Drills for foot speed. Top Drills for Improving Foot Speed in Hockey: Enhance Your Agility and Performance

How can hockey players improve their foot speed. What are the best quick feet drills for hockey players. Why is foot speed crucial for success in hockey. How does foot speed training differ from agility and speed training.

The Importance of Foot Speed in Modern Hockey

In today’s fast-paced hockey environment, foot speed has become a crucial factor in determining a player’s success. As the game evolves, the demand for quicker, faster, and more agile players increases with each passing season. This trend is evident across all levels of play, from amateur leagues to professional competitions.

Players who excel at lower levels may find themselves struggling to keep up as they advance to higher divisions. The speed difference between AA and AAA levels, or between junior and college hockey, can be significant. To maintain a competitive edge and progress in their careers, hockey players must prioritize speed training both on and off the ice.

The Speed Gap Between Levels

To illustrate the importance of foot speed, consider the following progression:

• A player considered “fast” in AA may be average or below average in AAA
• The speed gap widens further when moving from Midget to Junior level
• The transition from Junior to College hockey demands another significant increase in speed
• Professional hockey requires the highest level of foot speed and agility

Given these stark differences, it’s clear that players cannot rely solely on their current speed to succeed at higher levels. Continuous improvement in foot speed is essential for those aspiring to advance their hockey careers.

Understanding the Components of Hockey Speed

When discussing speed in hockey, it’s crucial to differentiate between quick feet, agility, and overall speed. Many coaches and players mistakenly lump these concepts together, often relying on simple ladder drills as a catch-all solution. However, each component plays a unique role in a player’s performance on the ice.

Quick Feet Training

Quick feet training, often referred to as “athleticism” drills, focuses on improving a player’s base level of athleticism. These exercises aim to enhance movement efficiency, effectiveness, and overall athletic ability. The primary goal is to refine movement quality, enabling players to move better in all aspects of the game.

Agility Training

Agility training is frequently misunderstood in hockey circles. True agility training involves more than just quick movements; it incorporates a cognitive element. Agility is the ability to read and react to a given situation on the ice. Effective agility drills challenge players to:

1. See a situation
2. Cognitively process the appropriate response
3. Move their body effectively to match the required action

Reaction drills, partner exercises, and situational challenges are excellent ways to develop hockey-specific agility.

Speed Training

Speed training in hockey is a comprehensive approach that encompasses various aspects of on-ice performance. It includes:

• Quick feet drills
• Agility exercises
• Multi-directional athleticism
• Change of direction capacity
• Acceleration and deceleration techniques
• Top-end speed development

Effective speed training programs incorporate all these elements to challenge players’ movement skills and overall capacity, rather than focusing on a single aspect repeatedly.

The Unique Demands of Hockey Speed

Hockey players face distinct challenges when it comes to developing elite speed due to the nature of the sport. Unlike athletes in other disciplines, hockey players must contend with several unique factors:

Frictionless Surface

Playing on ice requires exceptional physical strength and power. Players need to generate intense levels of force into the frictionless surface to create propulsion. This demand sets hockey apart from sports played on more stable surfaces.

Frequent Direction Changes

Hockey involves more frequent and intense changes of direction compared to many other sports. These rapid shifts in momentum require players to exert significant force, making it a physically demanding aspect of the game.

Complex Movement Patterns

Unlike straightforward running sports, hockey demands a high degree of technical ability and motor skills to become an elite skater. Players must master and combine multiple movement patterns, including:

• Edge work
• Crossovers
• Pivots
• Various stride techniques

Balancing Strength and Agility

Hockey players face the unique challenge of generating substantial force into the ice while remaining “light” and quick on their feet. This balance requires a specialized approach to training, focusing on both strength development and mobility.

The Value of Quick Feet Training for Hockey Players

While a comprehensive approach to speed training is essential, quick feet drills remain valuable for hockey players at all levels. These exercises offer several key benefits:

Improved Kinesthetic Awareness

Quick feet drills enhance a player’s kinesthetic awareness and movement fluency. This improvement is particularly beneficial for younger players, as it lays the foundation for mastering more complex movements in the future. However, even professional players can benefit from refining their mind-body connection through these exercises.

