Training guide
Agility is changing direction quickly in response to something: an opponent, a ball, a call. It has two halves. One is physical (braking, turning and pushing off), and it improves with jumps, strength work and direction-change drills, by a few per cent over 6 to 8 weeks in trials. The other is reading the cue and deciding, and it's the half that separates better players; it improves when someone or something else decides the direction, as in partner drills and small-sided games.
This guide covers what agility is and how it's tested, what the trials show (including the honest answer on agility ladders), how much and how often, how to change direction without hurting your knees, agility for children and older adults, and an agility workout with a 3D demo of every move. Our footwork guide covers the steps themselves: the split step, the first step, shuffles and crossovers. If your knee popped and swelled after a turn, or your ankle keeps giving way, start with the warning signs.
The research definition is a rapid whole-body movement with a change of speed or direction in response to a stimulus. Fast cone times you've planned in advance and quick reactions in a game are related but separate skills, and training one carries over only a little to the other.
Jumps, strength training and direction-change drills all made young athletes a few per cent quicker at planned turns, usually twice a week for 6 to 8 weeks.
Drills where a partner, a ball or a light decides the direction, and small-sided games, improved reactive agility, mostly by speeding up decisions.
Two tiny trials found ladder training no better than normal training, one found ladder work plus speed drills helped, and no study has tested whether ladder speed carries over to games. Use a ladder to warm up, then practise real cuts and reactions.
Faster, sharper cuts load the knee more. Slow down over your last few steps, plant your foot under your hip and keep your knee over your foot. Warm-ups with strength, landing and balance work halve ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries.
Take away the thing you're reacting to and what's left is change-of-direction speed: braking, turning and pushing off, which depends on technique, straight-line speed and leg strength, especially the braking (eccentric) strength that slows you down. The other half is seeing the cue, reading it and choosing what to do.
Times on planned and reactive tests are only loosely related. Reactive tests picked out higher-level Australian football and rugby league players while sprint and planned cone tests didn't, and across 42 studies higher-level players were about 6% faster on reactive tests, with decisions about 23% faster.
Planned tests include the 5-10-5 (pro agility) shuttle, the T-test, the Illinois test and the 505, run round cones. Reactive tests use the same kind of run with a light, a video or a person showing which way to go; they were reliable with a light or a person, less so with video. Most published tests give only two choices, so they're simpler than a game.
Footwork is the set of steps that get you into position and back: the ready stance, the split step, the first step, shuffles and crossovers. Our footwork guide covers them, and links back here for the training evidence on changing direction, reacting and ladders.
In young people, agility develops unevenly with growth, and reading and deciding matter more with age while physical factors matter less. Almost all trials were in young male team-sport players: in one 2026 meta-analysis of 26 studies, only 2 (with 43 people) were in women alone. Women injure an ACL about 1.7 times as often as men per session, as our ACL guide explains, so landing and cutting practice matters more for them.
Most trials are small, short (3 to 12 weeks) and in young male athletes, mostly footballers. The ACL prevention evidence, mostly in female athletes, is the exception.
Across 74 studies of 1,652 people (average age 16.5, mostly male footballers), plyometric (jump) training improved planned change-of-direction speed by 5.26% against 0.98% in controls, strength training by 3.32% against -0.40%, direction-change drills by 2.4% against 1.2% and sprint training by 2% against 0.12%. No method was clearly best.
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As our skater jumps guide says, jump training improved change of direction best with mixed jump types, about 100 jumps a session, twice a week for about 7 weeks (24 studies). In boys, the effect was large and grew with age (16 studies), and across 14 racket-sport trials it was moderate, on very low-certainty evidence.
Across 15 controlled studies of people aged 8 to 28, strength training improved change-of-direction speed by a large amount, more in children and teenagers than in adults, and two sessions a week did at least as well as three.
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Drills done 2 to 3 times a week for 4 to 12 weeks improved change of direction by a small to moderate amount in 11 trials of 499 athletes, and by a moderate amount in 22 trials of team-sport players aged 9 to 26. Doing more than 120 minutes a week made no clear difference.
