Athletes today are becoming more and more gifted. With all the scientific studying going on to improve athletic performance it is really easy to make sure you are doing everything right to increase maximum gains quickly. Speed exercises, Speed and Agility drills, weight lifting, conditioning are all a very important aspect that all athletes should focus on.

There is one thing that separates most athletes going from college sports to professional sports and that is quickness. Quickness is often defined in sports how fast you can change direction and your 3 step burst abilities.

Most sports in college are non-linear sports. Non-linear means moving not in a straight line but more side to side, this is so crucial to understand as an athlete. You must prepare and improve your quickness by doing speed exercises, speed drills, and agility drills. Speed and agility drills can make or break you as an athlete and should be considered a huge part of your training focus.

Here are some examples of speed exercises along with Speed and Agility Drills.

*Ladder Drills

This is a quick drill where you can place a ladder down, you can buy one from a store like sports authority or any workout website, and you move in and out of each ladder sport as quickly as possible.

*The Box Grab 4 cones and place them 10 yards apart from each other in the shape of the box. Next run top each cone as fast as possible. Also, you don't just have to sprint straight in this drill. Mix it up by back pedaling or side shuffles.

*Sprint-Jog-Intervals Pretty standard agility drill here. I usually do this with telephone poles but you can do it with cones too. Just put down some cones 20 yars apart and sprint to the first than job to the next and so fourth.

Those are just some examples of Speed Exercises and Speed and Agility Drills.

Here are some tips

1. Speed and agility drills should be done separate from your other workouts 2. Too gain better benefit from any of these speed exercises you should already have a good foundation of durability and strength. 3. Unless you’re a sprinter you should conduct speed drills twice a week minimum. 4. Make sure you warm up before conducting any workout, speed and agility drills are no exception. 5. QUALITY IS KIND! There is nothing wrong with resting in between sets. You must make sure you a rested enough to where you can perform each of the agility drills with perfect form.

One thing I like to tell athletes is you don’t have to be born fast to be fast. You might need to work harder than others but ultimately it is up to you to get to where you want to be. Remember, the biggest difference between college and professional athletes is speed, ever hear of the saying speed kills? Its’ true, this is why you should be performing speed exercises and speed and agility drills at least twice a week. Good luck on your athletic endeavors!