Agility is your body’s ability to be quick, graceful, and nimble. It is how effectively and efficiently you can move, change direction and the position of your body while still maintaining control. It is an important aspect of an athletic lifestyle.
Being agile doesn't just improve athletic performance. Agility can also improve how you move day-to-day. Whether you want to improve your balance, build your mind-body connection or improve your recovery time, agility training can complement your Pilates training. As the weather gets warmer, it’s the perfect workout to take out to the back yard or a nearby park. Have some fun with it, get outdoors, challenge yourself and reap the benefits!
Injury Prevention
Many injuries happen when the body falls out of alignment in motion. An easy way to understand this is to think of pulling the muscles in your lower back if you lift from an improper position. Just like tearing the ligaments in a knee if you misstep, injuries happen quite easily. Agility training has been proven to increase balance, control and flexibility, allowing the body to maintain proper posture and alignment during movement. Agility training helps the body learn correct body placement, meaning sensitive areas like the shoulders, lower back and knees are protected while moving quickly.
The Mind-Body Connection
Agility training helps build pathways in the brain for fast responses to various stimuli. At first, the responsive movements will seem forced, but as you practice, they will become more natural as muscle memory is established.
Improved Balance and Coordination
If you have ever watched a gymnast on a balance beam you’ve seen their movements are dynamic, fluid and perfectly balanced. Agility training encourages the body to develop balance in the midst of dynamic movement. Practicing quick stops and starts, hand-eye coordination and speed help the body work as a whole. When the body is working in sync, movements become more fluid, for smooth, coordinated transitions.
Improved Recovery Time
Sometimes an intense workout can leave you with sore muscles and decreased energy levels the next day. But the bursts of movement in agility training, when practiced over a sustained period of time, help build strength in the musculoskeletal system, which in turn can shorten recovery time.
Increased Results in Minimal Time
Often agility training drills are also High Intensity Interval Training exercises, which can produce noticeable results in a minimal amount of time. Non-linear movements, such as side-stepping footwork using an Agility Ladder, or running a slalom course around Agility Cones, engage a greater number of muscles than if you were to simply run in a straight line. Engaging more muscles translates into greater results from your workout.