Enhanced Movement Mechanics

One of the most critical benefits of quick feet training is the refinement of movement mechanics and postures. Many hockey players, despite their athleticism, often default to suboptimal movement patterns. Common issues include:

• Standing up too tall
• Failing to access powerful low hip positions
• Becoming heavy in their movements

Quick feet drills help address these issues by promoting more efficient and effective movement patterns.

Implementing Quick Feet Drills in Hockey Training

To maximize the benefits of quick feet training, it’s essential to incorporate a variety of exercises into your routine. Here are some effective drills to improve foot speed for hockey players:

Ladder Drills

While not the only solution, ladder drills remain a valuable tool for developing quick feet. Some effective variations include:

1. In-and-out steps
2. Lateral shuffles
3. Icky shuffle
4. Single-leg hops

Cone Drills

Cone drills add an element of direction change and spatial awareness to quick feet training. Try these exercises:

• 5-10-5 shuttle run
• Figure-8 drills
• T-drill variations

Plyometric Exercises

Incorporating plyometric exercises can help develop explosive power in conjunction with quick feet. Some effective options include:

1. Box jumps
2. Lateral bounds
3. Skater hops
4. Depth jumps

Integrating Quick Feet Training with Overall Speed Development

While quick feet drills are valuable, it’s crucial to integrate them into a comprehensive speed training program. This approach ensures that players develop all aspects of speed necessary for success on the ice.

Periodization of Training

Implement a periodized training program that focuses on different aspects of speed throughout the year. This might include:

• Off-season: Emphasis on strength and power development
• Pre-season: Focus on sport-specific speed and agility
• In-season: Maintenance of speed and agility gains

Combining Drills for Maximum Benefit

Create training sessions that incorporate multiple elements of speed development. For example:

1. Start with quick feet drills for warm-up and movement preparation
2. Progress to agility drills that incorporate cognitive elements
3. Finish with sport-specific speed drills that mimic on-ice situations

Measuring and Tracking Foot Speed Progress

To ensure that your quick feet and speed training efforts are effective, it’s important to regularly assess and track progress. This data can help players and coaches identify areas for improvement and adjust training programs accordingly.

On-Ice Speed Tests

Conduct regular on-ice speed tests to measure improvements in skating speed. Some effective tests include:

• 30-meter sprint
• Blue line to blue line test
• Full-ice shuttle test

Off-Ice Agility Tests

Complement on-ice assessments with off-ice agility tests to gauge overall improvements in quickness and change of direction ability. Consider using:

1. 5-10-5 pro agility test
2. Illinois agility test
3. T-test

Video Analysis

Utilize video analysis to assess improvements in movement quality and efficiency. This can help identify subtle changes in technique that may not be apparent in timed tests alone.

Addressing Common Challenges in Foot Speed Development

As players work to improve their foot speed, they may encounter various challenges. Recognizing and addressing these issues is crucial for continued progress.

Plateau in Progress

If you find your foot speed improvements have stalled, consider:

• Varying your training stimulus by introducing new drills or exercises
• Adjusting the intensity or volume of your workouts
• Focusing on other aspects of speed development that may be limiting overall progress

Transferring Skills to On-Ice Performance

Some players struggle to translate their off-ice quick feet improvements to on-ice performance. To address this:

1. Incorporate more sport-specific drills that closely mimic on-ice movements
2. Practice quick feet drills while wearing skates off-ice
3. Focus on maintaining proper hockey stance and posture during all quick feet exercises

Balancing Speed and Control

As players develop quicker feet, they may initially struggle with control. To improve this balance:

• Emphasize technique and form in all drills, even at slower speeds
• Gradually increase the speed of movements as control improves
• Incorporate drills that require precision and accuracy alongside pure speed

By addressing these common challenges and maintaining a consistent, well-rounded approach to foot speed development, hockey players can significantly enhance their on-ice performance and overall athleticism.

The Best Quick Feet Drills For Hockey Players

How Hockey Players Can Improve Foot Speed

So you want to get quicker, faster, and more agile?

All hockey players do – and the modern game demands it. 

Not only does each season get faster and faster, but the game also gets faster at each level you go up. A “fast” player in AA is going to be average or below in AAA. The same with going from Midget to Junior, Junior to College, and College to Pro. 

You can’t expect your current level of speed to allow you to play the same game at the next level. 

If you’ve got the ambition to play at a higher level, you need to get faster. Speed training needs to be the priority of all players both on and off the ice. 

