Speed and power training for rugby, built by AI
Accelerate with 90 or 100 kilos on you, take the tackle and sprint again. The plan loads the sled to what your profile asks for, puts upper-body work inside the strength session and keeps repeated sprints away from the match. Measured with a friend and a phone.
Updated
What is speed and power training for rugby?
It is the Speed and power variant for rugby players: the sport in the app where the upper body weighs most and where acceleration is trained with the body mass you actually carry, not a sprinter's. A back and a forward do not sprint the same way, but both start from standing or from a ruck, take contact, get up and go again. That is what the plan prepares.
The sport parameters set what changes compared with the general plan. The typical rugby sprint is fixed at 20 metres: the distance of the long acceleration runs and of the short sprint in the tests. The weight of change of direction is high but not the maximum (0.7 against 1.0 for basketball): there are deceleration, 505 and cutting sessions, but they do not dominate the week. The weight of repeated sprints is among the highest (0.8), because a match is sprint, contact, recover and sprint. And the upper body has the highest value of every sport in the app (0.8): rows, presses and pull-ups go inside the strength session, not on a separate day that would steal the 48 hours between two hard sessions.
The rest is the same loop as in every sport: measure, prescribe and adapt. Every five weeks you run 10 metres, 30 metres and a broad jump; from intermediate level, the 505 on each leg; and if you want, six repeated 30 m sprints. From there come your top speed in km/h, the 0-100 index and your profile: if you fly better than you start, you lack drive and the plan loads the sled and the gym; if you start better than you fly, you lack flying sprints and plyometrics.
One number matters more in rugby than in any other sport: relative strength. The app divides your estimated squat 1RM by your body weight and, if it comes out below 1.5, it tilts the profile towards a strength deficit even when your times do not say so. At 100 kilos of body weight, that is 150 on the bar. A free gym session with a squat or hip thrust updates it without you doing anything else.
Rugby
Typical sprint: 20 m- Change of direction70
- Repeated sprints80
- Upper body80
Acceleration into contact, repeated sprints and plenty of upper-body gym work.
A sprint is three qualities, not one
90% of the sprints in a match last under 5 seconds and cover 10-30 metres. That is why the plan does not train "running fast" in general: it trains each phase with its own session, and measures it with its own test.
Acceleration
0-10 mVaried starts, hills, sled. Leg strength in the gym.
Test: 10 m
Transition
10-30 m20-30 m sprints from a standing start, running technique, plyometrics.
Test: 30 m
Max velocity
30-50 m10-20 m flying sprints, wickets, ins and outs. 3-6 min rests.
Test: 20 m fly
Your AI-generated plan
Setup is the same as for the speed plan: sport, situation, club and match days, priority, where you run and what equipment you have. With rugby, what comes out changes.
Sled acceleration, loaded to your profile. From intermediate level, with a sled (or a hill or a band), a third of the metres in every acceleration session are resisted. The load is where the science sits (Petrakos 2016; Cross and Morin 2018): the light sled, at 10-20% of body weight, keeps top speed and is the default; medium runs from 30 to 45%; the heavy sled, at 50-80% over 15 metres, is what improves acceleration in team sports and only comes in when your profile shows a strength deficit. You run at half speed and that is the point. It is 2 to 6 reps with 30 seconds more rest than a free sprint. A beginner gets no sled: they need to learn to start.
The gym has real upper-body work. The Strength and power session opens with power when the phase asks for it (jump squat at 30-40% of 1RM), continues with squat or trap bar, hip thrust, Bulgarian split squat, Romanian deadlift, your rung of the Nordic, calves and core, and closes with bench press or push-ups and barbell row, dumbbell row or pull-ups, 3×5-6 at the phase's RPE. If you are short on time, the upper body is the first thing to go; the main leg lifts are never touched. In season, from the second cycle on, beginners and intermediates drop to maintenance (3×4 at RPE 6.5); advanced players keep the strength loads.
Repeated sprints and tempo. In the sport-specific cycle, with four days or more, repeated sprints come in ahead of change of direction: blocks of 6×30 metres leaving every 25 seconds, 4 minutes between blocks, one to three blocks, at 90% or at the pace derived from your speed reserve. In season they only fit two days after the previous match, and if you played 60 minutes or more, that day is cut. Extensive tempo does fit near the match: 8×100 metres at 65-70% with 75 seconds (6 for beginners, 10 for advanced), two days before you play.
