Speed & Agility Development for Team Tykes

Of all the aspects of physical conditioning that are important in rugby union, speed development is probably most important of all. Unfortunately what you typically find is that developing speed for rugby is not well understood. To help prepare you for the challenges of rugby union and to allow you to reach your speed potential, it is important that you understand 'rugby speed' and how it can be developed over time.

We need to start by looking at how speed influences the game of rugby. Below is a list of some of the areas where speed is important;

Running in a straight line
Acceleration
Changing speed on the move
Footwork & Agility
Sprinting when fatigued
Speed of thought
Changing direction
Impact at the contact area
Evasive running

As you read this list there are two important points to note. The first point is that speed is not just how quickly you move but how quickly you think. You can't move fast without first having decided to do so. Your muscles and your brain work together to produce movement and to develop speed you have to maximize how quickly you move AND how quickly you think. The second point to note is that running and thinking quickly are rugby skills. These skills have to be developed like other rugby skills and you have to be aware that some running techniques may be better for rugby than others. To improve requires practice and appropriate coaching of how you move. You can then develop your speed of thought to further improve your rugby movement skills.

Running Technique

With all this to consider where do you start? Before we do anything you need to ask yourselves if your running technique is as good as it could be, particularly bearing in mind that you need to develop movement skills that allows you to adapt to all the demands you will face when you play.

In general terms, developing speed involves optimizing leg speed and stride length. To improve speed you have to either improve leg speed, improve stride length or both. It makes sense that if you can move your legs faster or move your legs further on each stride then you will cover the ground quicker and thus become faster. The optimum stride length and stride rate for each person will depend on your physical characteristics. For example, if you are really tall then you are likely to have a big stride but you may find that leg speed doesn't come easily for you. If you are small then you will have to develop good leg speed, as stride length will always be a limiting factor. However the good news is that almost everyone can improve their running technique and the development process starts with something simple that will make a real difference.
Arm Action

It may seem a strange concept but it is important to run with your arms. Your legs are important because they produce forces when you run. If your legs are not maximally pushing you forward on every stride or if you are wasting energy by producing inefficient rotation type movements, then you will never be as fast or have the endurance capacity that you could.

So where do the arms come in? Well as we know, 'for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction'. In terms of your running mechanics this means that what you do with you arms is reflected by your legs. So if your arms move fast your legs move fast. If your arms go through a small range of movement so do your legs. If your arms come in and across the mid-line of your body then so do your legs. So by positively influencing your arm action you can have a positive effect of your force producing legs.

It terms of technique it is important to keep the arms at 90 degrees or slightly less and make sure that you have a good arm drive behind your body and not in front. Drive your arms as hard as you can to accelerate and once you are into your running work them fast but relaxed to increase your range of movement at the shoulders and thus increase your stride length. Also make sure your arms don't come in and across your body or you will create rotational forces rather than forward forces and so limit your speed and efficiency. Below are some practical tips to help you to practice to develop a better running technique for rugby.

Practical tips

• Get someone to video you as you run so you can check out the position of your arms.
  
• Use a mirror when you practice your arm action and work on driving the arms hard to accelerate and then working them fast but with relaxation to help you change speed.
  
• Once you can master your arm action in front of a mirror then use your new technique in practice. Remember, you accelerate by driving the arms hard and to lift or maintain top pace get used to driving the arms fast but keeping them relaxed. If your shoulders are too tense then they won't go through their full range of movement and in turn will shorten your stride length. Developing this fast but relaxed arm action is important not only to change speed but also to maintain top speed once your acceleration phase has finished.
  
• Practice. Remember running is a skill and we need to practice.

General tips

• To be fast we have to train fast. For real speed we need to have enough recovery to allow us to maintain top speed throughout a speed session. Speed endurance is another running skill that, although relevant, should wait until we can run properly.
  
• Work on your speed all year round. This doesn't mean working flat out 12 months a year. What it does mean is that you must devote training time to technique development all year round if you really want to reach your potential.
  
