OCEANIA Weightlifting coach Paul Coffa believes rugby players in Fiji and the region need to commit themselves in doing more weight-lifting to improve their performance in rugby.
Coffa said weight-lifting was important for rugby players because it would help in their upper body strength.
He said the best example of a Fijian player with good upper body strength was former Flying Fijians number eight, Sisa Koyamaibole.
Coffa said he helped trained Koyamaibole who also undertook judo training by former Olympian and now late Viliame Takayawa Sr.
“Weight-lifting helps players to be strong. It makes them tough. This is evident in international teams like the Wallabies. They train with machines and they have produced the results.
“Weight-lifting is programmed with weights. It is not for body building. It is all about hard training.”
“A rugby player should do two hours of training per day in weight-lifting. They should exercise with weights, squats and legs. This is what Sisa used to do every day. He became strong and unstoppable after devoting more time in lifting weights. Sisa started with me as a rugby player and he was also a judo player. Within six months with me he became a very good number eight.”
Coffa said 15s rugby is a contact sport and speed should not only be given priority.
“One needs to have strength and power to wrestle their opponents. It is an explosion exercise. A lion will never run two kilometres to kill his prey, research showed that they puff out after 300 metres.”
He said it would take about three players to stop a player who had been training in weight-lifting during a match.
His comment fell at the right time when the Vodafone Flying Fijians marched into camp yesterday for the start of preparations to the Pacific Nations Cup.
Fijian players had been repeatedly known to be weak in upperbody strength.
“Weight training gives power to the legs and if one has that, then he is a great rugby player and if you do not have strong legs then they are good for dancing.
“In 15s you need strong legs, power, strength because it is a contact sport and if you are able to run for 50 metres then you are a good player. Sisa used to run 100 metres in 11 seconds with a super big weight at his back.”
Flying Fijians coach John McKee said there were different areas where the players concentrated on in training.
“Strength training is a very important part of the training for elite levels of rugby union. There are other aspects of fitness because rugby is a very dynamic game for Fiji in particular.
“We are playing at a high pace so we need to find a good balance between our strength training, fitness and endurance training,” he said.
The Vodafone Flying Fijians will start training today.