This is why players are always asking us “how can I get quicker feet?”

In this article, we’re going to break down why the pursuit of “quicker feet” is only one piece of the speed training for hockey players we use, what else you should be focused on for developing elite speed on the ice, and of course – how you can improve your foot speed.   

Quick Feet vs Agility vs Speed 

Speed is the variable of success for hockey players.

This has become the motto for us at Relentless Hockey and a reason why all of our programs place such an emphasis on athleticism and speed training for hockey player.

But it’s important to recognize that Hockey Players, unlike other athletes, have intensely unique demands to developing elite speed because of the following:

• Playing on a frictionless surface, players need the physical strength & power to generate intense levels of force into the ice to create propulsion; 
• Changes of direction require more force than any other sport; 
• Complex movement patterns & strides. Unlike just running, there’s a high degree of technical ability/motor skills needed to become an elite skater. Including the ability to utilize and combine multiple movement patterns (edge work, crossovers, pivots).  
• Despite the need to generate a lot of force into the ice, players must alright remain “light” and quick on their feet – creating a unique challenge of being strong on your skates, while light and mobile.

Despite this, the majority of players and coaches still consider quick feet, agility, and speed training all the same thing. Usually reverting to a couple ladder drills and calling it a day. 

Let’s break down the differences here quickly.

Quick Feet Training – We often call these “athleticism” drills because they’re challenging your base level of athleticism. We want you to move more efficiently, effectively, and athletically. Our goal here is to refine movement quality and have you moving better.

Agility Training – Coaches and players often group everything quick/speed together and call it “agility training” when in reality, it’s not. Agility training is essential for Hockey Players. It’s the ability to read and react to a given situation, which is obviously the fundamental to thriving on the ice. That being said, the “read and react” facet of agility means that there is a cognitive element. This means reaction drills, partner drills, and anything that challenges you to see a situation, cognitively understand what response is needed, and move your body effectively to match it. Read. React. Move.

This should be a staple in your training. 

Speed Training.  This is often a general umbrella term, as we use it to describe all facets of speed training including: quick feet, agility, multi-directional athleticism, change of direction capacity, acceleration, deceleration, and top end speed. All of our workouts incorporate speed training as opposed to just honing in on a single element as it challenges players movement skills and capacity at a greater level than just repetitively focusing on one thing at a time. 

‍

The Importance of Quick Feet for Hockey Players 

So while the components of speed training and agility sound more important than just focusing on quick feet – does this mean that training foot speed is irrelevant for hockey players? 

No – quick feet training is super valuable for hockey players.

1. Improved kinaesthetic awareness and movement fluency. This is why we use quick feet drills with all of the younger players. Improving your kinesthetic awareness as a young athlete gives you the ability to layer and learn more complex movements and gives you the foundation for movement mastery. But this isn’t exclusive for youth athletes, we still see pro players who go from very rigid movers to becoming more flowing and fluent movers. Improving the mind-body connection at any age is valuable for hockey players. 

2. Refined movement mechanics & postures. This is likely the most important element on this list. While hockey players are some of the most athletic athletes on the planet, they often default into sloppy or suboptimal movement patterns. They stand up tall, don’t access powerful low hip positions, and can get heavy in their feet. If quick feet drills are good for anything, it’s finding more athletic mechanics and postures that can be used elsewhere.  

3. Greater capacity for nervous system firing. This is maybe the most controversial of the list, but time and time again we see players who use quick feet and speed drills refine their ability to express movement faster. While some of this can be attributed to the skills above, it can be theorized that players are also decreasing the latency between movement demand and physical output (or the ability of the nervous system to “fire” quicker). 

All this to say that, quick feet training often gets dumped on by Strength Coaches, it’s still an invaluable tool that should be in all hockey player’s training toolbox. 

That being said, quick feet training, athleticism work, or speed training must be intense and intention. There is nearly no value (aside from conditioning) when players are just going through drills, obstacle course, ladders or anything that’s designed to just move fast.  

Players need to understand why the movement pattern is valuable and translatable, focus on finding cleaner movement mechanics, and then firing as aggressively as possible for a short burst. 

Three key movement mechanics focuses for hockey players 

So we’ve talked about the importance of focusing on movement mechanics and postures when it comes to quick feet training – but what does this actually look like for hockey players? 

