Physical Preparation System

Lessons from preparing athletes for the world’s most demanding team sport

Overview:

Rugby Sevens is arguably the most brutal team sport on the planet combining high-speed collisions, repeated sprints and relentless tournament schedules across continents. Preparing athletes to survive and excel requires more than programming. It demands layered systems of preparation, recovery and adaptability.

This presentation draws from Dr Nick Poulos’s experience as Head of Performance for the Australian Men’s Sevens which included the Olympic Games, World Series campaigns, the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby Sevens World Cup. It reflects on real tournament windows, extended travel, limited facilities and the constant need to adapt. Rather than theory, Nick shares what has worked, what hasn’t and how his approach evolved through lived experience.

 

Overview:

Complex training and post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) are well established in the literature, yet their application in elite sport remains challenging. This presentation draws on Dr Nick Poulos’s PhD research and applied experience across AFL, Olympic Rugby Sevens, professional Rugby Union and Track and Field.

The focus is on bridging research with practice: what the science supports, what has been effective in high-performance environments and how to implement these strategies without unnecessary complexity. Nick shares practical models, programming sequences and lessons from lived experience, always grounded in the realities of elite team sport calendars, scheduling, periodisation and recovery demands.

 

Structuring training that reflects intent, not routine.

Overview:

This session focuses on shaping both weekly (microcycle) and longer term (macrocycle) planning and training structures that align with performance objectives.

Nick draws from extensive AFL, Rugby Sevens and Rugby Union experience to guide practitioners through how to make each session count and not just fill the calendar. It includes integration of physical preparation, sport-specific skills, contact exposure and recovery strategies while ensuring sequencing decisions are based on athlete needs, competition timelines and performance goals.

Nick also discusses how training microcycles are influenced by day-to-day program realities including athlete availability, medical updates, reviews, meetings, downtime and coaching priorities. He shares how different teams and sports require adaptable planning and how systems can integrate peripheral sessions (e.g. Pilates, individualised mobility, conditioning or cross training) without creating friction or confusion. The emphasis is not on dictating a model but on sharing experiences and lessons about collaboration, clarity and decision making under pressure.

Overview:

Conditioning in elite team sport requires more than traditional methodologies. This presentation draws on Dr Nick Poulos’s applied experience designing and embedding conditioning systems across AFL, international Rugby Sevens and professional Rugby Union, grounded in both practice and research, including his authored chapter on Rugby Sevens in Science and Application of High-Intensity Interval Training (Laursen & Buchheit, Human Kinetics).

The session examines how conditioning strategies have been adapted across pre-season, in-season and off-season phases including how they may be integrated into training through drill design, between-drill conditioning and contact-based scenarios. It also explores how conditioning has been managed under the demands of travel, short turnarounds and the challenge of balancing strength, power, speed, endurance skill and tactical preparation in elite environments.

Overview:

Balancing strength, power and conditioning remains one of the most persistent challenges in elite team sport not just in theory but in daily practice. This presentation explores how to manage the interference effect in real world, high-performance environments. While molecular mechanisms and sequencing theory are well described in the literature, their application to congested, contact-heavy team sport calendars require a pragmatic and context-specific lens.

Dr Nick Poulos draws on his experience managing elite physical preparation across AFL, Rugby Sevens and Rugby Union where planning must account for limited time, staff, competing priorities and athlete preparedness and readiness. The session unpacks how to navigate concurrent demands without compromising key training qualities, sharing lessons from what worked, what didn’t and how approaches evolved.

The presentation will also explore the research-practice gap: how published findings relate to real world practice when schedules are set by governing bodies, player associations, scheduling and coaching demands.

Nick also provides embedded support in a discreet, non-threatening manner, listening, observing and supporting without disrupting internal staff structures or roles.

This approach has been used in several organisations across Asia and Oceania, where Nick has spent multiple days working alongside coaches and performance staff to improve delivery and provide sustainable support.
(Multi-week engagements have been previously delivered in this manner building trust, refining the existing program and leaving the organisation in a stronger position through subtle, practitioner led support.)