Agility
- with Mark Elmes, MISCP, CSCS
The winter is upon us as evidenced by the horrid downpour on this murky Wednesday evening. With that in mind and some inspiration from the tremendous Irish rugby team we’ve decided to share some key considerations for your off-season programmes. It only seems like yesterday that we packed up the kit bags with all our teams for the break but already chatter has begun and plans are being put in place for a new season of thrills. Therefore, it is important to plan your own personal preparation for the season ahead.
On the back of Jacob Stockdale’s stunning chip and chase from Saturday we decided to discuss agility (the meaning, the importance of training it and also how to do it). Without good agility there’s not a chance Jacob Stockdale would have managed to get around his defender to beat Aaron Smith with a sprint to the corner. So, what is agility? Why is this important? How do we train it?
The ability to efficiently and quickly change one’s body movement is a key component of a competent athlete’s skillset. The concept of agility takes this further however and is greatly influenced by cognitive and perceptual processes (i.e. the ability to react decisively to a stimulus in front of you and modify your position and movement). This gives us an in depth, true definition of what it is. On the back of that pearl of wisdom we want to cover beating a defender or reaching for that side-line shot in tennis with a lateral displacement of your body, put simply “the sidestep.”
Lateral movements are often overlooked on the training paddock and gym-based settings. While the side step is too complex to cover fully in a short post like this we wanted to cover the key points of it. A successful sidestep requires fantastic control of coordinated joint movements, lightning reactions from your nervous system and also a great deal of power to do so quickly. How do we train it? Without sounding too smart you simply train it and move specifically in the direction desired.
Have a look at the graphic below which gives an example of a foundational exercise we use in our gym programmes to work on the first part of the requirements for a successful sidestep: “control of coordinated joint movements.”
Please aim to include some of this work in your strength and hypertrophy sessions over the coming weeks. It’ll really help your performance on the pitch if you carry it through.