We’re aiming to improve player’s ability to find, refine, and fire from what we call the “athletic position”. This is the low hip position that you see elite skaters in, and it allows hockey players to move more athletically, powerfully, and dynamically both on and off the ice. 

This can be broken down into three key components for hockey players to focus on: 

1. The Low Hip Athletic Position

This is the most essential focus for Hockey Players when doing speed drills. 

It really comes down to this – the lower an athlete can get, the more power and speed they can express.  

As you get lower, you suddenly have more range to express power through. If you need an example of this – stand up tall and without squatting down try to jump as high as you can. Now do a rep where you get into a deep squat and fire through the entire range. As you see, you get a lot more height when you start in a deep squat position. 

This isn’t just applicable to jumping, but all facets of speed and athleticism. The more elite athlete is most often the athlete that finds lower postures. 

When going through your drills, focus on getting low in your hips. Not only does this allow you to fire from the glutes vs the quads (and thus generate far more power), but it let’s you get more athletic and ready to express power in any direction that might come your way. 

We encourage you to consistently check-in if you’re standing tall or are in a low athletic position. It’s sometimes helpful to set up your camera to pinpoint where and when you’re standing up. If you’re struggling with this, film yourself doing a drill and send it to us in a DM – we’ll help break this down for you.

2. Getting Light On Your Toes

This is where a lot of hockey players struggle. They have the natural inclination to get heavy in their feet. 

Heavy feet are slow feet. 

We want to make sure that you’re staying low in your hip, but also up and light on your toes. 

As you start to challenge your speed in quick feet drills, if they’re loud or if you feel yourself sitting back on your heels, focus on actively getting up on the forefoot with more of a forward lean. 

3. Arms Pumping & Activated

This is another area that a lot of hockey players struggle with. 

As they start to get going fast, they create these “t-rex arms” that are glued their body. 

Speed is a full body activity. It requires complex chains that all play a role, and so to not be active in your upper body is to inherently slow yourself down.  

Even if it’s a quick feet drill, make sure that you’re consistently getting active with your upper body. Sometimes it takes some relearning, especially with new drills/patterns, but once you find it you’ll start to feel that full body connection that translates to more speed. 

Your ability to find and refine your athletic position is essential to finding better positions on the ice. As you go through new and novel movement patterns in speed training your ability to tap in these positions will ingrain better movement mechanics into you – allowing you to become a more athletic, fluent, and dynamic mover both on and off the ice. 

‍

The Best Quick Feet Drills for Hockey Players

Alright, so let’s finally answer the question you’re really here for – what are the best quick feet drills for hockey players?

Any quick feet drill that challenges players to find their athletic position, challenges new and novel motor patterns, and forces the player to fire as explosively as possible is likely valuable.  

Our goal with quick feet drills is to utilize them to challenge the three concepts above. While this might not develop power or athleticism as much as multi-directional speed drills or sprints, with the right exercises this style of work is still insanely valuable to hockey players at all levels.

Let’s explore some of our staples here:

Quick Feet Drill #1: Two Foot Quick Touch

This is considered a staple in all of our workout programs. It’s insanely valuable to practice light and quick touches, while also refining the athletic position. Players should go all out for 15-20 seconds, really focusing on getting in as many touches as possible, staying low in your hips, and keeping your arms pumping. 

Quick Feet Drill #2: Two Foot Crossover Quick Touch 

This can be considered level 2 of the drill above and is super valuable for hockey players. With such a demand on linear crossovers on the ice, this exercise utilizes that motor skill, while challenging players to stay low and light. 

If you don’t have a hurdle, these drills can easily be done with just a line of tape, a field line, or even a crack on the sidewalk. Just make sure you’re getting in high quality touches and not getting sloppy.

Quick Feet Drill #3: Explosive Crossovers 

This drill might not be considered quick feet in nature, but it’s also super valuable for hockey players to challenge their lateral crossovers and finding better postures/movement patterns to fire from. 

We really want to emphasize that low and athletic position – making sure players aren’t standing up when players start going faster and faster. This drill can also be used to practice change of directions into a crossover pattern, where players quickly need to reset to go the other way.  

Quick Feet Drill #4: Lateral Quick Figure-8

While the previous drills focus on just a single movement pattern, this drill starts to increase in complexity by creating multi-movement pattern demands as you change direction from forwards to backwards. 

