So here’s where you start . . . by putting miles in on the road. Actually, rather than the distance of the run, go by how much time you spend running in any session. Your aim should be to sustain an elevated heart rate for a period of time.

How much time? Well, let’s use some of the greats in the game as an example. It’s rumored that Wayne Peirce would run 3 or 4 miles, to the ground, sometimes to warm up just before kick off. Ray Price, the former Parramatta loose forward wasn’t called Mr. Perpetual Motion without reason. His running routines are the stuff of legend also. More recently, Gary Larson, renowned for his consistently high tackle counts even in Origin games . . . that type of stamina doesn’t come without endless miles on the road.

So how much running should you do is a subjective question. It depends on your level of commitment and how fit you want to get; but if you use the following maxim as a guide, you won’t be too far off the mark . . . ready?

You can never be too fit for Rugby League

That may sound a little over-the-top, but realistically it isn’t. As you start to get fitter, you should end up putting in a higher work rate in a game. After 80 minutes you should be coming off the park just as exhausted as you did 6 weeks earlier. You’re getting fitter yes, but now your output has increased. Some of the drills I’ll describe to you will produce a similar result. You should feel as knackered in say, the 8^th week. In fact, if you were to suddenly jump back to that first routine, I doubt it would be anything more to you than a warm up!

Cardiovascular Development

A large proportion of your roadwork should be done in the off season, then as the pre and in season approach, you will reduce the number of long runs you do and give greater priority to sprint type training and drills.

I use the term roadwork deliberately, because I want to make the distinction between solid ground and a treadmill. As previously established, specificity of training is the name of the game. You play the game on solid ground, which means you are moving your bodyweight forward.

On a treadmill the mechanics and demands are slightly different. It is sometimes a good tool for rehab, but in terms of priority, solid ground should be your first choice.

As stated previously, how much running you do is subjective, it depends on a number of factors:

• You may not have taken any time off since the season ended, so your fitness level is, therefore, still good, and all you want to do is maintain it.
• You may not have trained for weeks and are deconditioned, so need extra time to re-establish a good cardiovascular level.
• You may have had the not from a better club, or your team is playing in a better division next season and now fitness is more of an issue to you.

No one program can be written in stone, it comes down to an individual’s needs and abilities.

What follows, then, is merely a guideline for off-season cardiovascular training. It is, though, in my opinion, the minimum a player should be doing if he is serious about Rugby League. And if you are reading this, I’m assuming that you are!

Begin 12 weeks before the season begins.

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4
4 runs	4 runs	4 runs	4 runs
3 miles	3 miles	1 x 3 miles slow	1 x 3 miles med
Slow pace	Medium pace	1 x 3 miles fast	1 x 4 miles slow
Day off in between		1 x 4 miles slow	1 x 4 miles fast
Runs (Above in ‘notes’)		1 x 4 miles medium	1 x 4 miles med
Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8
4 runs	5 runs	5 runs	3 runs
1 x 3 miles fast	1 x 4 miles fast	1 x 3 miles med	1 x 6 miles slow
1 x 5 miles slow	1 x 2 miles slow	1 x 2 miles slow	1 x 4 miles fast
1 x 3 miles med	1 x 2 miles fast	1 x 5 miles fast	1 x 5 miles med
1 x 5 miles slow	1 x 3 miles slow	1 x 3 miles med
	1 x 5 miles fast	1 x 4 miles med

Notes:

If possible, plan to take a day off between runs.

Notice you are beginning 12 weeks before the season starts, with an 8 week program. This allows a 4-week pre-season, which is the time the training becomes more intense, the long runs less frequent, and the overall sessions replicate more the anaerobic demands of the game.