Trying to get fast again

[Major_Groobes]

I'm playing a little bit of social rugby after a gap of about 10 years (I'm 31 now). I'm pretty crap at rugby if I'm honest, but the one advantage I used to have was a bit of speed. However I've now lost that!

So I'm looking for some training tips to try and improve my sprinting and acceleration for rugby. It's only social rugby and I don't have much time for training so it can't be anything /too/ involved.

Would just going to the park and doing 10-20s sprints followed by walking recoveries be any use? I've been doing a lot of Googling around but can't find anything that suitable. Best guide I found was this: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/rugby1.htm

My general aerobic fitness is very poor too - one sprint in a game and I'm wrecked - but I'm hoping that whatever sprint training I do will help me last a game of 7s.

 

[jwh10]

An improvement in your general aerobic fitness with definitely help you get some of your natural pace back. I would work on this more so for a few weeks before worrying too much about your sprint power. By all means add in some short sprint intervals if you can, but general aerobic fitness is key to begin with and once this is back on track you'll find you'll be able to work on your sprints properly.

 

[ranger]

Remember to focus on short steps. Its instinct to try and hit full stride from the first step but there are very few guys around who are powerful enough in the legs to pull that off (Or who have short enough legs in Jason Robinsons case).

Stay calm when the ball comes your way and tell yourself to keep your paces short until you are fully wound up. This won't make your top end pace any faster but you will take off quicker and hit top speed earlier. Rugbys more about acceleration that top end pace in most cases anyway.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Definitely agree with what Ranger says about stride length,
I've noticed my instinct is to try and take the longest strides possible, because it seems like you're putting more power into each step so you'd go faster, but the shorter steps = more acceleration

 

[lucky number 7]

shorter steps = more acceleration

Also gives you better ability to step , change direction and power into the tackler , unless you have a nice open pitch in front of you short quick steps is the way to go

 

[Aedaphon]

I'm doing quite a lot of spring training myself seeing as it's the off season for rugby here, and much like the other guys said, working your general fitness up will definitely help a lot more than anything else if you're feeling that unfit after a sprint in a game.
However you might want to consider that you've lost some power from your legs if you've slowed down a bit? Sprint training will work on that but plyometrics is always quite useful (just look it up if you don't know how). Apart from that just a lot of short range sprints is my advice. The real effort comes at the beginning so 10X30m has always worked for me when I've lost a bit of speed. Hope this helps a little.