Speed for gaa players

tbernie07

Hi all I play ladies football, my fitness is pretty good but I would like to get faster, I do squats and box jumps but is there anything else I can do to increase startin speed and acceleration?

ecoli

Without trying to sound smart have you tried incorporating sprinting. Speed like anything other aspect of sport is a skill and as such needs to be practiced. By practicing we able to recruit more fast twitch fibres.

2 sessions which should help with this is;

4-6 X 8 sec hill sprints. This will work on fast twitch fibre recruitment as well as developing power which will aid acceleration

The other session would be;

4x 150m - Sprint 50m/ cruise 50m/ sprint 50m

This works on acceleration but is also a good speed endurance session which would probably be on of the sessions which is best suited as an overlap between GAA specific training and say 400m running (The characteristics of a field sport would be more in line with 400m running rather than 100/200m despite the short sharp sprints which would be seen on sprints making people think its all about short distance speed)

DoraDelite

What are you doing besides squats and box jumps?

tbernie07

We are back training now so do that twice a week, I do ladder drills two or three times a week not sure of what else to do.

Mac-Chops

I noticed a good increase in speed and acceleration doing something similar to this: (added in to normal rugby training/gym sessions)

100m split in to 5x20m.

Jog 80, sprint 20, turn
Jog 60, sprint 40, turn
Jog 40, sprint 60, turn
Jog 20, sprint 80, turn
Sprint 100m

3 sets with 1-2mins rest in between.

COH

ecoli wrote: »

Without trying to sound smart have you tried incorporating sprinting. Speed like anything other aspect of sport is a skill and as such needs to be practiced. By practicing we able to recruit more fast twitch fibres.

2 sessions which should help with this is;

4-6 X 8 sec hill sprints. This will work on fast twitch fibre recruitment as well as developing power which will aid acceleration

The other session would be;

4x 150m - Sprint 50m/ cruise 50m/ sprint 50m

would you have someone do this before looking at any particular coaching in sprint dynamics?

Mac-Chops wrote: »

I noticed a good increase in speed and acceleration doing something similar to this: (added in to normal rugby training/gym sessions)

100m split in to 5x20m.

Jog 80, sprint 20, turn
Jog 60, sprint 40, turn
Jog 40, sprint 60, turn
Jog 20, sprint 80, turn
Sprint 100m

3 sets with 1-2mins rest in between.

How did you measure the increase?

ecoli

COH wrote: »

would you have someone do this before looking at any particular coaching in sprint dynamics?

If the focus was sprinting (in the athletic sense) I would say that form would be vitally important however given that the target is overall GAA speed specific, I don't feel that benefits gained from it would justify the work needed.

Arm drive is compromised due to the addition of a ball coupled with constant change of direction to a point impacts on the benefits of good arm drive and proper forward momentum

Knee drive would be one aspect to aim to work on however.

I think these aspects are important however for the best bang for her buck in GAA I think working on acceleration and fast twitch fibre recruitment would yield the most benefits for the commitment level needed.

COH

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, just curious as to why you'd get someone doing 150 sprints before looking at or knowing if they sprint well. For example if someone asked how to squat faster, would you recommend squat jumps etc. before looking at their squat technique. Its HUGELY unlikely that the majority of not most GAA clubs have access to high level sprint coaching, I'm talking hypothetical perfect world lots of funding and local access for all scenario...

ecoli wrote: »

If the focus was sprinting (in the athletic sense) I would say that form would be vitally important however given that the target is overall GAA speed specific, I don't feel that benefits gained from it would justify the work needed.

How much work do you think it would take to get someone moving better from a standing start?

If you can improve an athletes ability to accelerate properly surely the benefits of that can be taken into their agility training and as such then into a game situation no? My experience in training teams is relatively limited so I'm just wondering about other peoples approaches are here.

Arm drive is compromised due to the addition of a ball coupled with constant change of direction to a point impacts on the benefits of good arm drive and proper forward momentum

Only 1/30 people on the pitch have the ball at any given time though. Surely a ball, or a hurl, or a tennis racket can be incorporated into coaching no?

Knee drive would be one aspect to aim to work on however.

Are we talking hip flexion qualities in isolation? Genuinely curious as to how you'd go about that. Do you mean on the pitch, in the gym, as part of a warm up?

I think these aspects are important however for the best bang for her buck in GAA I think working on acceleration and fast twitch fibre recruitment would yield the most benefits for the commitment level needed.

Cool. Going back to the 150m runs, why sprint in 50m bursts if you're looking to improve on acceleration qualities? Unlikely to be still accelerating at 50m and if you are, there are bigger problems to look at!

Tom_Cruise

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most.../the_6week_sprinting_solution

nice_guy80

you need to push or pull something heavy to build your power.

and add in leg drive to improve acceleration

Mac-Chops

COH wrote: »

Mac-Chops wrote: »

I noticed a good increase in speed and acceleration doing something similar to this: (added in to normal rugby training/gym sessions)

100m split in to 5x20m.

