Latest / The Rugby Muscle Podcast / Questions to Shape Your Approach to Rugby as You Age
Transcript
- 0:00you don't need everything to be perfect.
- 0:01Or even if you've got lots of future potential, then you've got years to build on it a bit.
- 0:06And bill to get better, even if you're 30 that's doesn't necessarily mean you're reaching your physical peak.
- 0:12That still means that you've got absolutely lots of time.
- 0:15As you keep playing more and more rugby.
- 0:18Ideally you're continually understanding the game better yes, what's going on, everybody.
- 0:30Welcome back to the rugby muscle YouTube channel or podcast.
- 0:33However you are listening to this.
- 0:35It's lovely to have you here.
- 0:37I'm your host as always TJ today, I am revisiting a topic that we already spoke about last week, which is keeping enjoying rugby and playing rugby.
- 0:46As you age now.
- 0:48Last week, we spoke a lot about the physical side of things, the ideas and ground, the concepts that you need to understand with training.
- 0:56But I think if you haven't already watched that, don't go and watch it.
- 0:59Now I will link it below, but I think you should go watch your offer because this is more of a mental model that I think a lot of.
- 1:05Can do with applying.
- 1:06And a lot of you that might be exploring the idea of either coming back to rugby or playing for one more season and the feasibility.
- 1:13And I think these four questions rather than mental models will, give you a much better idea of how you should go forward about doing this.
- 1:22This isn't talking about like the specifics of the training.
- 1:24This is going to be asking you questions, how you feel you should approach.
- 1:29You'll come back to rugby and hand how you should judge that and how you should therefore then dedicate your time to training or not.
- 1:36Not necessarily exactly going to be saying, oh, this means everything to you.
- 1:40You have to sacrifice to win.
- 1:42You have to suffer like this.
- 1:43That's not it.
- 1:43Okay.
- 1:44We're going to be asking some questions that are much more reasonable that amateur players can really understand.
- 1:49And really, maybe we are thinking a little bit deep, but you're going to get a lot out of it.
- 1:54So the questions that we are going to ask.
- 1:57Oh, number one.
- 1:58Why you playing rugby?
- 1:59Number two, where are your limits?
- 2:01Number three.
- 2:02What can you do?
- 2:03Kind of fade, right.
- 2:04But we're going to go into depth actually, what that actually means and what are your standards?
- 2:09And these four questions have no context right now.
- 2:13So let's put some bloody context of number one.
- 2:16Why are you playing rugby?
- 2:18Like this question is going to be answered a hundred different times by 100 different people.
- 2:24They are.
- 2:25It's not just the fact that, you know, it's different things and different reasons at the heart of it, but there's also lots of different combinations.
- 2:32So You as an aging rugby athlete needs to ask yourself the question, why are you playing rugby?
- 2:38And this aging doesn't necessarily mean that you're someone that's in your forties or fifties.
- 2:43This could mean someone that's getting towards your late twenties or mid twenties having taken it really seriously early on what are you playing?
- 2:50Number one?
- 2:51one of the main reasons that we should all be playing.
- 2:54Enjoyment.
- 2:55The game is bloody fun.
- 2:56It's, it's one of the coolest things that you can do.
- 2:58It's a combination of, you know, literally kind of like going to war with a ball, with the objective of getting that ball to the other line with 1500 players, including yourself.
- 3:08And like there's not many other realms of life that you can pursue, something like that.
- 3:13Right.
- 3:15I think we're playing rugby for glory, and then we'd take a step back and we realized that it's actually more of the enjoyment side of things.
- 3:21You also want to ask yourself, is it something like we see this a lot with athletes, particularly in the amateur level where they play, because it is a.
- 3:30To keep yourself physically healthy, right?
- 3:33It is a reason like they, or they might even just, that might be the only exercise they do is the two to three rugby sessions or including the matches that they do a week.
- 3:42That's the only activity they get in a week.
- 3:44That's their version of fitness.
