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-   -   Looking for help with agility and power. Anybody have ideas? (http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=558890)

Godfather80 12-01-2007 07:20 PM

Looking for help with agility and power. Anybody have ideas?
 
Background: I'm 27, 5'10'', 155 lbs. My goal is to excel in playing elite ultimate frisbee this spring. Whatever your personal feelings on the sport, I really enjoy it and have been playing for years at a moderately competitive level.

At the level I have been playing at, I am the fastest and probably most agile player on the field. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at challenges) moving into an elite level of play means that the overall athleticism of the players goes up. The skills needed to excel at the elite level compare most closely to those of a soccer midfielder and football wide receiver combined.

To prepare myself for this, I have been working with a trainer to boost my agility, power (coming out of cuts and jumping), and balance.

My typical workout is about half an hour of drills on the agility ladder, followed by 4 sets of pushups and pull-ups to failure ("going to failure" is not really a big deal to me, it just leads to quality work in my mind), 4 sets of 45 second wall-sits while pressing a 5 lb. medicine ball, 4 sets of "russian twists" (sit-ups that involve balance and trunk rotation with a 5 lb medicine ball), 2 sets of planks to failure, and 2 sets of 16 supermans (laying flat on stomach while lifting arms, head, and legs of the ground for a count).

Are there any other obvious agility exercises I should be doing?

EDIT: This routine has only been for the first month or so. I'm sure my trainer will be changing it up (probably to include more sprint work). I'm just looking for other ideas to increase my agility that others have had personal success with. Yes, I have googled "agility drills".

SmileyEH 12-01-2007 07:32 PM

Re: Looking for help with agility and power. Anybody have ideas?
 
low rep olympic lifting, squats.

Godfather80 12-01-2007 07:35 PM

Re: Looking for help with agility and power. Anybody have ideas?
 
[ QUOTE ]
low rep olympic lifting, squats.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you suggesting this for agility? If so, please explain as I have absolutely no experience with free weights.

SmileyEH 12-01-2007 07:38 PM

Re: Looking for help with agility and power. Anybody have ideas?
 
If you want explosiveness and strength as well than these are your best bet. If you've never done freeweights than you are better off reading the FAQ and doing some Starting Strength first, and looking to start power cleans in a month or so.

theblackkeys 12-01-2007 08:04 PM

Re: Looking for help with agility and power. Anybody have ideas?
 
[ QUOTE ]
If you want explosiveness and strength as well than these are your best bet. If you've never done freeweights than you are better off reading the FAQ and doing some Starting Strength first, and looking to start power cleans in a month or so.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, learn the basic compound movements first before going into olympic lifts.

I would say the following items are going to improve your skill, in order of importance:
practice, footwork drills/practice, sprinting, squats, power cleans, deadlifts.

pr0crast 12-02-2007 03:05 AM

Re: Looking for help with agility and power. Anybody have ideas?
 
Focus on plyometrics. That [censored] is amazing for accomplishing exactly what it seems you are out to accomplish.

Wikipedia says:

[ QUOTE ]
Plyometrics is a type of exercise that utilizes a rapid eccentric movement, followed by a short amortization phase, and then followed by an explosive concentric movement, which enables the synergistic muscles to engage in the myotatic-stretch reflex during the stretch-shortening cycle. Plyometric exercises use explosive movements to develop muscular power, the ability to generate a large amount of force quickly. Plyometric training acts on both the musculotendinous and neurological levels to increase an athlete's power output without necessarily increasing their maximum strength output. Plyometrics are used to increase the speed or force of muscular contractions, often with goals of increasing the height of a jump or speed of a punch or throw.

[/ QUOTE ]

I took a plyo course once (8 weeks of absolute HELL) and it really supercharged my athletics.

Compound lifts (squat, deadlift) are great too, but those are things you should already be doing.

shemp 12-02-2007 03:23 AM

Re: Looking for help with agility and power. Anybody have ideas?
 
[ QUOTE ]
("going to failure" is not really a big deal to me, it just leads to quality work in my mind)

[/ QUOTE ]

Then your mind is your enemy. Going to failure is inconsistent with developing explosiveness. Apparently you like to do it or doing it gives you a feeling of having driven yourself. Fine. Developing both explosiveness and endurance is going to require some trade offs, but you are making a one-sided choice.

shemp 12-02-2007 03:25 AM

Re: Looking for help with agility and power. Anybody have ideas?
 
[ QUOTE ]
Are there any other obvious agility exercises I should be doing?

[/ QUOTE ]

Dot drills are very big these days. But you are way over doing it with daily half hour agility drills already...


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