Part of playing youth football means that you must work on your coordination, agility, and balance to excel in the sport.
Practicing football ladder drills or cone drills are a great way to work on these qualities, as they allow you to become the best version of yourself during a football game.
These football speed ladder drills will enable you to exercise your muscles to the highest level possible, like a cardio workout.
Most agility ladder drills allow your muscles to exert to the fullest, followed by a low-intensity rest period and another round of an intense workout.
To warm up and improve your agility and get better at football, these are six of the best football training ladder drills.
1. Lateral High Knees
Lateral high knees is a running side-to-side agility ladder training drill for improving agility, footwork, and speed. Beginners and advanced players can perform the lateral high knees drill.
The main focus of this drill is to maintain fast footwork while maintaining good coordination and balance.
Players must begin by standing sideways at one end of the training ladder to perform the lateral high knees drill.
The player must then lift their right foot and pull up their right knee to their waist, placing their foot into the ladder’s first box. The player will then lift up their left knee to their waist and put the left foot in the first box.
Your athlete repeats the same process when the second foot touches the ground. Once the player reaches the other end of the ladder, they can repeat the drill, starting with the opposite foot.
One set equals two reps, and the player should take at least a thirty-second break before beginning another set.
2. Jumping Jacks
A jumping jack ladder drill can help football players improve their coordination, strength, and balance. To perform this drill, you should jump using two feet inside the ladder before springing forward. You should land with both feet on either side of the next rung.
Then, you should continue through the football ladder by alternating feet in and out of the rungs. While performing the jumping jack ladder drill, raise your arms above your head when you jump, like you would with a typical jumping jack.
3. Single Leg Shuffle
When performing a single-leg shuffle on ladders in football, one of your feet stays out of the ladder, and the other foot taps in and out while you continue the drill.
To begin, line up on one side of the ladder and quickly touch your foot inside the rung and out again before moving to the next.
When one foot is tapping in and out, the other foot should keep up and continue in a straight line. Once you have completed the ladder, begin with the opposite foot again. The single-leg shuffle is one of the best footwork drills.
4. Speed Scissors
The speed scissors ladder drill primarily focuses on improving foot speed, coordination, ball control, balance, and agility.
Speed scissors help you move your legs as quickly as possible while constantly changing the direction of movement.
Your body’s direction of movement stays the same.
To begin the speed scissors drill, stand on one side of the ladder and face it. Jump up using both feet and land, so your legs are straddled.
One foot should be in the first box, and the other foot should trail behind it. Jump again and switch your legs, like a scissor, in the air. When you land, the leg trailing behind should now be the leading leg.
Continue moving up the ladder, and when you reach the end, begin the drill again using the opposite leg.
5. Hopscotch
The Hopscotch ladder exercises should be easy to perform, especially if you have played hopscotch before. The hopscotch drill helps to improve deceleration, explosiveness, acceleration, and the ability to switch directions quickly.
You must jump in and out of the boxes with speed while making precise movements.
To begin this drill, stand on one end of the speed ladder while facing forward. Jump with both feet into the first box. Then, push your feet outside of the ladder without resting. The ladder should be in the middle of your feet.
Jump inside the second box using both feet and immediately spring outside of the box. Repeat this pattern to complete all of the boxes in the speed ladder.
6. Ickey Shuffle
The Ickey shuffle football ladder drill requires a lot of coordination and is a high intensity drill.
To begin this drill, begin to the ladder’s side before working in, diagonally, and out through the ladder. Start from your left, then shuffle to your right. Both of your feet should be placed on the inside of one rung.
Almost instantly, the right foot should be placed outside the rung, pushing off it. When pushing off of the rung, step the left foot into the rung on top of it and place the right foot into it after.
Then, take the left foot, putting it on the rung’s outside, using this foot to push yourself forward. While doing this, put the right foot into the next rung and repeat the movement.
FAQs
What muscles do you use for football ladder drills?
When performing ladder agility drills for football, you typically use muscles in your core, quads, hips, calves, hamstrings, lower back, biceps, triceps, shoulders, and glutes.
These lateral movement drills help to develop strength in these muscles, which is critical to helping you perform at your best.
What is the point of football speed ladder drills?
Football ladder drills help players improve quickness, balance, agility, and coordination with the football.
Speed training equipment, such as football ladders, help to improve your movements on the field, help you have fast feet, and enhance your performance when playing against the opposing team.
How often should you do football ladder drills?
You can begin practicing quickness ladder drills once per week. Once you build up more endurance, you can practice these training drills two to three times per week. Each football ladder training program or drills typically takes at most ten to twenty minutes for training sessions.
Final Thoughts
Football ladder drills are an effective way to improve speed, agility, coordination, and balance.
While a football ladder is an excellent type of training equipment to help improve your football skills, the Open Goaaal 3-in-1 trainer is another great tool to help you improve your skills at home.
Try out the Open Goaaal 3-in-1 trainer today to practice your skills at home.
