Agility is a necessary component for many sports, from football to racquetball, from hockey to martial arts, according to the BBC Sport Academy. While some people are born with a bit more balance, speed, strength and grace than others, agility is definitely a skill that can be honed with drills that include cone agility exercises.
What's the Point?
Cone agility exercises, as the name implies, are a tool for working on your agility, which boils down to your flexibility, nimbleness, change of direction, footwork and quickness. The goal is to improve these skills by quickly moving through a series of cones without knocking any down, tripping, falling or breaking any bones.
What They Include
Also as the name implies, cone agility exercises are going to include a cone, usually the bright orange variety found on the side of the road during repairs. You can use any number of cones you choose, but a common range is about three to six of them. You start at point A, move through the cones, and finish at a predetermined location, sometimes the same place you started. Movement between the cones ranges from a simple forward sprint to backpedaling and shuffling, sometimes with zigzags, turns and circles in between.
Simple Example
One simple example of a cone agility exercise is the "V" cone drill noted on the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's website. Set up the cones in a V pattern that resembles a triangle. The two bottom points of the triangle are 10 yards apart while the top point is 5 yards away from each bottom corner cone. Start at the bottom left corner cone, sprint to the cone at the top of the triangle, sprint to the cone at the bottom right corner, then return by sprinting around the top cone and back to your starting point. This particular drill works on your ability to change direction quickly and keeping your body in a low position.
Complex Example
A more complex example comes in the form of the "Plus Test" on the Culver-Stockton College website. Set up five cones each 5 yards apart in the shape of a plus sign. Cone 1 is at the middle bottom of the sign, cone 2 is at the rightmost point of the sign, cone 3 is at the top of the sign and cone 4 is the leftmost point. The fifth cone sits in the middle of the plus sign. Starting at cone 1, sprint to the front of the middle cone, shuffle to the left as you sink your hips, then backpedal to the middle cone. Shuffle all the way to the right side of cone 2, stay facing the same direction as you shuffle to the left side of cone 3, then backpedal behind cone 3. Now shuffle to the right of the middle cone, sprint forward to the right of cone 4, shuffle to the left of cone 4, and backpedal until you reach the back of cone 1. This particular drill works on agility, change of direction and improving your hip level.
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