PERFORMANCE CONDITIONING FOR SOCCER— Vol. 5, No. 1 PAGE 9

This is a simple toolfor learning to per-

form the most compli-cated dance in sports:

the kinesthetic-awarenessmambo. It is a ladder. You layit flat on the ground and thenyou learn to move: with it,into it, out of it, along it, overit, and under it. It compelsyou to create movement butnot random movement,rather, precise movement atever- increasing speeds.

You can use it as a func-tional warm-up tool; you canmake it a regular, evolvingand challenging part of yourtraining week. You can use itat the end of an exhaustingscrimmage or practice to testand push your proprioceptiveabilities at game speeds in thepresence of fatigue.

First, a note of differenti-ation, while I have mentioneda ladder before, (PerformanceConditioning Soccer Volume 4 #6 “TheAcceleration Ladder”), this ladder is different. It is used to improve agility,balance, coordination, footwork andfootspeed.

Agility ladders areroughly ten yards long,with 20 rungs attached toweb-strapping, formingsquares approximatelyeighteen inches wide bytwenty inches long. Theyare (relatively) inexpen-sive, and most impor-tantly, they are portable,making them an easy- to-use addition to any train-ing session. The ladder isnot a tool for doing high-knee, high-step exercises.Soccer players need to benear the ground to moveefficiently and react tothe game. The laddershould lay as flat as pos-sible on the ground, andathletes (ideally) nevercome in contact with theladder itself, meaningyou can simply have thepattern painted on yourfield to get started withladder training. (Figure

1) As I said, it is a simpletool.

Tips on Learning LadderExercises1. Follow a progression,

going from simple tocomplex, from smallmovements to largermovements.

2. Walk before you run,literally. Do a walk-through for a coupleof squares before youtry to do the exercisewith any speed.

3. “Go as fast as youcan; not as fast as youcan’t.” I acknowledgethe practical-but-unfortunate sentenceconstruction as myown. Don’t push yourspeed to the pointthat you cannot finishan exercise withoutgoofing it up. Letyour ability to actu-ally complete all the steps be thelimiting factor on your speed.Remember, you are training move-ment quality, as well as speed andquickness.

4. If you have a sense of rhythm, useit! If you (like many people) havenever played a musical instrumentand have no notion of meter, don’tgive up. Find the wordcues to theexercise and say them outloud toyourself as you do the exercise.Don’t be shy! Tell your feet what todo, and they will listen and obey.

5. Don’t stop at failure. The ladderexercises have a nice, fast learning-curve. Everybody looks and feelsawkward the first few timesthrough a new exercise. Relax, fol-low the above advice and let learn-ing happen.

6. Don’t try to learn too many exer-cises at once. Pick two or three andlearn them well before moving onto others.

Begin with Four Simple Drills1. Forward One-in: Facing the length of

the ladder, move quickly through thesquares, placing your feet alternatelyin each. (Figure 2)

2. Forward Two-in: Facing the lengthof the ladder, move through the

rungs placing bothfeet in each square.Do the exercise lead-ing with the right foot, then repeat lead-ing with the left.(Figure 3)

3. Lateral Two-in: Standwith your shouldersturned parallel to thelength of the ladder,and leading with nearfoot (right shoulder,right foot, for exam-ple). Move quicklythrough all thesquares, placing bothfeet in each. Keepyour feet parallel tothe rungs of the lad-der. Repeat the exer-cise, leading with theother shoulder andfoot. (Figure 4)

4. Lateral Cross-step:Stand as in exercise#3, but this time, crossyour trailing foot overthe lead foot and con-tinue down the lengthof the ladder placingthe feet alternately inthe squares, continu-ally crossing the trail-ing foot in front of theleading foot. Again,keep your feet parallelto the rungs of theladder. Repeat theexercise leading withthe opposite shoulderand foot. (Figure 5)

Two Soccer-Specific Drills(with Variations)1. 3-Count Shuffle: Stand

to the left of the lad-der, facing down itslength. Step into thefirst square with yourright foot, then yourleft foot, then step outto the right side of theladder with your rightfoot. Now reverse thesteps to the left mov-ing forward to the sec-ond square (left footin, right foot in, leftfoot out). This is awaltz: 1, 2, 3; 1, 2, 3

