I know most of you have used the agility ladder, also known as the speed ladder, quick foot ladder, and so on. I have used it for many years and over the past three to four years have virtually minimized the number of exercises used by 90 percent. There are basically three exercises I now use when using the ladder as a teaching tool.
- The Ickey Shuffle
- The Crossover Ickey Shuffle
- The Backward Crossover Ickey Shuffle
The reason I only use these three exercises is because they directly relate to on-court speed and agility. These three exercises can set the foundation for great quickness, body control, agility, and speed of movement through the hips.
There are four main points I always emphasize with these three speed, agility, and quickness exercises:
- I want quick hard pressure into the ground on every foot contact.
- I want the angles of the feet to be outside the width of the body to create deceleration and acceleration angles.
- I want the head and shoulders to stay within the width of the ladder.
- I want quick and aggressive hip turning actions on the crossover movements; this creates a disassociation of the upper and lower body.
The ladder is a great training tool that has been abused and overused by coaches and trainers that use the drills philosophy rather than skills philosophy. If a coach seriously looked at the drills they are having their athletes perform on the speed ladder and actually broke down the purpose and carryover, they might rethink doing it.
When I look at the Ickey Shuffle, it is a perfect lead in progression for my athlete to learn cutting skills for quickness. It allows them to feel how to create hard quick pressure into the ground while demonstrating proper angles of force application. I don’t want my athlete high on the balls of their feet with “pitter patter” type steps. I want hard aggressive cutting like steps.
The crossover and backward crossover Ickey shuffle will use the same aggressive footwork patterns as the regular Ickey, but now I want to incorporate how the hips turn action can be ingrained for a crossover type movement. The important factor I want the athletes to feel is the constant repositioning of their feet. The never plant and drive the body over the plant leg. They find a plant angle that quickly pushes the body in the direction they want to travel. This is pure reaction speed, acceleration, deceleration, quickness, and agility.
So the next time you put together a quick foot ladder workout keep it simple and teach what you want to have carried over to the playing field or courts.
Yours in Speed,
P.S. In my best selling DVD home study course Ground Breaking 2 you will learn the importance of repositioning steps to create massive quickness through proper deceleration and acceleration. Body position is everything when it comes to quickness so don’t miss out on a chance to become a master of teaching these skills.
Hi Lee
Ha! These are the same exercises I use. I asked myself, what are they getting from this. And to be honest I couldn’t justify all the other drills.
I also like to use the ladder as a starting point for single leg stabilising hops. It forces the athletes to keep the hops short so I can focus on their ability to absorb and maintain a stable pelvis.
Always look forward to your blogs Lee
Agree completely with the sentiment about the effective use of the ladder. I use the ladder also mainly with the exercises that Lee writes about. However, I have found a very good carry-over with regards to foot control, which is for me the ability to place the foot where the athlete wants to when he/she wants to.
I use the ladder combined with hurdles to force the athletes to lift their feet without me telling them to. What I have found over a number of years is that this creates a very good carry over to on court acceleration, staying on their feet in tight situations and feet placement with regards to opposition.
Lastly what I also do is that as soon as an athlete has the ability to do a new pattern quickly, I reduce the amount of ladder exercises in his/her program. It gives me a very good indication of the individual athlete’s foot control.
For me the “speed/agility ladder” is not so much about speed but more about foot control which for me is a very big part of agility.
Francois Nel
Lee-
You are the thinking man’s speed coach! Thanks for taking us past the infatuation with cool new ladder drills done for their own sake to the Why? of this tool’s use.
How do you feel about using simpler forward and lateral patterns through the ladder as part of a warm-up sequence, and single leg hops for developing ankle strength and balance?
Nate, i think any patterns can be of great use if you know why you are using them. So yes, the straight patterns and side runs are really good for warm ups and body control. Keep it up!
Rob, i absolutely love the ladder for single leg stability. i have an entire progression going from leaps to hop, to angles, to laterals and so on. It forces the athletes body to proprioceptively control from a linear, anglular, and lateral perspective. Keep it up.
You are so right Francois! Great information.
Add your Comment.