- 3:46You're here on the rubbing muscle YouTube channel because we're looking for a little bit more, but that's a lot of people because of the enjoyment factor, they will be a, they'll continue to play rugby because it keeps them active.
- 3:58And that's a fantastic reason to keep playing rugby.
- 4:01If you can keep doing it, it's, it's a reason to keep going.
- 4:04Um, Number four, I've written here is the mental benefit.
- 4:08Not necessarily just playing on game day and how much fun that is or in the moment.
- 4:12You know, attack and defense or whatever.
- 4:14It's also the teammates that you get.
- 4:16It's the camaraderie that you get.
- 4:18It's the camaraderie also with the opposition, it's the, all of those social benefits and I think they're not exclusively necessarily to rugby, but they are a big benefit of rugby and rugby really does lean on those and you can use those to, to get a good benefit out.
- 4:33There's like great communities are had around rugby clubs and it's one of the best place that you can find groups of friends.
- 4:38I've done it several times.
- 4:39Wherever I've moved for rugby wherever I go.
- 4:42I will find the local rugby club and immediately you found a group of mates and wherever you are that will still be accessible to provide to them as a rugby club near enough to you.
- 4:50Right?
- 4:51So lots of reasons to keep playing re-up in.
- 4:53And for this reason, even if your performance might be deteriorating, your physique might be deteriorating.
- 4:59If you go back and watch the fiscal video that we did last year.
- 5:03I understand how to hold that off and why that not isn't necessarily the case, but for the most part, like, you know, other than glory, ideally you want to keep playing as long as you can.
- 5:12Like you see here, there's a picture of Mike.
- 5:15He plays rugby still in early to mid forties.
- 5:19After winning the world cup 2019 years ago, he still plays community rugby because of the enjoyment he's had the glories won a bloody world cup.
- 5:29He's reached the top.
- 5:30Yeah.
- 5:31He's still here playing.
- 5:31So obviously it isn't just about Gloria.
- 5:35It's a lot of other things that are going on.
- 5:36And so.
- 5:37I definitely do think that there are lots of reasons to keep playing rugby and you have to ask yourself, which of those reasons are there to gauge your level of the next few questions that we're gonna ask.
- 5:48So, number two, where are your limits?
- 5:50Right.
- 5:50So this isn't just about rugby.
- 5:52This can also be about I've put what there, I should probably have put kids and family first because they're going to be more important, but those two things are incredibly important for people as you go.
- 6:01So.
- 6:02You're going to have limits to what you can commit to as far as rugby is concerned or primarily around those two things.
- 6:10Also your social life.
- 6:11Maybe you will have golf weekends.
- 6:13Maybe you will have lots of more.
- 6:15We get family and friends and other times away, like we're not going to take that away from you or rubbish.
- 6:20Shouldn't have to take that away from you.
- 6:22You should integrate rugby into those things.
- 6:26But where are you prepared to extend?
- 6:28That is another question, right?
- 6:29How much time do you need to dedicate to your family before you're unnecessarily saying, oh, this, you know, I can't commit because of my family, when you can still have an hour to go and play rugby or an hour to go to dedicate to the gym.
- 6:43And that would be fine.
- 6:46This isn't me saying, that's definitely the case for you.
- 6:48This is me asking you, where are your limits?
- 6:50So where are your limits for how far you want to build your work and build your current?
- 6:55And how you can fit rugby around her.
- 6:56Where are your limits for your social life is like pulling back on your social life too much for you.
- 7:01Is that going to be too much so that maybe you don't have time to commit to extra training sessions because you've got to go for beers or, or whatever it is, you know, social commitments that you have outside of work afterward, maybe that's the case.
- 7:16Where are your limits for your injuries as far as your commitments?
- 7:20You know, it's going to go both ways as far as playing rugby, because yes, if you're playing rugby, you're always going to be subjecting yourself to a chance of being injured, but the better prepared you are, the less that chance happens.
- 7:33But then you sacrifice more and more time to do that.
