Agility

Jason D. Vescovi, MS, CSCS

This paper was presented as part of the NSCA Hot Topic Series.
All information contained herein is copyright© of the NSCA.
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W h at Is Agility?
Agility is a common term used in strength and conditioning and is often considered an
essential element of many sports and activities. A boxer dodging a punch, a ballet dancer completing
a pirouette, or a wrestler finishing a take-down could all be considered examples of agility.
However, individuals involved in the development and improvement of sports performance often
regard agility as a locomotor skill whereby an athlete changes direction. This type of movement is
frequently observed in most field and court sports such as soccer, basketball, football, and lacrosse.
In this light agility is commonly defined as an effective and quick coupling of braking, changing
directions and accelerating again while maintaining motor control in either a vertical or horizontal
direction (6, 16, 20). An athlete that displays good agility will most likely possess other qualities
such as, dynamic balance, spatial awareness, rhythm, as well as visual processing (7). So while agility
can be simply defined as an ability to quickly stop and re-start motion, there is a high degree of
complexity to this motor skill. This article will briefly discuss the importance of agility training and
present appropriate developmental strategies for instructing athletes.

Importance of Agility
Agility is a specific athletic attribute (14) that is fundamentally important to sports
performance for three reasons. First, developing agility will provide a strong foundation for
neuromuscular control and motor skill function, thereby establishing overall athleticism. Second,
changing directions is a common cause of injury, so by teaching individuals proper movement
mechanics we may be able to reduce injury risk. Finally, as an athlete matures, a heightened ability
to quickly change directions will enhance overall performance in both proactive offensive and
reactive defensive circumstances.
Stages of Development
Learning to become agile requires the development of appropriate movement patterns.
Children begin to develop locomotor skills at an early age as can be observed when a playful child
attempts to elude a parent chasing them around the yard. It can be clearly seen however that
movement efficiency is poor, oftentimes associated with awkward arm motion, overall unbalanced
posture, and a general lack of timing and coordination. Implementing strategies to teach
appropriate motor skills can be initiated around 5 years of age with critical periods of development
occurring between 9 and 12 years of age (6). It must be kept in mind that individuals will develop

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at different rates and subtle gender differences exist for critical periods, so that the age ranges
provided below should serve as a temporal guide, not as a steadfast rule.
Nevertheless, in order to appropriately develop agility both general and specific drills are
used within particular windows of time. For example, between 5-8 years of age versatility should
predominate, whereby a variety of general movement patterns are utilized in an effort to develop a
large foundation of motor skills. Including basic arm and leg movements in a stationary position,
performing rhythmic jumps in place, or implementing locomotor drills that incorporate spatial
orientation can all be beneficial during this stage of development. Simply learning temporal
characteristics of movements in a controlled environment is helpful before initiating more specific
drills or activities. Planned (also called closed) exercises should predominate during this period,
which will provide structure to learning movement patterns, timing, and coordination.
During the next stage of development (between 9-13 years of age) mastery should be the
primary focus. Children involved with athletics should be able to perform the general drills
implemented during the previous phase with minimal flaws. In addition, while athletes can move
more quickly, for reasons of safety and injury prevention they should initially perform drills at sub-
maximal speeds. Agility exercises should not yet include sharp changes in direction, but rather
involve rounded patterns. This might include weaving between a set of linear cones, running a figure
eight pattern, or learning how to stop-jump- and land in a controlled environment. Performing
sharp changes in direction at high running speeds will prevent appropriate execution of a drill,
especially during the early developmental stages when mastery has not yet been achieved (2, 18).
Planned drills should still dominate, however un-planned (or open) drills can be implemented
sparingly to provide a reactive component to an external stimulus (e.g., visual, audio).
During the pubertal growth spurt alterations in body size, structure, and weight will
significantly impact a child’s coordination. During this stage (14-16 years of age) it is appropriate to
re-perfect many of the movement skills that have already been developed (6). In other words,
learning and mastery will start anew. As an athlete becomes more comfortable with their ‘new’ body
then greater difficulty can certainly be added to their training regimen. Up through this stage sport-
specificity should be avoided as it may retard overall athletic development. This goes against the
current practice of many sports performance professionals, however training athletes should follow
appropriate motor skill developmental stages rather than conventional wisdom.
More complexity and specificity are the focus during later teenage years (17+ years of
age)(6). Sport-specific drills may now be utilized regularly during training. Adding greater
complexity to existing drills is common. Different field conditions, using a partner, implementing an

