There are too many “beach” fitness gurus around these days and not enough true sports’ fitness experts. By beach fitness I mean people who will tell you how to look great on the sand this summer but don’t know whether it will help you last 80 minutes on the rugby field.

The other week I had the pleasure of meeting someone who is at the cutting edge of fitness. Chris Jones trains Olympic triathletes and his services are in demand all around the world for high performance coaching.

As it happens, he lives about 200 metres down the road from me and so I power walked down to see him and we spent a couple of hours discussing what gives in the world of sports fitness. He has worked with some international rugby players recently and was surprised by their fitness regimes. More of that detail in a forthcoming article in Rugby Coach.

I thought I would share some of his more general ideas. I am sure that they will ring true for a number of you.

1. Fitness is about form above effort

Whether it is weights or running, every exercise should be performed correctly. That can mean reducing the load.

2. Don’t train when the player is carrying an injury

Impractical? Well, we are thinking fitness here. So, if it comes to exerting the body to improve fitness and conditioning, it is better to rest than strain.

3. Individual programmes

Having spent a summer watching countless sides train “together” in fitness terms, I don’t think some coaches have understood that some players are not built to sprint for 100 metres or lap the pitch ten times. There is limit on what we can do to work with individuals, but we can split up the team into groups who can work on position (and body shape) specific work.