Agility training is a skill that needs to be developed to improve your strength and endurance when it comes to all sports, especially football. It helps you perform at your best throughout the whole game, practice and season. It can also help prevent injuries from occurring. Performing speed and agility training allows athletes to develop muscle memory. Being agile will help you stop, change direction and keep moving full speed, all in one fluid movement.
To increase your agility as an athlete, it’s important that you are conditioning and strengthening your muscles and tendons in your legs, back and core. These are all vital muscle groups that will help you keep balance and speed with any movement. In any sport, speed kills, and developing and bettering your speed and agility skills will benefit you tremendously on the field. Here are some speed and agility training tips to practice this offseason.
Agility drills
There are many agility drills out there that we practice in our own programs that not only will improve speed, but focus on quick footwork skills. Quick feet are very important, especially in the game of football. No matter what level it is, athletes of all ages are performing agility drills regularly. Here are some drills to try doing at home!
Cone drills
Cone drills are basic in pretty much every speed and agility training program. With so many different variations, athletes are able to develop greatly. Cone drills primarily focus on body control, balance, changing directions quickly, becoming more explosive and overall foot quickness. These drills also will help athletes practice accelerating out of breaks and lowering their center of gravity, while not losing any speed along the way. Here are some great cone agility drills to try at home during this pandemic!
Speed ladder
Using a speed ladder in your speed and agility training is another way to better your athleticism. Speed ladders are used by athletes of all skill levels, and ultimately help athletes develop quick feet. In football especially, quick feet can be a huge difference factor. As the saying says, “quick feet don’t eat”, which is why it’s so beneficial to train using a speed ladder. When performing these drills, be sure that you are focusing on doing the drill correctly. It doesn’t matter how fast you are going through the ladder if your form is not correct. Here are some great ladder drills you can do right from your home!
Shuttles
Another great speed and agility training drill you can do pretty much anywhere are shuttle runs. Shuttle runs are sprints in which athletes are forced to change directions quickly. When performing shuttle runs, it’s important that athletes are getting low in their turns; a low center of gravity will help athletes change direction quickly while also keeping their speed. Shuttle runs could be short or long distance, usually between 10 and 40 yards, and are a great way to stay conditioned, increase your endurance, and work on your acceleration. Learn some of the other benefits of doing shuttle runs.
How Warren Academy can help
At Warren Academy, we offer speed and agility training programs to youth athletes in Omaha, Ne. Our F.A.S.T program is designed to help athletes work on their functional strength, agility, speed and endurance. By focusing on quickness and acceleration, we also help critique sprinting mechanics as well.
Speed and agility training is something every athlete of any sport should be practicing. Agility plays a huge role in sports and working to better your speed and agility will be the difference maker when you’re on the field or court.
Warren Academy also offers many other sports performance programs to help athletes reach their athletic goals. If you have any questions about our programs or would like to learn more, feel free to contact us or visit our website today!
