Matt Rutzou Applied Exercise Science

💥Lactate Tolerance Training💥
🏉 During a multi-sprint game like rugby, players are frequently required to make explosive runs or sprints consecutively with minimal rest resulting in large amounts of lactic acid build up.
📝 Throughout the preseason it's important to expose players to successive bursts of speed and power in order to build tolerance to lactate build up. Increased tolerance allows players to recover quicker between efforts, resulting in player ability to maintain a higher work rate for a longer period of time.
🏃‍♂️Wrestle Sprint drills (as shown) expose players to repeat effort speed and power similar to conditions experienced on the Rugby field.
✅ Lactate tolerance training should be introduced midway through the preseason after building a healthy aerobic base through continuous or interval training.

💥Team Fitness Testing💥
🐴The Bronco Fitness Test is typically utilised by high performance Rugby Clubs as a measurement of aerobic endurance. The test consists of players running 20, 40 and 60 meter shuttles 5 times over as quickly as possible.
📝 In order to measure an objective outcome we must first test, then re-test. The Bronco Fitness Test allows us to estimate player maximal aerobic speed (MAS) at a team an individual level.
📊 Once MAS data is recorded we can individualise aerobic training methods to increase player aerobic endurance.
✅ It's important to test, then re-test in order to objectively quantify results. Furthermore this reafirms player and coaching staff buy in to the program and process.