Why have we forgotten about Sprinting?
Field Sport players and coaches (GAA, Soccer, Rugby) neglect Speed
Presently, from amateur level to semi elite, coaches and players in field sports are obsessed with the conditioning of players. Conditioning sits in such high regard in these sports that often times the sports’ skill-set takes a back seat and any other physical or physiological qualities are neglected. Some fixate on scores from time trials, 30:15 IFT, and beep tests almost to the point that training looks more fitting for a middle distance runner than specific to a field-sport athlete.
This isn’t intended as an attack on conditioning but as an eye-opener to those who have fallen into this trap. In some cases, a very well-conditioned team wins due to having an advantage on that front. However, having the best fitness test results doesn’t put the ball over the bar, it doesn’t make an important slide tackle, and it certainly doesn’t make a line- break for a try scoring opportunity.
For a more in-depth account on how to condition players, see my post on Tempo Runs.
Speed Wins
Speed is the attribute that strikes the most fear into players and coaches alike. It seems obvious that in a running-based sport, speed should be high on the most wanted list. With all skills, those who can perform them accurately at high speeds are the most successful – sprinting, jumping, tackling, hitting, handpassing etc.
Unfortunately, sprint speed does not only strike fear into your enemies, but also to many team coaches. The rest ratio doesn’t always fit a coach’s idea of a ‘tough session’ while the training principles applied often don’t result in improved speed. It also makes players and coaches nervous; running at top speed is the cause of a lot of non-contact injuries, usually in the form of hamstring tears.
So, because of this fear, we often don’t train speed during practice to avoid injuries but then often face the consequences when a player is expected to reach top speed during a game. Training speed is important, but first you need to earn the right to sprint that fast.
The reasons for adding speed development into your program:
Obvious one; it improves max velocity, acceleration and deceleration capabilities.
It reduces injury risk. i.e. Hamstring tears.
It increase speed reserve. Improving ones maximal outputs means players operational outputs are at a relatively lower intensity then before - The game has essentially slowed down.
It increases work capacity. By increasing the speed reserve, players operate at a lower intensity, as said above. Working at a relatively lower intensity means players can work for longer and with greater frequency.
Training Speed
This post won’t be an in-depth breakdown on how to train speed (that can be found in a future write-up. To get your hands on our Speed Program click here.) but more of a justification of, and reasoning behind, adding such a forgotten part of sport into your training. Improving speed isn’t an easy task. The fruits of your labour don’t come quickly when compared to strength numbers in the gym. This is not a reason to abandon speed, but to make sure you appropriately add it into your training every chance you get. When it comes to speed, the person who trains the smartest, not the hardest, wins. This method may get some eye rolls from the more traditionalists, who want to see literal blood, sweat and tears (and sometimes puke!), but this is a backward understanding of most training, particularly Speed Training.
Athletes need to respect rest. A basic physiology lesson: The fuel for sprinting doesn’t last very long (6-7 seconds). Once it’s gone, we must give it time to top-up before our next effort. For every 1 second of work, roughly 1 minute recovery is required. The objective is to perform quality efforts and not to accumulate fatigue. That’s Speed Training.
Training application
“It is significantly easier to get an explosive athlete in shape than it is to make an in-shape athlete explosive. The first takes weeks, the other takes years.”
As said in the opening paragraph, some coaches get carried away with conditioning and turning players into middle-distance runners. I’d rather a squad of Usain Bolts than Mo Farahs. You’re not going to make some Mo Farahs fast during the season, so players are better coming into Pre-season having trained like Bolt - work capacity will improve over time.
The same can be said of speed training; focus too much on becoming sprinters and soon those involved might start spending entire sessions working on sprint mechanics. Find that middle ground. With sports as technical as Gaelic football, hurling, soccer and rugby, we need to spend the minimum amount of time at building these physical/physiological qualities while getting results. The phrase ‘Micro-dose’ can be used appropriately here.
I think everyone has come across the story of Mithridates VI, ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus, his father killed by poison. To avoid meeting his father’s fate, Mithridates took his life into his own hands by ‘micro-dosing’ a non-lethal amount of the poison in the hopes he would become immune.
The concept is the same for sprinting and its relationship with injury. In addition to that, micro-dosing anything into your training can result in a huge volume of work accumulated if done consistently. In a highly skill-based sport, everything to a degree must be micro-dosed into the program. It’s about adding the right ingredients and finding the correct proportions - otherwise that cake you’re making isn’t going to come out of the oven too good.
Adding Speed to the Warm-Up
More specifically, add speed training to the end of your warm-up. This is the perfect time, the body is warm, full of energy and the central nervous system is fresh. Choose the appropriate warm-up depending on what the focus of the session, acceleration, max velocity or agility. I’ve picked up a lot of drills from Dan Pfaff and the guys over at ALTIS that can easily be added into your routine.
Warm-up and speed work can be all wrapped up within 30mins. Keep the volume relatively low, but still get enough exposure to enhance performance. Below are examples of two workouts that could be implemented after the warm-up. Using the R.A.M.P. method is always a good place to start if you are unsure how to warm-up properly, R-raise the heart rate, A-activate, M-mobilise, P-potentiate.
Acceleration Focus
3-4 x 10m Sprints
3-4 x 10m Resisted Sprints
2 x 20m Sprints
Max Velocity Focus
3 x 20m Wicket Run
2 x 10m Fly with 30m build-up
A few precautions before jumping in…
Players need to earn the right to sprint fast and far. So developing speed should begin in the off-season and the latest starting during pre-season. Beginning during the season means athletes will be exposing themselves to high intensity match situations where they need to put the foot down before ever doing so in a controlled environment at training. For me, 8 weeks is an appropriate time frame in the off-season to start speed training before pre-season; this gives enough time to progress training appropriately.
Most coaches will generally progress the sprint program by adding distance- nailing 10m and making sure it looks good and slowly progressing to 30m or more. Most players will hit top speed by 30m, so hitting this target in 5-6 weeks means players can then be exposed to max velocity workouts for a few weeks before pre-season. Use the Off-Season to improve certain physical and physiological qualities, leave pre-season to prepare for the sport.
If you have any questions or need more clarity on anything you’ve read, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