The week around the match is the general plan's: sprinting three or four days out, gym four days out or two days after the previous match, two days out only prevention, technique or tempo, optional activation the day before and prevention the day after. The minutes you played rule: 60 or more, two days without high load; 20 to 59, one; under 20, none.
The week is built around your match
You tell the app which days you train with your team and when you play; it places its sessions by distance to the match. Example week: club on Tuesday and Thursday, match on Saturday, three sessions of your own.
- MonMD+2Base strength54’
- TueMD-4Club + speed microdose28’
- WedMD-3Acceleration39’
- ThuMD-2Team training
- FriMD-1Rest or activation15’
- SatMDMatch90’
- SunMD+1Rest or prevention
- The speed session goes on MD-3 or MD-4: far from the match, when you perform best and risk least. If max velocity does not fit, a microdose of flying runs after club training.
- Nothing hard the day before. The day after, only prevention or rest.
- 48 hours between two intense sessions, counting the match as one of them.
- The minutes you played set the recovery: 60 or more means two days without high load.
- If your coach already includes all-out sprints, the app does not duplicate them.
Who is this plan for?
-
A heavy forward with a slow start. You come off the ruck hard but the first ten metres feel long. Your profile will usually show a strength deficit (weak 10 m relative to 30, low broad jump, or a squat below 1.5 times your body weight) and the plan answers with more gym, heavy sled and hills, and fewer flying sprints.
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A back who wants more top speed. You start well and never take off. Speed-deficit profile: 20 m flying sprints with a 30 m run-in, wickets, light sled at 10-20% and intensive plyometrics once the tendon has 15 extensive sessions behind it. The gym drops to maintenance.
-
In season with two or three club days. One intense sprint session a week on top of the match (two if you are advanced), gym with upper-body work two days after the previous match, prevention the day after. The match counts as your hardest session.
-
Pre-season or no team. Four or five days: two or three sprint sessions never back to back, strength the day after running, technique on Saturday. This is where repeated sprints calibrated with your speed reserve come in, with volumes rising up to 10% a week.
-
Coming back from a hamstring strain. Under three months ago: no flying sprints or 30 m test in the first cycle. Short acceleration, the Nordic ladder and tempo, and the test is replaced by a 20 m one.
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Gym only during the week. The sprint session becomes power and jumps, with upper-body work, and the plan asks for one 40 m outing a week. The club pitch will do, and the course diagrams with measurements are further down.
The courses this plan uses most
In speed work the measurement is the instruction: where the cones go, how long each segment is and which part is timed. The app shows you this sketch before every course-based drill, with the distance adjusted to your sport and level.
- Acceleration
Hill acceleration
A 5-8% slope over 15-25 m. Walk back down: the hill gives you the forward lean for free.
- Max velocity
20 m flying sprint
You need 50 m of clear ground. Only the last 20 m are timed: this is the top-speed test.
- Max velocity
Ins and outs
When you release you do not brake: you hold the speed relaxed. It teaches you to run fast without tensing up.
- Change of direction
505 test
Only the 5 m in and the 5 m back around the turn are timed. Alternate the turning leg.
- Repeated sprints
Shuttle repeated sprints
15 m out, touch the line, 15 m back. The next one starts every 25 s. For when you do not have 40 m of straight ground.
- Repeated sprints
100 m tempo
At 65-70%, relaxed and on grass if you can. Active recovery that adds metres without punishing you.
Measured with what you have: a friend, a tape measure and a phone
Every five weeks, in the deload week, the app walks you through a short test battery. No €300 GPS pods, no lab: three attempts, the best one counts, and the result is compared against yourself.
10 m
Acceleration: the start.
A friend with the phone stopwatch, or normal-speed video.
30 m
Acceleration plus transition; top speed is estimated from here.
Same. With a 10 m split if you have two watches or video.
20 m fly
Pure max velocity. Optional, for advanced players.
30 m build-up and 20 m timed: you need 50 m of clear ground.
Broad jump
Horizontal power, the one that drives acceleration.
A tape measure. Best of three.
Vertical jump (CMJ)
Vertical power and neuromuscular fatigue. Optional.
With My Jump or height estimated from video.
505
Change of direction and left-right asymmetry. Optional.
Two cones and a stopwatch, two attempts per leg.
The two numbers you see
- Top speed (km/h)
The number people quote in the changing room. From the 20 m fly, or estimated from the 10→30 m split.
- Speed-power index (0-100)
Percentile against players of your sex and level, weighted by what you said you wanted to improve. It places you; improvement is measured against yourself.
