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The Truth About “Quick Feet” and Agility Ladder Drills

Michael Boyle published this Q&A newsletter about quick feet and agility ladder drills last week, and I enjoyed it so much that I asked him if I could repost it here.  Suffice it to say that I am not a fan of "agility ladder" drills, and while Mike does use them in moderation, he makes a great case for why we don't want to go overboard - or expect too much of them. Q: A couple of threads on the Strength Coach forum got me thinking about the question of foot speed and athletes. I can't tell you how often I hear a parent or a coach ask, "How can I improve my son's/daughter's/athlete's foot speed or agility?" A: It seems everyone always wants the shortcut and the quick fix. The better question might be "Do you think you can improve foot speed?" or maybe even the larger question, "Does foot speed even matter?" That begs the larger question, "Does foot speed have anything to do with agility?" I know coaches or parents reading this are asking, "Is this guy crazy?" How many times have we heard that "speed kills?" I think the problem is that coaches and parents equate fast feet with fast and quick feet with agile. However, fast feet don't equal fast any more than quick feet equal agile. In some cases, fast feet might actually make an athlete slow--often I see fast feet as a detriment to speed. In fact, some of our quick turnover guys, those who would be described as having fast feet, are very slow off the start.

The problem is fast feet don't use the ground well to produce force. Fast feet might be good on hot coals, but not on hard ground. Think of the ground as the well from which we draw speed. It is not how fast the feet move, but rather how much force goes into the ground. This is basic action-reaction physics. Force into the ground equals forward motion. This is why the athletes with the best vertical jumps are most often the fastest. It comes down to force production. Often coaches will argue the vertical vs. horizontal argument and say the vertical jump doesn't correspond to horizontal speed, but years of data from the NFL Combine begs to differ. Force into the ground is force into the ground. In spite of what Brett Contreras may say, vectors don't seem to matter here. The truth is parents should be asking about vertical jump improvement, not about fast feet. My standard line is "Michael Flatley has fast feet, but he doesn't really go anywhere. If you move your feet fast and don't go anywhere, does it matter? It's the old "tree falling in the woods" thing.

The best solution to slow feet is to get stronger legs. Feet don't matter. Legs matter. Think about it this way: If you stand at the starting line and take a quick first step but fail to push with the back leg, you don't go anywhere. The reality is that a quick first step is actually the result of a powerful first push. We should change the buzzwords and start to say "that kid has a great first push." Lower body strength is the real cure for slow feet and the real key to speed and to agility. The essence of developing quick feet lies in single-leg strength and single-leg stability work… landing skills. If you cannot decelerate, you cannot accelerate - at least not more than once.

One of the things I love is the magic drill idea. This is the theory that developing foot speed and agility is not a process of gaining strength and power, but rather the lack of a specific drill. I tell everyone I know that if I believed there was a magic drill we would do it every day. The reality is it comes down to horsepower and the nervous system, two areas that change slowly over time. How do we develop speed, quickness and agility? Unfortunately, we need to do it the slow, old-fashioned way. You can play with ladders and bungee cords all you want, but that is like putting mag wheels on an Escort. The key is to increase the horsepower, the brakes, and the accelerator. I think the answer for me is always the same. I wrote an article last year called "Is ACL Prevention Just Good Training?" In much the same way, development of speed, agility and quickness simply comes down to good training. We need to work on lower body strength and lower body power - and we need to do it on one leg. I also love "agility" ladder drills. They provide excellent multi-planar dynamic warm-up. They develop brain-to-muscle connection and are excellent for eccentric strength and stability. We do less than five minutes of ladder drills, one or two times a week. I don't believe for a minute that the ladder is a magic tool that will make anyone faster or more agile, however I do believe it is a piece of the puzzle from the neural perspective. People waste more than five minutes on biceps curls, but we have long debates about ladder drills. These are also a great tool to show to coaches who want "foot speed." Sometime it's easier to "yes" them than to argue with them. Give a guy with "bad feet" a jump rope and you get a guy with bad feet and patella tendonitis. For more information on Michael Boyle, check out StrengthCoach.com or the Functional Strength Coach 3.0 DVD set.

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Random Monday: Ice Baths for Recovery, Throwing Like a Girl, and Cute Puppies

It's been a while since I did a random thoughts blog; actually, it was October 6 - which is also known as the "Pre-Puppy Era" in the Cressey household.  As such, we have a lot to get to, so let's not waste any time. 1. It's been interesting to watch the Giants - a team without a true superstar (aside from Lincecum, who's only thrown one game) - take control of the World Series.  However, the most interesting part of the World Series for me was when former president George W. Bush came out and threw an absolutely effortless SEED to Nolan Ryan for the first pitch of Game 4.

It was a nice change of pace from what we often see with ceremonial first pitch appearances, as I wrote about previous in Why President Obama Throws Like a Girl.  You almost have to wonder if him busting out the cheddar during election week was a calculated attempt to win some Republican votes! Also, please refrain from political fighting in the comments section, kids; this is a bipartisan blog.  I will, however, encourage everyone to please get out and vote tomorrow, regardless of your candidates of choice. 2. I am still waiting for someone to convince me that cold water immersion post-training does anything for athletes other than cause serious shrinkage and irritate them.  It seems like it becomes more and more of "the rage" with each passing day, but I still haven't seen anything in the scientific literature supporting the efficacy of ice baths for recovery.  This piece came out just recently: Post exercise ice water immersion: Is it a form of active recovery?

We do not advocate cold water immersion for our athletes right now because I feel that there isn't any evidence to suggest that it has any favorable effects, and for such an annoying experience, you need to be getting considerable benefit in order to be using it regularly.  Moreover, I have seen a TON of pitchers who absolutely despise icing their arms after throwing outings, saying that it interferes with their arm bouncing back and gives them stiffness and difficulty warming up in the subsequent throwing outing.  There is going to need to be some definitive evidence supporting cold water immersion before I even consider experimenting with it in any of our athletes. That said, what has your experience been with cold water immersion and ice baths for recovery?  Please share your thoughts in the comments section. 3. Agents paying college football players to sign with them is a very corrupt and unacceptable practice, but the most scary part of this article for me is that three of the 23 players in question were DEAD before they hit 30.  Does anyone else find that a 13% mortality rate among this guy's potential clients kind of odd?  My guess would be that they weren't the most ethical guys in question and probably were involved in some sketchy stuff on the side, but it is still pretty wild that the author of this article just tosses it in there as a quick closing sentence like it's nothing worthy of consideration. 4. We are kicking on all cylinders with our professional baseball training crew.  As of right now, we have 44 guys from all over the country committed to getting after it this winter.  It's shaping up to be a fun time and great atmosphere - especially when you factor in our high school and college baseball guys. 5. Speaking of Cressey Performance, we've got Nick Tumminello coming in this morning to do an in-service for our staff.  Nick's a smart dude who teaches all over the world (he's headed to China right after us), and we're really lucky to have him.  In this dynamic industry, if you aren't getting better, you're falling behind - so be sure to seek out opportunities to watch industry leaders present whenever you can.  For more information on Nick, check out www.NickTumminello.com.  Here's a little taste of some of Nick's stuff:

6. Last, but not least, cute puppy pictures.

Asleep in my slipper:

Asleep in my wife's gym bag:

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