How to get faster – by Jasmine Joyce

When it comes to speed in rugby, there are few faster than Wales winger Jasmine Joyce.

Yet pace isn’t all about natural talent. Here the Bristol Bears speedster gives her top tips on how you can get faster.

Schedule regular training

“Some people are born with the ability to be naturally fast, but you can still improve your speed. We train to improve it twice a week and can see the benefits every couple of months.”

Master the technique

“We practise technique. We use resistance bands to work at walking pace. We are focusing on the lean, the leg drive and our form.

“To get quicker you need to be running at your max speed, so make sure you incorporate full-sprint efforts to see an improvement.”

Put in the gym work

“In the gym we do a lot of quick, reactive strength work, things like power cleans and squat jumps. We also work on prehab exercises with hamstring and calf strength workouts.

“Pretty much anything you do at the gym focusing on the lower body will help, because it will improve your power from your legs and get them stronger.”

Go flat out

“The hard thing to train is the endurance to make those accelerations throughout a game. A lot of players can do it once but in a game of sevens, for example, some players will have done five or six max-effort sprints.

“Work on your endurance by doing flat-out sprints at the end of a session to replicate fatigue.”

This article originally appeared in Rugby World magazine’s August 2022 edition.

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