{"id":1156,"date":"2025-06-21T02:36:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T02:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1156\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T02:36:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T02:36:14","slug":"test-your-cardio-with-this-brutal-80-60-40-session-from-lions-coach-aled-walters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1156\/","title":{"rendered":"Test Your Cardio with This Brutal 80-60-40 Session from Lions Coach Aled Walters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"0\" class=\"css-ftlgrv emevuu60\">When it comes to preparing elite athletes for high-stakes competition, Aled Walters is a coach who knows exactly what works. Now leading the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.menshealth.com\/uk\/fitness\/a65009740\/british-irish-lions-fitness\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.menshealth.com\/uk\/fitness\/a65009740\/british-irish-lions-fitness\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"British &amp; Irish Lions\u2019 physical conditioning\" data-node-id=\"0.1\" class=\"body-link css-1d8p8n5 emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">British &amp; Irish Lions\u2019 physical conditioning<\/a> for their upcoming six-week tour of Australia, the experienced Welshman is turning to tried-and-tested methods to get his players firing fast. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"2\" class=\"css-ftlgrv emevuu60\">Among his favourite tools is a deceptively simple \u2013 and undeniably tough \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.menshealth.com\/uk\/building-muscle\/a64221560\/best-strength-moves-running\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.menshealth.com\/uk\/building-muscle\/a64221560\/best-strength-moves-running\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"running\" data-node-id=\"2.1\" class=\"body-link css-1d8p8n5 emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">running<\/a> drill borrowed from the New Zealand sevens setup.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"3\" class=\"css-ftlgrv emevuu60\">Known as the 80-60-40 drill, it\u2019s designed to test fitness, build resilience and quickly expose who\u2019s ready to dig deep. &#8216;It\u2019s horrendous,&#8217; Walters admits, &#8216;but it\u2019s repeatable \u2013 and a great way to test and improve your fitness.&#8217; <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"7\" class=\"css-ftlgrv emevuu60\">In an environment where time is short and standards are sky-high, this kind of session is key to sharpening minds and bodies alike.<br data-node-id=\"7.1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The 80-60-40 Drill <\/p>\n<ul data-node-id=\"9\" class=\"css-1wk73g0 emevuu60\">\n<li data-node-id=\"9.0\">Find a rugby pitch and start under the posts. <\/li>\n<li data-node-id=\"9.1\">Run as hard as you can to the far 22m line (80m). <\/li>\n<li data-node-id=\"9.2\">Sprint back to the near 22m line (60m). <\/li>\n<li data-node-id=\"9.3\">Then run to the far 10m line (40m).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"10\" class=\"css-ftlgrv emevuu60\">&#8216;Your target is to cover that 180m in 30 seconds or under,&#8217; he says. You&#8217;ve then got a minute to walk to the far try line before you go again. &#8216;It&#8217;s 30 seconds of maximal work and a minute of rest \u2013 a 1:2 work to rest ratio.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Related Story<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"12\" class=\"css-ftlgrv emevuu60\">Former Munster full-back Felix Jones, who Walters also coached alongside during his short spell with England, holds the record. &#8216;Felix had one of the best engines I&#8217;ve seen,&#8217; he remembers. &#8216;He looked scrawny enough but man he was mentally tough.&#8217; <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"13\" class=\"css-ftlgrv emevuu60\">Walters challenged Jones with the 80-60-40 drill to see how many reps he could manage before tapping out. &#8216;I thought surely six or seven and he&#8217;d be cooked, but he did 11 reps in a row,&#8217; he says, fondly. &#8216;That&#8217;s a nice one for pre-season for outside backs and quicker back rowers. That&#8217;s a tasty one for sure.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Related Stories<img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/d36c3c33-b0c8-4671-8bc8-6f9467928c64_1708439354.file\" alt=\"Headshot of Sam Rider\" title=\"Headshot of Sam Rider\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"css-o0wq4v ev8dhu53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sam Rider is an experienced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.menshealth.com\/uk\/health\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">health<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.menshealth.com\/uk\/fitness\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fitness<\/a> journalist, author and REPS Level 3 qualified personal trainer. Having covered \u2013 and coached in \u2013 the industry since 2011, he&#8217;s road tested every workout concept, training accessory and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.menshealth.com\/uk\/nutrition\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">diet plan<\/a> you could dream of, while quizzing titans of the industry and reporting on the physical and mental exploits of Olympic athletes, World Cup winners and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.menshealth.com\/uk\/fitness\/a26797763\/best-crossfit-workouts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CrossFit<\/a> Games champs. In 2016, in the name of science, he underwent a clean bulking transformation, packing on 10kg of lean mass in 10 weeks, before promptly dropping 10kg in two weeks after tearing his ACL on the football pitch.Sam graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in History and completed his NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at News Associates in Manchester.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to preparing elite athletes for high-stakes competition, Aled Walters is a coach who knows exactly&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[1199,1656,1201,1198,210,1200,1655,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-1156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-content-type-default","9":"tag-contentid-df827af9-f6f5-46b8-b0a9-291f3448ca1b","10":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","11":"tag-fitness","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-locale-gb","14":"tag-shorttitle-test-your-cardio-with-this-brutal-80-60-40-session","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114719030267981198","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}