England Rugby's most brutal fitness test | Sport Explained

Just as I start the second of three circles of hell, prepared for me by Aled Walters, my inner demons remind me of a cruel fact. This fitness session was my idea.
READ MORE: www.thetimes.com/article/d867...
My head is in a fog as I try to lift up a torso-shaped tackle bag, slam down on to it, and then pick it back up again. Why have my sinuses suddenly blocked so I can’t hear? Am I oxygen-starved? Do I need to throw up or cry? Why did I just chug a milky flat white at the hotel restaurant? Am I ever going to be able to critique an England player’s performance again after they’ve seen this useless, lumbering fool on camera?
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#rugby #rugbyunion #fitness

[@scottybot2003]

Good to see. The press are sometimes too quick to stick the knife in when a player misses one detail in a game, id argue for all of them to get down to that facility and see what it takes for a modern day player to even be selected. Its all well and good having a tab and a pie before punching a frenchman in the 70s and thats what made you a legend, times changed. The writing should too.

[@IAMJEFFREY-cw9ns]

Their fitness regimen might not have been the best especially compared to the players of today but those lads from the 70s and 80s still got the job done and were brutally strong. Remember that testosterone levels were much higher back then as well and there was no such thing as supplements. Just real organic food and hard work!

[@blairrobert3438]

Yip. The modern backrower in particular is superhuman. There's a reason McCaw is a good ironman post rugby. Guys like Savea or Darge are insanely fit.

[@IAMJEFFREY-cw9ns]

@@blairrobert3438 Don't events like Iron Man drain you though in terns of muscle mass. McCaw was about 106 kg when playing at his peak. He's sure to lose weight if he's doing triathlon events.

[@blairrobert3438]

@@IAMJEFFREY-cw9ns yeah hes lean now.

[@ChrisSpriggs]

Aled is a great bloke and top S & C coach , work with him at Scarlets rugby club @ stradey park

[@blaquenguni9249]

If you look at modern tennis and soccer players, they have strong well developed legs and slim upper bodies, Rugby requires wrestling level strength, sprinter explosiveness and triathlon endurance... Simply put you can't just weigh 100kg like a bodybuilder, you have to be as strong as a wrestler, be able to do explosive tackles and directional speed changes, and last all game long. The only sport that can be compared is American Football. But they have so much rest time inbetween plays that rugby players endurance is unmatched to them

[@mic9check]

Is it safe to say that you would never turn down the opportunity to sleep with a rugby player?

[@davidferry8455]

Because of the excessive subs allowed most players play half games.

[@marcdaniels9079]

American Football is really nothing like rugby in terms of fitness. The majority of positions are super-specialised and the long rests between players mean none of them have either strength-endurance or pure endurance.

[@branmaher6684]

Give it 4 weeks of doing that drill 3 times a week and im sure he'll be hitting the required 200m

[@JB-xd9dr]

Well done for putting yourself on the line for that. Great effort!

[@JohnRidley12]

Good effort. Just throwing this out there. A competition between Press/KZbinrs to see who comes out on top. I'm sure Alfie Reynolds would be up for it.

[@24hr_rugby_jake]

Alfie Reynolds 😭😭 mate you want proper KZbinrs to promote that, not rugby ones 😭 get sidemen and beta squad doing that promoting, bring in actual new fans

[@stephenbrown4232]

This is great. Looks so brutal. Congrats on getting through that!

[@KuboTheBeagle]

Nice one! Love the pod, good effort in the gym

[@jimt9261]

Great vid! It reminds me of how well rugby players, league and union, used to do on Superstars back in the 70's and 80's. Their all round strength, fitness, and mobility always set them apart from most other sportsmen whose abilities were more one dimensional. And today's rugby players are on another level to the players in those days.

[@IAMJEFFREY-cw9ns]

The greatest British & Irish Lions squads were from the 70s though😀 I believe it was the squad of 1974. Irish legend Willie John McBride talks about how they just worked on the farms back then piling bales of hay and other manual labour. The food they ate was 100% organic. Those lads back in the day were as strong as any. Same goes to boxers. The guys in the 70s and 80s fought 15 rounds and not 12.

[@edwardwilliams4043]

Loved this insight!

[@PhysicalEducationPod]

Will Kelleher one of the best journos out there...The Ruck arguably the best Rugby podcast out there. Keep going with the excellent content!

[@kirbymegorden8820]

Watt bike 8 reps High resistance 10 on 20 off w/ distance goal The grid 4 efforts 10 seconds and 20 m run Sled push 4 cone drill w the drop between Bag slam MB get up 20m run

[@artur.j.r]

Aled has a great ASMR voice

[@kiely4561]

A welshman wearing the red rose, i wonder how he feels about that lol

[@chipperjaunte]

He was with south africa he prolly doesn't mind much its his job

[@alfredreynolds5]

👏👏👏

[@leegaskin7674]

This is great! 👏👏

[@BS2Dos]

Fair play! Looks brutal.

[@Daniboi971]

Brutal Aled! 😂

[@joshsoprano4096]

How would one even go about improving at this type of fitness? Outside of being in a pro rugby club with huge gym it's somewhat untrainable for most no?

[@sbwmakavelli3833]

Bunch of cats

[@Witnesspicturesuk]

Please learn how to mix audio. It's really annoying that you put this out without mixing the audio properly.

[@isaymymind1727]

Not all listeners are sound engineers.. Most of us are hear to see the grind.

[@donovanvaz3289]

Hats off. I know I wouldn't last half as long as you did. And I bet half the keyboard warriors on here would be the same (although they'll all probably say otherwise).

[@user-qe1tv1bu2f]

Now add altitude like jhb or Pretoria and understand why the springboks are lightyears ahead

[@philpowell4472]

'light years'

[@expressoevangelism80]

The Spingboks win on thuggery and one or two other points. It would be great to watch an attractive free flowing match without the annoying prop type annoyances to prove their worth. I live in hope.🤪

[@phutisomo4491]

@@expressoevangelism80 lol

[@syllabubdubh]

'altitude'? Never seen it spelt that way before.

[@24hr_rugby_jake]

You won because of pollards 100% kicking accuracy, humble yourself

[@linkedinking]

Just do CrossFit...

[@tinymahuta]

This is for real athletes. Crossfit is for people who couldn't make it in a real sport.

[@isaymymind1727]

@@tinymahuta You mad emy day.