What your game can learn from... Hurdling
Boost your pace, power and agility with world 400m hurdles champion, Dai Greene
Fast, slow, fast...
“During the winter I run a lot of fartlek sessions (also known as interval training) and one of my killer sessions is to run one minute fast followed by a one-minute slow jog for a total of 45 minutes. For an amateur player this might be too much; maybe 20-30 seconds fast followed by 20-30 seconds jog over 10-15 minutes would work.”
Ruuuuuun!
“I know from my days playing football [Greene used to be on Swansea’s books] that a change of pace is a very useful asset for any footballer. During our season I would carry out a series of maybe six or seven 60-70 metre sprints with a lengthy recovery between each one. This will definitely help your explosiveness.”
Jump to it
“An often overlooked area of the game is agility, but this is crucial for football. Set out some hurdles at a height which you can clear, stand to the left of the first one, jump over it and move to the right side before jumping over the second, returning to the left side. Repeat for all hurdles. Avoiding two-footed challenge won’t be a problem anymore!”
Also see:
What your game can learn from... Boxing
What your game can learn from... Long Jump
What your game can learn from... The Olympics
What your game can learn from... Handball
What your game can learn from... Snooker
What your game can learn from... Darts
What you can learn from... Rugby Union
What you can learn from... Rugby League
What your game can learn from... Long distance running
What you can learn from... Cycling
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