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Jesse Kriel reveals his one-rep maxes as Springbok details gym routine

Jesse Kriel of South Africa celebrates after scoring their first try during the Summer Rugby International match between South Africa and Wales at Twickenham Stadium on June 22, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)

There are some players who look like they spend every waking moment that they are not playing rugby in the gym. South Africa’s Jesse Kriel is one of them. In fact, the Springbok is the godfather of those players.

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The 28-year-old sports a physique that has seen him make the front cover of Men’s Health, and he recently gave fans a glimpse of what a normal gym session looks like for him.

Speaking to SuperSport, the double World Cup winner outlined what he will do in a normal leg session at the gym, and it is surprisingly simple.

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“Normally I get to the gym and spend five to ten minutes on a bicycle just to get the blood flowing through my legs,” he said. “Then go and do a bit of activations with mini bands. Just some glute stuff and a bit of stretching.

“Then I’ll get under the squat bar, I normally do four to five sets of squatting. Then I do some Nordic curls, I like to keep the reps very low obviously because I don’t want to get injured when running. Just that activation and keeping the hamstrings stimulated. Then I’ll do a step-up into an A stance. That just gets your hips and your glutes nice and strong and obviously that running motion.

 

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“Then after that I’m pretty much done, it’s very simple. Quick, simple, but I think doing that for ten years, that’s where you find results, just being consistent.”

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Whatever the centre is doing, it is paying off currently as he is playing the best rugby of his career and has arguably been the Springboks’ best player so far in 2024.

But any discussion about the gym is not complete without players discussing what kind of weight they lift. Kriel did also add his bench press and squat numbers for those interested.

“Probably when I’ve been at my strongest I’ve been able to bench about 160kgs, but I’m not really big on one-rep maxes,” he added.

“I think when you’re playing week-in, week-out, your body is quite sore and I think putting a lot of stress and all that weight on your joints and muscles I think you’re asking for problems. So I like to keep it between 100 and 120, it’s a good weight for me.

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“Squats are a different story. The squat gives me a lot of confidence in a game week. It really makes me feel strong and makes my body feel solid. So I’ll get close to 200 there. It’s just a good start to the week and really makes you feel strong going into the week.”

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Bull Shark 4 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

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