Science for Sport Podcast 271: Strength First: Why It Underpins Everything
In this week’s episode of the Science for Sport podcast, host Richard Graves is joined by Leicester Tigers’ Head of Performance, Matt Parr, a former professional rugby player turned strength and conditioning expert with experience across both rugby union and league.
Matt shares his fascinating journey from the pitch to the performance department, offering valuable insights drawn from his time at Leicester Tigers and Catalan Dragons. With a career that’s spanned both codes of rugby, Matt dives into the key physical demands of each sport and how training must adapt to meet them. He also lifts the lid on what really goes into building strength, power, and robustness across a long and gruelling season.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The real physical differences between rugby union and rugby league – and why it’s not just “the same shaped ball”
- How to build meaningful preseason plans that lay the foundation for success
- Why strength underpins everything, and how it connects to power and injury prevention
- The importance of athlete conversations over just relying on data
- How Matt handles return-to-play protocols and balances performance with player wellbeing
Whether you're a coach in pro sport or working at grassroots level, this conversation is packed with practical takeaways and thought-provoking reflections on what it really takes to keep athletes performing at their best.
About Matt Parr
Matt Parr is the Head of Athletic Performance at Leicester Tigers and a former professional prop whose rugby career saw him represent clubs such as Sale Sharks, Saracens, London Irish, and Leicester. After transitioning from player to coach, Matt began his performance career at the Tigers in 2015, later becoming Lead S&C coach in 2020. In 2022, he took on the Head of Performance role at Catalan Dragons in rugby league, before returning to Leicester in mid‑2024 to bring his cross-code expertise back to the Tigers setup . With an MSc in strength and conditioning and a reputation for strategic planning, leadership, and performance optimisation. Matt combines top-level playing experience and science-backed coaching to help elite athletes perform and stay on the field.
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