Speed & Agility

Key Books/Chapters

Gamble, P. (2011). Training for sports speed and agility: an evidence-based approach. Routledge.

Haff, G. G., & Triplett, N. T. (Eds.). (2015) Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning (4th Ed.) Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. (Ch 6 by Swank & Sharp; Ch 19 by DeWeese & Nimphius)

Jeffreys, I., & Moody, J. (Eds.). (2016). Strength and Conditioning for Sports Performance. Routledge. (Ch 14 by Jeffreys & Goodwin)

Joyce, D., & Lewindon, D. (Eds.). (2014). High-Performance Training for Sports. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. (Ch 13 by Sophia Nimphius)

Key Paper

Nimphius, S., Callaghan, S. J., Bezodis, N. E., & Lockie, R. G. (2018). Change of direction and agility tests: Challenging our current measures of performance. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 40(1), 26-38. doi: 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000309

Produced by the excellent Strength of Science website, the video on the right is an audio abstract of the paper cited above, where the lead author gives further insight into the paper's intentions.

Dos’Santos, T., Thomas, C., Comfort, P., & Jones, P. A. (2018). The effect of angle and velocity on change of direction biomechanics: An angle-velocity trade-off. Sports Medicine, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-018-0968-3

Further Reading

Barnes, J. L., Schilling, B. K., Falvo, M. J., Weiss, L. W., Creasy, A. K., & Fry, A. C. (2007). Relationship of jumping and agility performance in female volleyball athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 21(4), 1192. DOI: 10.1519/R-22416.1

Castillo-Rodríguez, A., Fernández-García, J. C., Chinchilla-Minguet, J. L., & Carnero, E. Á. (2012). Relationship between muscular strength and sprints with changes of direction. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 26(3), 725-732. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31822602db

Čoh, M., Babić, V. and Maćkała, K. (2010) Biomechanical, Neuromuscular and Methodical Aspects of Running Speed Development. Journal of Human Kinetics. Vol. 26: 73-81

Cowley, H. R., Ford, K. R., Myer, G. D., Kernozek, T. W., & Hewett, T. E. (2006). Differences in neuromuscular strategies between landing and cutting tasks in female basketball and soccer athletes. Journal of Athletic Training, 41(1), 67. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1421490/

Dawes, J. and Roozen, M. (2012). Developing Agility and Quickness. Leeds: Human Kinetics

Dos’Santos, T., Thomas, C., Comfort, P., & Jones, P. A. (2018). The effect of angle and velocity on change of direction biomechanics: An angle-velocity trade-off. Sports Medicine, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-018-0968-3

Dos’Santos, T., Thomas, C., Comfort, P., & Jones, P. (2018). The Role of the Penultimate Foot Contact During Change of Direction: Implications on Performance and Risk of Injury. Strength & Conditioning Journal. doi: 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000395

Dos' Santos, T., Thomas, C., Jones, P. A., & Comfort, P. (2017). Mechanical determinants of faster change of direction speed performance in male athletes. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 31(3), 696-705.

Fox, A. S. (2018). Change-of-Direction Biomechanics: Is What’s Best for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Prevention Also Best for Performance?. Sports Medicine, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-018-0931-3

Gabbett, T. J., Kelly, J. N., & Sheppard, J. M. (2008). Speed, change of direction speed, and reactive agility of rugby league players. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 22(1), 174-181. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31815ef700

Hewit, J. K., Cronin, J. B., & Hume, P. A. (2013). Kinematic factors affecting fast and slow straight and change-of-direction acceleration times. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(1), 69-75. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31824f202d

Jones, P., Bampouras, T., & Marrin, K. (2009). An investigation into the physical determinants of change of direction speed. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 49(1), 97-104.

Jones, P. A., Donelon, T., & Dos' Santos, T. (2017). A preliminary investigation into a qualitative assessment tool to identify athletes with high knee abduction moments during cutting: Cutting Movement Assessment Score (CMAS). Professional Strength and Conditioning.

Kawamori, N., Nosaka, K., & Newton, R. U. (2013). Relationships between ground reaction impulse and sprint acceleration performance in team sport athletes. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(3), 568-573.

Nimphius, S., Callaghan, S. J., Bezodis, N. E., & Lockie, R. G. (2018). Change of direction and agility tests: Challenging our current measures of performance. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 40(1), 26-38.

Maloney, S. J., Richards, J., Nixon, D. G., Harvey, L. J., & Fletcher, I. M. (2017). Do stiffness and asymmetries predict change of direction performance?. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(6), 547-556.

