Ladder Drills For Agility - Become Quicker And More Explosive!

Agility in sports is defined as - The ability to move and change direction and position of the body quickly, effectively and efficiently in a controlled and deliberate manner.

Using ladder drills for agility will greatly improve your ability to move quickly in a controlled manner by strengthening your hips and calves!

Here's a quick list of benefits you'll get from ladder drills for agility:

1. An agility ladder will help you increase co-ordination by forcing you to focus on where your body is moving. Learning to focus body movement is important in all sports because the better you can focus, the more efficiently you can perform an action.
2. The training will also improve speed a couple of ways. First, by increasing your stride rate - the number of steps you can pump out in a given distance. Second, by increasing your first step quickness - how quickly you can get your body accelerating.
3. Loosely tying into the first point, ladder drills for agility will also increase movement economy - being able to perform an action as efficiently as possible. This is key for athletes that need to maintain a high level of performance for extended periods of time. The better your movement economy, the longer you can stay at optimal performance levels.
4. Your balance will be greatly improved, ladder training improves your balance by conditioning your hips. When you're properly balanced you are able to move a lot quicker. Ladder training for agility will allow you be far more balanced while stationary and moving!

Here are some basics that you start with and once you get better you can add to them almost endlessly!

1. Forward Run: One step in each hole, right foot hole one, left foot hole two. This one is fairly easy to do in reverse as well.
2. Forward Run Double Step: Step in each hole once with each foot, so right-left hole one, right-left, hole two, etc... For more of a challenge repeat in reverse as well.
3. Side step: Right foot hole one, left foot hole one - right foot hole two, left foot hole two until the end of the ladder. Repeat in the opposite direction for balance.
4. Hopscotch: Face the ladder like a forward run, jump so both feet land in hole one, jump out so both feet land outside of hole two - repeat until finished ladder! Do this in reverse as well.
5. Double Hopscotch: Same as hopscotch, jump in inside and outside hole one, then inside and outside hole two and continue until the end of the ladder.

The key to these drills is to constantly ramp up the difficulty by increasing the speed - you want to be going fast enough to be right on the edge of making a mistake.

The video below shows a forward double step and a side step, plus some more advanced movements - make sure to check it out!

As I'm sure you can tell by now, the possibilities for using ladder drills for agility improvement are almost endless!  Make sure you post questions in the comments section below, I'd be happy to answer them!