As professional athletes the Cornish Pirates rugby players thought they had fitness training sorted – until they were put through their paces with a military style session at RNAS Culdrose.

After a chance meeting at the Bodmin Armed Forces Day between Culdrose’s Leading Physical Trainer Mark Yates and Jan Randle, team manager for the Cornish Pirates, it was agreed the players should visit the Helston naval base to swap training ideas and develop skills.

The Royal Navy physical training staff had just completed a course on strength and conditioning, which the naval is looking to implement for its sailors, so Mark and Jan agreed that the best way for the Culdrose staff to hone their newly learnt skills was to take on the Pirates in a training session.

The morning session was conducted by the Culdrose staff using their new skills with a workout that involved a high intensity, ‘as many rounds as possible’ circuit using weights that incorporated every muscle in the body. Kettle bells were also used in the circuit – to the delight of the Pirates. After demonstrating strength and conditioning techniques in the gym, the PT staff then took the Pirates into the pool for a swimming circuit.

The players were put through their paces, working on widths and all types of strokes, pushing themselves to the limit. The session finished with a relay consisting of three teams, three bricks and the full length of the pool. Each team had to push their brick from one end of the pool to the other and back, all underwater. They became so competitive and eager to win that LPT Yates made them do it a second time.

After a break for lunch the afternoon session began on the rugby field, where the Pirates coaches took the lead in the training, allowing the PT staff to see how a skills session is run at top level.

The navy personnel were surprised to see that for the 90 minute period the players were doing basic ball drills, bringing home the importance of being able to carry out the fundamentals efficiently in any sport, even when playing at such a high level.

A spokesperson for Culdrose said: “Overall the day was a great success for both organisations. The Pirates learnt about Royal Navy fitness training and the Culdrose personnel were able to put their newly acquired skills into action and gain valuable experience working with top end athletes.”