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area or time restriction are all acceptable methods to increasingly challenge an athlete’s ability to
change directions effectively (6). Movement speeds should be kept moderate to high as slower
movements can drastically alter muscle activation patterns (15). Using un-planned (open) drills can
be used more readily while minimizing closed drills. However, performing open reactive exercises at
high speeds can increase rotational loads with minimal changes in the magnitude or patterns of
muscle activation, suggesting more stress is placed on the joints compared to performing closed drills
(1, 2). This has the potential to decrease performance or increase injury risk.
In general, critical periods of development exist which correspond to certain chronological
ages. And while these should serve as a guide for appropriate athletic development it should be
understood that when selecting drills or exercises a young athlete’s training age should also be taken
into consideration. In other words, it might be appropriate to use a large variety of closed drills with
a 16 year old that has less than one year of training experience. On the other hand, it may be
appropriate to include a greater proportion of open drills with a 13 year old that has four years of
consistent training experience. Care should be given to understanding each individual athlete, which
will ultimately provide the strongest rationale for exercise prescription.
Injury Prevention
Teaching athletes appropriate movement strategies is important for preventing injuries.
Compared to linear running, rotational loads on the legs are increased at least 100% when changing
directions (2, 3). It appears the neuromuscular system has a built-in injury prevention mechanism,
where pre-activation of muscles prepares for ground contact and is primarily responsible for
stabilization of the joints when the foot is in contact with the ground (1, 2). Nevertheless,
appropriate deceleration mechanics are essential for injury prevention.
In light of the epidemic of non-contact ACL injuries in female athletes several training
programs have been designed to specifically target this area of agility training, namely injury
prevention (5, 8, 11, 19). The aim of these programs is to alter mechanical flaws when changing
directions in both vertical and horizontal directions. For example, instructing athletes to land from
a jump by bending their knees and hips rather than landing straight legged; or using multiple small
steps to decelerate compared to stopping linear motion with one large step are the key tenets that
will reduce injury risk when changing directions. By landing more ‘softly’ the overall landing forces
are reduced and a multiple step stop will decrease the shearing forces placed on the knee.
Performance Enhancement
The ability to change directions quickly and efficiently is advantageous for many athletes. The
foundation for maximizing the ability to change directions will couple linear sprinting and

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appropriate deceleration techniques. A progression for linking linear locomotion with deceleration
and ultimately re-acceleration in a new direction has been outlined elsewhere (4). Briefly, the
sequence of drills includes:
Linear acceleration transitions: Using 5-10 yard increments an athlete can transition
between linear walking, jogging and eventually sprinting. Progress with sub-maximal speeds during
the first two developmental stages and then implement faster movements as the child gets older and
becomes more skilled. This will allow an athlete to distinguish between various speeds of
locomotion, but more importantly it provides a simple drill to learn how to accelerate, decelerate,
and re-accelerate. Attention should be directed at linear acceleration and deceleration mechanics.
Jog-Stop-Turn-Jog: Next linear locomotion and deceleration are coupled with a deliberate
change in direction. Instruct an athlete to jog to a cone placed 5-10 yards in front of her/him.
When the athlete reaches the cone, they will come to a complete stop by planting the foot opposite
to the new direction. Instruct the athlete to bend their knee and hip when the foot contacts the
ground while maintaining a slight lean forward with their upper body. The position should resemble
a semi-squat position, where the chest remains over the feet. Rotation of the torso and proper arm
action will occur while stepping with the foot nearest to the new direction before resuming the drill
(4).
Increased Speed then Angle: Regardless of the drills implemented in a training program a
sound developmental progression will include: slower to faster speeds, more general movement
patterns to increasingly greater complexity and specificity, and more rounded changes in direction to
sharper angles. The ultimate goal is to develop an athlete that can perform velocity specific
transitions with no loss of control. It must be stressed that this progression should be completed
over several years as outlined in the developmental stages above.

Assessment of Agility
Movement skills are often sport- and sometimes position-specific (10, 12, 17, 21),
suggesting that test selection should be related to sport-specific characteristics or position-specific
movement patterns. Typical agility tests include the 505 agility test (7), T-test, and the Edgren side
step test (9). Other tests commonly used are the Illinois agility test (13), pro-agility test (sprint and
shuffle), 3-cone test, and spider test. It is beyond the scope of this article to detail each protocol,
therefore the reader is referred to references (7, 9, 12, 13) for descriptions and illustrations of the
tests listed.

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Conclusions and Pr actical Applic ations

The aim of this article was to briefly describe the importance of agility in developing overall
athleticism, reducing injury risk, and enhancing performance. Creating and implementing drills only
requires an open field or court and a few cones, in addition to instructing proper acceleration and
deceleration mechanics. Providing appropriate direction during critical periods of development will
endow your athlete with a sound athletic foundation.

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