Speed and Agility Training

If you want to reach any level of success in athletics, it is important that you set goals. When you set a goal it gives you a clear vision of what you want to accomplish. This is even more true in such a complex field as speed and agility training.

Where Do You Start?

First we need to start with the big picture, an overall view that guides you in your decision making and helps you to see that you have your whole life ahead of you, no matter what happens today.  You need to establish what you want to achieve in the next season and then over your entire career.  Then we move down to things you can do today in order to begin moving in the desired direction.  Note that long-term goals assist you in where you want to go.  Short-term goals show you how you are going to get there.  In setting your athletic goals, keep in mind that if you are on a team, work with your coach to include team goals as well, but that is for another article.

Long Term Goals

First, you need to figure out your long-term goals.   Ask yourself what you want to accomplish in your athletic career?  Note, your long-term goals are not meant to be obligatory, they simply are there to make you aware of the long life ahead of you and to help you see that you have options as well. Do you want to take up this sport only for the early part of your life or do you want to make this sport your career? A suggestion for a goal in your training for speed and agility would be to decrease your 50 yard dash by half a second.

Short Term Goals

These goals are the ones you will achieve today, within a week, etc.   They are more easily accomplished and progress you towards achieving our long term goals.

Breaking Down Long-Term Goals To Get To Set Your Short Term Goals – Questions To Ask

• What are the skills needed to accomplish your goals?
• What can you do between now and the end of the season to develop those skills?
• What will you do this week to develop those skills?
• What can you do next practice to develop those skills?

Important Things to Know

• Written Goals

Note that you need to write down your goals.  Once you have written your goals down on paper,  they become real and solid.  It is what separates goals from dreams.   They increase your motivation and your mental picture of that goal is clearer.  The process of writing down goals get them “out of your head” to free up your mind from having to always think and remember them.   You will also be affirmed that you are on a mission of pursuing your goals.

• Positiveness

Set each goal as a positive statement.  For example,  “I will be diligent and careful when doing agility ladder drills”   instead of “I will not fall on my rear end when doing speed and agility drills”.   This focuses on success rather than failures because you want these behaviors to be present rather than behaviors that should be absent.

• SMART

Make sure that your all your goals are smart goals. Meaning they are specific (detailed), measurable (progress assessable), attainable (within reach), relevant (towards your purpose) and time-sensitive (make deadlines).

Keep a copy of your goals in plain sight.  Review them daily.  Setting goals will bring you success.

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A goal properly set is halfway reached.

Zig Ziglar.

What do elite athletes, successful business people and consummate professionals know about setting goals?    They all know that goals give them the ability to accomplish a great deal.  They also know that goal setting gives them an advantage.

What is goal setting?

Goal setting is the act of putting processes in motion in order to ensure specific outcomes and accomplishments.  Athletes position themselves for success using this mechanism.  It gives them a finite direction in their lives, careers and sports. You should not begin any speed and agility training without establishing your goals.

Why Set Goals?

Goals help direct an athlete to take the appropriate steps and maintain the appropriate behaviors necessary for success.  They also keep an athlete on course in the face of disappointment, difficulty or adversity.   Most importantly, setting goals helps with motivation.  The process helps attain and retain the motivation to reach higher levels of performance and it also clarifies expectations involved.  Goals make for more effective and efficient practices.   Psychologically,  goal setting gives an athlete improved self confidence, helps their motivation, feeling of pride and satisfaction in achievement.  It gives them a  willingness to take on future challenges and  increases the athlete’s likability of the sport.  Physically, setting goals helps improve athletic performance such as strength, weight and speed and agility.

Role of Coaches

With speed and agility training, a coach is highly recommended. Coaches are experienced goal setters.  They also know that goals can give athletes an edge over their opponents and most have had many years of experience in helping athletes set goals.  Coaches need to help athletes with performance goals.  They also need to help the athlete set practice goals as well as game goals.  Practice goals help the athlete achieve the most that they can in practice so that they are better prepared for the game or match.  While there are many areas involved in goal setting, the areas in which coaches can help their athletes are in fitness, technique and strategy.  Coaches help with measures, speed exercises and evaluations of progress.  In fact, studies have shown that specific, difficult, yet attainable goals tend to enhance performance.    If your coach cannot help you with goal setting or does not find this process important, find another coach.

In summary, goals are mainstay for top performers whether they are athletes or CEOs.   The ability and willingness to set goals is the master skill of success on the court, field, track, rink or diamond.

I recommend you check out this speed and agility training exercise.

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Superstars Are Not Born – They Are Created

Michael Jordan did it.  Jerry Rice took a news crew to film him while he did it.  David Beckham champions it at his David Beckham Academies.  What do they all have in common?  Aside from being world-class athletes, these modern “gods” include speed and agility training as an integral part of their successes.  While all were born with athletic talent, they know that speed exercises and agility drills give them the edge on their competitors, and they are right.  Michael Jordan felt being at peak shape helped his basketball skills, “I just feel that physically I’ve got to be in the best shape possible to be able to do my job.”  Both experts and the athletes themselves agree that the adoption and practice of speed and agility training extended the careers for Jerry Rice and Michael Jordan.

This explains the transformation in popular thinking.  The old adage was that you were either born with natural talent or you were lacking.   If you did not possess natural talent then you were relegated to the stands,   now we know better.  In fact there is a well known Speed and Agility Revolution happening.  The extra time spent on speed and agility training, is that which separates starters from bench warmers, scholarship athletes from walk-ons, playing tennis with the boss at the club or strumming your fingers back at your desk.

Speed and Agility Defined

So what exactly is speed and agility? Speed is the ability to cover distance rapidly. Nearly every game requires fast movements of either the arms or legs.  Leg speed is tremendously important in sports such as football, soccer, basketball and baseball.  Speed exercises and agility training can improve leg speed in sports.

Agility training focuses on rapid change of direction and footwork while maintaining control and balance.  Agility includes a combination of speed, balance, power and co-ordination.  Agility is necessary for almost any sport as it increases a player’s reaction time to changes on the court or field.

Getting Real

The next time you are watching Kobe Bryant’s incredible agility, strength, and stamina on the court, know that it is not simply some miraculous, God-given ability.  Kobe works relentlessly hard, year-round, on strength training workouts, agility training and speed exercises.  He is considered to be one of the hardest working and physically fit players in the NBA and he has the trophies and championship rings to back it up!

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