Rugby training
The pre-season is where seasons are won.
PRE SZN is named after the block that decides everything. Gym programs that build strength you can use in a collision, running programs made of sprints and shuttles rather than laps, and the tracking to run both in the same week — built by a professional rugby S&C coach, with a 75-cap Wallaby.
PRESZN is in private beta — ask the friend who sent you this for a TestFlight invite.
The credentials
Built in professional rugby. Not adapted to it.
PRE SZN comes from Louis Dallimore — MSc Strength & Conditioning, published researcher, and a coach whose career started in professional rugby, correlating GPS, strength and game data to find what actually wins matches. Over seven years of that work happened alongside Quade Cooper — Wallabies fly-half, 75+ Test caps, and PRE SZN co-creator.
The programs in the app are the systems that came out of that: evidence first, refined on athletes whose contracts depended on it.
The rugby week has three jobs
Strength that survives contact
Heavy compound lifts, posterior-chain armour, and power work that converts gym strength into the first three metres. Size is bought without surrendering speed.
Speed, trained as a skill
Rugby is repeated sprints, not steady state. Maximum-velocity work done fresh, shuttles for the change of direction, speed endurance for the 78th minute.
A week that doesn't collide
The hard part is scheduling: heavy legs and sprint days fight for the same recovery. The paired programs are sequenced so neither steals from the other.
The rugby stack
PRE SZN Elite 12 Weeks is the gym half — five sessions a week building from dumbbells to barbells and power shrugs to full cleans, with cluster sets keeping the bar fast. PRE SZN Running is the field half — twelve weeks of speed development, shuttle fitness and speed endurance in thirty-minute sessions.
Short on work capacity after the off-season? WORK RATE rebuilds it in four brutal weeks. Peaking for a season start? Triphasic converts strength to speed the way it is done in professional sport.
On the field, the watch tracks sprint distance, high-speed running, GPS and heart rate; in the gym, every hard set is scored against your own four-week average. One app, one readiness picture, both halves of the sport.
Train like someone is watching
Rugby players train harder with a scoreboard — everyone does. PRESZN scores every session, keeps a form guide, and lets you run live battles against teammates. The competitive edge of a professional environment, in your pocket.
PRESZN is in private beta — ask the friend who sent you this for a TestFlight invite.
Browse all programsRugby training, answered
What should rugby players do in the gym?
Build maximal strength on the big lifts, convert it to power with jumps, throws and Olympic-lift variations, and armour the tissues that take the collisions — posterior chain, neck, trunk. PRE SZN Elite runs exactly that arc across 12 weeks: dumbbells to barbells, front squat to back squat, power shrugs to full cleans.
How do rugby players train in pre-season?
Pre-season is where the season is won: a base of work capacity, then maximal strength and speed built on top of it, with running volume climbing week on week. The PRE SZN stack mirrors that — work capacity first if you need it, then Elite in the gym with the 12-week running program alongside.
How do I get faster for rugby?
Sprint, at full intent, while fresh — speed is a skill trained at maximum velocity, not a by-product of fitness runs. PRE SZN Running gives speed development its own day, separate from speed endurance and conditioning, and the watch tracks your sprint distance and high-speed running so you can see the top end actually being trained.
How many days a week should a rugby player lift?
In a general prep block, three to five gym sessions alongside two to three running sessions is a full week. In season, two hard gym sessions usually hold strength. The scheduling problem — keeping hard gym days and hard running days from colliding — matters more than the exact count, and it is what the paired programs are sequenced for.
Is bodybuilding training good for rugby?
Muscle wins collisions, so hypertrophy work has a place — but a rugby program has to buy size without losing speed. That is why the PRE SZN programs pair their volume with jumps, sprints and power work rather than chasing a pump for its own sake.