Agility drills to do while jogging?

[Bill Schwab]

Between family and work I have little spare time, but I do go for a jog once or twice a week. I've wanted to do some agility drills, but still don't have an agility ladder, so I thought maybe there's some agility drills I can incorporate into my 2 mile jog. Any ideas?

[Not-So-Mad Matt]

For practical shooting, you want to work acceleration and deceleration over short distances -- so do that. Once you're warmed up, do super-short sprints, with quick stops, too, and don't always start facing the direction you're going to sprint.

Of course, you don't even have to go for a jog to do this. You can sprint from doorway to doorway inside your own house while dry-firing.

[DyNo!]

Be careful - stopping suddenly can be hard on your knees during training.

[Bill Schwab]

Be careful - stopping suddenly can be hard on your knees during training.

Thanks for the warning...I actually have a bad knee that I need to be careful with.

[Not-So-Mad Matt]

I actually have a bad knee that I need to be careful with.

Yeah, you're going to need to be careful doing just about any agility drills, if you have a bad knee.

Another not-quite-agility drill to consider is speed-walking in a slight crouch, forward and backward, keeping your head and shoulders level, with no bounce.

[pjb45]

I do a couple runs a week. I usually do a mile of warm up. Then on the return loop, I will stop, go into a shooting stance then sprint for about ten yards, I do NOT stop quickly. As stated stopping is probably the hardest thing you can do to your knees. I do this facing the direction I am running, 90 degrees to the left and 90 degrees to the right. I usually do at least six but as many as nine of these sprints.

I then run the rest of the way at my normal pace--little kids on tricycles pass me ---.

One thing you can do at home is jump. I have found this to be extremely helpful. I bend to a partial squat then jump up and touch the ceiling. Do this a few times while you are watching TV.

[Clint-M]

Speed ladders are great tools that can help you with footwork and training basic movements and turns that will be fantastic for your knees if done with caution. Set-up on grass or a sand volley pit if you can, the same goes for your sprints/stops, not only will it be softer on your knees, but grass is a much nicer cushion than concrete.

CM

[AlamoShooter]

When we used to walked the dog I would jog in place back wards and sideways steeping up and down on the curb keeping in near the slower pace of my wife walking the Dog.

jogging and making a 180 can be a challenge too

[kylehb]

I would consider not jogging at all, and doing interval sprints as an alternative. The problem with longer distance, low speed jogging is that it is the opposite type of muscle action needed for agility/short distance speed. You can accomplish the same cardio effect while simultaneously maximizing your sprint speed and agility by performing short distance high speed interval sprints.

[DDustin]

I do hiit every day as a warm up and to finish the workout. On upper body days I use an elliptical and sprint for high intensity and go backwards for the low intensity. I use the elliptical to help with my bad knees. On leg day I sprint for the high intensity and quickly stop and change directions on the low intensity buzzer and I use a weighted jump rope for the low intensity and side shuffles for the high intensity.

Edited August 11, 2014 by DDustin

[rritchie82]

On 6/25/2012 at 7:53 PM, Clint-M said:

Speed ladders are great tools that can help you with footwork and training basic movements and turns that will be fantastic for your knees if done with caution. Set-up on grass or a sand volley pit if you can, the same goes for your sprints/stops, not only will it be softer on your knees, but grass is a much nicer cushion than concrete.

CM

I second the speed ladder for agility training.