It’s important that you focus on starting ultra low here and staying light on your feet. Oftentimes we’ll see players start to go through this drill and either get super tall or start to get heavy in their steps. 

Quick Feet Drill #5: Linear Quick Feet Figure-8 

This is another multi-directional quick feet drill that we love to use with players. 

Like the drill above, it allows players to combine multiple movement patterns while being challenged to stay low and light in their athletic position. The forward/backward transition here is also super valuable for defencemen. 

It’s important to note for both of our Figure 8 Drills that we want to keep the cones fairly close together to make sure that you’re challenging your capacity for quick and light feet. Players can even put the cones closer together after 2-3 rounds to make it more of a challenge. 

‍

Quick Feet Drill #6: Lateral Hurdle Quick Steps 

We love lateral speed. So much of the game today is the ability to move in any direction around the ice, and lateral speed is a huge component of this. That’s why any chance we get to challenge players ability to move lateral (side to side), we do it. 

This drill is not only great for practicing lateral movement and finding better postures and lighter feet, but it also allows for players to practice change of direction with an aggressive plant and transition the other way.  

‍

Quick Feet Drill #7: Lateral Hurdle Crossover Steps

This is another progression based on the last drill. 

In this variation we’re still challenging lateral quickness, but using a crossover instead of a side step. While we love to incorporate crossovers as much as possible in our speed work, for this drill we’re really just using crossovers to challenge players ability to stay and light.  With the crossover, the space in-between hurdles feels even further condensed and create an “over speed” element that players must adapt to. 

—

Naturally, most players consider speed/agility ladders when they think of quick feet drills – and they’re not wrong. Ladders can be super valuable tools for hockey players of all ages. Whether it’s a pro priming the body and nervous system ahead of more complicated speed work (or even games) or youth players refining their motor skills and movement mechanics.  

Instead of incorporating this ladder drills into this article, we decided to make a completely separate article to break down theses and you can find them here: The Best Ladder Drills for Hockey Players.

Putting This Into Practice:

So the next question is naturally, how do you use quick feet drills?
There are two ways that you can integrate this type of work into your training schedule. 

1. Standalone Speed Workouts – here you can make an entire workout of speed drills. Typically players will head over to a local field, do their warm-up, do some activation drills, do 20-25 minutes of focused speed work, and then finish in either core, conditioning, or mobility. It’s important to create a clear distinction between speed work and 
2. Start of Your Workouts – here you can add speed/quick feet drills to the start of your regular workout. This will typically come after your warm-up when your body is fresh and primed for work. We’ll typically only take 3-5 drills and make them intense and intentional here before moving. 

Both methods are effective and which approach to take largely depends on your training schedule and if you’re able to add 1-2 additional “speed days” per week. 

In the Relentless Hockey Workout Programs that are used by our players, we build speed training into 3 workouts per week and then add an optional speed day for players to add if they have time in their schedule.  

Regardless of your schedule – we always encourage players to put new knowledge into immediate action. 

With so many resources, exercises, and workouts out there today, it’s easy for players to just collect knowledge or screenshot workouts on their phone – without ever actually acting on it. If you’ve made it this far in this article, we encourage you to either go now to get in a quick feet/speed workout or plan your workout within the next 12 hours. 

Top 10 Methods on How to Get Quick Feet

Samuel Ha

Fitness

Footwork is an essential part of any sport and if you want to become a top athlete, you must be quick on your feet. For boxing, being agile and having short explosive bursts of movement means that you can get in and out of range quickly to land and avoid punches.

The focus is to improve the fast twitch muscles in your legs as well as strengthen them. Learn how to get quick feet so that you can become a better athlete.

If you want to improve your footwork in boxing, I highly recommend the Dancer’s Footwork For Fighters, which shows you how to improve your footwork, balance and co-ordination through world class dance drills.

1) Hill Sprints

Find a hill that has a suitable surface (flat surface such as low cut grass) with an incline of ideally around 15-25 degrees.

Uphill Sprints
Sprint up it for 5 seconds then rest for 30 seconds, then repeat between 5-15 times (depending on your fitness level).

The short overload against resistance helps you to develop strength in your legs and first-step speed, which is crucial in making a single quick move either to get out of harm’s way or to land a shot by using your legs to get into range.

