So you want to improve your conditioning for your sport. Think GAA, rugby, soccer — any field sport.
What’s the best way to do that?
There are lots of different approaches.
We can build a base in the off‑season.
Think 70–75% of your MAS (maximum aerobic speed).
Six minutes on, three minutes off.
Great.
We can do specific MAS running at higher intensities.
Think 95–105% of your maximum aerobic speed, which is going to look like something like five metres per second.
So high‑speed running... 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off. Also great.
However, we don’t have unlimited time during the season — and even in the off‑season, we want a conditioning prescription that has massive bang for buck. Something very time‑efficient, and something you can feel working from the very first rep.
Repeat Sprintability Training
Remember: fitness is specific to the intensities at which it’s performed.
All that means is you can have the best 10K Olympic runner in the world, and they still couldn’t play field sport well — because they don’t have conditioning at the highest intensities required.
The highest intensity during a game is sprinting. So let’s talk RSA training.
It looks like five seconds at 95% or above of your max velocity, for roughly five to eight seconds per rep. It’s going to be about 40 metres for most athletes.
Then you’re going to rest at six times the work duration. So:
5 seconds on
30 seconds off
You can overload this by slowly reducing rest — 30 seconds to 25 seconds... 6:1 to 5:1.
Start with five reps — that’s one set.
Rest two to three minutes.
Then another set of five.
It’s very time‑efficient
If each repetition takes about 35 seconds, five by 35... you already know.
But here’s the key thing:
We get very similar aerobic adaptations from repeat sprintability training as we do from Zone 2 work.
Why?
Because in each 30‑second recovery period, your aerobic system is working flat out to re‑synthesise creatine phosphate — to add phosphate back onto creatine to form phosphocreatine.
That happens in the cell. In the muscle. Inside the mitochondria. It is aerobic.
So while the work phase is largely anaerobic, the recovery phase is absolutely aerobic. And that’s why we get peripheral adaptations.
Things like:
- improved capillarization
- increased blood vessel density
- better O2 extraction
- improved A‑V O2 difference (arteriovenous oxygen difference)
So we hit:
- high‑intensity conditioning
- speed and acceleration mechanics and max velocity exposure
- hamstring protection
- aerobic development
- anaerobic development
All in one hit. Sounds too good to be true? It isn’t. There’s a growing body of literature backing this up.
And remember:
A Zone 2 run or ride: 30–60 minutes.
Repeat sprintability training: 10–12 minutes.
It can be done at the start of your session.
By 8:25, you’re done.
And the rest of your session goes to:
- Rugby
- GAA
- Soccer
- Hockey
If you’re in‑season, it’s a no‑brainer.
If you’re off‑season, warm up properly, expose yourself to max velocity first, and then layer this in.
Get the biggest conditioning stimulus for the time you invest. Might be worth mentioning this one to your coaches.