In one 2026 meta-analysis of 26 studies (755 people aged 10 to 35; only 2 studies, with 43 people, were in women alone, and 6 were mixed), training with something to react to improved reactive agility by a moderate to large amount, on moderate-certainty evidence. Gains were larger with lights or video than with a person, peaked at about 7 to 8 weeks, and most positive results came from sessions of 20 to 25 minutes.
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In 25 under-18 Australian footballers, 11 sessions of small-sided games (15 minutes each) improved reactive agility almost entirely through faster decisions, while cone drills didn't change it. In boys aged about 14, cone drills helped agility without the ball most and small-sided games helped it with the ball. Video decision training sped up reactive agility in 15 rugby league players over 3 weeks and in 34 young footballers over 6 weeks.
The evidence is three small trials. In 18 and then 20 under-13 footballers, 6 weeks of ladder training was no better than normal training for sprinting, agility or dribbling. In 76 young female volleyball players, ladder work plus multidirectional speed drills beat volleyball training alone on the T-test, and ladder work plus jumps didn't. No study has tested whether ladder speed carries over to games.
The faster and sharper the cut, the bigger the load on the knee. In 123 female handball players, a wide foot plant, a knee caving inwards, landing on the toes, a fast approach and a sharp angle each raised the knee's sideways load by 12 to 19%. Braking over the last two steps rather than the last one, with less knee collapse and sideways trunk lean, is the suggested compromise between speed and safety.
Two 20-minute coaching sessions a week for 6 weeks made 8 youth footballers faster and cleaner cutters, but in 15 men a similar programme didn't lower average knee loads. Across 22 studies, balance training and technique coaching lowered knee loads most. None of these trials was randomised.
Across 8 meta-analyses, warm-up programmes halved ACL injuries and cut non-contact ACL injuries in female athletes by about two-thirds, as our basketball and warm-up pages say. They worked better with sessions of more than 20 minutes, 2 or more times a week. There isn't enough evidence in men to be sure.
The FIFA 11+ warm-up, about 20 minutes, cut football injuries by 39% across trials, as our sprint guide says. In 17 studies it also made players quicker at changing direction than usual warm-ups, by a moderate amount and more with 3 or more sessions a week, though a stricter reanalysis found a smaller effect.
In 20 trials of 1,632 older adults, agility-style training improved strength, mobility, endurance and balance against doing nothing, but not clearly more than other exercise. In 98 women aged 75 to 85, agility classes lowered a fall-risk score by 47.5%, against 20.2% with stretching; the trial measured the score, not falls, and the agility group had six falls in class (none needing medical care). A year of twice-weekly classes improved walking and one-leg balance a little in adults about 70.
Two sessions a week on non-consecutive days, for 6 to 12 weeks, first in your session or on a day without hard leg training. In trials, twice a week did at least as well as more, as our jump guide's 48 to 72 hours between hard jump sessions also suggests.
About 20 to 30 minutes of agility work is our editorial starting point. It leans on one 2026 meta-analysis, where most positive results came from 20 to 25-minute sessions and gains peaked at about 7 to 8 weeks; women were under-represented (only 2 of its studies, with 43 people, were in women alone), so treat it as a starting point, not a rule.
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About 80 foot contacts a session as a beginner, building towards 100, as our jump higher guide sets out. Rest 45 to 90 seconds between short efforts so each one is fast (editorial, in line with our sprint guide's full rest), and stop a set when your feet slow or your landings get loud.
Twice a week: a split squat, a hamstring exercise such as the Nordic curl and calf raises, stopping 2 or 3 reps short of failure, as our plans advise. Braking strength is what slows you down before a turn.
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Trials ran 3 to 12 weeks, mostly 6 to 8, and measured changes of a few per cent. Progress varies from person to person: time a 5-10-5 the same way every 4 to 6 weeks and compare yourself with yourself.
Our editorial cues, built on the cutting studies: a wide plant, the knee caving in and the trunk leaning away all raised knee loads, and the sharpest, fastest cuts load the knee most.
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The movement on the figure: Shuttle runs
Learn each turn at three-quarter pace before full speed. Shuttles: 4 rounds of a 5-10-5, walking back between (editorial; our American football warm-up runs 2 at three-quarter pace); side-steps 2 × 15 seconds each way (our table tennis workout); carioca 2 × 10 m each way (our lacrosse warm-up).