Downhill Sprints
If you really want a challenge, after you’ve sprinted uphill, then instead of resting, turn around and sprint back down but with short strides. Take a 30 seconds rest and go back up once again, repeating the process for 5-15 times.

2) Stair Sprints

You’ve probably seen many boxers employing this method for strengthening their legs and to improve their fast twitch muscles. It’s also a high intensity workout that burns many calories.

Find a high flight of stairs (of 3+ flight of stairs) where you can really sprint up them step-by-step for at least 10 seconds. Once you reach the top (30 seconds break if necessary), sprint back down and then take 30 seconds rest. Remember to hit every step on the way.

3) Jump Rope

You may have seen Floyd Mayweather Jr perform a bunch of tricks with the jump rope which not only looks great, but improves your foot work. You learn how to properly co-ordinate your foot movement and when it all becomes automatic, you won’t get your feet tangled up trying to move out of trouble spots.

Jumping rope is a bouncing motion as is being able to quickly move around the boxing ring, therefore, by learning different maneuvers, your feet are much quicker to react in different situations. Here are 23 different jump rope exercises.

You can compare 8 of the best jump ropes here.

4) Mirror Drills

Set two markers (cones are good) about 5-10 yards apart on a straight line. Find a partner, preferably someone that has much quicker feet than you to stand opposite you about ½ meter apart from each other. Make sure that you’re both in between the markets and in front of the straight line.

Your partner must try to get past the line while your aim is to stop him by mirroring his movement by bending your knees slightly and sidestepping. There are a variety of mirror drills such as this, which are the norm in basketball, NFL football and soccer.

5) Ladder Drills

Get a training ladder and place it out flat on an even level surface. The purpose is to step in and out of each square with both feet as quick as possible in a variety of different ways from sidestepping and forward stepping. This builds short explosive speed and power in your legs. You can check out some ladder drills by clicking here.

6) Resistance Bands

You can purchase a set of resistance bands to strengthen your legs, improve your fast twitch muscles, improve co-ordination and also your balance because they provide just the right amount of resistance to work on the relevant muscle groups for quick movements.

They’re inexpensive, safe and convenient for home use. The effectiveness of using resistance bands has made it a mandatory piece of equipment for all strength and conditioning coaches. You can create resistance in any direction and it can be used to mimic specific movements no matter what sport you’re in.

I highly recommend Bodylastics Resistance Bands due to their high quality construction and exclusive design.

7) Box Jumps

Box jumps is an excellent form of plyometric training which adds a quicker and more explosive spring in your bounce. You can use different heights of plyometric boxes to perform your side jumps, forward jumps, one-step jumps etc.

A set of plyometric boxes are expensive, even a single box will set you back a bit. However, you can find a stable alternative (e.g. low wall) or even build your own for around $20.

8) Agility Hurdles

Agility hurdles are a set of small hurdles that range from around 6-20 inches in height and you must step, hop and jump over them. It’s best to perform these before any sort of rigorous training to reap the most benefits and to minimize the risk of injury.

It’s similar to the training ladder (but more versatile as they can be moved into more positions) and just like the name suggests, they improve your agility which directly relates to your foot speed. There are a whole variety of different exercises you can perform on these. Click here to see some examples of agility hurdle exercises.

9) Basic Breakdance

Yes I’m serious. While this may not be your ideal method of training to get quick feet, learning basic breakdance moves that utilizes primarily foot and hip movements without going to the ground will benefit you in several ways. These include rhythm, balance, foot co-ordination and feet positioning.

Many of the pivots, slides and turns used for these movements are exactly the same to what you’re expected to implement in the ring. This is just an example of basic breakdance foot movements.

10) Work on Your Flexibility

The last method may seem too simple, but the truth is that the better your flexibility is, then the quicker your feet can move into a variety of positions. And the more foot movement that is required, then the more prone you are to injuries, which is why flexibility is an important issue.

You can improve your flexibility by making a habit of stretching every single day. This means when you wake up in the morning, before your workouts after your workouts and just before you go to sleep. Work on a variety of different postures and always start gently and gradually build it up.