- 7:36A big common problem that I see with guys as they age is actually they back off more and more and more from physical activity, which just suddenly makes them weaker or maybe not suddenly, but gradually makes them weaker and weaker or a weaker over time.
- 7:48And therefore.
- 7:49They're more, actually more likely to be injured because they're less prepared.
- 7:52Whereas if you're always active, you're going to be more robust.
- 7:55I mentioned in the last video about movement is medicine, it's that sort of thing.
- 7:58Right?
- 7:59So understanding your limits as far as what you're prepared to take for that.
- 8:04That can be something that you have to understand before you can figure out why your commitments lie for the gym and what, and for rugby, then when you're looking at your limits for your rugby ability, if you like, this is quite hard to wrap your head around, but, if you understand your limits, you can absolutely either find a new reason to replay or find a new challenge or understand that your commitment doesn't necessarily have to be all in because it's okay because you're just playing for enjoyment.
- 8:29You don't need everything to be perfect.
- 8:31Or even if you've got lots of future potential, then you've got years to build on it a bit.
- 8:36And bill to get better, even if you're 30 that's doesn't necessarily mean you're reaching your physical peak.
- 8:41That still means that you've got absolutely lots of time.
- 8:44As you keep playing more and more rugby.
- 8:47Ideally you're continually understanding the game better and your Rabi's constantly evolving.
- 8:53So you will be evolving your thinking.
- 8:55So you'll be evolving your understanding and your adapting and your ability to solve the problems that the rugby pitch presents to you.
- 9:02And therefore become a better player.
- 9:04So as long as you can actually just sustain your physical performance, you're actually going to be a better rugby player.
- 9:09The question is, where are your limits as far as rugby ability is concerned?
- 9:12Like how are you going to approach your commitment because of those limits, same thing for your future potential.
- 9:18If you no longer have ambitions to play for the first team, does that mean that you just completely want to stop?
- 9:25These are questions that you have to ask for yourself, same thing for your time.
- 9:28And how much longer you've got as far as wanting to play.
- 9:31Like, what do you want to dedicate?
- 9:33This isn't like long-term life.
- 9:34This is your time on a weekly or a monthly basis.
- 9:37What are your limits as far as what you can commit?
- 9:40Because once you've answered these questions, now you can figure out the next question.
- 9:45As to what you can do, right?
- 9:48Once you figured out your limits, as far as your abilities, your goals, why you're playing rugby, you figured out like your physical limits, your, your actual scheduling limits.
- 9:58Now, you know, Like you've got all your commitments together.
- 10:01You can figure out a plan of, okay.
- 10:04I can commit two sessions a week outside of the gym.
- 10:06My abilities skill-wise are great, but I'm lacking my fitness.
- 10:10Okay.
- 10:10So now I can figure out, I want to get fitter.
- 10:13This is what I'm going to do.
- 10:14So.
- 10:15Essentially just figure out like the minimum amount that you can do.
- 10:18Don't hit extra expectation for no reason.
- 10:21Don't heat extra pressure on yourself for no reason.
- 10:24Don't set a schedule that, you know, you're probably never going to keep, make it really easy, make it so that you've got a 99% chance of succeeding with these commissions.
- 10:35And go in and do it and get success and get success after one week and build an XSS after one week for two weeks, for three weeks for a month, then you've had a month of success.
- 10:44Okay.
- 10:44Now how can we keep moving forward with our goals?
- 10:46How can we keep executing if you fall?
- 10:50Don't just give up, don't say, okay.
- 10:51Ah, shit, I'm too old.
- 10:52That's it.
- 10:52I've got to give up like, oh, I've got I'm too busy or I'm too injured or whatever it is, no reassess where you'll come in short and keep moving forward And if moving forward means staying in the same place, then that can still keep you playing rugby for the enjoyment.
- 11:10You're still going to be enjoying rugby.
- 11:11You don't necessarily always have to keep moving forward.
- 11:13As I said already..
- 11:14Physically just by playing rugby week on week on week, you're being presented with more and more stuff.
- 11:20You're going to be learning.