Braking is the half of agility people skip: snapdowns 2 sets of 5, holding each landing for 2 seconds (our knee control warm-up); hop and stick 2 × 5 each leg, forwards then sideways (our badminton workout); lateral bounds 3 × 4 each side (our basketball workout); cone hops 2 × 30 seconds (the FIFA 11+).
Twice a week, stopping 2 or 3 reps short of failure: split squats 3 × 6 each leg, Nordic curls 2 × 3 to 5, single-leg calf raises 3 × 10 to 15 and side lunges 2 × 5 each side (our badminton and table tennis workouts).
Jog towards a partner who points or calls left or right at a random moment; cut and sprint 5 m that way. No partner: react to a dropped ball, a card turned over or a light. Reactive training improved reactive agility mostly by speeding up decisions.
Start with two choices (left or right), then more choices, then a cue from your partner's body (a step or a turn of the hips) instead of a call, as an opponent would give you, then your sport with a ball and opponents (our editorial progression).
In team sports, small-sided games (such as 3 against 3 in a small area) are a reactive agility session in themselves, and they beat conventional training for change of direction in young players, on low-certainty evidence.
Two tiny null trials (18 and 20 boys aged about 12) and one positive one (76 young female volleyball players, where ladder work was combined with speed drills). No study has tested whether getting faster on a ladder makes you more agile in a game, so ladders are unproven for game agility rather than useless.
As a warm-up and for foot rhythm: a few runs through, quick and light, then move on to cuts, landings and reactions. Our moves use cone hops to show ladder patterns, as our roller skaters' workout does (editorial).
Cone drills train the planned half: they made players quicker at planned turns but did nothing for reactive agility in under-18 Australian footballers. Add a cue once the turns are clean.
In 134 ACL tears in professional male footballers, 44% happened without contact and 44% after contact elsewhere on the body, most often while pressing or tackling, and the knee collapsed inwards in 81%.
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Practise quiet landings and one-leg stops before fast cuts, then widen the angle and raise the speed gradually, because knee load rises with both (our editorial order, from the cutting studies).
Our knee control warm-up and the FIFA 11+ hold the strength, landing and balance work that cut ACL injuries in trials. For girls' and women's teams especially, do one before most sessions.
Agility is trainable in young people, and jump training improved change of direction in boys at every age band studied. Keep it playful and coached, with landings first; our children's guide has the activity guidelines.
Supervised strength training is safe for children and teenagers: no growth-plate injury has been reported in prospective studies with professional guidance, and there's no evidence it harms growth in height. Landings in competitive sport can reach 5 to 7 times body weight, more than a coached session.
Agility-style classes (stepping, ball games, relay races, dance movements and obstacle courses) improved balance, walking and fall-risk scores against doing nothing, but the trials measured fall-risk scores, not falls, and one trial had more falls in the agility class than in the others. A small ladder trial in adults about 67 had no group without exercise to compare with.
Stepping in different directions, turning and weaving round chairs, next to a counter or in a supervised class, 2 or 3 times a week, as part of strength and balance work (our editorial starting point). For preventing falls, our older adults guide comes first: balance and strength work is what cut falls in trials.
Our agility workout puts landings, planned cuts, a reactive block and strength into about 30 minutes, twice a week. The knee control warm-up and the FIFA 11+ are the injury-prevention warm-ups; the sport warm-ups add cutting on a call.
A 30-minute agility session: quick feet, landings, planned cuts, a partner-cued reactive block and lateral bounds, then strength for braking and push-off.
30 minIntermediate12 movesA wall, Other / check instructionsA 20-minute warm-up that trains your knees to track over your toes: side-hip strength, squats and lunges with alignment practice, balance and quiet landings.
20 minBeginner10 movesA wall, A bandFIFA's 11+ injury prevention warm-up as its manual sets it out: running drills, strength, balance and jumping at three levels, then faster running.
20 minBeginner20 movesCardio machine, A wallAn advanced jump training session: pogo hops, box jumps, split squat jumps, broad jumps and depth jumps.
