Availability Is A Performance Metric

Most players judge themselves on how much they can lift, how fast they can run or how many tries they score.

All of those things matter.

But there’s another performance metric that rarely gets talked about:

Availability.

You can’t get stronger if you’re not training.

You can’t improve your fitness if you’re sat on the sidelines.

You can’t contribute to your team if you’re unavailable for selection.

The best players aren’t always the most talented.

They’re often the players who consistently turn up.

Week after week.

Month after month.

Season after season.

Why Availability Matters

Every training session is an opportunity to improve.

Every session missed is an opportunity lost.

One missed gym session doesn’t matter.

One missed running session doesn’t matter.

But when those missed sessions start to add up, so do the missed adaptations.

Over the course of a season, the player who completes 90% of sessions will almost always outperform the player who only completes 60%.

Durability Is A Skill

Many players treat injuries as bad luck.

Sometimes they are.

But many of the factors that influence durability are within your control.

• Strength training

• Sleep

• Nutrition

• Hydration

• Recovery

• Load management

None of these guarantee you’ll avoid injury.

They simply improve your ability to tolerate the demands of rugby.

The Big. Strong. Fast. Philosophy

Your goal shouldn’t be to avoid hard training.

Your goal should be to become capable of handling hard training.

Train hard.

Recover well.

Stay on the pitch.

This Week’s Action

Complete the Built To Last routine twice this week.

Nothing fancy.

Just start building the habit.

Because the best ability is availability.