How to Build Speed and Agility

Speed and agility training complement each other, and can improve your performance in any sport. This guide will help you develop your own speed and agility training plan.

Things You'll Need

  • Agility equipment
  • Speed equipment
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Instructions

    • 1

      Develop speed through sprints. Alternate short sprints such as 10 to 50 meters with longer sprints such as 100 to 200 yards. Another way to alternate is to increase or decrease the rest time between sprints as well.

    • 2

      Develop speed through sprinting with resistance. Once you have a solid basic speed foundation, add a wind chute, a resistance sled, a power harness or even a weight vest. Another great way to add resistance is to complete sprints in your local lap pool.

    • 3

      Develop agility through basic agility exercises. Crossovers, quick baby steps, large skips, hopping on one foot and both feet are some examples of great agility exercises that you can do without equipment. It is best to do agility exercises in short distances, preferably less than 50 meters.

    • 4

      Develop agility through advanced agility exercises. Agility ladders, cones, reaction balls, dot drills, cones and short hurdles are some of the equipment you can use to set up your own agility course and take your training to the next level.

    • 5

      Put it all together into a workout plan. Just as you would for strength training, you can choose exercises, decide on sets and repetitions, and then alternate the exercises you use from workout to workout. For a beginner, you can use five to six different speed and agility exercises and do anywhere from three to eight sets of each.