Improving Agility, Balance andCoordination through Ladder Training

Steve Myrland, Soccer Conditioning Coach, University of Wisconsin, Madison

BGNINTADV

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PAGE 10 PERFORMANCE CONDITIONING FOR SOCCER— Vol. 5, No. 1

and so on. You can learn the exer-cise best by saying the followingwordcues out loud as you go: “in-in-out; in-in-out.” Just make sureyou begin withthe foot nearestthe ladder.(Figure 6)

2. 3-count Cross-Step: Begin inthe same posi-tion as the 3-count Shufflebut this timecross your left(outside) footover your rightto land in thefirst square;then step out-side the ladderto the rightwith your right-foot and thenyour left.Reverse thesteps towardthe left (rightfoot in; left footout; right footout). This is stilla waltz, butyour word-cuesare as follows:“cross-out-out; cross-out-out.”Always begin with your outsidefoot. (Figure 7)

Variation #1: Backwards!It’s the rule of the game: whatever

you are able to do forwards, you mustbe able to do back-wards. Here is a tipfor making itwork—angle yourhips so the near hipis pointing (slightly)down the length ofthe ladder. In thecase of the 3-CountShuffle and the 3-Count Cross-Step,your left hip anglesdown the ladderwhen you are mov-ing to your left, theright hip turns downthe ladder when youmove back to theright. This mimicsthe use of the hipsin defensive mark-ing and allows youto move withouthaving to look overyour shoulder to seewhere you aregoing. If you angleyour hips correctly, the ladder will simply be there, right where you want itto be. (Figures 8 and 9)

Variation #2:Amplitude

Once you havethe shuffle and thecross-step down (for-wards and back-wards) you can adda plyometric compo-nent to the exercisesand improve yourability to stop, bal-ance, and cut backthe other way againstincreased eccentricloading. In the caseof the shuffle, all youdo is increase thelength of your stepas you leave the lad-der—(in-in-out),pushing the outsidestep at least a yardor so beyond the lat-eral edge of the lad-der and then cuttingback as quickly asyou can to the right. The increasedlength of the step forces you to loweryour center of gravity as you prepare tochange direction. (Note: Don’t push theoutside step too far out on the shuffle,or you will have difficulty getting backto the ladder.) (Figure 10)

The Cross-Step, on the other hand,lends itself nicely to the biggest boundyou can safely make as you leave the lad-

der and leap outto the side. Startthis exercisestanding well outto the left side ofthe ladder withyour right footlifted off theground. Your firststep will be toplace the (for-merly) lifted rightfoot down nearerthe ladder. Thenyou cross the leftfoot into thesquare, andbound off thatfoot as far as youcan to land on theright foot, thenrepeat in theother direction.Change yourword cue to this:“Step-cross-

bound! Step-cross-bound!” Try to land thebound fully balanced before you worryabout trying to increase the speed of yourcutback to the ladder. (Figure 11)

Be CreativeThe ladder is a fun and functional

training tool. The range of training pos-sibilities it offers is limited only by yourimagination. You can use it with a ball,

you can sprint out of it, you can use iton a hill for added resistance/assistancework and youcan createyour ownexercisesbased onmovementpatterns seenin the game.We are cur-rently using atleast 30 exer-cises or varia-tions on aregular basis.This keepstraining ses-sions freshand challeng-ing. I havehad playersfrom begin-ning to elitelevels tell methey enjoy theexercises. Thisis a result ofthe ladder’srecognizable relevance to the game andthe fact that the movements are fun todo. It is also nice to find a complex andcreative training tool that allows for(relatively) quick learning, especially in

a sport where many skills are acquiredonly after years of applied effort. Infact, ladder training will accelerate aplayer’s ability to acquire all the move-ments and skills of the game.

More Information Please!For more ideas on ladder training

contact the author at:Myrland Sports Training LLC2222 Evergreen Road Suite #6Middleton, WI 53562Phone: 608-836-4701

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