What is speed and power?

Speed and power are easily confused, but are quite different attributes. Speed refers to quickness of movement and, in rugby at least, that normally means sprinting. Rugby can often devolve into a foot race – both when attacking or defending – where the faster sprinter scores the try or makes the vital tackle.

In contrast, power is strength produced quickly. Measured as Force × Distance ÷ Time, power is the combination of the amount of force generated and the velocity at which it is applied. For example, when doing a 1RM squat, the amount of force produced is very high, but the speed of movement is slow. However, in a squat jump, the force produced is just as high, but it’s produced for a much shorter time.

Speed and power are closely related but are dissimilar enough that they require different training methods. However, as speed increases, so too should power, and vice versa. A full explanation of this as it applies to the force-velocity curve can be found in our recommended leg workout.

Training for speed

Fitness adaptations from training are specific. That is to say, you get better at the things you train for. As sprinting is the main test of speed in rugby, it’s sprinting you need to do to become faster. It’s a case of practice makes perfect. Gym work and power training will undoubtedly help increase your speed potential, but if you want to sprint faster, you need to include sprinting in your workouts.

The best way to do this is to include specific sprint training in your weekly training schedule. The number of sessions per week will depend on whether you are in pre-season, off-season, or mid-season training and whether you are trying to improve or maintain your sprinting ability. You should be sprinting once or twice a week.

When training for speed, it’s important to understand that sprint training is VERY different to interval training. A lot of rugby players confuse the two. In interval training, the aim is to develop a high level of fitness by overloading the cardiovascular system. That means intense efforts, short rests, and lots of lactic acid. The ideal supplement to use during this kind of training is a nitric oxide booster.

While this IS an effective way to develop rugby-specific fitness, it’s a terrible way to develop speed. Why? Because as you get tired, your speed will decrease from one rep to the next and, because of the exercise law of specificity, that means you train yourself to sprint slower and not faster.

In contrast, true speed training is all about quality and not quantity. In fact, your sprint training sessions should be short and sharp, and terminated when you are no longer able to achieve maximum speed. For most players, this means sprint training sessions of 45 minutes or less, and that includes warm ups.

Unlike interval training, where rests between reps are kept purposely short, the rests between speed reps should be long enough for near maximal recovery i.e. 1-3 minutes. If you think of speed training as working close to your 1RM in the gym, this should make perfect sense.

As rugby centers can expect to sprint anywhere between 1 and 100 meters, they should include a variety of different distances in their sprint training workouts. Here is an example of a sample sprint training workout:

Warm Up – jogging, dynamic stretching, strides, and drills such as butt kickers, high knee running etc.

10 x 15m sprints (walk back slowly and recover as needed)

8 x 25m sprints (walk back slowly and recover as needed)

6 x 40m sprints (walk back and recover as needed)

4 x 70 m sprints (walk back and recover as needed)

Cool Down – more light jogging, followed by static stretching and foam rolling

Need some sprinting inspiration? Check out this video of some of the fastest rugby players in history.