Anyone who wishes to move fast and effortlessly and increase their reflexes, attention, balance, coordination, and neuromuscular awareness should engage in agility training. It's not just for athletes; it is a great technique to increase your workouts. Agility drills can help boost your speed, strength, power, and acceleration.
You should push yourself during agility drills to gain the maximum benefit from them, but you should also give yourself enough time to recover properly before the next set. You should allow about 30 to 40 seconds to recuperate before the following set. For instance, if the drill takes 10 seconds to complete, finish 4-6 sets of each drill before shifting your attention to the next one.
Here are a few agility drills to help you step up the game!
- Swift Steps On Stairs
For this exercise, any set of stairs with five or more steps will do. Go up one step, down one, two up, two down, three up, three down, four up, four down, and repeat the first round. To make the challenge harder, keep switching up the sequence and even go backward on the stairs.
- Field Markers
Move on one foot, backwards and forwards, or side to side. Additionally, try hopping, and set a goal for yourself to come up with new moves every five rounds. If you want added difficulty, carry a ball and face various directions.
- Wall Toss
Start in a wide stance, approximately 3–4 feet in front of a brick or uneven wall, and then toss a tennis ball underhanded off the wall. Once you become used to it, try swapping hands and catching with the opposite hand. Try simultaneously shuffling your feet if you want a greater challenge. The wall's imperfections and curvature make it a difficult surface with unknowable bounce-backs. Make sure you perform these exercises on a regular basis because upper-body agility is just as crucial as lower-body agility.
- Line Hops Forward And Backward
Athletes can enhance their footwork, speed, and coordination by using line drills. Bring your feet together, stand with your shoulders parallel to the line, and do a forward and backward hop. Simultaneously move laterally down the line for a predetermined amount of time or distance. To guarantee balanced training, you should move both the right and left sides.
- Cone Star
Five cones are to be arranged in a circle, with one cone in the center (the circle's radius should be between 3 and 6 feet). Start at the center cone and turn your complete body in that direction. Touch one cone at a time with your feet as rapidly as possible, always returning to the center cone. When moving to the cones on the side, be cautious about shuffling and avoid crossing your feet. Be sure to backpedal, stay low, and peek over your shoulder as you move to the cone behind.
- Scissors
Start with crossing the line with one foot in front of it and the other behind it as you stand with your shoulders parallel to the line. Then, you may move laterally down the line for a predetermined amount of time or distance, swiftly switching the positions of the feet, moving them forward and backward in a scissor-like action. This drill should be carried out on both the right and left sides to promote balanced training.
- Exercises Using the Agility Ladder
The quickest technique to improve your multidirectional speed is to practice agility drills using an agility ladder. The exercise is a high-intensity interval training workout since it will make you work out for short bursts of time before taking a break. Repeat each exercise three times. Aim to descend the ladder as quickly as possible while maintaining proper form, then sprint back up to the top and repeat the exercise twice.
Make sure your fitness objectives and the agility workouts you intend to practice are compatible. If you are a fitness buff with experience with agility training and would like to become a personal trainer or fitness coach, you can try out our fitness certifications at American Sports & Fitness Association.