Marshall, B. M., Franklyn-Miller, A. D., King, E. A., Moran, K. A., Strike, S. C., & Falvey, É. C. (2014). Biomechanical factors associated with time to complete a change of direction cutting maneuver. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 28(10), 2845-2851. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000463

Murphy, A. J., Lockie, R. G., & Coutts, A. J. (2003). Kinematic determinants of early acceleration in field sport athletes. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 2(4), 144. PMID: 24688275

Nimphius, S., Callaghan, S. J., Spiteri, T., & Lockie, R. G. (2016). Change of direction deficit: A more isolated measure of change of direction performance than total 505 time. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 30(11), 3024-3032. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001421

Nimphius, S., Geib, G., Spiteri, T., & Carlisle, D. (2013). Change of direction” deficit measurement in Division I American football players. J Aust Strength Cond, 21(S2), 115-117.

Nimphius, S., Mcguigan, M. R., & Newton, R. U. (2010). Relationship between strength, power, speed, and change of direction performance of female softball players. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 24(4), 885-895.

Nimphius, S., Spiteri, T., Seitz, L., Haff, E., & Haff, G. (2013). Is there a pacing strategy during a 505 change of direction test in adolescents. J Strength Cond Res, 27(10), S104-5.

Oliver, J. L., & Meyers, R. W. (2009). Reliability and generality of measures of acceleration, planned agility, and reactive agility. International journal of sports Physiology and Performance, 4(3), 345-354.

Paul, D. J., Gabbett, T. J., & Nassis, G. P. (2016). Agility in team sports: Testing, training and factors affecting performance. Sports Medicine, 46(3), 421-442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0428-2

Pereira, L. A., Nimphius, S., Kobal, R., Kitamura, K., Turisco, L. A., Orsi, R. C., ... & Loturco, I. (2018). Relationship between change of direction, speed, and power in male and female National Olympic team handball athletes. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 32(10), 2987-2994.

Porter, J., Nolan, R., Ostrowski, E., & Wulf, G. (2010). Directing attention externally enhances agility performance: A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the efficacy of using verbal instructions to focus attention. Frontiers in Psychology, 1, 216. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00216

Salaj, S., & Markovic, G. (2011). Specificity of jumping, sprinting, and quick change-of-direction motor abilities. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 25(5), 1249-1255. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181da77df

Sheppard, J. M. & Young, W. B. (2006) Agility literature review: Classifications, training and testing, Journal of Sports Sciences Vol.24, No.9, 919-932 [full text]

Shimokochi, Y., Ide, D., Kokubu, M., & Nakaoji, T. (2013). Relationships among performance of lateral cutting maneuver from lateral sliding and hip extension and abduction motions, ground reaction force, and body center of mass height. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(7), 1851-1860. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3182764945

Spiteri, T., Hart, N. H., & Nimphius, S. (2014). Offensive and defensive agility: a sex comparison of lower body kinematics and ground reaction forces. Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 30(4), 514-520. https://doi.org/10.1123/jab.2013-0259

Spiteri, T., Newton, R. U., Binetti, M., Hart, N. H., Sheppard, J. M., & Nimphius, S. (2015). Mechanical determinants of faster change of direction and agility performance in female basketball athletes. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 29(8), 2205-2214. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000876

Sporiš, G. et al. (2010) The effect of agility training on athletic power performance. Kinesiology 42(1): 65-72 [full text]

Young, W.B., McDowell, M.H. and Scarlett, B.J. (2001) Specificity of sprint and agility training methods. J. Strength Cond. Res. 15(3): 315–319 [full text]

Young, W. B., Dawson, B., & Henry, G. J. (2015). Agility and change-of-direction speed are independent skills: Implications for training for agility in invasion sports. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 10(1), 159-169. https://doi.org/10.1260/1747-9541.10.1.159

Watts, D. (2015). A brief review on the role of maximal strength in change of direction speed. J Aust Strength Cond, 23, 100-108.

Welch, N., Richter, C., Franklyn-Miller, A., & Moran, K. (2019). Principal Component Analysis of the Biomechanical Factors Associated With Performance During Cutting. Journal of strength and conditioning research. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003022

Weyand, P. G., Sandell, R. F., Prime, D. N., & Bundle, M. W. (2010). The biological limits to running speed are imposed from the ground up. Journal of applied physiology, 108(4), 950-961.

Watch

Coaching Acceleration, with Loren Landow | NSCA.com

Changing the Direction of Agility Training by Darren Paul

Loren Landow - A Masterclass in Speed Development

Developing Speed and Agility, with Ian Jeffreys