Agility Training

Perhaps it's the fact that she won 2 medal's at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, including the first ever downhill gold for an American woman. Or maybe it's the fact that she is currently defending her 3 previous World Cup titles.

Any way you cut it, Lindsey Vonn is one heck of an athlete and I've been digging deep to learn some of her training secrets.

What I discovered was that to increase her odds in defending her World Cup title in 2011, Vonn made the decision to focus on improving her agility in the off-season.

Has it made a difference? Check out this video of Vonn racing at Lake Louise, Canada this past December (watch what happens at the :50 mark!):



That's pretty darn incredible and at the time, put Lindsey back in first place in the World Cup standings.

Vonn credits this instantaneous physical response to a new training regimen this past offseason.

According to an interview Vonn recently did with Wired.com, she didn’t change the bulk of her endurance program: a regimen of core workouts, weight-lifting, and cycling that has made her one of the fittest racers on tour. But at the U.S. Olympic Training Center near San Diego this summer, she added a routine of agility exercises like cone drills, knee-high hurdles, and agility ladders, which encompass a horizontal circuit divided like a ladder and you step between the “rungs.”

So, what exactly is the focus of agility training?

By definition, agility is the ability to decelerate, accelerate, and change direction while maintaining good body control and without losing time (speed) in the transition. With the exception of skills specific to the sport, agility can be the primary determining factor to predict success in a sport.

The key components in agility training are:

- Body control and awareness
- Recognition and reaction
- Starting and first step
- Acceleration
- Footwork
- Change of direction
- Stopping

Since all of these involve development of motor skills, our bodies can be trained in each of these areas.

Example exercises can be found in a free PDF download from the NASM that you can find HERE.

The lesson to be learned is that we should continually be modifying our training protocols to reap maximum benefits. What I especially like about agility training is the flavor it adds to any workout program and the fact that you can perform agility drills just about anywhere.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan