Improve Agility with Just 4 Cones

Agility is the ability to explosively start, decelerate, change direction, and accelerate again quickly while maintaining body control and minimizing a reduction in speed.1 Agility has been shown to be a defining factor of success in sports.2  Luckily for athletes, agility can be developed and improved. Repetition of rapid changes of direction can be used to improve agility speed.2 Even luckier for athletes, the only equipment needed are some shoes and four little cones. There are many different variations of four cone drills, but this blog will discuss the original 4 Cone Drill and X Pattern Drill.

4 Cone Drill

Of course, for this drill the equipment needed are four cones. Place the cones five yards apart from each other in a square shape.   For more experienced athletes, increase the distance between cones to ten yards to allow them to train at greater speeds. To begin the drill, have the athlete stand in a ready position at a cone. The athlete will move to each cone around in a square pattern, where in which they take three left or three right turns to arrive at the beginning cone. Depending on the sport specific skills needed, this drill can be run by rounding the corners, making sharp 90 degree angles and using different locomotor skills (shuffle, run, backpedal). Athletes should focus on a short deceleration near the arrival of the cone, then body control and acceleration around the cone.

4 Cone X Pattern Drill

The same equipment and setup, as in the 4 Cone Drill, is needed in the X Pattern Drill. Once again, to begin the drill have the athlete stand in a ready position at a cone. In the X Pattern drill, the athlete begins by sprinting to the cone straight ahead. After reaching the first cone cone, the athlete will then move to the cone diagonally across the square. Upon reaching the second cone, the athlete will move parallel with their initial sprint to the cone straight ahead. After reaching the third cone, the athlete finishes at the last cone diagonally across the square, which should be where they began. The X Pattern Drill allows athletes to train changing direction at different angle, similar to situations they would face during sport.

These two simple drills can help athletes improve their agility speed, body control and be more successful in sport.1  These drills can be adapted to any sport specific needs. They are also easy to run in any area (grass, turf, hardwood).

References

1 Graham, J. (n.d.). Agility Training for Athletic Performance. Retrieved June 29, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/otcfzaz

2 Sheppard, J., & Young, W. (2006). Agility literature review: Classifications, training and testing. Journal of Sports Sciences, 24(9), 919-932. doi:10.1080