Agility Ladders

Agility is one of the most important qualities for an athlete. Not because having fast feet makes you fast, but because you might be missing important components of agility that could propel your performance.

Let’s start with defining agility.

 Agility is the ‘ability to rapidly act in response to a stimulus’. Pretty broad right? Exactly, and there’s a reason for that. Agility is in every sport you’ve ever seen and presents in many ways. So let’s break it down:

The stimulus is the most important piece of the puzzle, what kind of stimuli can we get?

  • Auditory (e.g. hearing a specific sound, maybe a defender chasing you from behind you)

  • Visual (e.g. In Boxing, seeing an opponent throw a punch)

  • Tactile (e.g. Jiu-Jitsu- feeling an opponent trying to gain hooks)

Now obviously sport is usually mixed, there is never only one component at play, so how can we understand this so we can plan training? Athletes can utilise the strategies below to utilise agility in their sport:

  • Evasive Strategy: moving away from the stimulus (e.g. cutting past a defender to score a try)

  • Invasive Strategy: moving towards the stimulus (e.g. shooting for a take-down)

  • Offensive/defensive Strategy: consider your sport specifically and how that plays out.

Sporting Examples:

In boxing, landing a counter is the combination of (plus anticipation) visually seeing the opponent set up and throw the punch, making an evasive movement (slip the punch) followed by an invasive movement (punch to the body)

In rugby league, making a tackle requires you to see the body position of the opponent, their speed, potential movements from other opposition, decide on method, and move into the offensive players space to make the correct tackle

Now onto agility ladders…what does the research say about agility ladders?

A systematic review published in 2020 investigated the effects of agility ladders on performance. Of all the studies collated for analysis only 5 studies fulfilled the criteria. This means that evidence/strong claims about agility ladders may be grounded on limited evidence. The authors of the review suggested that protocols under 6-7 weeks may not be effective for improving agility. Studies didn’t use tests to evaluate effects of agility ladder drills and there was no description of any ladder drill protocols. This means that it is difficult to take confidence from these conclusions. However, agility ladders may be beneficial for low intensity vertical and horizontal plyometric introduction.

So agility ladders might not be the best option to train agility.. How else can you train agility?

Agility in sport happens in a split second. It’s often not conscious, so the trick with training agility is to plan so that you the agility demand at the right time. So observe your sport and fit some key skills into the above categories and plan as such:

1. Non-specific stimulus + specific strategy: e.g. a sprint to 45-degree cut on the call of the coach

2. Specific stimulus and strategy + non-specific method: sprint to 45-degree cut on point of the coach

3. Specific stimulus and strategy + specific method: opposed cut from 20m away from opponent

4. Specific technical drilling + situational sparring that involves responses to relevant stimulus.

Our final thoughts on agility training.

If agility ladders are the only method of training you’re using in your toolbox, then it’s probably not the most appropriate way to develop agility. In fact, as the research suggests, using agility ladders to develop agility is a waste of time.

In saying that, agility ladders can still be used as a tool for developing other qualities. There is a time and place for agility ladders. It may be appropriate for

  • For Kids

  • For Warm ups

  • Rehab (Introducing different kinds of foot contacts, low amplitude plyometrics)

  • Foot eye coordination

When writing a program, everything should be justified when asking why. If you're using agility ladders, what is the purpose of your use. It should not be added into the program just because it looks cool on social media.


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