Now let us use the quick foot ladder to enlist more body control and agility. These are going to be full range of motion movements. We want to really focus on keeping the arms in and controlling the core area of the body. This can also be done by painting lines on the ground, using tape to just create something that helps to teach the foot to step down and help improve our body control.
Heel to hamstring skip—looking at a full range of motion at the hip, gently going forward. Try and mimic or use good running technique here. The head is up, the posture is tall, hips tall, dorsiflexed the ankle, drive the elbow back, put all of our skills together with good control. These are wide skip, my feet are going to outside the ladder. They key is trying to get my knee to try and touch my shoulder. We want to see real good hip flexion and body control here.
Lateral skip—here we are going to keep a space between the feet, so we keep the feet wide. Good balance base of support. She works lifting at the hips to move the body. Controlling the body mass by pushing away from the directions she wants to go. The arms drive the elbow back keeping the upper body tall with good posture. Work both directions to create good balance within the body and your movement skill.
Lateral crossover—emphasis here is on turning the hip and the knee as we crossover the body. We want to keep a good full range of motion and dorsiflexion at the ankle. Elbows should stay in for control not out wide.
Linear crossover—now we are going to work crossing over the top of the ladder with each step. Start on one side, skipping crossover then skipping cross back. The foot does not touch inside the squares of the ladder, but rather on the outside next to each square. Never reach with the heel when doing these skills. Try and step down to the ground aggressively. Half of your movement in control is driving the knee up. The other half is stepping down to the ground.
Now let us add a little plyometrics. Jump and switch moving laterally. Now we are really going to focus on rotating at the hips. We do not want to switch the feet. We want to use the hips to control the feet.
Ski jumps—one foot in and one foot out. Control the body by pushing off, both feet equally. Try to keep the head and chest up and not look down at the feet as possible. Dorsiflexed at the ankle so that you load the ankle in the air and all you have to do is explode off the ground changing direction.
This workout takes you through 40 short duration drills and exercises to improve linear and lateral movement, balance, coordination, change of direction and the reactive ability of your body.
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