So that noise does not count as progress
- Hand-held stopwatch: the app adds 0.24 s (Mann 2015) and notes it on the record.
- With two or more tests, your own typical error sets the smallest change that matters: about 0.06 s over 30 m, about 6 cm on the jump. Below that, no improvement or loss is announced.
- If you change timing method, the app warns that it is not comparable and starts a new series.
- What already comes in from Strava or Garmin (top speed of each activity) counts as a trend, never as a test.
Your first weeks, in detail
Week 3
In season, cycle 1: club Tuesday and Thursday, match on Saturday, sled available| Day | Session type | Detail | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Base strength (MD+2) | Back squat 3×6-8, Barbell hip thrust 3×6-8, Bulgarian split squat 2×6-8 per leg, Isometric hamstring bridge hold 3×25 s, Pallof press 2×10 per side, Short lateral hops 4×10, Jump step-up 2×10 | 51 min |
| Tuesday | Club + speed microdose (MD-4) | Build-ups 40-60 m 2×40 m, Flying 10 m (20 m build-up) 4×10 m | 28 min |
| Wednesday | Acceleration (MD-3) | High knees 2×20 m, Butt kicks 2×20 m, 3-point start 3×10 m, Light sled sprint 2×20 m, 10-20 m sprint 2×20 m | 39 min |
| Thursday | Team training (MD-2) | Your coach runs today. Eat well and sleep: it is load the plan accounts for. | — |
| Friday | Rest (MD-1) | Recovery | — |
| Saturday | Match (MD) | Play. Afterwards log the minutes you played: the plan adjusts the next two days. | 90 min |
| Sunday | Rest (MD+1) | Recovery after the match | — |
Week 8
Pre-season, cycle 2 (strength and power): repeated-sprint priority| Day | Session type | Detail | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Repeated sprints | High knees 2×20 m, 30 m repeated sprints 2×6×30 m | 34 min |
| Tuesday | Max strength | Barbell jump squat 3×5, Back squat 3×4-5, Barbell hip thrust 4×4-5, Bulgarian split squat 3×6-8 per leg, Romanian deadlift 3×6-8, Isometric hamstring bridge hold 3×25 s, Pallof press 2×10 per side | 62 min |
| Wednesday | Rest | Recovery | — |
| Thursday | Max velocity | High knees 2×20 m, Butt kicks 2×20 m, Build-ups 40-60 m 2×50 m, Flying 20 m (30 m build-up) 6×20 m, Short lateral hops 5×10, Jump step-up 3×10 | 66 min |
| Friday | Rest | Recovery | — |
| Saturday | Running technique | High knees 2×20 m, Butt kicks 2×20 m, Walking high-knee lunge 2×20 m, Build-ups 40-60 m 4×40 m, Isometric hamstring bridge hold 3×25 s | 33 min |
| Sunday | Rest | Recovery | — |
These examples are real extracts from the EntrenAI planning engine. Your personal plan adjusts to your level, equipment and availability.
Equipment needed
EntrenAI automatically substitutes any exercise if you don’t have the gear.
- 40 metres of grass to run straight: the club pitch works, and with 20 m you can do 10 m flying sprints
- Two or three cones to mark starts, 20 metres and the 505
- A team-mate with the phone stopwatch, or the app's video timer if you train alone
- A sled with harness, loaded to the percentage of body weight your profile asks for; without a sled, a hill or a long band with a partner
- A gym with a barbell and a bench: squat or trap bar, hip thrust, press and row; without a bench, push-ups and dumbbell rows
- A tape measure for the broad jump
- Optional: GPS watch or Strava, so the top speed from your match counts as exposure
What most people get wrong (and how to avoid it)
- 1
Loading the sled to the max because it is rugby
The heavy sled, at 50-80% of body weight, only comes in when your profile says you lack drive. With enough strength and little top speed, the right load is the light one, 10-20%, which keeps sprint mechanics and only accentuates the push. Loading it out of habit makes you better at pushing sleds, not faster on the pitch.
- 2
Doing a separate chest and back day
A stand-alone upper-body day eats one of the week's slots and, if it is heavy, breaks the 48 hours between demanding sessions. The plan puts it at the end of Strength and power, 3×5-6 of press and of row or pull-ups, after legs, hips and hamstrings. If it does not fit in your time, the upper body goes before the squat does.
- 3
Thinking a forward does not need max velocity
Weekly exposure to 95% of your top speed protects the hamstrings in every position (Malone 2017; Edouard 2019). If your week has no room for a flying-sprint session, the plan adds a microdose of 4-6 flying 20 m runs after club training and warns you after 7 days without exposure.
