speedwork in a gym

Gick

I'm playing rugby and I need to improve my speed,what exercises can I do in the gym that will improve my acceleration and speed?

joejoem

The best is high intensity sprints while jogging. Jog for 40 seconds then sprint as fast as you can for 20 seconds then jog for 40 seconds etc etc.

Monitor your breathing too, correct breathing (since everyone assumes they can breath correctly naturally) can make a big difference.

Downtime

Gick wrote:

I'm playing rugby and I need to improve my speed,what exercises can I do in the gym that will improve my acceleration and speed?

Can't believe a Terenure man calling himself 'Gick'.

poobum

Gick wrote:

I'm playing rugby and I need to improve my speed,what exercises can I do in the gym that will improve my acceleration and speed?

what level(year) you play at and what position/s?

joc_06

joejoem wrote:

The best is high intensity sprints while jogging. Jog for 40 seconds then sprint as fast as you can for 20 seconds then jog for 40 seconds etc etc.

Monitor your breathing too, correct breathing (since everyone assumes they can breath correctly naturally) can make a big difference.

No it isnt. plus he wanted gym exercises

Olympic Lifting and their power variants are what you need to do.
Start off with Back squats and front squats.
Then Overhead squats.

Now the OL's are a sport requiring huge amounts of skill and technqiue so i'll not detail it all here but look into those 3 first and master them. Always ass to grass with back locked in an arch or in a steel rod (straight) position

Also look into plyometrics

poobum

what tear are you in? can you use the school gym yet? what is you year? if you on the seniors u should of just attended the saq sessions all summer!

Dutchboy

I agree 100% with Joc06!

Olympic lifts and squats!
Try plyometric excercises

Outside :
Shuttle runs between two points, Lie facing away from where you will be sprinting to, get up and go for it!
All in all theres loads of things to do outside, Buy rope ladders and do speed drills, it will sharpen you up like no other!

Inside:
try split jumps with light Dumbbells, bodyweight squats ( Reps into the 100's in you can) and Jumping squats with the barbell!

get a low bench, keep your feet together and hop overit from side to side!

Plyometric clapping pushups, push yourself off the ground and clapping before the next rep.

And my favourite,, burpees! Im sure you know those !

Get a proper teacher to teach you the Snatch and Clean & Jerk, A national weightlifter in final year Sports Science taught me in Limerick, it was class but its so difficult to learn! pays off though!

Do a google on 'power training' and plyometrics

my 2 cents

joc_06

you know sean yeah?
good guy, strong as a hoss

Transform

JOC 06 - bang on advice and totally agree.

Joejoem
High intensity sprints = massive lactic acid production

azzeretti

I agree a little here with above. Some deadlifts and jump squats in the gym will help with power but outdoors there is no comparison with HIIT or Gureilla training. Pretty much all track spinters use variations of these exercises and the results are hard to argue. I would nearlly go as far as to say that this type of training should not be conducted in the gym but should be conduct on the track?

poobum

but he wanted gym exercises! doing your squats explosively etc...wil help iimprove it!

joc_06

im not sure what guerilla training is and yes some sprinter use HIIT a little bit but its not the mainstay of their programs.
tempo running is though but only in their GPP phase when they are building up an aerobic base. it gets dropped in gpp2 and abviously doesnt appear in their SPP.
deadlifts help with strength. power = force x velocity. i see no velocity in any deadlift. jump squats are good though.
but nothing beats OL for developing power output. Final word really. Nothing can over rule that

Dutchboy

Yeah Joc06,
I know him well! He set up a weightlifting club in UL and i was part of his final year project which had to do with olympic lifting and the way to go about learning it, and much more besides! Interesting stuff!

So do you train in that weightlifters gym on the Northside then? Im near Ucd so too far really!

Im curious to find out what Guerilla training is, anyone wanna answer that one?

joc_06

im guessing its strongman type training he means (which again would only be a part of a general training phase but definitely not used in speed specific stuff)
however stuff like tyre flips, tyre drags, farmers walk, keg toss are all exellent exercises for all contact field sports and id highly recommend them. they build a "toughness" that hard to quantify in numbers. its like farmer strength.

sean is a good guy and helped me a lot. im hoping to get more help off him soon. im still in ucd. hercs has to stop all noisy activity at 7pm so that rules it out for me. all i really need now is hard work and while ucd isnt the best you can normally work undisturbed. every now and again you do get some guy walking up behind you curling but i just drop the barbell hard and it normally gives me loads of room to work with

do you train specifically for OL or are you using it for field sports?

Gick

No,I play fullback in rugby and just want to get faster,I think I'm strong enough,so will squats make me faster?I heard they can slow you down

joc_06

i was talking to dutchboy there but no squats wont slow you down.