Increasing sprint speed
Discussion
Hi all,
At the ripe old age of 34 I've decided to make the move to full contact rugby, playing for a local 2nds team.
I play wing, I'm not slow, but have lost a little speed mainly due to injury and lack of training. (And age!)
What would be a good way to build up sprint speed?
My general fitness is good, I could just do with that bit extra burst power.
Should I be looking at going out for a run, hill sprints, or weights?
I have no equipment, so it's bodyweight stuff or buckets of water for training.
Thanks!
Edit - I should add, if everything falls in place, my week's exercise is
Monday - touch and pass game for an hour
Thursday - hour training session
Saturday - game day
At the ripe old age of 34 I've decided to make the move to full contact rugby, playing for a local 2nds team.
I play wing, I'm not slow, but have lost a little speed mainly due to injury and lack of training. (And age!)
What would be a good way to build up sprint speed?
My general fitness is good, I could just do with that bit extra burst power.
Should I be looking at going out for a run, hill sprints, or weights?
I have no equipment, so it's bodyweight stuff or buckets of water for training.
Thanks!
Edit - I should add, if everything falls in place, my week's exercise is
Monday - touch and pass game for an hour
Thursday - hour training session
Saturday - game day
Edited by marksx on Sunday 30th December 10:48
Edited by marksx on Sunday 30th December 10:48
Edited by marksx on Sunday 30th December 10:49
marksx said:
What would be a good way to build up sprint speed?
My general fitness is good, I could just do with that bit extra burst power.
Should I be looking at going out for a run, hill sprints, or weights?
[/footnote]
all them sound good.My general fitness is good, I could just do with that bit extra burst power.
Should I be looking at going out for a run, hill sprints, or weights?
[/footnote]
Edited by marksx on Sunday 30th December 10:49
sprint articles
https://www.t-nation.com/training/4-anabolic-metco...
https://www.t-nation.com/training/5-drills-that-ar...
of you have access to one, a sled
https://www.jtsstrength.com/the-prowler-sprint-tes...
an old school method was sprint the width of a footy pitch, walk the length...or maybe reverse that.
kettlebell swings will also help
Re flogging yourself basically yes, however, fatigue is the enemy of building speed.
The first thing you need to identify is how far you need to sprint. Each team is different.The common distances in rugby are 5,10,20 and 40 meters but it may be different for your team.
You need to do repeated springs at these distances. I normally use 5 reps x3 each distance with 30s between sets.
Every sprint is 100% forwards and backward for 5 and 10 meters. This will help get you back into position quickly especially if the opposition gain possession. Work on right turns with 20 and 40 meters.
Add a bit of SAQ work and you'll crack it. 1 session per week for 6 weeks and if you work hard enough you notice a big difference.
(Don't want to come across as a know it all, but I did this for a living for 15years in football, rugby, judo and shinty)
Hope it helps
TCK
The first thing you need to identify is how far you need to sprint. Each team is different.The common distances in rugby are 5,10,20 and 40 meters but it may be different for your team.
You need to do repeated springs at these distances. I normally use 5 reps x3 each distance with 30s between sets.
Every sprint is 100% forwards and backward for 5 and 10 meters. This will help get you back into position quickly especially if the opposition gain possession. Work on right turns with 20 and 40 meters.
Add a bit of SAQ work and you'll crack it. 1 session per week for 6 weeks and if you work hard enough you notice a big difference.
(Don't want to come across as a know it all, but I did this for a living for 15years in football, rugby, judo and shinty)
Hope it helps
TCK
0th question: how’s your conditioning? If you can’t recover, all the below is pointless. Can you run grids without gassing?
1st question: are you lean? If not then your power to weight ratio will suck. Lose fat mass.
2nd question: are you strong? Power is quickly applied strength. Can you squat and deadlift a reasonable amount? 1.5x+ bw squat, 2x+ bw dead
3rd question: do you know how to apply strength quickly? This would take your strength base and work on plyometric and rate of force development work.
4th question: do you know the technique required to accelerate and decelerate? About centre of mass outside base of support? about feet placement and cadence? If you’re at a low level, Id expect you to gain massively more advantage changing direction against an untrained person in the deceleration phase.
5th question: do you know how to read the game? You can probably turn up where the balls gonna be without having to chase it. I’ve seen some infuriating England A vets plod around a pitch and the ball magically ends up in their hands.
HTH. All imho.
1st question: are you lean? If not then your power to weight ratio will suck. Lose fat mass.
2nd question: are you strong? Power is quickly applied strength. Can you squat and deadlift a reasonable amount? 1.5x+ bw squat, 2x+ bw dead
3rd question: do you know how to apply strength quickly? This would take your strength base and work on plyometric and rate of force development work.
