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 When training for agility, athletes are looking to improve the way they move their bodies during sports. This is a very common goal. Most people set out to train for agility by incorporating specific drills into workouts that are designed to train the athlete in movements that are useful in sports, so that the athlete will be able to perform these movements under fast paced sport conditions. These drills are often resemble obstacle courses in which an athlete has to run, side shuffle, cut, back pedal, etc. to finish the drill in a short amount of time. Herein lies the problem. When performing these drills, especially under conditions where improvement in these drills are tested by a coach or trainer, the athlete will attempt to memorize and perfect their movement’s specific to the drill. There are thousands of books and internet based resources that are devoted just to developing the best drill to improve an athlete’s agility. The problem is that in sports there is rarely a situation where the athlete knows before beginning a series of movements how that particular series is going to end. For example, when an infielder gets ready for a pitch there are multiple things that could happen next. There could be a weak hit that requires the player to charge the baseball, there could be hard hit line drive over the
player’s head that requires them to jump, and there could be a hard grounder that requires them to make a back hand play. After the short stop recognizes the action they need to take they have to account for the angle with which they will approach the ball. Each play during a game requires a different play from the shortstop in order to successful field the ball. With this in mind how do you use a pre-determined agility drill to attempt to make these sets of movements more efficient? The simple answer is, you don’t!
Because of the spontaneous nature of baseball an agility drill will never be able to do more than hope to improve basic athletic movements. Which, is great, if you are only training beginning level athletes, or are trying to improve the general coordination and body awareness of the athlete (if the athlete is young or has recently gone through a large growth spurt). If the athlete can execute basic movements, like shuffling, sprinting, back pedaling, etc., and change between these movements with relative ease, then a common agility will only improve the speed at which the athlete can perform the specific drill. This might be the only goal of the coach or trainer. They might not be concerned with how the athlete’s improvements translate to the field, but might only be concerned with the test and retest performance of the athlete during training. Without a doubt, the true effectiveness of the training program should be evaluated by the overall improvement of athletic performance as it applies to playing baseball.
With this being said, the question still is unanswered. How do you, if not through agility drills, improve the on-field movement of an athlete in real time, game situations? There are two answers to
this question and they are both characteristics that have to be developed in each athlete before improvements in full speed baseball movements should be expected.
The first performance factor that needs to be improved is strength relative to body weight. This is described mathematically as:
Maximal Weight Lifted / Body Weight of the Athlete
For a simple example, if an athlete is able to squat or deadlift 300lbs and the body weight of the athlete is 200lbs, they are lifting 1.5 times their own body weight. What this means is that the lower body and core muscles of the athlete are able to express enough force to stabilize and move a weight significantly greater than that of their own. Since forces placed on the body during athletics are generally much greater than those of just the body weight of the athlete, a high strength relative to body weight is desirable in any sport. In the example with the athlete lifting 1.5 times bodyweight, that athlete should strive it improve that ratio to 2 or 2.5 times body weight. If this is accomplished that athlete would be able to generate forces so great that moving their own body weight would become a simple task that the athlete would be able to perform very quickly.
When considering strength relative to body weight, most people would point out the fact that, in general, maximal strength lifts are performed at very slow speeds. They would then question, how do
you translate a slow speed movement in to performance of high speed tasks, such as agility? The answer to this question is, by improving the rate at which force is developed. The force developed in the leg musclesis what is measured by maximal weight lifted in a squat or deadlift. The rate at which maximal force is developed is what allows an athlete to accelerate their body in different directions. If their rate of force development is high, the athlete will reach near maximal force very quickly. This will allow the athlete to accelerate their body in a given direction in a minimal amount of time, which is viewed by coaches and spectators as great agility.
There are two ways to improve the rate of force development. One method is to move a submaximal load at a high rate of speed. Examples of this type of training include all of the Olympic lifts
and variations as well as other speed lifts like jump squats. These types of movements should be coached only by professionals that have a specific background in coaching them. Specific technique and loading strategies are required during these lifts to elicit high levels of performance. The other form of training to improve rate of force development is plyometric training. Plyometric training is defined as the sudden decceleration of the body, followed by a maximal acceleration of the body in the opposite direction. Examples of plyometric exercises include depth jumps, hurdle jumps, box jumps, etc. It should be noted that this type of training should be used only with mature athletes that have high strength relative to body weight. Use of plyometric exercises with weaker, less mature athletes could result in soft tissue injuries and even stress fractures do to forces much greater than the body weight of the athlete applied to the structural components of the body (tendons, ligaments, and bones). Weaker, less mature athletes can perform other less intense forms of these exercises, but should do so only under supervision of a professional that is able to detect any subtle break down in technique. Plyometric training is a method of training the central nervous system to send and receive electrical impulses faster to and from the muscle cells and other receptor cells that are designed to help the athlete determine what movements need to occur next. This will increase the percentage of muscle fibers that contract during athletic movements, and also the speed at which these muscles are signaled to contract.
Think about what you consider to be a player that has great agility and on field movements. As stated before they are able to move their own body with ease in any situation the game presents. The key to enhancing this capability in an athlete is not to subject them to hours of pre-planned movements that only develop their ability to perform the specific drill; but, to improve the force, and the rate of force developed by the muscle groups that are responsible for those movements. The rest comes down to playing baseball and developing a feel for the game that cannot be duplicated by a strength and conditioning coach.  Scott Edson - Superior Athletic Advantage
Superior Athletic Advantage is an Athletic Development company located in Buffalo Grove, IL. Coaches Will Rawlings and Scott Edson worked for three years as Head baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches, and assistants to other sports, at the University of Northern Iowa, a Division I athletics program. They specialize in developing programs specifically for each individual athlete by coupling scientifically sound strength and conditioning principals, and experience working with athletes from youth, high school, NJCAA, and Division I. Website: www.superior-athletic.com Email:
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Phone: 847-774-0379
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