The Sport Academy asked the man responsible for knocking the Wales rugby team into shape to share some of his top training tips with us.

Fitness has been a rather weighty issue for some of Wales's top rugby players in recent seasons.

But this year's Six Nations tournament saw slimmed down second row forwards and sleeker centres taking to the field in those famous red jerseys.

And it's all down to a gruelling training regime brought in when Wales appointed a new fitness coach last summer.

New Zealander Andy Hore reckons top international players need to have the strength of a weightlifter and the upper-body power of a boxer.

He says they should also have aerobic capacity of a long-distance runner and the anaerobic capacity of a sprinter.

And the work of turning the Wales players into sporting super heroes began way back in July when Andy first took up his new role.

He started by carrying out a series of tests to assess each player's base fitness.

Then, follow up tests at intervals of around a month or so allowed Andy to measure the improvement in the players' speed, strength, stamina and flexibility.

Click around the buttons above right to find out more about how Andy has been helping the Welsh players prepare for their Six Nations showdowns.

Back to top