increasing speed

mayo51

hey..
Could anyone give me any tips for improving speed?
Im in a gym, is there anythin there that could help me?
would building hamstring and quad muscles help me here?

Hanley

Get really f*cking strong and mobile.

daniDF

Hi,

are you talking about "pure" speed, as for sprinting, or endurance speed, speed sustained for a longer time? Methods of training are different... By the way, what fitness level are you? What is your current training regime?

mayo51

daniDF wrote: »

Hi,

are you talking about "pure" speed, as for sprinting, or endurance speed, speed sustained for a longer time? Methods of training are different... By the way, what fitness level are you? What is your current training regime?

If i am marking a person in a match i want to be the first to the ball, so i suppose its sustaining speed for a period of time.
I am fit enough, 3-4 nites a week in the gym..each session last about 1 hour and 15 minutes...Our trainin finished a few weeks ago and we trained 2 times a week for 1 hour and 30 minutes for each session..so fitness wise i am in a fair shape...

Inspector Coptoor

It depends on what you mean by the word speed.

Do you really mean acceleration?
Or top speed?

Speed is a skill & needs to be trained as such.

You can't JUST go to the gym, do a load of weight training & expect speed to increase in some sort of linear fashion.

I'm not saying it won't help, but it's not solely how you're gonna get speed to improve

Oryx

mayo51 wrote: »

If i am marking a person in a match i want to be the first to the ball, so i suppose its sustaining speed for a period of time.

That sounds to me like you want to be able to go at a steady state and then insert bursts of speed.

I am fit enough, 3-4 nites a week in the gym..each session last about 1 hour and 15 minutes...Our trainin finished a few weeks ago and we trained 2 times a week for 1 hour and 30 minutes for each session..so fitness wise i am in a fair shape...

There are many types of fitness, but really what you want to train for is to be adapted to the task in hand. Because in a match it is not just steady running, I reckon you need to be practising shuttle runs, plyometric exercises, the kind of things that give you 'explosive' speed, incorporating sudden changes of direction. Very different from simple sprinting. Gym exercises wont hurt, but train specific to what you need. Weights wont make you fast, they will make you strong. So its hard to know what kind of fitness you have developed, from what you have said here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoueTJ_RPuQ

daniDF

The most useful training you can get in a gym is using plyometrics equipment, but not all gyms have it. Perhaps you are more likely to find it at your sport club. Sprint training is appropriate, but also agility drills and reaction time training is useful. Have you ever got your running technique checked by a coach?

Inspector Coptoor

Sprint training is appropriate but I'd argue that it should be under 50m & not from blocks, or even from a 3 point position as these two positions are not really positions GAA players find themselves in.

It's really acceleration you need to work on, your running style, the use/misuse of arms & slowing down/stopping is a skill aswell

yit

Weightlifting increases strength and muscle mass, not speed, and in fact may slow you down further. Sport specific speed training (using cones etc.) is more useful, as is sprinting downhill. You're never going to increase speed in a gym, gym work increases muscle endurance, strength, power, not speed

siochain

what emmet above has posted and I would add squats (back & front) and deadlifts, inbetween sets do some 24" box jumps. lots of sprint work

discus

I found that bringing in basic static stretches after work outs was helping me get better accelaration. Hamstrings, quads, piriformis, calves and hip flexors.