Motivational personalised training using heart rate
as your fitness coach

Rugby places a huge demand on the heart - even before the kick off your heart rate is elevated as you get excited, and during the game the heart reaches peaks close to your maximum heart rate.

A simple method of calculating maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age - this will give you an approximate value (it may differ by 10-15 beats either way).

A fantastic tool for developing fuel mix conditioning is using heart rate zones for training guidance. Heart rate training is a very scientific and truly accurate method of monitoring the intensities you wish to reach during your sessions.

Which do you think provides more accurate information about your workout? The amount of time you train, the ache in your lungs, the soreness in your muscles, or your heart rate?

During a game your heart rate fluctuates relative to the intensity and duration of play, and your level of fuel mix fitness. Sharp increases in heart rate, as illustrated by the curve below, highlight the major anaerobic energy contribution.

Benefits of Heart Rate Monitors to Players and Coaches

Heart Rate Monitors allow you to accurately and continuously check your heart rate during exercise.

(1) Using heart rate as your interval target.

While training you can use heart rate as the work target. For example, when running an interval, rather than using the distance or time as your goal, set yourself a heart rate to reach before you stop to recover - it's extremely motivating.

You know that you have to push yourself to reach the target heart rate, and the harder you push, the sooner you get there!

(2) Using heart rate for training 'in the zone'.

A heart rate training zone is a training guide for exercise intensity, between two target heart rates. For a 21 year old player, an intense 30 second interval of training that provokes a heart rate between 170 and 190 bpm, will predominantly use anaerobic metabolism as an energy source, similar to the peaks in our heart rate curve above. This is called your 'red zone' and it is vital that experience conditioning sessions at this intensity.

Insert pic of Pat running wearing HRM - pic to come later - to fit into right hand column

(3) Special endurance training

Coaches and players can design highly specific training sessions, such as a conditioned game, to develop special endurance, by provoking variation in heart rate via variation in work intensity, duration and rest times.

If the heart rate is too steady state, allow more rest between your drills to allow for higher intensity work rate.

(4) Heart rate for feedback

The Reebok Fitness or Precision models store heart rate data for you to review once you've finished your session. That's great for comparing sessions.

If as a Coach you prescribe a 'fitness session' for a player to perform in his or her own time, you can review the monitor to assess the intensity the player reached.

(5) Heart rate for problem players!

Do you trust your players? What better way to ensure that players perform fitness sessions in their own time than to review the Monitor on their return!

What's the biggest problem when setting a programme for your unfit players? You can't trust them to do the unsupervised workouts! Problem solved - by using your Reebok Fitness or Precision models, the player has his or her heart rate stored so you can view it later.

Furthermore, during sessions, make the unfit players wear the monitor so you can track their work intensity!

Click here to view our range of Heart Rate Monitors