Training exercises to increase speed and strength

Question

I'm a handball trainer and coach for a couple of teams in our club. All the teams have two training's, each a hour long at minimum.

I am looking for simple exercise which can be done without using any weights since we don't have any materials available. The purpose of the exercises should be to increase the speed and strength for the players.

At the moment I give them a strength or speed circuit for an half hour or so. A speed circuit will contain a lot of small sprints to focus on a quick start of a sprint. Also a lot of small jumps and quick steps are used. Focus here is that they use the forefoot instead of the whole foot.

A strength circuit will contain lunges, sit-ups, squats or just exercises against each other with intense defense practice.

Hopefully some of you will have some extra ideas I can use in those circuits. I love variety so the teams keeps motivated and will perform the exercises for 100%.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

(This is lifted from another answer I gave, so it may get flagged; I'm okay with that.)

Here's a quick list.

• Sled/tire pulls and/or chute runs (also improves stride length). If you don't have equipment, have a partner apply resistance throughout the run.
• Skips (aiming for either vertical or horizontal max)
• Falling starts (lean forward until you lose your balance, catch yourself by accelerating full-speed for 20-30 yards... I love this one for some reason)
• "Gears" drills (see lame ASCII art below), these are great for games like this. Or soccer.

Gears are cool, and can be done with directional changes as well.

  ^-- 2nd gear --^-- 3nd gear --^-- 1st gear --^-- 4th gear --^
  |
  \- that's a cone

Any of the typical ladder drills aren't so much for endurance, but for the ability to turn, and proprioception ("where am I in space, and how do I make this maneuver without tripping myself").

Answer 2

I would really recommend you these DVD's. I bought them myself and they are very usefull. You can get a lot of new Ideas from them and they are prety cheap so... Watch these trailer:

http://sports-drills.com/demo

http://sports-drills.com/