How Do Agility Ladder Drills Help Keep You Young?
Agility ladder drills come with so many great benefits. Yes, you get your heart rate up, but agility ladder exercise focuses on speed, agility, and quickness far beyond that!W
With decades of experience, I’m breaking down the top benefits of adding agility ladder drills to your weekly workout schedule. Keep reading, the answers may surprise you!
After you see the amazing benefits, make sure you try my favorite agility ladder exercises that burn calories fast!
1. Improves Speed, Agility, and Quickness
Whether you’re an athlete or an exercise newbie, agility ladder drills are the perfect form of cross-training because they work on multiple outcomes at once.
- Speed: your ability to move with fast feet in one direction as quickly as possible
- Agility: your coordination—your ability to accelerate, decelerate, and handle a change of direction
- Quickness: your ability to use fast footwork to react or switch positions quickly
This training will also help your other workouts! You’ll see benefits in your strength training, cardio workouts and even your yoga practice.
2. Enhances Balance and Flexibility
Agility ladder drills require coordinated and controlled footwork. These movements help improve balance and lower body flexibility. Balance is critical in every day life, especially as we age!
Improving your balance may help reduce the risk of falls and injuries.
3. Increases Cardiovascular Fitness
The CDC recommends a minimum of 150 minutes of heart-pumping cardio per week; agility ladder exercises can certainly be a part of that!
Because agility ladder drills require so much precision, foot speed, and focus, they can elevate your heart rate in a short amount of time. You can also check out my top 9 picks for the best cardio workouts for weight loss that don’t involve any running : ).
4. Burns Tons Of Calories
Speed ladder drills are a great form of cardio that burn tons of calories! They are considered a type of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which means they do more in less time.
You’ll go “all-out” in short bursts of intense effort mixed with brief pauses. This format should burn more calories than a steady-state cardio activity.
There are many different types of workouts that fall into this HIIT category. You can see a few of my favorites in my list of 7 total body exercises that burn fat and build muscle.
5. Keeps You Mentally Sharp
Agility ladder drills help keep you young because they keep you on your toes and thinking fast. They require focus and concentration, which helps connect your brain to your body so they are working together.
Many people deal with increased brain fog symptoms as they age, and regular exercise can help.
6. It’s FUN!
We all get bored with our workouts sometimes and agility ladder drills are a fun way to mix it up. You will feel athletic and agile, and you can do the drills anywhere. Inside, in the basement, at the gym, or my favorite place, outside!
It’s so fun that your kids or grandkids may even want to join you.
Agility ladder drills are a great way to add a new exercise format to your routine that helps keep your body and brain feeling young and fresh!