► How to Increase Punching Power
► 10 Tips to Improve Boxing Footwork
► Boxing Basics
► Top 10 Best Heavy Punching Bags
► Top 10 Best Boxing Gloves

Development of leg speed and speed at home

Hello, dear visitors of the website basketball-training.org.ua ! The idea of ​​writing this article came to me during one of the last games. It so happened that in it I had to defend against a rather fast opponent, for whom I absolutely did not have time with my feet. The problem was this: in fast breaks I could still catch up with him, but as soon as it came to the classic defensive stance, I was passed around like a standing man! And all this at the expense of an incredibly fast, explosive first step.

That is why, as soon as I got home, I was determined to find a way to develop leg speed, given that I would have to practice at home, where I would have no more than 5 meters of free space and virtually no additional devices. Let’s see what came of it.

Developing the foot speed of basketball players

There are at least two ways to start moving faster and, most importantly, sharper: train your legs so that they move faster on the floor, and use “little tricks”, that is, develop the very technique of moving in a defensive stance. Naturally, not all of us are lovers of easy ways, but often they are the most logical. So I propose to start with the “useful little things” that Rick Torbet talks about in the training video “ Better 1 on 1 Defense “. By the way, if you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend doing it: the 8-part personal protection video tells a lot of useful things, and even if you don’t speak English, still take an hour of your time and watch it. I promise you won’t regret it.

Development of leg speed: little tricks

Let’s start with the most important thing – the defensive stance. It is very important to learn the correct defensive stance, which can be very different from what you are used to. So, the main thing in a defensive stance is good body balance. We have already talked about the importance of balance and methods of its development on the pages of this site, in the materials of Evgeny Burin ( General physical training of basketball players: part 1 and OFP: part 2 ). Now, the key to a proper guard stance is to keep your head in line with your knees. If it is slightly behind the conditional line – you will fall back, or fall forward – if it is ahead.

The second moment – when moving right-left, forward-backward, you should practically not take your feet off the ground, you seem to be sliding on the parquet. This method of movement will reduce the time between repulsions from the ground, which means it will increase the speed of movement and change of direction.

The third point is the foot. It must be turned in the direction in which you are moving. Yes, it will really speed up your movement. And now let’s see everything that I described above in a small video. The first part is about balance, then – about the minimum distance from the legs to the parquet, and the third – about the correct setting of the foot. I think, after such an explanation, the translation will be superfluous.

[youtube]VhWFyd97Xs8[/youtube]

Well, these little tricks will allow you to quickly move around the site, sharply changing the direction of movement. And now, let’s move on to the actual development of the speed qualities of the leg muscles, and for this we will use a very interesting simulator that each of us can make from improvised means in a few minutes.

Ladder Agility Drills

Ladder agility drills – this is the name of a series of exercises with a rope ladder located on the floor, are a great way to improve footwork speed, agility, coordination and overall speed on the court. These exercises are an integral part of many SAQ programs (Speed ​​Agility Quickness Programs – programs for developing speed, agility and quickness) and complement a variety of training complexes in many sports.

These exercises are based on the principle “ Quality is more important than quantity ”, which means that after performing them you will not get tired and will not “breathe”, as, for example, after “ Super Shuttle ”. It is best to start these exercises at the very beginning of your workout, immediately after warming up and stretching, because the muscles must be fresh in order to provide good, quality movements. And again, after doing these exercises, your muscles will still be ready for a fairly intense workout, so don’t worry: you won’t overload them with these exercises! Let’s move on to the exercises themselves.

Exercises for the development of agility, speed and quickness of footwork

Exercise No. 1 – “classics”. This is one of the easiest agility exercises and is suitable for everyone.

• Begin the exercise in a starting position at the bottom of the stairs, feet shoulder-width apart.
• Jump forward with both feet and land on the first sector of the ladder on your left foot.
• Next, pushing off with your left foot, jump forward again, but land on two feet.
• Push off with both feet again, jump forward and land on the right foot.
• Pushing off only with the right foot, jump forward and land on two feet. This is 1 cycle. Repeat this cycle until the ladder ends.

“Classics”

Exercise No. 2 – “inside-out”. This is another basic exercise, however, it is very effective.

• Begin the exercise with your feet shoulder-width apart before starting the stairs.
• Step (don’t jump, but step) into the first section of the ladder, first with your left foot and then with your right foot.
• Once the right foot has entered the first section, immediately place the left foot to the left of the next section of the ladder, then the right foot to the right of the ladder.
• Again, step your left foot into the inside of the stairs, and then also step your right foot (as if to return to the previous position).
• Repeat this movement pattern until the ladder ends.

