How to Increase Speed and Agility

Speed and agility are two very important components of a a solid training program. This especially holds true in sports where there are a lot of quick starts and stops. A good plan of attack involves the use of some tools, some nimble feet and a little bit of creativity.

Things You'll Need

  • 2 BOSUs Ankle weights Gravity belt Ladder Power chute
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Instructions

  1. Mix It Up

    • 1

      Perform resisted sprints. This is going to be done with a power chute. This is a device that you wear around your upper body, and it has a parachute that hangs out behind you. Do a five-to-10 minute warm-up and then perform sprints. Do a series of timed sprints with rest periods in between that are double the length of time it takes to do the sprints themselves. For example, sprint for 30 seconds and rest for one minute.

    • 2

      Run through the ladder. Ladder drills are a great way to improve speed, agility and quickness. You can do runs, skips, hops and jumps with one foot and two feet. Some specific exercises to do are one-ins, two-ins, side skips, Ali shuffles, bunny hops and ski jumps. They are all performed in linear and lateral motions.

    • 3

      Wear added resistance. For daily activity, walk around with any or all of the following on your body: ankle weights, weighted vest, gravity belt or wrist weights. This is a way to get your body acclimated to carrying a heavier load. Then when this weight is shed, you will be quicker and faster.

    • 4

      Stretch your muscles. Flexibility is very important to every aspect of fitness, especially speed and agility. Having good flexibility will increase range of motion and reduce the chances of pulling a muscle or injuring joints and ligaments. Perform dynamic stretches right after a warm-up and before a training session and perform static stretches immediately after a training session. Dynamic means in motion and static means holding a position. Some examples of dynamic stretching would be spinal rotations, squats with back extension, leg swings and arm circles. Some examples of static stretching would be forward bends, lying hamstring stretch, lunge stretch and overhead reach.

    • 5

      Do BOSU exercises. The BOSU is another great tool to sharpen up your speed and agility. You can increase your cardiovascular strength, your muscular strength, your muscular endurance and your balance. These are all important parameters involved with speed and agility. Lateral side steps, leaping lunges 180s and hops are good examples of these exercises.