Agility Training Workouts

Agility describes your ability to respond to external stimuli and change your body position accordingly. This might mean diving to make a catch in baseball, dodging a tackle in soccer or blocking a punch in boxing. Agility is a combination of balance, speed, reflexes, coordination, strength and power. There are a number of drills and workouts you can perform to improve your agility.

Reaction Balls

Reaction balls are small, uneven balls that when dropped or thrown will bounce in random directions. Reaction balls are available from sporting goods stores for around $10 as of 2010. To improve your agility using a reaction ball, stand 10 to 15 feet from a wall and throw the ball at the floor just in front of the wall. The ball will bounce in any number of directions and you should try to move as fast as possible to reach and catch the ball as it rebounds. Return to your starting position and repeat.

T Sprints

The T-sprints workout will improve agility by developing your multidirectional running ability. From your starting position, place a marker cone 10 yards to your front, 5 yards to the left of this point and 5 yards to the right to form a T shape. On the command "go," sprint forward and touch the center marker. Then run sideways to your left and touch the left-hand marker and then sideways to your right to touch the right-hand marker. Run to your left to return to the middle marker and finally run backward to your starting position. Remember to face forward throughout this drill.

Agility Ladder Knee-ups

An agility ladder is a common training tool used by many sportsmen to develop speed, coordination and agility. To perform the knee-up workout, stand at the end of your ladder and jog on the spot. Increase your knee height so that your thighs are approximately parallel to the floor. Keep your knees high and run the length of the ladder ensuring you place both feet in each of the ladder boxes. When you reach the end of the ladder, lean and sprint forwards for 10 to 15 yards. Walk back to the beginning and repeat. You can make this workout more challenging by running backward or sideways.

Agility ladders are available from sporting goods stores for $50 to $100 as of 2010 or you can make your own using duct tape and flexible canes.

Slalom Sprints

The slalom sprints workout will develop your ability to change direction quickly. Place eight to 10 cones on the ground with around 6 feet between each marker. Stand approximately 5 yards in front of the first cone. On the command "go," sprint toward the first cone and then run in and out of the cones as fast as possible. Stay as close to the cones as you can and focus on making tight turns as opposed to wide sweeping turns. On completion, walk back to the start point and repeat.