PRACTICAL Speed Training for team field sports!!

Speed = Distance/Time

The point of speed training should be to cover a particular distance in a shorter amount of time. I think everyone can agree with that! However, speed training is made overcomplicated and in many cases the training I see is counter-productive to the ultimate goal. A lot of coaches use an array of equipment and drills in an attempt to make players feel like their getting faster.

I’m going to discuss some common mistakes I see with speed training and provide guaranteed methods to improve speed and make sure it carries over to game day performance within the context of team sports such as soccer, rugby and Gaelic.

It is important to remember that a small percentage of these team sports are played at maximum velocity. The majority of any game is played in either acceleration or deceleration and in multiple directions and so training should account for this.

I want to firstly cover common mistakes I see when training for speed:

1. NOT ENOUGH REST BETWEEN BOUTS – From my background in Gaelic football I know this is common across many club teams and possibly county teams. To improve speed, the emphasis has to be on quality over quantity. Running multiple 10/20/30+metre drills with relatively little rest will only improve endurance. Time the sprints, if times increase; quality is dropping – either cut the drill or increase the rest time.
2. LEAVING “SPEED TRAINING” TO THE END OF SESSIONS – Another one I’ve witnessed a lot. At the end of a session the coach calls the players to the line to run sprints. This is NOT speed training. It can still serve a purpose working A-lactic energy systems and speed endurance but it will not make you faster. if you want to increase speed train for it right after a good warm-up when you are freshest.
3. LACK OF DECELERATION TRAINING – Most teams train acceleration with sprints etc. Very few teams take the time to properly train deceleration. When people talk about agility that is essentially what they mean – the ability to accelerate and decelerate quickly –  if you can’t slow down efficiently, you can’t turn. So many players can be quick in a straight line because of strength & power but when they turn can look like the slowest player on the field. This because they can’t decelerate quickly. Imagine getting in a sports car with crappy brakes. It would be super fast until it came to taking a bend.  Most atheletes during drills decelerate by standing upright and leaning back. This does not lead to a good turning position that enables us to change direction and accelerate in that direction efficiently. Deceleartion drills can include landing drills, with double leg jumps, single leg hops, lateral hops etc. When sprinting, try and decelerate by lowering your centre of gravity and almost ending up in a lunge position. This video shows a good example of the deceleration pose. Deceleration drills.
4. POOR RELATIVE STRENGTH – relative strength is basically how strong you are in relation to your body weight. The stronger you are relative to your weight then the quicker you will normally be. Poor relative strength can be down to poor body composition or just being generally weak. (I will discuss this in the suggestion section)
5. TOO MANY LADDER DRILLS – I’ll preface this by saying when it comes to kids I think these are absolutely great. Kids are still developing their central nervous system and these drills are great for training stride frequency and fundamental movements. However when it comes to adults (post-puberty) stride frequency is very difficult to improve but what can improve is stride length. Ladder drills are a great warm-up for speed sessions but remember speed=distance/time. If you think of a ladder being  4 metres long, this might take 3-4secs to negotiate doing a drill. That same distance should be covered in under a second when sprinting. Spend the majority of your speed session working on improving force production to increase stride length, not reducing it.
6. CONCENTRATING TOO MUCH ON COACHING MECHANICS – coaching mechanics can be a good thing. Better position and technique will make someone faster. But it is often over-coached. Players are given too many points to think about and end up slower as a result. Speed is reactive and instinctive in-game situations. Add to that if you have a senior player who has run with a certain style for a number of years, it can be dangerous to try to change their running mechanics and a good coach SHOULDN’T try to do this. It is different if you are working with an individual athlete who’s sport is running but this blog is talking about speed in the context of team sports. Identify an area they could easily improve and try that first, not 3 or 4 improvements. Let them drill this movement until it becomes habit then you may try another improvement.

 

So that’s where I see a lot of teams going wrong. To improve speed a lot of individuals will benefit from different methods but as we are talking in context of teams I will identify the most common areas to improve.

1. START FRESH! QUALITY OVER QUANTITY – As I have already mentioned it is important to conduct speed training when you are at your freshest. Just after a good warm-up is best. If doing sprints use a timer to ensure the quality of sprints is being maintained. If it drops then increase rest or cut the speed work for that session.
2. INCLUDE DECELERATION TRAINING – This is fitting brakes on the sports car that match the horse power. Make sure you/your players can safely  and efficiently decelerate. This will make them quicker as they can slow down and turn faster.
3. IMPROVE RELATIVE STRENGTH – Getting leaner (reducing body fat) will generally do this. Most players if they drop some body fat will gain some pace. Then you need to increase strength – hit the gym with big compound movements (squat variations, rows, chin-ups, deadlifts and presses) will gain the most for your time. You can be strong without being powerful, but you can’t be powerful without being strong. In order to improve your pace and power your body has to have the strength to produce the force to propel you further.
4. IMPROVE CORE STABILITY – Improving core stability will help your body apply force in the desired direction and not waste energy due to insufficient movement. (We call these energy leaks). Improved core stability will also help your body absorb and dissipate forces more efficiently. This will help decelerate and then accelerate quickly.
5. IMPROVE MOBILITY – As increasing stride length will help increase speed, we need to ensure we have the mobility in our joints to allow for this. In team sports you usually find a lot of players have tight hips and often ankles. This prevents the athletes achieving optimal position to improve stride length. It can also lead to tightness in other areas such as hamstrings that may eventually lead to injury.
6. IMPROVE RUNNING MECHANICS – Improving running and in particular acceleration and deceleration mechanics will have a massive benefit – IF COACHED CORRECTLY. In adult athletes, each person will have a unique style of running. Don’t completely overhaul this style. Look for simple areas of improvements and tweak technique.
7. REACTIVE DRILLS/PLAY YOUR SPORT – To improve true agility, athletes have to react quickly to either opposition or ball. Ladders, cones and hurdles can never really mimic game situations. Playing games and conditioned games is the best way to improve agility. It never seizes to amaze me how many teams overlook the most obvious and effective way to train for a sport…..PLAY THE SPORT!!!!!!

 

There are a lot of other methods such as plyometrics, jump training, contrast training, olympic lifting that will help improve speed but they require a solid base of strength, stability and mobility. Speed training is a much bigger topic than a quick blog post. But quite simply to take it right back to basics:

 

Get Stronger! Improve Mobility! Play your sport!!!