Although there will be opinions to the contrary, in my view, Rugby League is, by far, the most physically demanding team sport in the world. Players need various qualities in order to compete in today’s game: power, strength, endurance, etc. One of the elements that has to be close to the top of the list is recovery rate. Without an adequate recovery rate in this game, your ability to perform, no matter how strong or fast you may be, will be drastically diminished.

What is recovery rate, and what can you do to improve it I hear you ask?

Recovery rate is the speed at which you recover from a specific workload during a game. Maybe you’ve just made a tackle or three, you might have carried the ball into a couple of gorillas, or it may be just the action of coming up and back in the defensive line.

The predominant energy source that allows the body to perform these explosive tasks is the anaerobic system. Unfortunately, the residue effect of this type of work causes blood chemistry to change very rapidly and it is these rapid changes that effect your output, ultimately impacting on your contribution to the game.

If you understand exactly what is happening, it is my view that you’ll get more out of the training you are doing to improve your recovery from it.

First, lactic acid. This is normally metabolized through our aerobic system without a problem, but when it is produced faster than we can metabolize it, then it accumulates in the working muscle. It interrupts nerve impulses, and, for instance, give you that heavy burning sensation in the legs.

If that isn’t enough, you also have a rise in carbon dioxide levels in the blood. This is voodoo as far as the chemo receptors in the body are concerned, and they indirectly cause a massive increase in respirations in an effort to "blow off" this excess Co2. This state is sometimes referred to as oxygen debt.

The bad news first . . . you can’t do anything to stop this process. The good news . . . the right type of training will dramatically minimize the adverse effects, allowing you to recover from it more quickly, and sustain greater output during a game.

How to Improve Recovery Rate

When training for any sport, the aim should always be specificity, be it biomechanical actions, skills, or energy demands.

In this case, what we are trying to do is replicate some of the energy demands of an actual game. Because Rugby League is predominated largely by anaerobic activity, then, as you would imagine, the drills that replicate the game’s demands are also anaerobic. BUT . . . probably the single biggest factor in recovering from the short intense stuff (anaerobic), and what dictates more than anything how quickly you metabolize that lactic acid, is your level of cardiovascular (aerobic) conditioning.

The more efficient your aerobic (endurance type activity) system is, the quicker your recovery from the anaerobic stuff.