30 minAdvanced8 movesA bench or box, A stepA 45-minute speed session: running drills, five short accelerations and three flying sprints with full rest, then Nordic curls and calf raises.
45 minIntermediate11 movesCardio machine, A wallA 45-minute badminton session: side bounds, split jumps and hop-and-stick, squats, lunges, side lunges, hinges and Nordics, calf raises and shoulder work.
45 minIntermediate17 movesA dumbbell, An anchor pointA 15-minute warm-up built on the GAA 15: running drills, bridges, lunges, squats, planks, partner balance, jumps, Nordic lowers, then sprints and cuts.
15 minBeginner20 movesCardio machine, A wallA 50-minute off-skates session from a roller skating trial: tandem walks, calf and toe raises, wobble board, one-leg squats and hops, cone drills and sprints.
50 minBeginner13 movesCardio machine, A wallA 40-minute session of fast sit-to-stands, step-ups and medicine-ball pushes for power, then balance holds and steps beside a counter.
40 minBeginner17 movesA wall, A bench or boxA 40-minute strength and balance session for over-65s, built from the Otago home programme and NHS exercises, using a chair, a counter and a step.
40 minBeginner18 movesA bench or box, Something with weightFit two agility sessions into a plan's non-lifting days, or after the warm-up on a lighter strength day.
Two full-body strength sessions a week: the minimum that meets health guidelines, with every set, rep and rest, and an 8-week progression.
2 training days45 minBeginner3 days a weekA 12-week workout plan for 13 to 17 year olds: technique first, then light weights, 2 or 3 sessions a week around sport and school, at home or in a gym.
3 training days40 minBeginner3 days a weekA 12-week workout plan for men over 50: three strength days with power and balance work, cardio and recovery, at the gym or at home, with a 4-day option.
3 training days45 minBeginner3 days a weekA 12-week exercise plan for over-65s: strength and balance three times a week, short balance sessions and daily walks, based on falls-prevention trials.
3 training days40 minBeginnerWait until your physiotherapist or clinician has cleared you for cutting, sideways jumps and hopping, as the carioca and lateral bound pages advise. Our ACL injury, ankle sprain and chronic ankle instability guides set out the way back.
With knee pain, use step-ups and our knee guides first; our knee pain when jumping guide maps the causes and has a staged plan back to jumping. Our suggestion is to come back to jumping once stairs and squats are comfortable.
Don't start box jumps in pregnancy: the NHS advises against starting a new vigorous activity and against activities with a risk of falling.
Our suggestion: the same reasoning applies to fast cutting drills and partner reaction games.
The UK consensus recommends moderate impacts, about 50 a session, but not very high impact such as landing from height, and impact only up to brisk walking after spinal fractures. Get individual advice before broad jumps; heel drops are the usual first step.
With proliferative or severe diabetic retinopathy, the American College of Sports Medicine advises avoiding activities that jar the head, such as jumping.
With heart disease, or blood pressure that isn't controlled, ask your GP or heart team before hard intervals or jumping, as our HIIT guide says.
If you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise.
Stop and call 999 for:
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Call 999 or go to A&E if you heard a crack, the joint or limb has changed shape or points at an odd angle, it's numb or tingling, or the skin looks blue or grey or feels cold. Get help from NHS 111 (in the US, urgent care) if it's very painful, very swollen or bruised, very stiff, or you can't put weight on it or walk more than a few steps.
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A twisting or landing injury with a pop or snap, or a knee that changed shape or swelled very quickly, is the A&E sign above, in the NHS's words. If you didn't go at the time and the knee has since settled and you can walk on it, still get it assessed soon by your GP, an NHS physiotherapy service (many areas take self-referrals) or a fracture or sports injury clinic.
At the first tightness at the back of your thigh, in your calf or in your groin, stop rather than doing one more sprint. Stop too if you feel dizzy, sick or far more breathless than usual.
Pain in one spot on a bone that's worse with jumping or running, eases with rest and hurts when you press it: stop jumping, as it can be a stress fracture, and see a GP. See a GP too for heel pain that hasn't improved after 2 weeks of looking after it yourself, or shin pain that's getting worse or isn't improving.
