Easy drills to work the core muscles needed for speed

It's the core muscles that count the most when you're training for speed and rugby speed comes from the engine room, that is the stability of the muscles around the hips. The best rugby runners have a very stable pelvis because their conditioning programme has included core stability drills to develop these muscles and posture. Use the following rugby drills and tricks to help your players.

Six easy drills to work on players' posture and core muscles

While posture might be improved with specialised training, and you might include specific drills in your players' gym workouts to tempt the pelvic stability muscles into action, players can also do these drills in work and home time.

Tell your players to use:

1. The mirror

Every time a player stands in front of the mirror, he pulls his belly button in and squeezes his buttocks together. That will make him lift his chest a little and roll his pelvis forward.

2. Hitch 'em

The player stands on one foot sideways on the stairs. He hitches the free leg up and down at the pelvis.

3. Stairs drill one

With the same upright posture as the mirror exercise, the player walks up the stairs with an emphasis on the recovery knee coming through in-line.

Run up the stairs with that same upright posture and a fast arm movement to encourage the cadence, which is the number of steps the player takes per minute.

The player should run up at two at a time when he can but make sure the support leg extends fully and he keeps the hips high.

4. Stairs drill two

Players go up the stairs sideways. On the first flight the player faces right, on the second flight left. The belly needs to in, hips rolled forward and bottom leg crossed over in front.

On the next day the player crosses the leg over behind him and keeps the hips facing forward.

5. Waiting time drill

When standing at the lift, in the line at the bank, waiting for the boss, or cleaning his teeth, the player can stand on one leg and move the other one around to check his changing balance response.

He might even try a few gymnastic imitations with the arms and the free leg extended in selected directions.

6. Skipping

Every player should buy a skipping rope. As all boxers know, skipping keeps good form by having the belly in, hips high, no rebound step, toes up, and fast feet.

Click the link to order a copy of Rocket Rugby, a rugby fitness manual with exercises to boost agility, endurance, speed and strength.

Click the link for rugby drills to maximise player pace.