1. Sled forward push
There is no better tool in your gym that will transfer over to your sport better than the sled. I don’t care what anyone else tells you about deadlifts and squats being the be all and end all. This full body death machine will have you trampling your opposition every single game.
Just so you know, it is also very effective at packing on muscle in the legs. Your quads, core, hamstrings, glutes, calves, triceps and traps all get a good tune up. It is a full body exercise that burns a heap of calories with the additional bonus of being extremely kind to your spinal cord, which is always good if we can avoid destroying that.
Work out your 1rm with a 10m or 20m marker.
Remember:
Working at 80-90% will get you stronger.
Working at 30-50% will get you explosive.
Don’t have a sled?
Ok that sucks but we can deal with it. Do you know where a good steep hill is?
Go find one and get ready for pain.
2. Hill sprints
Here’s something you can try.
Set up your domes or markers at the base of the hill and measure your metres either with measuring tape or roughly by steps (10 metres would be about 8 decent size steps).
5 x 10m
4 x 20m
2 x 40m
Rest as long as you need between sets, it is about explosive speed here not fitness.
Make sure when you walk back down the hill you turn and walk down backwards to stretch the hammies and reduce unnecessary pressure through your knees.
3. Dead Treads – no power for leg power!
Although this one is not using the sled or a hill it is effective none the less. It is a handy option if someone else is using the sled at the gym.
Get on a treadmill and leave it turned off. Grab the front handles lean forward and dig your toes into the track. Get your stopwatch ready and sprint your ass off. You must move the treadmill tracking with your feet only!
Try this:
4 x 20sec
4 x 25 sec
2 x 30 sec
2 x 40 sec