How can you test agility

Use our testing guide to conducting, recording, and interpreting fitness tests. Any questions, please ask or search for your answer. To keep up with the latest in sport science and this website, subscribe to our newsletter. We are also on facebook and twitter. Any comments, suggestions or corrections? Please let us know. Search This Site.

Testing Extra We have over fitness tests listed, so it's not easy to choose the best one to use. PAGES home search sitemap store. Most sports, even endurance sports, have speed or agility as a component.

Except in sports such as track or swimming where there is minimal or no change in direction, speed and agility are both important aspects of sport performance.

The most successful American football lineman, for example, is the one who can react most quickly to the snap of the ball and get off the line toward the opposing player the quickest. Similarly, the best soccer or ice hockey players can change direction and take off with the ball or puck the fastest. Assessing speed and agility in a controlled environment with a test that is similar to the actual demands of the sport of interest is therefore highly useful in helping to design training in order to improve sport performance.

One of the most important steps in using performance tests occurs before the subject even reports to the testing area. Test selection is vital because it affects the validity of the results. The first consideration is that the test represent the physiological demands of the sport.

Thus, the fitness professional must have an understanding of the basic energy systems and other physiological traits that would affect sport performance, such as body size. Because many sports require a variety of abilities e. Biomechanical factors, such as movement pattern specificity, are important to consider when selecting a test; one agility test may be better for ice hockey, and another, for tennis, for example.

Training level is also an important consideration. Tests that involve a higher level of skill or fitness may not be appropriate for novice subjects because their poor technique or conditioning could limit their test performance. Similarly, the sex or age of participants has an impact on test selection; some tests would be difficult for females to complete i.

Testing parameters may be modified to mimic sport characteristics. For example, subjects undertaking an agility test for American football can be required to carry the ball during the test. Tests can also be designed to be more specific to a certain sport movement, but the basic principle of validity must be followed to ensure that it measures what it is supposed to.

Tests of speed and agility should be short, usually less than 20 seconds; longer tests may target the wrong energy systems, and fatigue may affect the results. In any instance, if a test is modified in any way, the published norms are no longer applicable. New norms have to be developed by testing numbers of subjects over time. Table Both speed and closed-skill agility tests require very little equipment. These tests can typically be accomplished with a stopwatch, a tape measure to set the course, and markers of the course, such as cones.

Using automated timing devices can increase the accuracy of the tests, but having the same person time each subject may be all that is necessary to ensure reliable results.

This is one of the 10 tests included in the Home Fitness Test Manual. See the list of other Fitness Tests you can do at home. A quadrant is marked out on the ground, as illustrated in the diagram, with numbered quadrants. Start with both feet together in the first quadrant. This test is easier to conduct if there is an assistant to time the test and record the number of jumps, though you can do it on your own if you can see a clock with a second hand as you perform the test.

When ready, jump ahead across the line into the second quadrant, then in sequence successively into quadrants 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, etc moving clockwise. Keep the body facing ahead in the same direction as you go around the quadrant. Continue this pattern as rapidly as possible for 15 seconds, and count the total number of jumps.

After a rest of at least a few minutes repeat the trial in the opposite direction counterclockwise , jumping from quadrants 1 into 4, then 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2 etc..