The aim while we’re here is to simulate the conditions of Japan with regard to heat and humidity. We’re putting into practice the theory that by going above the body’s critical temperature for 30 minutes, the heat stress will increase the players’ endurance.
This converts to roughly 90 minutes of training in the heat, with six sessions required to see successful physical adaptations. The longer your body takes to reach its critical core temperature during subsequent training and games, the better your endurance.
Another benefit of all this training is that it reduces the electrolyte concentration in the players’ sweat, which in turn reduces the chance of cramp. While the players can gain these benefits within six sessions, they can be lost within two weeks with no further heat stress. As such, we’ll be doing heat top-ups from when we get home to Wales up until we go to Japan, including cranking up the heat in our gym and altitude chambers at our National Centre of Excellence, and going in hot baths after training. These things will maintain if not further improve the heat benefits from this Turkish camp.
On certain days here, some of the boys are doing up to four sessions a day. If anyone’s still feeling fresh come the evening, they can choose to do a weights session. With so much rugby being played in the sun, though, we make sure we’re on top of things when it comes to rehydration and encourage the boys to keep using sun cream.
The players know that what we’re doing works. We recently spent 15 days in Switzerland, and after that training camp we gave them six days off to regenerate (i.e. to rest and recover). If we keep training them hard they’ll just overtrain, so this is important. When they came back into camp they had all made significant improvements in their performance.
I’m really fortunate to have a world-class team of fitness coaches in Huw Bennett, John Ashby, Rhodri Williams and Eifion Roberts, alongside our sports scientist, Ryan Chambers. They all have their own strengths which creates a great balance within the Performance team and allows us to get the best out of the players – both as individuals and ultimately as a team on the pitch.
Our roles involve more than just dealing with the physical side. We try to motivate the players as much as we can, have a bit of a laugh in warm-ups when appropriate. The boys are working so hard that it can’t always be all stick and no carrot.
It helps that we’ve got a very settled management team. My working relationship with Warren Gatland, Rob Howley and Shaun Edwards goes back 17 years, when we were at Wasps together. I also worked with a lot of the other guys on Lions tours before joining the WRU. There’s a lot of trust and loyalty in the group. We have a laugh together and we go out for food and a drink together once a week. We don’t need to have loads of meetings, but we get where we want to be and know what’s best for the players.
Although I joined the Union in 2015, I actually spent a day with the Wales squad during the 2008 Grand Slam campaign – Warren’s first in charge. I was with Warrington Wolves at that point, and Warren flew me down to do a power endurance session with the players. It was fairly brutal, and I remember the players being unhappy about it. Gavin Henson said to me, “I hope I never meet you again in my life.”
That said, this is the sort of thing the boys are used to now. We’re pushing them to the limit. The session we did on our first day here in Turkey was 70 minutes in 38 degree heat – we’re right on the cusp with what we can put them through. We’re very grateful for the facilities we’ve got at this training camp, which are probably some of the best I’ve ever seen. Everything is in close proximity: great gyms, cryotherapy, plunge pools, saunas, a fantastic pitch with a running track around it. The hotel overlooks the pitch, the food is excellent and the staff can’t do enough for you. It really is fantastic.
There are lots of other teams and athletes staying here. We’ve had some sprinters watching us train, some high jumpers, and one of the best volleyball teams in the world. My background is in wrestling, so I used to rub shoulders with other athletes and see how they worked, but you don’t generally get that opportunity in team sports, so coming to places like this gives you that unique insight.
Paul ‘Bobby’ Stridgeon is Wales’ Head of Physical Performance.