Jog 80, sprint 20, turn
Jog 60, sprint 40, turn
Jog 40, sprint 60, turn
Jog 20, sprint 80, turn
Sprint 100m

3 sets with 1-2mins rest in between.

How did you measure the increase?

Didn't have times or numbers I'm afraid, just compared to other teammates was my gauge. After some extra work (1-2 sessions per week) I noticed myself catching and passing people out in short sprint drills where I was lagging before.

Granted there's probably other factors to take account of (fitness, training programme, diet etc.) but it worked then and worked other times after too for me!

ecoli

COH wrote: »

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, just curious as to why you'd get someone doing 150 sprints before looking at or knowing if they sprint well. For example if someone asked how to squat faster, would you recommend squat jumps etc. before looking at their squat technique. Its HUGELY unlikely that the majority of not most GAA clubs have access to high level sprint coaching, I'm talking hypothetical perfect world lots of funding and local access for all scenario...

It is an interesting point and I think my perception as coming from a running background don't naturally link technique to performance as would be the norm for most sports. I think the correlation is less prevalant than say the bioenergtics (muscle efficiency and strength of the heart). In running you can get a runner who is like a house of cards, looking at the foundations you see all the flaws and thing that it will crumble however the cards fall just the right way that the structure remains in tact

Two examples I will give here are among two of the most recognizable runners in the sport;

Paula Radcliffe. The nodding head style is a distinctive characteristic of her running form which many see as a disadvantage especially over 26.2 miles where and compromise in efficiency can lead to premature fatigue yet despite this the woman has arguably the strongest word record in the books (to put this in perspective the 2nd fastest woman off all time is just shy of 3 minutes slower than Paula)

The second example and probably more relevant is Usain Bolt whose form has been dissected by 400m (and former 200m) World record holder Micheal Johnson who has now set up a Performance centre which has become synonymous with form analysis. Johnson (who ironically was known for his unorthodox form himself) believed that he is not a very clean sprinter biomechanically especially compared to rivals Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay and yet it seems to work for him

When you get down to tinkering with form at the level need to develop an biomechanically idea sprinting form some times you can actually hinder the athlete as they are effectively starting from scratch (much like the approach for the new fad of barefoot running).

Personally that while I feel this can be beneficial for a secondary characteristic of GAA training I dont think it yields the benefits needed to be put in

COH wrote: »

How much work do you think it would take to get someone moving better from a standing start?

If you can improve an athletes ability to accelerate properly surely the benefits of that can be taken into their agility training and as such then into a game situation no? My experience in training teams is relatively limited so I'm just wondering about other peoples approaches are here.

Again you can do this without a doubt but I feel with GAA athletes (and even with relatively new to the sport) sprinters the technique is not not the biggest limiting factor it would be anaerobic fitness. It would be like Buying the shell of a Mustang and putting a the engine from a VW Polo in it and then trying to fine tune the engine to get the last 10-20 bhp out of the engine (bit of an outrageous analogy but you get my drift)

COH wrote: »

Only 1/30 people on the pitch have the ball at any given time though. Surely a ball, or a hurl, or a tennis racket can be incorporated into coaching no?

If you incorporate these then you are slightly changing the parameters of true form (which I agree with since the aim is to develop speed for GAA and not Track and field sprints) The point here being would working on muscle efficiency not be of more benefit in this case

COH wrote: »

Are we talking hip flexion qualities in isolation? Genuinely curious as to how you'd go about that. Do you mean on the pitch, in the gym, as part of a warm up?

My reference here was more a simplified being concious of form when tiring and making yourself actively aware (focus the mind and the body will follow)

However if would want to work on the muscles on a strength and flexibility then you would have to go into a bit more detail of the action involved in sprinting which incorporates alot more than just hip flexion as this is only done during the recovery phase so working in isolation would be pointless

Drive phase (Foot making contact with the ground)
Hip Extension (and hyper extension)
Knee extension (coupled with ankle given the Gastrocnemius origin)

Recovery phase (Knee Lift)
Hip Flexion
Knee and ankle flexion

If you wanted to work on them a solid circuit plan and flexibility routine would yield benefits but with GAAs supplementary work you may already get this

COH wrote: »

Cool. Going back to the 150m runs, why sprint in 50m bursts if you're looking to improve on acceleration qualities? Unlikely to be still accelerating at 50m and if you are, there are bigger problems to look at!

My choice of words here in the truest sense is probably poor I will admit because its a speed endurance but from a GAA perspective for someone who is not experienced in speed specific training it could be viewed as this because as they get stronger they will get faster and be able to change paces when already tired

There is no point in getting bogged down with the terminology of what you are doing application is what matters. If you ask most distance runners when they perceive as a "speed work session" they will come back to you saying 8*400m or 10*200m because for them this is percieved as working on speed (as opposed to running economy which in turn make them tire less at higher speeds percieved as "getting faster")