Second row and back row training: locks, flankers and number 8s

Locks and back-rowers share a pack but not a job. Locks win lineouts, lift, scrummage and clear rucks; back-rowers tackle, carry and arrive first at the breakdown, over and over again. Both need serious strength, but the qualities you build on top of it differ.

This guide covers numbers 4 to 8. For the front row see our props and hookers guide, and for the basics of sets, reps and progression see the rugby strength training programme.

Second row: strength, jump, land, lift

The second row’s emphasis is strength plus jumping and landing, plus overhead strength. In amateur club rugby, second rows cover about 65 metres per minute of playing time Olsen et al. 2023, similar to the back row, but with more set-piece work. Locks also share the front row’s spinal loading in the scrum and maul, so they follow the same spine-care rules: weekly trunk extensor and anti-flexion work and no heavy loaded spinal flexion.

Lineout work by role

At sign-up, Match Ready asks forwards whether they jump, lift, both or neither. There’s no published study on lineout-specific gym training, so this is labelled Coach’s method in the app.

• Jumpers: landing drills from lift height (single and double leg, landings held for 3 seconds with ankle, knee and hip in line), calf and ankle strength, and jump power (box jumps, countermovement jumps).
• Lifters: overhead pressing (push press, strict press), overhead holds and loaded carries.
• Both: one combined block of about 10–12 minutes that alternates emphasis from session to session.
• Everyone doing lineout work gets shoulder-blade work: Y, T and W raises, serratus push-ups and rows.

Women second rows may run the most of any position in the women’s game, so their conditioning gets a little more emphasis.

Back row: strength, power, repeated efforts

The back row’s emphasis is strength, power and repeated efforts with contact. Positional research consistently puts loose forwards among the highest for collisions and work rate Cunningham et al. 2016 Paul et al. 2022. A flanker’s game is a string of short sprints, hits and get-ups, so the conditioning has to look like that.

Power

Back-rowers need to turn strength into speed off the mark and through contact. Use jumps (box jumps, broad jumps, bodyweight or light jump squats), medicine ball throws, and for experienced lifters, hang cleans or pulls. Level 4+ players can pair a moderately heavy lift with a jump straight after (for example 5 squats at about 80%, rest, then 3 jumps): the boost is small on average and bigger in stronger players.

Shoulder robustness

The shoulder is among the top three injury sites for forwards and backs Brooks et al. 2005 Paul et al. 2022, and back-rowers, centres and fly-halves make the most tackles. They get extra shoulder volume: rotator-cuff external rotation (including at 90° out to the side), shoulder-blade control, closed-chain work such as push-up holds and bear crawls, and catching drills. Evidence for shoulder-specific evidence-based programmes is limited, so this is coach’s method, but strong shoulders are never wasted in a tackling position.

Low-tackle strength

Tackle height in community rugby is now lower, which asks more of the hips, trunk and neck Guilfoyle et al. 2026. Every position, and the back row especially, gets hip-hinge and split-stance strength, trunk endurance in a bent-at-the-waist position, and neck work.

Repeated-effort conditioning

In pre-season, back-rowers and centres get repeated-effort work: 3–6 second sprints, then a contact (tackle bag, shield hit), then a get-up, in bouts of three. In professional rugby, this kind of training lifted in-game contact rate about twice as much as plain repeated sprints Glaise et al. 2024.

A sample pre-season repeated-effort set:

Forwards’ conditioning targets the second half, so put these efforts at the end of a session when you’re already tired, and build forwards’ drills to include about 0.7–0.9 contacts a minute inside the running Reardon et al. 2017. Base the running speeds on your own maximal aerobic speed (see rugby conditioning tests).

Neck work

Back-rowers do neck work three times a week all season, locks 2–3 times a week. Start with self-resisted holds in four directions, add rotation, then bands and partner resistance, and finally plates or a harness. An eight-week self-resisted programme improved neck strength in rugby players Attwood et al. 2021. Never train into pain, and never claim it prevents concussion; it doesn’t, as far as the evidence shows. The full progression is in the neck strength guide.

Sample sessions

Lock (jumper), in-season strength day

• Warm-up with landing drills from a low box, held 3 seconds
• Box jump 3×3
• Back squat 3×5 (wave week)
• Push press 3×4
• Weighted chin-up 3×5
• Single-leg calf raise 3×10 each, ankle hops 2×10
• Nordic 2×5, back raises 2×10
• Neck holds and Y-T-W raises paired into main-lift rests

Openside flanker, in-season strength day

• Warm-up including shoulder block
• Hang power clean 4×3 (or jump squat if not yet taught)
• Front squat 3×5
• Bench press 3×5 and chest-supported row 3×8
• Split squat 2×8 each
• Nordic 2×5
• External rotation at 90° 2×12, bear crawl 2×15 m
• Neck band work 2 rounds

Multi-position players

Plenty of amateurs play 6 one week and 4 the next, or cover 8 and 12. In Match Ready, your main position sets the emphasis and a second position adds its one key extra: a lock covering back row picks up repeated-effort work, a back-rower covering lock picks up the lineout block. The number of sessions comes from your availability and training level, never from position; no study has tested session counts by position.

Size versus speed

Locks and number 8s often want more size. That’s fine if it doesn’t cost speed or jump height. Check a jump or a 10 m sprint as you gain weight; if the jump drops while weight goes up, slow the gain. See gaining size for rugby.

An in-season week for a back-rower

Back-rowers who play the full 80 every week rarely need extra conditioning in-season; club training and matches supply it. Players coming off the bench, or not selected, get a short repeated-effort top-up after the game or midweek.

Testing your progress

Keep testing simple and personal: estimated maxes on the squat, bench and weighted chin-up from your training loads, a countermovement jump, a 10 m sprint and, in pre-season, a conditioning test such as the Bronco or a MAS time trial (see conditioning tests). Jumpers should watch their jump height closely as they gain weight. A change only counts if it’s bigger than the test’s normal day-to-day variation.

Common mistakes

• Locks training like props. You need overhead strength and jump power as well as raw strength.
• Back-rowers doing endless steady runs. Your game is short, intense efforts with contact; train it that way.
• Dropping shoulder work. It takes minutes and suits the position that makes the most tackles.
• Practising live contact alone. Contact technique belongs at club training with a coach, built up progressively.

Women’s second and back row

The same groups and emphases apply in the women’s game, with women’s own reference numbers where they exist. Second rows may run the most of any position, so their conditioning gets more weight, and every position gets the full neck dose and the knee block in the warm-up. Lineout jumpers in particular should keep landing technique work going all season.