- 11:21You're going to be adapting.
- 11:22You're going to be improving your performance, especially if you're someone that is watching this video.
- 11:28So then that leaves us with the last question is what are your standards?
- 11:32How far can you slip away in these different areas before you think?
- 11:35Okay, I need to address that.
- 11:37Okay.
- 11:37I need to address that.
- 11:38Okay.
- 11:38I need to address.
- 11:39This comes when you fall short, maybe you've pushed yourself too much with ropy, and now your wife's she's not really mad at you, but she would like you to, you be at home Tuesday events you've got to ask yourself the question, where are your standards?
- 11:52You've got to ask yourself, am I the person that is going to know my standards?
- 11:57I'm always showing up to rub it on a Tuesday night.
- 11:59You're going to be a disappointed wife, or I'm going to make it up to you in another way.
- 12:02Or you're going to say.
- 12:05I'm I'm a good husband.
- 12:06I need to fix this.
- 12:07I'm gonna like, not commit to rugby for the next following few Tuesdays.
- 12:12And we're going to figure this out, whatever it is, right.
- 12:14That's just a complete scenario that I've plucked out of my arsenal.
- 12:18That is not necessarily how it's going to work, but you get the point.
- 12:21These are the sorts of questions that you're going to be asking yourself.
- 12:23So what are your standards, as far as you, your career, your kids, your family, your social commitments, as we already said, what are your standards as far as injuries?
- 12:32Once again, if you just commit to nothing, there's still a good chance that your injuries are going to go away.
- 12:36Particularly if you look at the last point here, as far as health and physique are concerned, like if you commit to nothing, your health is going to deteriorate.
- 12:44And if you're someone that wants to play rugby, because that's something that keeps you.
- 12:48And I it's like the little carrot that's dying Linda at the end of the gym session, because you want to keep improving rugby because that's fun.
- 12:55And you know, also going to the gym is something healthy and something that you should be continually doing for life then, like, you want to make sure that you don't let your standards drop in that.
- 13:07Same thing for your rubbish.
- 13:08If you're rubber, your starting to drop, maybe you commit to a vet's team, or maybe you say, okay, this, this is it.
- 13:13We've we've full-time Rabbim.
- 13:14Now I'm just going to commit to the odd vets tournament or the maybe I'm just going to play touch rugby with older people, which is great.
- 13:22It is great fun.
- 13:22I coach a guy who's just started playing only tucked up in and it's fun.
- 13:27It's still everything dynamic without the car crash every single weekend.
- 13:32So.
- 13:33Yes, this was a little bit of a ramble because these are questions that I cannot answer.
- 13:37These are more philosophical approaches and questions and mental models that you need to wrap your heads around.
- 13:44So if this has made things any clearer for you, I'd love to know in the comments below please let me know if you are someone that has a good idea of this and you think.
- 13:53I get this.
- 13:54I, I think I know where I'm at.
- 13:56I want to commit to this, but I don't know what star physically, number one, you can go and be a freeloader and watch all the videos that here on the rubbed muscle YouTube channel.
- 14:05Definitely make sure you subscribe because that makes that process a lot easier.
- 14:08You can check out the physical performance pyramid.
- 14:11We've done a whole playlist on that stuff.
- 14:12We've done lots of different playlists on how to program your Shanklin condition, or you can go straight to the source, which is team rubbing muscle.
- 14:20Oh, the team programming delivered directly to you on a monthly basis, or you can hire me as your coach links or those will all be in the description below.
- 14:32Once again, we've reached the end of this video.
- 14:33I'm not really sure how to finish this.
- 14:35If you've made it to the end, please give it a thumbs up comment below any thoughts that you have for why you play rugby for what keeps you going as you age?
- 14:43What are your goals in the long term?
- 14:44Or anything else, comments for the algorithm are always appreciate thumbs up, subscribe if you're new.
- 14:49And once again, check out those links for all the ways that you can work with rubbing also into the description below.
- 14:53And I'll see you in the next client.