Agility training equipment

[Aaronza]

Any suggestions on kinds of equipment I should be looking at getting? Ladders, mini-hurdles etc? Any vids showing how to use certain pieces of equipment would also be great.

This will be for american football

[Jhawk Fitness]

When it comes to agility training the very best piece of equipment you can have is a partner (or partners), if there isn't any cognitive-reactive component all you're essentially doing it training basic COD/pattern learning. Agility is how quickly you can recognize/quantify instant obstacles and avoid them, not how quickly you can pick up and put down your feet inside a series of 12x12 boxes.

[lucia316]

When it comes to agility training the very best piece of equipment you can have is a partner (or partners), if there isn't any cognitive-reactive component all you're essentially doing it training basic COD/pattern learning. Agility is how quickly you can recognize/quantify instant obstacles and avoid them, not how quickly you can pick up and put down your feet inside a series of 12x12 boxes.

Glad to see this good advice because so many people would have said a ladder or some other BS!

[Jhawk Fitness]

Glad to see this good advice because so many people would have said a ladder or some other BS!

Nope, hell I even wrote this; http://www.stack.com/a/why-this-spee...ol-doesnt-work

[sowilson]

When it comes to agility training the very best piece of equipment you can have is a partner (or partners), if there isn't any cognitive-reactive component all you're essentially doing it training basic COD/pattern learning. Agility is how quickly you can recognize/quantify instant obstacles and avoid them, not how quickly you can pick up and put down your feet inside a series of 12x12 boxes.

OP, there are a couple of areas which you need to train that often get lumped together as agility training (or speed and agility training). You do need to learn movement patterns that are a part of your sport (how to plant, open hips, go from forward to back, or back to forward, etc) as well as how to respond to stimulus and change direction (as mentioned in the JHawk quote). As far as ladders go, they are really only geared to learning movement patterns and not reaction. I leave it for you to decide if they're useful or not. As far as other equipment goes, my list would be;

1) Stop watch - time your drills, work on doing them quicker - pretty simple. You don't need anything fancy, just something useful, and don't use the stop watch in your phone (they can delay starting - use a stop watch).
2) cones - great for laying out drills. I like the low cones with a hole in the middle (great for placing tennis balls) I have a double set of the Nike Sparq cones - love 'em. You can modify drills by placing down and picking up a tennis ball on top of the cone. Usually you concentrate on bending at your knees and not your waist.
3) Tennis balls. Get yourself a 3 pack of tennis balls. They're useful for reaction drills and if you color them up properly can be useful for ocular training.
4) low hurdles. I have the Nike ones (adjust from 6" to 12"), not sure if they're still available, otherwise a 1/2 dozen 6" hurdles are good. Good for plyometric drills.
5) blocking pad. Save yourself, your dad/mom/sister/training partner bumps a bruises. If you have lots of money then a stand up bag is great. swimming pool noodles and pvc pipe can be be used to build things that encourage you to break down/get butt down (i.e. get your butt down or hit your head on a noodle).
6) Nerf Football (or a rubber football you get at a garage sale) with a broom handle/pvc pipe stuck in it. Use for developing quickness getting off the ball. Or you can buy one for $75. But PVC, epoxy, and duct tape just has a better vibe.
7) Footballs that are used in your organization. If this is HS, go check out what your HS uses for a game ball - buy one or two. Wizard Kicking is about the best place to get them. My son is a long snapper (among other things) and we had a 1/2 dozen HS game balls (sold to a kicker), now we have a 1/2 dozen College game balls (as used by his school), plus a CFL and NFL game balls (he still has dreams).
8) Video Camera - a phone or tablet is fine (use the new HUDL free app or Coaches Eye) if you don't need frame by frame, or go with a GoPro and set it to 60fps. At that frame rate you can properly analyze throwing motions (pitching) and swings (batting in baseball)
9) Reaction Ball - Skillz one is ok. One of the few reaction drills you can do without a partner. Toss ball at wall, field the ball, rinse and repeat. Hint: the ball comes off the wall at wacky angles. You can also do this with a partner bouncing the ball to your partner.

As for drill books - you can start with these
Training for Speed, Agility, and Quickness; Lee E. Brown, Vance Ferrigno
Complete Conditioning for Football; Michael Arthur, Bryan Bailey {ok a bit dated but the box drills are great}

Others to have
Triphasic Training: A systematic approach to elite speed and explosive strength performance; Dietz
New Functional Training for Sports 2nd Edition; Boyle

Your training will include technique work that you can do by yourself and reaction work which really needs a partner. If your in HS it's a good idea to train with a partner, you both can work on improving yourself's and motivating each other. Also, don't be afraid to participate in other sports (baseball, basketball, track). There are movement and reaction drills in baseball and basketball that are wonderful for football development. If those sports don't excite you, try boxing as the footwork and handwork developed in boxing transfers nicely to football (especially dline play).