Agility definitions have traditionally centered around skills that are needed for the body to change direction at speed. A classic definition is the ability to change the body's direction efficiently, and this requires a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, and strength. Agility is usually achieved when the athlete is using his /her ATP_PC or Lactic Acid (Anaerobic) systems. For meanings of the word balance, see: Look up balance in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Gross motor coordination addresses the gross motor skills: walking, running, climbing, jumping, crawling, lifting ones head, sitting up, etc. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A reflex action or reflex is a biological control system linking stimulus to response and mediated by a reflex arc. ... Look up strength in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Agility however must be in response to an opposing player, moving target, as seen in field sports and racket sports. Sheppard and Young (2006) define agility as "a rapid whole body movement with change of velocity or direction in response to a stimulus."

Aside from improving sports performance, why would an individual need to maintain or improve agility? Dodging requires agility, such as jumping out of the way of an oncoming car or avoiding an unexpected hole. If you ever need to run down a crowded street to catch a bus or escape an assailant, agility will help you avoid knocking yourself out on a utility pole or tripping over a dog leash.

Material to exercise the balance agility for children

Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ...

Exercises

Many of exercises to improve agility involve an agility ladder. It is a ladder drawn on the floor, with the individual required to hop or high-step through the rungs with a variety of forward, backward and lateral motions. A person could also practice the tests of agility.

Tests

Briefly, some agility tests are timed performance of the following activities:

• hopping in and out of a hexagon across each side in a circular circuit.
• running a zigzag course, similar to slalom skiing.
• running back and forth laterally, like a rundown in baseball.
• running forward along the agility ladder.
• running a T pattern, with forward, lateral and backward segments.
• balancing on a single leg, like the yoga Stork pose.

Agility can also be improved by practicing yoga or doing exercises for the spinal cord! Slalom from the Morgedal dialect of Norwegian slalåm: sla, meaning slightly inclining hillside, and låm, meaning track after skis. ... A rundown, also called a pickle (it gets this nickname from the game Pickle-in-the-Middle where two people keep the ball away from another) or a hotbox, is a situation in the game of baseball that occurs when the baserunner is stranded between two bases and is in... This article is about the sport. ... For other uses, see Yoga (disambiguation). ...

Journal

SHEPPARD, J.M. and YOUNG, W.B., 2006. Agility literature review: Classifications, training and testing. Journal of Sports Sciences, 24(9), pp. 919-932.

Books

Brown, Lee E., Ferrigno, Vance A., Santana, Juan Carlos (Eds.) (2000) Training for Speed, Agility and Quickness. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. ISBN-0-7360-0239-1.[1]

External links

• Topendsports: Agility Testing About agility testing with description of several tests
• Sports Coach
• Urban Fitness: Rapid Stair Climbs (Describing an everyday agility exercise)