Agility, movement and balance drills - What you got?

[Aodhan]

Looking for some new exercises and drills to work on agility, movement and/or balance to shake up my classes a bit.

What do you all have/do for each of those segments?

John

[Evil Dave]

Hurdles, agility ladders, cones, box jumps, etc. I'm lucky, as I have all this stuff in the back of my truck... Luckily with a little imagination you can use what you're students have with them. Belts, bodies, bo staff, etc can be used as cones hurdles, etc.

[bushido_man96]

Repeating jump front kick drill: use with target or shield, however you want, may even try a clapper pad:

Start in right sparring stance, then do #1 jump front kick, followed by #2 jump front kick (which you land in front, switching the legs), #3 jump front kick, #4 jump front kick (which switches the legs again). Should end up in the same stance they started in, so you might switch after that.

Make them bounce quick, and make sure they don't cheat any of the kicks. It should be jump/kick/land/jump and so on. You could go by count, or do it for time, like tabatas, or something like that.

Its a TKD related drill, and although you might not do a lot of jump front kicks in sparring, its good for the legs and what not.

[Nidan Melbourne]

agility i use cones to weave in and out of.

movement i do: Right Moto Dachi (Sparring stance), back foot kicks (any kick you want, preferably a roundhouse kick). Drop that foot down, then a gyaku Tsuki (reverse punch, aka back hand punch). Then repeat off the other side

[sensei8]

I've a wide plethora of drills to increase what you're seeking, but, I'll list my favorite...

Tennis ball drill!! I've been using it ever since 1979.

I line up the class, and they must have a mouthpiece and eye protection, then, I start throwing tennis balls at them in ways that they can't even imagine. In that, agility and movement are at the forefront if they don't want to get beaned. And don't worry, I've three very large trash can full of tennis balls, so , I've plenty of ammo at my disposal.

Balance: KATA!! Try Kata on a floating floor; quite educating. A floating floor is a when you have covered the floor with tires and placed 3/4 inch plywood onto of that and then placing a standard mat over that.

[Hawkmoon]

I've said it in other threads, but do kata with eyes closed!

Seriously it works well, and builds confidence at that same time.

To that do kata in Ura. (Turning)

This is to say a kata has you step from one stance to another, and so on, well when you do kata in Ura you spin between each stance.

the movement from once stance to another is done as a spin into the next stance.

Balance comes on leaps and bounds!

[DWx]

Loads of sparring based games:

- Mirror game where one person moves forward and back, side to side and switches stances. Partner has to try to keep up and do the opposite movement. So they go left when their partner goes right.

- Variation on the above. Have the "attacker" try to tap the other person's shoulder and the "defender" has to use their footwork to keep just out of range.

- Another variation is to have some focus pads and the reacting person has to track yet still throw punches.

- Same drill but for balance: do it hopping on one leg

- Play tag sparring. Using footwork & fainting to tag each other on the shoulder or on the inside of the knee or (lightly!) stand on the other person's feet.

- Tag sparring but introduce rules like you have to spin 360 before every tag or at least one foot inside a small circle at all times.

- Games like dodge ball or normal tag

- Stand both feet parallel facing your partner and either forearms to their forearms or palms to palms and try to get each other off balance. Like push hands drills.

- All sorts of footwork in between cones or through ladders

[tallgeese]

Off the top of my head, swiss balls make great balance tools. Kneeling position and hold, supermans from kneeling, sit out drills, ect. all make great general balance drills. I've never gotten there, but eventually squatting and standing on them are excellent.

For more martial types of drills, consider using a heavy kettle bell in the rear hand while doing stance work. While the student is moving, occasionally hit them in the shoulder with a hook. The weight in a hand will mandate that they maintain good foot posture and stance (hence the balance aspect)

For movement, one of the best drills is jab sparring vs. defense only. Sure your arms will deflect a lot, but you'll be forced to work your stance and body mechanics (movement) to defend with primarily. Now once you're comfortable, remove one hand from the defense. This makes you move your body more. Keep the pace down so that structure remains solid.

Now move on to both hands down and make the student use movement and distance to defend. Once they've gotten there, put the kettlebell back in their back hand. This will make certain that student's structure will not suffer in their efforts to not get hit.

Agility and balance and movement are excellent attributes, but make sure that the student does not sacrifice structure to advance them.

[Hawkmoon]

Core work!

completely and utterly forgot about core work!

Planks, Superman, leg lifts around an object, and so on...

Medicine ball work

Hold in a half sit up hold a medicine ball at arms length turn left and right and so on....

That sort of thing build many of the muscle and muscle groups the body uses to hold its balance!

BUT....

the mind (the inner ear) is the one thing you have to work!

The muscle memory of standing on one leg doing a kick or punch is great, but close your eyes and the effort required its tripled, why?

You have no visual 'q' to guide your body, so the mind has to compensate and to do that is relies on the inner ear.

Jump into a swimming pool, your eyes follow the bubbles and so you can 'see' which way is up.

Gravity and the bodies natural buoyancy lets you 'feel' which is the right way up.

Change the game, close your eyes, note that you actually 'know' which is the right way up, why?

The inner ear!

Edited October 18, 2013 by Hawkmoon

[bushido_man96]

Nice suggestions, Hawkmoon. I think I will try to do more "eyes closed" training.