Sprinting - how to improve my top speed

[prand]

I've started playing touch & tag rugby recently and although my basic fitness from cycling and running is there, I feel I could benefit with an extra yard or so of pace.

All the exercise I have been doing in recent years has been endurance based. I appreciate that doing sessions like 10x50m sprints will get me fit for short bursts of energy, but will it actually improve my top speed, and ability to hit that quickly?

I am guessing that I ought to be adding short, explosive sets of squats with heavy weights to build up strength in my legs, but are there any sure fire ways of improving running speed?

[ewenm]

Bales is the man to answer this, being PH's resident competitive sprinter...

[bales]

prand said:

I've started playing touch & tag rugby recently and although my basic fitness from cycling and running is there, I feel I could benefit with an extra yard or so of pace.

All the exercise I have been doing in recent years has been endurance based. I appreciate that doing sessions like 10x50m sprints will get me fit for short bursts of energy, but will it actually improve my top speed, and ability to hit that quickly?

I am guessing that I ought to be adding short, explosive sets of squats with heavy weights to build up strength in my legs, but are there any sure fire ways of improving running speed?

Woo hoo finally my time has come!

I think the first thing to say is that (unfortunately) sprinting is a little different to longer distance running in that you aren't going to see massive improvements over a short period of time.

If you have a decent base of fitness then that is good starting point. Your question regarding how to improve speed is one that has had thousands of books/article/studies written about so is naturally not a set answer sort of question.

You really have 3 aspects of which you want to improve all of them, acceleration, top speed and speed endurance.

In general (and being very general) explosive strength in the legs aids acceleration but being very strong doesn't necessarily make you fast if you can't apply it to the ground effectively. Good form and technique will help your top speed (along with the force you are applying to the ground) and speed endurance is something (trust me on this!) is something that takes a long time to develop with hard training and being able to maintain form and composure whilst the body is under great stress.

I could write for ages but I will try and condense it into brief ideas of how to improve each aspect;

Since you are a rugby player then short explosive speed is what I imagine you would need rather than speed endurance.

To improve acceleration

30m starts - from a 3 pointed stance i.e one hand down practice driving out and keeping low, maybe 6 of these with a walkback recovery.

Flying 30m - build up into a flat out run so you are at max speed when you hit a measured 30m. You wouldn't do much more than 30m because your body won't be able to maintain max speed for much longer than this and you need to teach your body what it feels like to really be flying.

Bounding and plyometrics - this is great for explosive strength

Weights - Squats/deadlifts/cleans where emphasis is on good technique and exploding upwards in the squats/cleans, not particularly heavy only 6-8 reps per set.

To improve top speed and speed endurance

120,100,80,60 with walk back recovery and at 95% max speed

6x150m at 85% pace with emphasis on perfect technique and floating along without trying

Flat out 60m from a 3 point start with full recovery after each maybe 4-5

3x200m at near max pace with full recovery -10-15mins

To improve general sprinting fitness (these will hurt if you've not done them before)

5x200m with a jog recovery for approx 2mins at a pace that you can do all of them at

3x300m as above - the art with these is to not go too fast and to run fast but without trying

10x100m as above usually 45secs rest

The above is very vague but it is such an expansive topic its hard to be specific, obviously flexibilty and general conditioning are very important and ideally you could do with someone looking at your technique to see whether you are doing anything majorly wrong.

How about joining an athletics club and train with them once or twice a week, that would be the best option, anyway hope the above helps.

Alex

[prand]

Well, I did ask didn't I!

Thanks Bales - this is just what I was asking for - I just need to find the time to turn your excellent advice into some sort of practical programme.

I'll let you know how I get on, now I only have to sort out passing and catching!

Thanks!

[996 sps]

ewenm said:

Bales is the man to answer this, being PH's resident competitive sprinter...

You beat me to it! Hey Bales had a good short sharp session this evening using Multi Stage Fitness Test but in partners 1 exercising change after each complete shuttle, bit of hangout to be honest.