How to gain speed in rugby?

Question

Can anyone help me, I play rugby for my local team and if you saw me you would think I would be really fast but I'm not.

How do I gain speed off the mark in rugby.

I play on the flank BTW

Answer 1

the best advise i could give is basically to, practice your running in the following ways

-first you go for your distance (length of a rugby pitch) get used to that distance

get a stopwatch,, or better get someone to time you .. get a starting time for a rough idea.

- well if you want  sprint for a distance.. or just speed it depends ..

its always good just to go to a running track to practice ... try different starting positions  from the ground or sprint start or from standing experiment.

finally check ur diet are you eating enough energy food ?KCal

Answer 2

Short sprints training is all you can really do.  

Practice sprinting over 10 meters with turn arounds - ie, sprint 10 meters, touch the ground with your hand and sprint back - do this repeatively.

Also practice sprinting from a lying down position.  This is a relatively standard training technique that mimics game play.

Remember, it takes some time.......

Answer 3

Sprint drills for kick in your run and running long distance to keep your stamina up...do 5 mile runs...or work up to it so you have wind during the match.  As for sprint drills, do timed drills on 1/4 length of pitch or on half width of the pitch.  Do descending time between drill...ie on the width of the pitch...run half pitch as hard as you can and then take 30 sec rest...then run rest of width all out...take 25 sec rest...turn around and do 1/2 width at full speed...and take 20 sec rest...when you get to 15 sec rest...start going back up t5 secs at a time till you are at 30 sec rest again.

Also consider the small chutes to do you sprints with...this will help you get a better kick in the match and help you with your speed a bit.  Run half the length of the pitch with one these and you will get a great workout and conditioning for sprints.

Have used the chutes in the past for college, when I ran track...and it helps a lot.  Link below

Answer 4

You need to work on drill that get the fast twitch muscles working. These are the ones required for sprinting.

Try SAQ drills (SAQ = speed, agility, quickness). They have a website and their techniques improve footwork in general. Will improve sprinting and may help develop a  sidestep.

These are the drills responsible for getting Jason Robinson his moves and quickness. Now you might not end up at that level, but the  drill should help speed overall...

Good luck!