I’ve been working in Contact Sports for over 13 years.
I rarely see these exercises in athletes’ programs, despite the huge benefits.
1: Seated Hamstring Curls (2 down, 1 up-tempo)
Repeat hamstrings strains ruin athletes’ careers.
Sprinting is the best antidote, but it’s important your build strength in the gym too.
We prefer seated hamstring curls to Nordics.
2: Zercher Lateral Split Squat
99% of Contact Athletes don’t do sufficient reps in the frontal plane.
Lateral strength training is medicine.
It builds strength at length in the hip. Whilst (indirectly) preparing you for change of direction in sport.
3: Top-end (~>30m) Sprinting
Tides are turning. Athletes now understand the important of sprinting.
However, there’s an overemphasis on acceleration.
Top-end speed wins games, and you rarely get exposure through training itself.
4: 1 v 1 Drills (i.e. agility training)
Contact sports are evasion games.
Yet most don’t practice evasion.
Do 1 v 1 drills during, before or after training.
Learn to step someone in a phone box.
5: Cable Rotations (kneeling or seated)
Sprinkling rotation into your training will unlock your t-spine and make you feel human again.
If all your training is done with a stiff core, you’ll develop a stiff core.
6: Plate Neck Flexions
We know the important of training your neck.
Plate neck flexions are a simple way to build mobility and strength at length.
7: Cable Knee Drives (with deep stretch)
Hips are the motors of sprinting.
Nothing beats a full range cable knee drive to develop strong hips.
8: Behind Neck Barbell Press’
Contact athletes don’t challenge their shoulders enough.
They have limited range-of-motion because they train with limited range-of-motion.
Slowly adding behind neck pressing into your program will free your shoulders.
9: Bounding and Hops (multidirectional)
Box jumps aren’t plyometric.
If you want to improve your speed, power, and spring – do bounds and hops.
10: Smith Machine Seated Calf Raises
Soleus produces the highest muscle force of all muscles (>8 times bodyweight) during sprinting (Pandy et al., 2021).
Sprinting, bounds, and hops are the best ways to train it.
However, make sure to supplement your speed work with heavy smith machine seated calf raises.
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