Improve Agility & Change Direction Better

Jun 14

Today I’m going to present you with science-based evidence on how to improve your ability to change direction. This means that your foundation for being agile will increase. But first, I need you to stop doing so many change of direction drills thinking it will amount to your desired results. It won’t. I’ve got 3 things that are better than changing direction for improvement of change of direction.

Sounds crazy, right!?

Disclaimer: If you are required to complete a change of direction test, you should still practice or train with that test. If your sport requires changing direction, you should still work on the basics of deceleration frequently throughout the competitive season and the year, as a whole.

In practice or game situations, your sport may require you to change direction to gain possession of the ball or get a better position for scoring, etc. What happens during this change of direction? You use your muscles to slow your momentum and lower yourself into a more advantageous position to accelerate in the new direction. That direction could be in front of you, to the side, or behind you so you will position your feet, hips and knees accordingly to give yourself the best chance.

Simply put: You need to be able to slow down fast and accelerate fast. Both require high forces (a lot of strength) and fast contractions (a lot of effort). We can achieve this through proper training!

A study by James W. D. Forster, Aaron M. Uthoff, Michael C. Rumpf, and John B. Cronin called “Training to Improve Pro-Agility Performance: A Systematic Review” highlights what can really help you when training for improved change of direction performance.

They looked into 20 studies that used different methods to train for the Pro-Agility test. This test is a staple in many sports for assessing change of direction ability, most notably the NFL Combine.

So what is better than changing direction to help my change of direction performance?

Here are the 3 focus areas.

#3: Resistance Training (Lifting Weights)

Remember when I said you need high forces to slow down quickly? Lifting can increase your overall force output and help you decelerate the way you want.

4 out of the 6 studies examined showed significant improvement in change of direction from resistance training. The best came from traditional squats and single-leg squats. Single-leg squats seemed to show a better translation to changing direction because of the nature of the movement.

Finally, it appears that being able to train with specific percentages of 1RM showed a better result for improvement. As you get better strength and experience with lifting, you can test and use percentages to hone in on better results.

#2: Plyometric Training (Repeat Jumps)

Repetitive Jumps require your body to resist gravity, store energy quickly in your muscles and immediately use that energy in an efficient way to jump again. Processes like this also occur when slowing down and sprinting again.

2 different studies were looked at for this area. Although their methods were different, they both showed significant improvements. Each study was between 6-10 weeks long and had 2-3 sessions per week.

Study A utilized a mix of single-leg and double-leg plyometrics, which were executed vertically, horizontally and laterally.

Study B focused on double leg exercises only. Horizontal hurdle jumps and vertical depth jumps were the two selected methods.

In comparison, Plyometric Training showed better results than Resistance Training

#1: Sprint Training (Pure Acceleration)

Pure Acceleration is a term that means sprinting from a dead start. No rolling starts, no build-ups or flying sprints. This is the same when accelerating from a change of direction - no momentum in your intended direction.

3 studies showed significant results, ranging from 4-8 weeks.

2 methods stood out from these studies:

16 reps of 20 m sprints = greatest improvements per session over 8 sessions
10 sets of 10s incline sprints at 7% gradient = greatest per session effect over 12 sessions

It is speculated that incline sprinting is the most effective method to improve COD performance because of the similar mechanical angles experienced when slowing down and accelerating out of a change of direction.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Combinations of these 3 were also observed to yield favorable results, just not at the rate that each individual area exhibited by itself.

MAIN TAKEAWAYS:

In your training throughout the year, you should NEED to be sprinting, doing plyometrics and lifting weights!

Even though each phase of training may contain all elements, you should prioritize one of the others, depending on your sport season among other training considerations.

Good news! At ACES Nation, we take credible and important information from articles like this and put it into our programs. That’s why our athletes are improving their performance, increasing playing time and even being able to continue playing the sport they love in college.

Let’s get to work and start helping you reach your goals!

- Zack Wallace

ACES Nation Athletic Performance Specialist