The ScrumTruk allows me to teach correct scrum set-up and pushing position especially to our young athletes, for our more established athletes, the ScrumTruk provides a rugby specific strength training tool. ScrumTruk is a integral part of the Auckland strength and conditioning program."
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4 comments:
Wow great piece of equipment for the front rower to get resistence training in the actual "work" position they will be in during a scrum. The problem with most scrum sleds is that you need more than one person to do the work-not a bad thing so you can practice your binding with your mates, but for the individual to work on their own, this is great.
Great bit of equipment for the front row person to work on their own in the position they will be in during the scrum. Tough to beat squats for pure strength gains, but for resistence work that has your body in a position you will be in for the scrum, this is great.
Thanks, ND, I'd be lost without you providing regular comments.
A couple of points. The ScrumTruk, now superseded by the MyoTruk, is not just for you grunt merchants. It is equally as effective for the other 12 players in a rugby team. At Sydney University it has also been extensively used by world champion rowers, Olympic medallist women basketballers, soccer players, Australian football players and field hockey players. At the New South Wales Institute of Sport it is used by elite level swimmers and water polo players.
As for your point that it is "tough to beat squats for pure strength gains" you might have noticed in my post on Jerry Yanuyanutawa box-squatting 260kg, I mentioned that Jerry did very limited squatting, but instead his "lower body strength work was focussed on the MyoTruk and MyoThrusta apparatus together with the deadlift."
Thanks for the post - I had no idea they had equipment like this for rugby players! I am just starting to get into the sport, and I love it so far.
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