Speed and agility drills: what the studies found, and a short ladder-and-cone session

A sprint is a straight line. Most sports, and a lot of daily life, are not: you slow down, plant a foot, turn and go again. Speed and agility drills train that turn. This page covers what "agility" means in the research, what trials of agility and ladder training found and in whom, and a short session with the agility ladder, cones and a shuttle run. It's about training, not about the scale.

I'm a fitness coach, not a doctor. If you have a health condition, or you haven't done fast, side-to-side movement in a long time, check with your doctor before you start.

What agility means

There isn't one agreed definition. A 2006 literature review proposed describing agility as a rapid whole-body movement with a change of velocity or direction in response to a stimulus.¹ The same review notes that agility tests are generally confined to physical components such as change-of-direction speed, and that some also include cognitive components such as anticipation and pattern recognition.¹

That split is useful for a plan. A drill where you know the pattern in advance, like a ladder or a cone course, mostly works the physical side: change-of-direction speed. A drill where someone points or calls the direction, so you have to react, adds the stimulus. The trials below mostly tested the first kind (pre-planned).

What the studies found

I've put the age of the people in each study next to it, because the result may not carry over to you.

• Speed-agility-quickness training, 22 trials. A 2026 meta-analysis pooled randomized trials in basketball, soccer and handball players aged 9 to 26. Speed-agility-quickness (SAQ) training shortened times on pre-planned change-of-direction tests (a standardized effect of -0.71; the negative sign means shorter times). The effect did not differ significantly between players 18 and under and players over 18. The authors flag possible publication bias, and an adjustment for it made the estimate smaller (-0.61). Programs in the trials ran 4 to 12 weeks, at 1 to 5 sessions a week.²
• Plyometrics in adult women athletes. A 2025 meta-analysis of 13 randomised and non-randomised trials in adult female athletes (group average ages from about 18 to 27, mostly soccer players) found that plyometric training shortened change-of-direction times, in the 6 studies that measured it. The authors call the certainty of the findings limited because so few studies contributed.³ Jumping is its own topic: plyometric exercises has it.
• The agility ladder, in 18 boys. In a 6-week trial, 18 male soccer players with an average age of about 12 either added ladder drills three times a week to their usual team training or didn't. On the agility test (a 15-meter slalom around 7 cones) there was no significant difference between groups, and the authors concluded ladder training did not seem effective for improving fitness or dribbling.⁴
• The agility ladder, in older adults. In a trial of about 14 weeks, 16 older adults with an average age of about 67 trained on a ladder twice a week, with or without a thinking task added. Their times on the Illinois agility test (a timed course weaving through cones, which they walked as fast as they could rather than ran) fell in both groups, from about 35 and 37 seconds to about 31 and 32. There was no control group, so the trial can't say how much of the change was the ladder.⁵

Read together: structured agility training shortened change-of-direction times on average in team-sport athletes, mostly under 27. The two ladder-only trials cited here disagree. One, in 12-year-old boys, found no edge over usual training. The other, in older adults, saw faster times but had no comparison group. The outcomes cited here are test times on a course, so they say what happened on the test, not what happens in a game or a day. I'm not picking a winner on the ladder. It's cheap, and it's fine as one part of a session, but the studies here don't show it's the part that does the work.

Three drills to start with

These are practical drill choices, not study protocols; the distances, the surface advice and the "what it trains" column are practical too. Each one asks for a hard turn at speed, so do them after a warm-up (how to warm up) and on a surface with good grip.

To add the reaction side, have a friend point left or right at the last moment on the shuttle, or call the direction at the end of the ladder. That's the stimulus the definition above asks for.

A short session (practical)

1. Warm up for 5 to 10 minutes: easy jog or brisk walk, then a few build-up runs.
2. Ladder: 4 to 6 passes, walking back for rest.
3. 5-10-5 shuttle: 4 to 6 runs, full effort each time, about a minute of rest between them.
4. T-drill: 3 to 4 runs, the same rest.
5. Stop when your times get slower or your turns get sloppy. Quality over quantity, as in a sprint workout.

For reference, the ladder trial in boys used 6 repetitions in week 1 with 30 seconds' rest between them, and later weeks used 2 to 4 sets of 3 to 7 repetitions with 60 seconds between sets.⁴ My session is a simple version of that idea, not a copy of it.

Where it fits in your week

Twice a week is a reasonable place to start (a practical suggestion; the trials above ranged from 1 to 5 sessions a week, and the ladder trials used 2 and 3).^2,4,5 Put it on days you're fresh, not after a heavy leg day. If you also sprint, the sprint workout covers straight-line speed, and how to run faster pulls the pieces together. Keep your lifting going, and if you want something light between sessions, jump rope is a practical way to work on quick feet (my suggestion, not a study finding).

Common questions

Does the agility ladder work?

The two ladder trials cited here point different ways. In 12-year-old boys, ladder training added to team practice showed no significant difference on an agility test.⁴ In older adults averaging about 67, times on a walked agility test fell over about 14 weeks, in a trial with no control group.⁵ Broader SAQ programs shortened change-of-direction times in a meta-analysis of athletes aged 9 to 26.²

What's the difference between speed and agility drills?

In practical terms, speed drills are straight-line: sprints. Agility drills add stopping, turning and re-accelerating, and, in the research definition, reacting to a cue.¹

How often should I do agility drills?

Twice a week is a practical start. The programs in the 2026 meta-analysis ran 1 to 5 sessions a week for 4 to 12 weeks.²

Do I need a ladder?

No. Chalk or tape lines work, and cones can be shoes or water bottles. The shuttle and the T-drill need only markers and some flat space.

Are these drills for kids?

This page is written for adults. Some of the research above is in players under 18, and I've stated the age each time it's quoted. I haven't written youth programs here.

What if something hurts?

Stop, and see a doctor or physical therapist about it. I'm a fitness coach, not a doctor.

If you'd rather have the week planned

Agility drills are easy to run for ten minutes; fitting them around lifting and running without one cutting into the other is the part a page can't settle. Coaching is the version where your workouts are built around the days you actually have, with a weekly call to adjust the next week. Coaching to get stronger explains how it works, and apply is where you tell me where you're starting.