Anyone who might have a concussion stops at once and doesn't play, train or do PE again for at least 24 hours. Get them assessed within 24 hours by a healthcare professional or NHS 111, and call 999 for red flags such as getting drowsier, repeated vomiting, a fit or a worsening headache (the full list is below). Fewer than 1 in 10 concussions involve being knocked out.
The UK guidelines call these red flags. They need urgent assessment, by ambulance if necessary. If a neck injury is suspected, only a trained healthcare professional should move the person.
Call 999 or go to A&E: loss of feeling or numbness around the genitals or bottom, new trouble peeing or controlling your bladder or bowels, changes in genital sensation during sex or problems with erections or orgasm, or pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs. These are signs of cauda equina syndrome, which needs treating in hospital urgently. Don't drive yourself.
Speak to your GP first if you haven't exercised for some time or have medical conditions or concerns, as the NHS advises. Get advice before hard, explosive or straining work if your blood pressure is uncontrolled (140/90 or higher at a clinic, or 135/85 at home), or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists.
Stop straight away if you feel any pain or become unwell, the NHS says, and contact 111 if your symptoms worry you or don't go away.
A dull ache in your muscles for a day or two after something new is normal. Joint pain that's sharp, gets worse during a set or lingers into the next day means switching to the easier option, and seeing a GP or physiotherapist if it carries on (our plans' rule). Our muscle soreness guide has more.
Two tiny trials found ladder training no better than normal training, one found ladder work plus speed drills helped, and nothing has tested carry-over to games. Use ladders to warm up, not as the training.
Straight sprint training gave only limited gains in agility tests in 36 men, and reactive agility separated better players while sprint tests didn't.
Cone drills improve planned turns, but in under-18 Australian footballers they did nothing for reactive agility, while small-sided games did. Add a cue to react to.
Both planned and reactive agility improved with training in trials, in young people and adults.
Two sessions a week did at least as well as three, weekly volume made no clear difference, and sessions of an hour or less did at least as well as longer ones.
The FIFA 11+ made players quicker at changing direction than usual warm-ups in 17 studies, while cutting injuries.
Train both halves: changing direction (jumps, strength work and cone drills, twice a week) and reacting (drills where a partner, a ball or a light decides the direction, or small-sided games in your sport). In trials, both improved over 6 to 8 weeks.
Speed is how fast you run in a straight line; agility is changing direction quickly in response to something. They're related but separate: straight sprint training barely improved agility tests in one trial.
They're unproven for game agility. Two small trials in young footballers found 6 weeks of ladder training no better than normal training, one found ladder work plus speed drills helped, and no study has tested carry-over to games. Use a ladder to warm up, then practise real cuts, landings and reactions.
Shuttles and the 5-10-5 for planned turns, lateral bounds and hop-and-sticks for braking, and partner-cued cuts for reacting. The biggest gains in trials came from jump and strength work and from training with a cue to react to.
Twice a week on non-consecutive days, for 6 to 12 weeks; two sessions did at least as well as three in trials. About 20 to 30 minutes, first in your session while you're fresh, is a sensible start.
Trials found changes after 3 to 12 weeks, with reactive gains peaking at about 7 to 8 weeks in one meta-analysis. Progress varies; time a drill the same way every 4 to 6 weeks and compare yourself with yourself.
Yes, with a few metres of clear space: side-steps, the single-cone quick-feet drill, lateral bounds, hop and stick, and a partner calling directions. Grass or a sports floor and shoes that grip make cutting safer.
Slow down over your last two or three steps, plant your foot under your hip rather than far out to the side, and keep your knee over your foot and your chest over your hips. Warm-ups with landing, strength and balance work halve ACL injuries.
Agility-style classes improved balance and walking against doing nothing, about as well as standard strength and balance training, but the trials measured fall-risk scores rather than falls, and one had more falls in class. Start with stepping and turning next to a counter or in a supervised class, and see our older adults guide for preventing falls.
Yes: agility is trainable in young people and develops unevenly with growth, and jump training improved change of direction in boys at every age studied. Keep it playful and coached, with landings first.
Yes, for changing direction: strength training had a large effect in young people, and braking strength went with faster cuts. Reacting needs its own practice, with a cue to respond to.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