4th question: do you know the technique required to accelerate and decelerate? About centre of mass outside base of support? about feet placement and cadence? If you’re at a low level, Id expect you to gain massively more advantage changing direction against an untrained person in the deceleration phase.
5th question: do you know how to read the game? You can probably turn up where the balls gonna be without having to chase it. I’ve seen some infuriating England A vets plod around a pitch and the ball magically ends up in their hands.
HTH. All imho.
The Camanachd Kid said:
Re flogging yourself basically yes, however, fatigue is the enemy of building speed.
The first thing you need to identify is how far you need to sprint. Each team is different.The common distances in rugby are 5,10,20 and 40 meters but it may be different for your team.
You need to do repeated springs at these distances. I normally use 5 reps x3 each distance with 30s between sets.
Every sprint is 100% forwards and backward for 5 and 10 meters. This will help get you back into position quickly especially if the opposition gain possession. Work on right turns with 20 and 40 meters.
Add a bit of SAQ work and you'll crack it. 1 session per week for 6 weeks and if you work hard enough you notice a big difference.
(Don't want to come across as a know it all, but I did this for a living for 15years in football, rugby, judo and shinty)
Hope it helps
TCK
Thank you. What do you mean 100% forward and backward? Sprint, turn around and sprint back or sprint then back pedal?The first thing you need to identify is how far you need to sprint. Each team is different.The common distances in rugby are 5,10,20 and 40 meters but it may be different for your team.
You need to do repeated springs at these distances. I normally use 5 reps x3 each distance with 30s between sets.
Every sprint is 100% forwards and backward for 5 and 10 meters. This will help get you back into position quickly especially if the opposition gain possession. Work on right turns with 20 and 40 meters.
Add a bit of SAQ work and you'll crack it. 1 session per week for 6 weeks and if you work hard enough you notice a big difference.
(Don't want to come across as a know it all, but I did this for a living for 15years in football, rugby, judo and shinty)
Hope it helps
TCK
I had to Google what SAQ was but makes sense now!
PBDirector said:
0th question: how’s your conditioning? If you can’t recover, all the below is pointless. Can you run grids without gassing?
1st question: are you lean? If not then your power to weight ratio will suck. Lose fat mass.
2nd question: are you strong? Power is quickly applied strength. Can you squat and deadlift a reasonable amount? 1.5x+ bw squat, 2x+ bw dead
3rd question: do you know how to apply strength quickly? This would take your strength base and work on plyometric and rate of force development work.
4th question: do you know the technique required to accelerate and decelerate? About centre of mass outside base of support? about feet placement and cadence? If you’re at a low level, Id expect you to gain massively more advantage changing direction against an untrained person in the deceleration phase.
5th question: do you know how to read the game? You can probably turn up where the balls gonna be without having to chase it. I’ve seen some infuriating England A vets plod around a pitch and the ball magically ends up in their hands.
HTH. All imho.
0 - pretty good but could be better. 1st question: are you lean? If not then your power to weight ratio will suck. Lose fat mass.
2nd question: are you strong? Power is quickly applied strength. Can you squat and deadlift a reasonable amount? 1.5x+ bw squat, 2x+ bw dead
3rd question: do you know how to apply strength quickly? This would take your strength base and work on plyometric and rate of force development work.
4th question: do you know the technique required to accelerate and decelerate? About centre of mass outside base of support? about feet placement and cadence? If you’re at a low level, Id expect you to gain massively more advantage changing direction against an untrained person in the deceleration phase.
5th question: do you know how to read the game? You can probably turn up where the balls gonna be without having to chase it. I’ve seen some infuriating England A vets plod around a pitch and the ball magically ends up in their hands.
HTH. All imho.
1 - after my ankle injury last October I put on about 5kg in chub. Mainly round my gut. Working on that now. I was doing just Monday TnP training, but now with training Thursday, and playing Saturday, combined with this running, it should shrink.
2 - no. Weak as a kitten. When I was going to the gym, pre injury, I could deadlift about 100kg for 5 reps. Squat a little less. Wouldn't be able to do that now. (I'm 85kg). Planning on rigging up some weights in the garage.
3 - not a clue!
4 - see 3!
5 - not really. I'm a league guy playing union. It's alien to me as until I started playing I had no interest in union. Plus I've only been doing it a month. Learning quickly though.
Edited by marksx on Wednesday 2nd January 10:06
I've recently started doing circuits, the high tempo, relentless nature of the exercises made a massive difference to my fitness and conditioning, especially in improving my core strength. I didn't realise how unfit I was or what a big difference it would make. I could barely walk home from first session.
marksx said:
Turns out, when it comes to pure running I am not fit. Not at all! Went out last night and did just short of 3k. Had to walk a few times. Never got to any sprint work.
Your base fitness is obviously lacking, improve this first, or your sprint sessions will lack any quality, and also lead to potential injury.Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff