Ok, it's summer, it's hot, you are standing on a pitch in a grubby, torn t-shirt dripping in sweat. As you enter the 5th minute of the second half in your 4th game of the day, you heave for oxygen and wonder to yourself... "Am I fit enough for sevens?"

Most of us enter the world of sevens rugby straight out of the regular 15's season. What it takes us that first tournament to realize is that sevens is NOT the same. Aside from the obvious differences in playing style, it offers a very different set of fitness challenges. "But," you say to yourself, "if I am fit enough for 80 minutes, surely I must be fit enough for 15!" Not necessarily, and don't call me Shirley.

While the standard fifteen's match requires short bursts of anaerobic fitness, interspersed with longer periods of aerobic fitness, sevens is almost completely anaerobic. Whuh? Anaerobic endurance is the ability to sustain activities that require near maximal force production (like sprinting). Unlike, it's aerobic counterpart, which uses oxygen to generate cellular energy, anaerobic activity uses the breakdown of muscle glycogen to produce cellular energy.

What does all this mean for training? Clearly, these two systems cannot be trained for in the exact same manner (though some overlap does occur). Similarly, fitness training for sevens should not necessarily be the same as that performed for 15's. Suggestions have trickled in and various resources have been tapped to determine the type of fitness drills appropriate for sevens. I have attempted to select those most useful in club situations, though some suggestions for individual training are included.

Key 1: Practice outside. Running on a track or treadmill in your lovely air-conditioned gym is not without benefit, but it will not build your body's tolerance for intense activity in the heat of summer. Don't forget your water bottle.

Key 2: Variety. Vary your drills and training sessions. This will condition your body more quickly, as you will adapt to a repeated regimen pretty quickly. If you are the fortunate fitness trainer for your team, it will also keep you from being lynched by your own players.

The drills: Drills are broken down into three main categories based on The RFU guide to Fitness for Rugby: Accelerative Speed, Pure Speed, and Speed Endurance. Mix and match as fits your team's practice schedule and level of play.

Accelerative Speed: These drills focus on your bursting speed.
1) Uphill Sprints: encourages use of the arms and vigorous leg extension.
2) Sprint pyramids: 3X20meters, 3X30m, 3X40m, 3X60m with walk or jog back recovery and 3minutes between sets.
3) Plyometrics: over 15-20m distance, perform lunges, frog jumps, high-knees sprints, and kick backs, as well as any other plyometric drill. The emphasis should be form, not speed, as these are essentially building the hip, hamstring, and quad muscles used in sprinting.

Pure Speed: Effort level on pure speed drills should be equal to or greater than 80% maximal speed. A maximum of 1200m per session is recommended. Rest time can be decreased as team fitness increases.
1) 3 sets of 6X60m or 4 sets of 5X40m with walk back recovery, 5min. rest between sets.
2) Individually running on off days can also emphasize pure speed by timing yourself on a mile run. Shoot for 6minutes. If this is already an easily attainable speed for you, try 1.5miles in 8 minutes.

Speed endurance: While the pure speed and accelerative speed drills obviously contain endurance components, the following drills focus on less recovery and are most suited to realistic on-field activity. Emphasize that drills be done at 95-100% maximal speed.
1) 80m sprints, timed for individual improvement. 3-4 repetitions.
2) 4 sets of 4X50m with a 20second jog-back recovery and 2 minutes between sets.

To test speed endurance, have players sprint 40m between 2 zones, 20m apart. The player begins in the middle, sprints 10m to one end, turns and sprints 20m to the opposite end, then turns and sprints back to the center. Have the player do this 8 times. Subtract the fastest time from the slowest time. This will yield a "fatigue factor." The lower this factor is, the more speed endurance the player exhibits.

Fun drills: If fitness drills can be fun, these are a few of the possible ones.
1) Keep away: In a four cone grid, have players attempt to pass the ball to each other in any manner possible without letting their opponents touch it. This is a good drill to set up with 4 offensive and 3 defensive. (Matching up equally leaves little opportunity for fitness). There is no off side and players must keep constantly moving during the drill. Run the drill for, you guessed it, 7.5 minutes, then allow subs as needed.
2) Rob the nest: Again in a four cone grid, with all balls in the center. Number each corner, 1-4. Call 2 numbers. Players from the appropriate corners sprint to the middle, but only the first one there can retrieve a ball and carry it to his corner. When the balls in the center are gone, players may sprint to other corners and steal balls. Again, only the person to reach the ball first may retrieve it. The first corner with all of the balls is the winner.

Any drills used in 15's can be used if they are modified to involve more sprinting with less recovery time between and during drills. Keep in mind that these training suggestions are beyond what those of us playing 7's socially are going to do. If you are playing for fun, or simply for something to do over the summer, pick and choose a few drills, but don't overdo it. For those teams out there training for high level competitive 7's, I hope this serves as a useful guide. Best of luck to everyone. See you on the pitch.

A few key sources for fitness drills and suggestions:
The RFU guide to Fitness for Rugby, Hazeldine & McNab
http://www.rugby365.co.uk/s...ng_fit/discussion
http://www.rugbyscience.co.uk
http://www.bocaratonrugby.com/jjs.html
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Loge/1391/r_fit3.htm