Pre-season gets the attention. In-season decides whether the work lasts.
Every year, rugby players spend weeks building strength, speed, power and fitness—then the fixtures begin and structured gym training disappears. Sessions become reactive. Training is squeezed around club nights, work and recovery. Some players stop lifting consistently; others keep training with pre-season volume and wonder why their legs feel flat by Saturday.
Neither approach works particularly well.
The purpose of an effective in-season rugby training programme is not to make you as tired as possible. It is to maintain—and, where possible, continue developing—the physical qualities that help you perform, while managing the fatigue created by rugby training and matches.
In other words, the goal is not simply to do less. It is to do exactly what your body and your game need, at the right time.
Why In-Season Rugby Training Matters
Strength and power do not remain at their best simply because you developed them during pre-season. When resistance training stops or is drastically reduced, those qualities can decline as the season progresses.
World Rugby’s in-season conditioning guidance explains that strength and power should continue to be targeted during the competitive season. The aim should be to keep improving where circumstances allow and, at minimum, maintain these qualities across the season.
That matters because rugby continually asks players to:
- Accelerate and change direction
- Produce force quickly
- Win collisions and remain strong in contact
- Repeat high-intensity efforts
- Tolerate training, matches and the demands of everyday life
Playing rugby alone does not provide a complete strength and conditioning plan. Team training develops technical skills, tactics and cohesion, but an effective rugby gym programme gives your physical preparation the structure it needs.
The Biggest In-Season Mistake: Training Without Considering Match Day
More training is not always better training.
During pre-season, there is usually more room to accumulate volume and create the fatigue needed to drive adaptation. In-season, the context changes. Club training, collisions, selection, travel and weekly fixtures all compete for the same recovery capacity.
A session can look excellent on paper and still be completely wrong for the player completing it.
Heavy lower-body volume too close to a match may leave you sore and flat. Random conditioning can duplicate the work already covered at club training. Chasing personal bests every week can create fatigue without improving Saturday’s performance.
The question is no longer simply, “Was that a hard session?â€
The better question is, “Did that session help me prepare for the next game?â€
What Should an In-Season Rugby Training Programme Include?
The strongest programmes are not collections of impressive exercises. They are structured systems in which every session has a clear purpose.
1. Strength Maintenance
Strength underpins many of the physical qualities needed in rugby. It contributes to force production, acceleration, power and the ability to compete in contact.
In-season strength work should provide enough intensity to preserve those qualities without carrying unnecessary volume. This is where intelligent programming matters. Removing all meaningful strength work may lead to regression, but trying to reproduce a high-volume off-season block can interfere with recovery.
The aim is an effective dose—not the largest possible dose.
2. Power and Explosiveness
Rugby is rarely decided by slow force. Players need to express force quickly when accelerating, stepping, tackling, jumping or breaking contact.
An effective rugby strength and conditioning programme should therefore continue to include power-focused work during the season. The exercises, volume and placement within the week should be selected carefully so that quality remains high and fatigue remains controlled.
You are not training simply to be strong in the gym. You are training to apply that strength when the game demands it.
3. Controlled Training Volume
Volume is one of the most important variables to manage in-season.
As rugby demands increase, gym volume usually needs to become more targeted. That does not mean every session must feel easy. It means removing work that creates fatigue without delivering enough benefit.
High-quality sets, appropriate exercise selection and clear progression are more valuable than adding exercises for the sake of making a session longer.
4. Recovery Built Into the Structure
Recovery is not separate from the programme. It is part of the programme.
Your weekly training should consider the distance from the previous and next fixture, the physical cost of club sessions and the demands outside rugby. Sleep, nutrition, hydration and stress will all influence what you can recover from.
A well-structured plan creates a rhythm: recover from the previous match, train the qualities that matter and reduce fatigue as the next fixture approaches.
5. Progression Across the Season
Maintenance does not mean repeating the same workouts from September until April.
Your programme should still move through structured blocks with deliberate changes to exercises, volume and training focus. Without progression, it becomes difficult to maintain momentum, respond to the changing demands of the season or continue developing as an athlete.
The season is long. Your programme needs to be built for more than the opening few weeks.
How Many Gym Sessions Should a Rugby Player Do In-Season?
There is no single number that suits every player. The right frequency depends on your playing level, club schedule, position, training history, work commitments and ability to recover.
For many players, two or three focused gym sessions can provide enough exposure to strength and power work when the week is structured correctly. World Rugby notes that two resistance-training sessions per week can be achievable in-season, using relatively low-volume, high-intensity work to help maintain physical qualities.