• Set performance peaks for your season. It is impossible to produce top speed all year round so set your goals for when you want to be at your sharpest and we can then plan to be in top shape at these times of the year.
  
• Keep your head up. In rugby we need to see what is happening in front of us and you can't do that if you are looking down.
  
• Your start position is left foot forward, right arm forward or right foot forward and left arm forward ONLY!

Agility

As you are well aware there is more to rugby than running in a straight line. Once you have honed your running technique it is important to consider agility and how we can practice our footwork, co-ordination and balance to cope with the wide range of agile movements you will need to perform during games. To do this effectively there are some important technical points;

• You generate the force to change direction by sinking your hips and bending at the knees and then driving yourself forward as you straighten your legs. If you try to change direction without bending at the knees you can only really produce the force with your calf muscles.
  
• The second point is that if you learn to drive off one leg rather than both, then you can use the non-driving leg in mid-air to turn and point in the direction you want to run to make your turns faster and more efficient.
  
• Think about what movements you needs to produce in a match and then practice these movements using the above principles.

So if you want to stop and change direction in rugby then you need to sink the hips and push off from one leg while moving your other leg in mid-air to turn and step in the direction you want to go. This is not easy to do and requires practice. Start at slow speeds and gradually build up until you can slow down from top pace to turn and accelerate as fast as you can. It will take some practice to master this skill but it could save you valuable seconds in a match.

Practical Speed and Agility Sessions

Acceleration - Short runs over 5-20 meters with good recovery between runs and sets and looking to complete 10-16 runs per session. For example 5x5 meter accelerations flat out with a slow walk back recovery, 5 minutes rest, 5x10 meter accelerations with slow walk back recovery, 5 minutes rest then 5x20 meter accelerations with walk back recovery between run. Warm-down. This session would be written 5x5m, 5x10m, 5x20m, Walk back plus 5 minutes. Make sure your technique is sound and take your time to get real quality.

Change of speed - 3 sets of 3 runs of the following: 10 meters easy, 20 meters fast, slow down for 10 meters then accelerate for the last 10 meters (each run is 50 meters in total). Take a slow walk back after each run and have 6 minutes rest between sets. To progress you can increase the number of reps or the distance of each run and you can also vary where you change speed i.e. 20 meters easy, 30 meters fast or 10 meters fast, 20 meters easy then 20 meters fast.

Speed Endurance - To allow you to keep running at top speed towards the end of the match you need to work on speed endurance. The following is a sample session. Warm-up then complete 8 runs over 40 meters with 90 second walk back recoveries between runs. To progress this session you can increase the distance you run (up to 60 meters maximum) or decrease the recovery time (to a minimum of about 60 seconds).

Agility - Practice agility movements in their own right but also add them into your speed sessions. For example, rather than always starting you accelerations runs from a standing start, start from a side shuffling movement then accelerate. It is also important that you speed runs are not always done in a straight line and the following are some examples of how you can make your speed sessions more rugby specific:

Slalom running: set out some cones 10 meters apart in a slalom formation over about 40 meters. Start with a narrow slalom track and gradually make it wider as you improve. Practice running through the slalom until you can move at top speed without slowing down as you go round the cones.

In-lines and Out-lines: you can progress from the slalom running to more match specific movements by practicing your lines of running in attack. When we have the ball we want to make ourselves as difficult as possible to tackle. So rather than always running straight at the defence we can vary our attack to run on an arc to confuse the defence. An in-line is when we start our run drifting outwards and then arcing back inwards before we catch the ball. An out-line is when you start drifting inwards and then arc outwards before you catch the ball. Obviously the faster you move on these in-lines and out-lines the better. To practice these movements is simple. Set out four cones in a narrow diamond formation about 10 meters long and about 3 meters wide. Start at the narrow end of the diamond and accelerate towards either the right or left cone. As you approach it use faster shorter strides to accelerate round the cone then back to longer strides as you accelerate to the last cone. Practice both in-lines and out-lines of running using the right and left hand cones.