- 4
Doing repeated sprints three days before the match
Blocks of 6×30 every 25 seconds leave you sore on match day if they go on MD-3. The app keeps them for two days after the previous match or for pre-season, and two days before you play it only allows extensive tempo at 65-70%, technique or prevention.
- 5
Measuring strength in kilos instead of times body weight
A 130 kg squat sounds fine until you weigh 100: that is 1.3 times body weight, below the 1.5 the app uses as its floor, and the profile tilts towards a strength deficit even if your times do not say so. Log the estimated 1RM in a free gym session and the index picks it up on its own.
- 6
Not logging the minutes of the match
A match with tackles is the hardest session of the week and recovery comes from the minutes played: 60 or more, two days without high load; 20 to 59, one. Without that number, Monday's strength session can land on a body that has not recovered yet.
Other Speed and power plan variants
Back to the general Speed and power plan
- Speed training for football players, without leaving your clubAI speed plan for amateur football (soccer) players: 20 m sprints, gym and hamstring prevention placed around your club sessions and Saturday's match.
- Speed and agility training for basketball, built by AIAI speed and agility training for basketball: 15 m sprints, braking, change of direction and vertical jump, placed around your club sessions and your games.
- Speed training for handball: faster on the fast breakAI speed training plan for handball: 15 m fast breaks, feints and changes of direction, jump shots and upper-body strength, built around your match week.
- Speed and agility training for tennis and padel, built by AIAI speed and agility training for tennis and padel: 10 m bursts, brake and go with the 505 and T-test, gym strength and adductor work around your matches.
- Gym workouts to get faster: strength and power for sprintingNo room to run 40 metres? Leg strength, loaded jumps and plyometrics in the gym to sprint faster, plus one weekly outdoor sprint outing to keep top speed.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, and it is where it shows most. Your sprint is 20 metres from standing or from a ruck, and acceleration with high body mass is trained with short starts, 20 m sprints and a sled when your profile asks for it. The gym weighs more in your case: squat or trap bar, hip thrust, upper-body work, and relative strength (squat 1RM divided by body weight) as the number that tilts the plan. Max velocity is kept with one weekly exposure, because it protects the hamstrings in every position.
Whatever your profile asks for, and the app writes it into the session as a percentage of your body weight. Light, at 10-20%, is the default and the choice with a speed deficit: mechanics do not change and you feel the push more. Heavy, at 50-80% over 15 metres, only with a strength deficit: you run at half speed and that is the point. Medium, from 30 to 45%, sits between the two. Without a sled, a hill or a band with a partner does the same job.
It includes them. In rugby the upper body has the highest weight of every sport in the app, so the Strength and power session closes with bench press or push-ups and barbell row, dumbbell row or pull-ups, 3×5-6 at the phase's RPE. It goes after legs, hips, hamstrings, calves and core, and if the session does not fit your time it is the first thing trimmed, so the main leg lifts are left alone.
From the test battery. The app compares your 10 m with your 30 m: a high ratio means you fly better than you start and lack drive; a low one means you start better than you fly. The broad jump and relative strength refine the verdict: a squat below 1.5 times body weight adds to the strength-deficit side. With a strength deficit you get more gym, heavy sled and hills; with a speed deficit, more flying sprints, light sled and intensive plyometrics.
Two days after the previous match, which with a weekly match is five days before the next, and only if you played under 60 minutes: with 60 or more, that day is cut. They are blocks of 6×30 metres leaving every 25 seconds with 4 minutes between blocks, at 90% or at the pace from your speed reserve. Two days before you play, what fits is extensive tempo, 8×100 metres at 65-70% with 75 seconds if you are intermediate.
You log it in the app and recovery adjusts: 60 minutes or more means two days without high load, so the day after is prevention or rest and the next one loses the heavy gym or the repeated sprints. Between 20 and 59 minutes, one day; under 20, none. The daily check-in for sleep, stress and hamstring or groin pain still acts on top: it trims sets, never rests or intensity.
Every five weeks: 10 metres, 30 metres and broad jump, three attempts with full rest. From intermediate level, the 505 with two attempts per leg, because change of direction in rugby weighs enough to measure. Optional: 20 m fly (in season only for advanced players) and six repeated 30 m sprints to see your drop-off. A hand-held stopwatch is corrected by 0.24 seconds and only a change beyond your typical error counts as improvement.
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