I have just finished watching some hi-tech, top-edge (ironically offcourse) DVDs when it comes to conditioning for soccer… and all the freaking time I see those damn agility ladders, cone drills, (damn) sticks, bungee cords…
I can say one thing for sure:
Do they ever play soccer, or they practice for new Ciruque de Solei spectacle
i dont think the agility ladders are bad, great general warmup for team sports.
Yes true, but not that great to spend 1h on them… other, more important stuff should be done!
There is a bit of an underswell of people wanting ladders in my state.
Another drill I see is increasing spacing squares (using either tape or dowels) is that a similar approach to the ladder.
The general consensus on the site here is that agility ladders are a waste of time and money. If you are going to use them for warm-up and not agility or speed, why not just put some tape down on the floor or some cones?
did i say you have buy them, i recommend to low budget hs just to place tape down.
So what would be a useful and beneficial way to use them in warm-up?
well the general purpose of a warmup is to increase core temp etc. the ladder would do just that and add foot quickness/balance/lower strength just to name a few. yes there may be other ways to get these things but if a coach wants to use a ladder i dont see any harm.
from the pro teams i have worked with across 3 sports both male and female we went right away from using these as a warm up for a few reasons…
pre game compared to training they (the athlete) had a tendency to rush through drills at a speed no use to anyone compared to “getting it right” feel at training.
and another reason was to try and keep the warm up as far away from the technical aspects of sprinting as possible…
feedback from the players and results in the way they started the games were far more positive to not using these, but each team is different
must also mention in training i now do not go near ladders hurdles especially the acc ladders (which are running out of control in junior team sport here in australia) how can these be of use in a team sport where you have so many different body types
Just cause it’s cheap doesn’t make it good.
Read the old threads on why this is bad news
i think its gone.
I don’t see a problem doing 2-3mins of agility ladder in a late warm-up period… But I see a problem if we do the drills for extensive period of time (with the goal in mind to increase foot speed, quickness and speed – a dumb idea anyway)
Also, even in a warm-up, I don’t see a point of doing skips, runs-troughs etc in a ladder… maybe single leg hops,double leg hops, icky shuffle etc, but you can do those (zig-zag ankle hops, line drills) without the ladder either, and maybe even better 'cause you don’t need to hit the marks and screw your mechanics and bring control of movement into concious parts of the brain… this is especially true when it comes to run-throughs
especially when we talk about pro team sport athletes where most do not like to think to much prior to games prefering just get through the warm up and get out on the field and do what they do