Scrum and Ruck Conditioning (Drills to build neck and core strength) with Mike Cron

Great practical skills that players can spend 5-10 mins each session. There is no discussion regarding when to breathe in and when to breathe out especially when in pushing position – does this have any impact?

Tony Munro Australia

Fantastic stuff from the Doc.

Loveni Enari Spain

Super stuff from the master Doctor himself

Mairtin Breathnach Ireland

I particularly like this set of drills. I convert the player on player neck push to the side into a drill to teach American Football players (High School age) how to set up and target a safe rugby tackle. The premise is how would you set up a tackle if you had to play without your arms. Really teaches where to focus, set up, and execute the tackle safely.

Mike Lewis USA

great activiteis to help us help the players, simple yet specific, should help by just making athletes more confident in their strength.

Guy McKim Canada

Odlicno – Excellent :)

Darko Bosnia & Herzegovina

Fantastic

Paul Kolo Hausia Australia

Excellent!

Micah Canada

COMO SIEMPRE MUY CLARO MIKE,PERO ME GUSTARIA LA TRADUCCION EN ESPAÑOL,DEVIDO A QUE MI INGLES ES POBRE EN CONOCIMIENTO

ricardo enrique hortt Argentina

Wow, this entire session was excellent for all players. Invaluable. Thank you can’t wait to use at next practise!

Pamela Hadikin Canada

This is just great, very rugby specific, all players will benefit from this. Its obvious that Cron puts tons of effort and thought into his drills that improve players safety and effectiveness.

Owen USA

Excellent drills, used a few before – every time the guys enjoy them, because of the competitive element. I also use them in my ju jitsu class!

Lee Paine England

Very inventive and interesting, however I was wondering how this exerciseswould be for younger players i.e under 15s ?.

michael grainger Great Britain & Northern Ireland

This video is a wonderful, all exercises useful for safety in rugby. Thanks Mike Cron.

robertosalucci Italy

Excelente, muchas cosas las conocia pero aprendi por que se hacen asi? y los ejercicios nuevos los pondre en practica!! Muchas Gracias

Matias Aristarain Germany

Brilliant video ! Simple but very effective.

Robert Morgan Great Britain & Northern Ireland

Love these practices, simple effective ways to improve bracing and neck strength, vital for our kids. Thanks Mike!

Peter Short England

As a former player and wrestler….excellent functional exercises for core and neck strengthening. I’m going to implement them immediately. Thanks Mike

paul hahn Canada

Great video for safety of all players including the backline.

silao Australia

thanks so much excellent stuff

Mike Diamond Hong Kong

great scrummaging videos for new players!

TUCKER SHAW USA

work routines with how long players should be on the other hand seem exlentes procteccion exercise for the players there is any contradiction why not to do

Pablo Antonio Montenegro Argentina

Great video – i have used the neck exercise (1 on top of three people in “strong” position) with our under 13s but only putting hands between shoulders. We can do the neck version when they are reasdy in a few years. Love the whole video. Thanks.

Richard Burkard England

available the Spanish translation? (subtitle) thanks.

Carlos Ramos Argentina

Thanks Ian, we’ve contacted Mike directly and his recommendation for U14 age players would be the iso-metric and simple K1 drills are fine. If you are looking to introduce the press ups off the head, take real care and ensure the players know understand it’s not about volume initially.

Take the time to assess the neck strength of the individuals, individually load and progress accordingly. All activities need to be introduced with the strictest emphasis on correct technique. Then slowly progressing load and increasing repetitions.

Thanks for the query and all the best with the U14’s.

The Rugby Site New Zealand

Qu. From what age are these drills appropriate? There are some very good ideas but I am nervous about using some of them with U14 players. Any advice?

Ian Gould Great Britain & Northern Ireland