2 Effective Offseason Workouts to Improve Speed and Agility

Renowned trainer Greg Howard has developed a proven training program to take athletes above game shape. This way, players control the tempo of the game and the game doesn’t control them. Once crunch time rolls around, they’re a step ahead of the competition and still playing at the top of their game.

In this week’s player development feature, Howard provides a pair of indoor workouts designed to give athletes that fourth quarter edge. With the winter season forcing many players indoors to practice or work out, these exercises are perfect for any school sports facility or gymnasium. Many of the workouts can also incorporate stick handling, passing, and other lacrosse fundamentals.

The T Drill

Set-Up: The T Drill has four cones involved. Three cones are placed out in front about 15 feet and played in the center, right and left — all about 15 yards apart. There’s also one cone at the start. The cones together form a T.

Drill Breakdown: Players will take off in a dead sprint, round the middle cone, cut left and around the far left cone, figure eight around the middle cone, sprint to the right cone, back to the middle cone, before cutting and then sprinting back to the beginning as fast as possible.

We do these in five-set formats. In this particular video segment, the player will run through a double set. We’ll also introduce a ball, but it doesn’t matter what sport you play. Lacrosse players can use their stick and a ball and work on cradling and stick handling. When implementing a ball or stick, it’s the perfect drill to work on hand-eye coordination.

Players should start again immediately after each repetition. Once complete, rest for about 30 seconds and really focus on your breathing  Depending on your athletes and their ages, you can mix the sets up however you choose.

Combo Drill

Overview: This highly-effective drill is a combination of quick feet, sprint work, and bleacher work. It really works on the conditioning of the legs, plus breathing. The workout is usually conducted in a 10-set format (so players go 10 straight times), but it may depend on the athletes you are working with. Meanwhile, sprints are at a 15-20 foot length.

Drill Breakdown: Player goes back and forth with “quick feet” between spaced out cones. Hands are always moving. Quick feet is followed by two sprints. Next, players immediately sprint up and down the bleachers four times before jogging back and getting ready to start workout again.

Note: This workout is a great way for lacrosse players during the winter months to work in your high school gym and improve your speed, agility, conditioning, and legs. These exercises can be done in season and out of season, too.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “Training the Fourth Quarter Athlete” with Greg Howard. To check out more training and player development DVDs, be sure to visit our video library.