“In-out”

Exercise No. 3 – “step to the side” . This exercise will require more concentration and coordination of movements from you. Make a few trial attempts at low speed, and after that start working at full power.

• Start the exercise by standing near the lower left corner of the stairs (we started the exercise in the center before, but now we need to move a little to the left).
• Step onto the first section with your left foot, and without stopping immediately step there with your right (as if doing a jump, or jump stop; in the original this movement is called “1-2 motion”, minimize the time between each step).
• Now you need to move to the right of the current section, again placing first the left and then the right foot.
• Now step diagonally to the left and up, again using the left and then the right foot.
• Move to the left as you exit the stairs, first with your left foot and then with your right foot. Here we are in the starting position.
• Continue in the same way to the end of the stairs. If you decide to perform this exercise several times, then each time start moving from the opposite side of the stairs, so your leading foot (in the example it is the left foot) will change regularly.

“Step to the side”

Exercise No. 4 – “Tango” . This exercise was named after a famous dance, and once you do it, you will immediately understand why.

• Begin this exercise by standing at the bottom left of the stairs (as in the previous exercise).
• Step your left foot over your right foot and stand in the middle of the first section.
• Continue without stopping, place your right foot at the level of the crossbar between the first and second section, and immediately place your left foot near the right.
• This exercise is performed on the count of 1-2-3, as in a dance.
• From this position, the right foot steps over the left and stands in the center of the second section of the ladder, then the left foot…..

oh, I can no longer describe these manipulations, I’m afraid that reading them you will get confused on the contrary. Let’s just look at the picture, everything is quite clear and without explanation. Yes, you need to repeat the exercise until the ladder ends.
“Tango”

Exercise No. 5 – “Five Steps”. This is the most difficult exercise of all presented here, it will require a very high level of training and innate dexterity to complete it. But if you learn to perform this exercise smoothly, without breaking down and at high speed, most of your opponents simply will not be able to keep up with your movements.

• Starting position – feet shoulder width apart, standing in front of the stairs in the center.
• Stand with your right foot to the right of the first section of the ladder, almost simultaneously placing your left foot on the first section of the ladder.
• The right foot moves to the left, after which the left moves to the second section (i.e. steps forward), and the right goes after it.
• Movement consists of 5 steps – this is the first phase. The second is almost similar to this one, but the movement begins in the left leg. The exercise must be repeated along the entire length of the stairs.

“5 steps”

That’s all, the article came to an end, which told about how you can develop the speed of footwork at home. As for the stairs – of course you can buy it, you can make it from improvised materials, you can stick pieces of adhesive tape on the floor – in general, it all depends on your imagination and materials at hand.

Update: Sometimes I duplicate articles from this site on my blog, which is located on slamdunk.ru. In one of the comments, I was advised to watch this video about training with stairs. There are actually a lot of similar videos on Youtube, but I liked this one and didn’t look any further. As a matter of fact, here it is:

[youtube]qhPN7B9bisU[/youtube]

Good luck with your training and see you soon on the pages of this site!

How to develop foot speed in football.

Home / BLOG / Trainers / How to develop leg speed in football.

Sections

Published: 10/14/2015 08:42

A great way to develop leg speed and agility, improve coordination and increase speed on the surface is training with the coordination ladder Speed ​​Ladder.

Exercises for leg speed – do not involve overload, they are aimed at the quality of movements. It is best to include ladder exercises at the beginning of your regular workout, after warming up. Your muscles need to be fresh to ensure the quality of the movement. And you should have a lot of strength left to continue training for resistance or endurance. To be the best and get ahead of your opponents, you need to train your legs for speed and endurance, as well as improve your movement technique using all sorts of tricks.

Important: take your time, first make sure you do each exercise correctly. We work on the principle: “quality is more important than quantity”. Gradually build up the pace. For convenience, print out pictures of exercises and take them with you to training. We offer several ladder exercises to train leg speed. You can develop your own. It is important to observe the correctness and frequency of movements.

And some simple tips:

• always keep your head straight and in line with your knees to maintain balance;
• when moving, the legs should break away from the surface at a minimum distance, which reduces the time when changing movement, increases the speed of the legs, as if you are sliding on the surface;
• arms, shoulders relaxed during exercise.