La Natividad’s captain and polo champion Pablo Pieres relies on Technogym

The defending polo champions of the Palermo Open – La Natividad team – and their athletic trainer chose Skillrow, Technogym Bench, Technogym Bike and free weights for their professional precision training

Polo champion Pablo ‘Polito’ Pieres (Buenos Aires, 1986) currently holds a 10-goal handicap, the highest-ranking polo qualification, confirming the Argentinian supremacy in the polo field. Pieres is one of the reference players of the Argentine Open Polo Championship (Campeonato Argentino Abierto de Polo) – or Palermo Open – the historical and highest international interclub polo competition taking place in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires since 1893 in the final months of each year.

The Argentine Polo Ground (Campo Argentino del Polo) – popularly known as The Cathedral of Polo (La Catedral del Polo) – is the traditional stadium in Palermo where the Palermo Open takes place. It owes its nickname to the quality of Argentine polo players, considered among the best in the world (most of the currently alive 9/10-goal handicap polo players are Argentinian).

Argentine’s prime position in the world of polo is also certified by the internationally relevant Triple Crown, composed of 3 high-handicap tournaments played in Argentina: the Tortugas Country Club Open Championship, the Hurlingham Open Championship and the Argentine Open Polo Championship.

Pieres’ team – La Natividad – is the defending champion of the Palermo Open – having won the 2021 edition (together with the Hurlingham Open Championship). After playing for many years at La Ellerstina – another Palermo Open champion – Pieres decided to join La Natividad – the team founded by 10-goal polo player Bartolomé ‘Lolo’ Castagnola – as captain. It was then that La Natividad won its first Palermo Open.

Polo’s specific athletic training

Like in all sports, the athletic preparation needed at these levels is not left to chance, both to improve performance and to prevent injuries: together with La Natividad trainer, Pieres and his team work on balance, muscle and joint mobility and strength. As far as gym training is concerned, Pablo dedicates from 2 to 3 hours every day to it (so not including the specific horse-riding training).

As a matter of fact – unlike the majority of ‘traditional’ sports – polo intrinsically implies a fundamental element: the horse. It goes without saying that the jockey/horse relationship is fundamental for a good game performance, so the animal’s training is almost as important as the jockey’s. Horses need to move and exercise on a daily basis, and also have their recovery time, just like humans. Riding them is part of polo players’ daily routine and professional training.

According to La Natividad’s athletic trainer, both annual and monthly training plans are established, and the daily planning varies according to the schedule of the matches. These plans include physical-technical exercises that are related to polo movements, then non-specific strength sessions in the gym, as well as training on the horse and cognitive exercises. It’s relevant how the polo player’s most common playing position is an isometric half squat, and the strength to hit the ball comes from the core area and it includes a rotation, and it recruits glutes, shoulders and arms when executing the strike.

Pieres defines a professional polo player’s physical training as comprehensive: as mentioned, they focus on the middle area, shoulders, arms, core, adductors, glutes. La Natividad’s trainer looks for specificity, and the jockey’s movements while riding the horse are replicated with movements and exercises on the ground or on unstable bases. Working on core strength is fundamental: when standing on an unstable surface such as the stirrups, a polo players needs to rely on rotation movements, passing the force from the stirrups to the arms. Arms apply force in traction handling the reins, but they also perform explosive gestures of rotation forward and backward.

Technogym for La Natividad’s sporting success

Given all this, La Natividad’s athletic trainer and players rely on Technogym products both in Argentina and abroad, praising and taking advantage of its high quality and excellent bio-mechanics. All-in-one station Technogym Bench and Technogym’s free weights are fundamental for resistance and flexibility training: Technogym Bench in particular offers, at the same time, dumbbells, resistance bands and weighted knuckled for endless comprehensive workout options.

Cardiovascular training is a key part of the polo training, as the match often a large portion being performed at high heart rates (20% of it can be from 172 to 192 beats per minute). Even strength training sessions usually include exercises which keep the heart rate up. Pieres considers himself a particular fan of Technogym’s Skillrow. As a matter of fact, Skillrow is part of Skill Line, which was designed and conceived by Technogym together with athletes, in order to reach peak performance. Linking cardio and strength training, it makes up the first choice for fitness professionals and worldwide champions to reach the best sporting outcomes.

Technogym assists La Natividad’s cardiovascular workout with Technogym Bike as well. Technogym Bike makes up a highly professional product, offering users scientific tracking of their power output (watts) and unrivalled functionality thanks to a system that enables precise adjustments while riding. (Technogym)

Image: Technogym