In a single game of sevens, a player will cover between 800 and 1,500 metres. They will make roughly 10 to 15 high-speed entries, and face between three and seven ‘contact actions’ per half.
In other words, sevens players jog, sprint, tackle, and get up to do it all over again for 14 straight minutes. Over the course of a weekend of competition, they easily cover more than 10km while getting physically battered.
The sport is not for the faint of heart and requires meticulous training and rigorous recovery methods to ensure that players arrive in peak condition for each HSBC SVNS tournament.
At Chula Vista, California, the USA Eagles Men’s and Women’s Sevens players explain how they stay in shape.
Cardio
Cardio is king in sevens rugby. To break the opponent’s line or make the try-saving tackle, players need endurance, a high maximum speed, and repeat sprint ability.
To build those traits, USA’s head of athletic performance Josh Schnell prioritises rigorous cardio training in preseason and between competitions.
Players train their maximal aerobic speed (MAS), which is calculated from the dreaded Bronco test — a 1.5km run split into five continuous rounds of 20m, 40m, and 60m shuttles — that players run three to four times per year.
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According to Schnell, the men’s and women’s sides will do one to two MAS running blocks per week in the lead-up to competition. They will mix in other sprint work and rugby-based running exercises to top off players’ distance numbers.
The goal is for each player to endure long stretches of sustained sprints repeatedly throughout one game and over a tournament weekend.
Contact
To condition their bodies for the physical hardship of an HSBC SVNS season, Schnell says the Olympians will do one or two full-contact days per week.
The Eagles lift heavy weights four times per week in the off-season, focusing on gaining strength and muscle mass. In season, that number decreases to three times a week, with an emphasis on strength maintenance. More explosive exercises are added in-season to help generate the power needed to break and make tackles, accelerate, and get up off the ground.
“Yesterday was a normal Tuesday for us,” said Stephen Tomasin. “We came in, and we had a meeting in the morning, followed by a full-contact session. Then we went straight into an upper-body gym session for about an hour.
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“We have lunch together. We have another meeting early in the afternoon, and then we get into a full field rugby session, something we call ‘chaos’, where there are a lot of longer sets with little rest, to work the endurance side of things. We do that or something similar four days a week,” said the 13-year Eagles veteran.
Alongside the routine rugby exercises, Schnell likes to add in combat conditioning, which he says is “the best way to mimic the game of sevens,” largely because it forces players to get up and off the ground as quickly and efficiently as possible over and over again.
Food
According to Scaramella, on a heavy training or a game day, female players can burn roughly 3,000 calories, while men will burn between 5,000 and 6,000.
To ensure that the Eagles recover as quickly as possible, they are given quality carbohydrates, fibre-filled fruits and vegetables, and large quantities of lean protein to rebuild their muscles.
The sample meal she prepared for journalists after a light training run was supposed to mimic what players would eat: wild salmon, grilled chicken breast, cilantro brown rice, salad, roast asparagus, bread rolls, and fruit platters with berries, apples, and pineapple.
“Quality carbohydrates are really important for muscle fuel and energy, as well as brain fuel,” said Scaramella.
What players eat directly affects how quickly they can move around the field and how quickly they can make decisions in fast-paced environments.
With constant training and transcontinental travel, players are encouraged to hydrate as much as possible with water and electrolytes to aid digestion and cognition.
Scaramella also brings a 50-pound food bag to international tournaments. It’s full of additional high-protein snacks, like dehydrated camping meals, nutrition bars, and peanut butter, which might not be available outside the USA.
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But not everything is done by the book. Eagles women’s star Sammy Sullivan admits Friday is her cheat day. “I need to reward myself for a hard work-week and then get the weekend started right, you know?”
Her order: “A large, thin, and crispy pepperoni pizza with three lava cakes.”
Recovery
After two days of contact and sprinting, the Eagles get Wednesday off before going through two competitive days of training to end the work-week. Saturday and Sunday are days off unless it’s a tournament weekend.
According to try-scoring bronze medalist Spiff Sedrick, “recovery is where we say we win the one percent”.
She prioritises sleep, looking for roughly nine hours a night. Tomasin is similar. He said: “The biggest thing for recovery is sleep. You can do all this different stuff, but if you’re not sleeping enough, that takes priority.”
Tomasin is also a regular in the ice bath, taking an eight-minute bath after training. Sedrick prefers acupuncture and chiropractic care.
Each player has their own particular routine to ensure that they are fighting fit by the time game day rolls around.
By Vitas Carosella