SW7 Rugby Performance uses three structured full-gym sessions across the week:
- Monday: Lower body
- Tuesday: Upper body
- Thursday: Full body
With a Saturday fixture, this structure places the main lower-body work earlier in the week and creates space around match day. Sessions take approximately 45–60 minutes, making the programme realistic for players balancing rugby with work, study or family life.
The important point is not blindly following a calendar. If your match day or club schedule is different, your gym week should be organised around it.
What If You Are Still Sore After a Match?
This is where good training requires judgement.
Some weeks you will recover quickly. Other weeks may include more minutes, more collisions, difficult travel, poor sleep or a demanding club session. Treating every week as identical ignores the reality of the sport.
When fatigue is unusually high, the answer is not always to abandon training. It may mean adjusting volume, exercise selection, intensity or timing while keeping the wider structure intact.
Consistency does not mean forcing the exact same output regardless of readiness. It means staying connected to the plan and making sensible decisions within it.
If pain feels unusual, severe or injury-related, seek assessment from an appropriately qualified healthcare professional rather than attempting to train through it.
In-Season Training for Forwards and Backs
Positions have different match demands, but the foundations of effective physical preparation remain consistent.
Forwards may experience greater collision and set-piece demands. Backs may accumulate more high-speed running and repeated acceleration exposure. Individual playing minutes and club training can also create bigger differences than position alone.
Both still require strength, power, speed and robustness. The key is not creating completely unrelated programmes for every position; it is applying sound principles while recognising where fatigue and exposure differ.
That is another reason generic bodybuilding plans and random online workouts often fall short: they rarely account for the rugby week surrounding the gym session.
Five Signs Your Current Rugby Gym Programme Is Not Working
Your programme may need more structure if:
- You regularly reach match day with heavy, sore legs.
- Your training never changes between off-season, pre-season and in-season.
- Every gym session is designed to exhaust you rather than prepare you.
- You stop strength training completely once fixtures begin.
- You cannot explain the purpose of the block you are following.
Effort is rarely the problem for rugby players. The problem is often knowing where to direct it.
The SW7 Rugby Performance In-Season Block
The new SW7 Rugby Performance In-Season block is designed to keep players strong, powerful and match-ready throughout the demands of the competitive season.
Every session is strategically structured to maintain the qualities developed in pre-season, manage fatigue between fixtures and support performance without adding unnecessary training load. Rather than relying on random sessions or using a generic gym plan all year, players follow a periodised system that changes with the rugby calendar.
Inside the SW7 app, members receive:
- Three structured full-gym sessions each week
- Clear exercise demonstrations and session guidance
- Weight, repetition and progress tracking
- Built-in rest timers
- Ongoing training blocks and progression
- Access to rugby performance resources and coaching support
The programme is suitable for competitive rugby players across academy, amateur, semi-professional and professional environments. You do not need to be a professional player to train with professional structure.
Explore the SW7 Rugby Performance Programme
The Best In-Season Rugby Programme Is the One That Keeps You Performing
A good in-season programme should not compete with rugby. It should support it.
It should help you preserve the strength you built, continue expressing power, control unnecessary fatigue and arrive at match day ready to perform. Most importantly, it should remove the guesswork from a long and demanding season.
Pre-season built the foundations. In-season is where you protect them, use them and keep moving forward.
If you are serious about becoming a stronger, more powerful and more consistent rugby player, stop relying on random sessions. Follow a programme built around the demands of the game.
Join SW7 Academy’s Rugby Performance Programme—the home of rugby performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should rugby players lift weights during the season?
Yes. Appropriately programmed resistance training can help rugby players maintain strength and power during the competitive season. The volume, intensity and timing should be managed around club training, fixtures and recovery.
How many times a week should a rugby player go to the gym in-season?
Many rugby players can benefit from two or three focused gym sessions per week. The right frequency depends on match schedules, club training, playing level, training history and recovery capacity.
What is the best in-season rugby training split?
The best split is one that trains the key physical qualities while managing fatigue around match day. With a Saturday game, lower-body training is often placed earlier in the week, with volume managed as the fixture approaches.
Can you get stronger during the rugby season?
Some players can continue improving strength in-season, particularly when training is well structured. At minimum, the programme should aim to maintain the strength and power developed before the season while accounting for accumulated rugby fatigue.
What should I avoid in-season?
Avoid random high-volume sessions, excessive conditioning that duplicates club training, constantly testing maximal lifts and placing demanding lower-body work too close to match day. Your training should support performance rather than create fatigue without purpose.
Is SW7 Rugby Performance suitable for amateur players?
Yes. SW7 Rugby Performance is designed for rugby players at different levels, including academy, amateur, semi-professional and professional athletes. The programme brings structured, elite-level training principles into a format that players can follow through the SW7 app.