Ladder drills-footwork

ustari

Something I've wondered is whether or not you approve of ladder drills? Some managers swear by them while others say they are too unnatural and useless to GAA.

goose06

I'm currently doing rehab on an ACL recon and my physio has me doing them so they can't be that unatural

Dragan

Not sure i see the point of them to be honest.

In my years playing hurling and football i never remember taking that many small truncated steps in a row.

goose06

They are used for speed, agility and balance, things I'm sorely lacking in since the op and I have to say in the space of a couple of weeks I can really see the difference

pwd

I'd think using a speed rope would be more effective.

Patto

They are part of the SAQ product portfollio so every GAA coach in the country who has sat an SAQ course with Jim Kilty will probably swear by them.

Mobility, power, speed and agility were always my weakness when playing Gaelic football. I spent two or three seasons doing them with a coach who swore they would cure me. While not completly useless I never found them to be of any profound value to be honest.

I would have been better off in the gym doing squats, power lifting, RDLs, SLDLs and so on to develop my glutes and hams (when I was 20, not 10 years later). Very few GAA coaches seem to realise that agility, speed and power are very closely correlated to how strong you glutes, hams and core are.

ustari

Thanks lads, great help here. Not too fond of them myself, don't think they are too beneficial to be counted worthwhile. While my footwork became quite good I never thought after a match that it made any difference during the game.Simple strength and power is what is needed to "spring" out of a challenge or by an opponent in my opinion. Agree? Currently in new gaa programme which involves a lot of squats and core work which I find better.

WHIP IT!

Just piggy-baking a little here on the OP's thread...

Supposing you were to have a dedicated "Core Work" day in your week's training... What combination of exercises would you suggest? Like the OP, I'm thinking of GAA here...

Obviously squats, dips as well?

Patto

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Just piggy-baking a little here on the OP's thread...

Supposing you were to have a dedicated "Core Work" day in your week's training... What combination of exercises would you suggest? Like the OP, I'm thinking of GAA here...

Obviously squats, dips as well?

I'm not sure you should have a core work day, your abdominal muscles recover quite quickly so you can train them 2-3 times a week.

The usual a la carte is pick any 3 or 4 of the following and do 20min 2 to 3 times a week:

Leg raises, crunches, russian twists, axe chops, reverse curls, plank, bridge, reverse hypers, roll outs, medicine ball throws and there are a few more I can't think of.

You can do this 20 minutes session either after your normal training session or after a gym session.

Do the squats and dips as part of a full body or split gym session.

pwd

Deadlifts are excellent.
Lower back takes a long time to recover. Also I find deadlifts the most exhausting weight lifting exercise.

Tigger

pwd wrote: »

Deadlifts are excellent.
Lower back takes a long time to recover. Also I find deadlifts the most exhausting weight lifting exercise.

i have caught PWD's love of the deadlift
love the feeling the next morning

thirtyfoot

Dragan wrote: »

Not sure i see the point of them to be honest.

In my years playing hurling and football i never remember taking that many small truncated steps in a row.

They have a point. I can't remember ever pushing a weight over my head or lying on the flat of my back and bench pressing while on a GAA pitch either, yet these are relevant. All things have a point if used in a holistic approach to training. The man credited with bringing these to Ireland, Jim Kilty, would know a thing or two regarding intergrated training programs, his coaching record in many sports speaks for itself.

I think one of the benefits of these is improving cadence. I do almost static sprint drills where the focus is on imrpoving ground reaction force etc. They are essentially ladder drills but you are not restricted to the gaps in the ladders for your landing points, one drawback to ladders if you have people of various heights and stride lenghts.

To rule ladders etc pointless because you never specifically use the exercise could be applied to practically all supplementary training that sportspeople do, when in fact we all know thats not the case.

Not totally in contect here but on the point of small truncated steps, one of the key skills I believe that defines a great hurler is the ability to manouver themselves out of a tight situation through maybe only 2 or 3 truncated and lateral steps. Not saying ladders will make you a great player, but using and knowing when to use a truncated step is an art in any team sport.

Leon11

ustari wrote: »

Simple strength and power is what is needed to "spring" out of a challenge or by an opponent in my opinion. QUOTE]

I wouldn't agree with that. I'd be more of the opinion that agility is a greater requisite for "springing" out of a challenge. Power is useful when you want to explode through a tackle. I don't think agility is directly related to strength. Some forwards in my club can put up huge numbers lifting whereas some backs can only hit 60-70% of what they lift. These are the very same backs who can change pace and direction effortlessly.

ustari

what I said about "springing" out of tackles was very crude but I couldn't think of a better way to put it. My point was more in relation to the ladders, I don't think they are much use when trying to get away from the challenge. I prefer to take one larger stride to "clear" myself and the ball from the challenge therefore the ref can see clearly that you are attempting to move forward and away in a positive sense. An inter county championship referee told me once that he will always penalize someone if they look to crumble and go backwards.

Some of the terms I've used here might be tough to understand but if your a fellow gaa player it should be ok.

pwd

Squats would not be good for training agility/becoming light on your feet.
They would make you harder to knock off balance though, and make it easier for you to knock someone else off-balance.
I know feck-all about GAA incidentally.

Patto

Leon11 wrote: »

ustari wrote: »

Simple strength and power is what is needed to "spring" out of a challenge or by an opponent in my opinion. QUOTE]

I wouldn't agree with that. I'd be more of the opinion that agility is a greater requisite for "springing" out of a challenge. Power is useful when you want to explode through a tackle. I don't think agility is directly related to strength. Some forwards in my club can put up huge numbers lifting whereas some backs can only hit 60-70% of what they lift. These are the very same backs who can change pace and direction effortlessly.

I think you are comparing apples and oranges here.

You are comparing an normal forward with good strength to a defender with an explosive central nervous system (a sprinter). Players we associate with being light on their feet or agile, Paul Griffen (Dublin defender) or Colm Cooper (kerry forward) spring to mind, have explosive CNSs. We are not all born with this unfortunately, it doesn't mean getting stronger doesn't improve your agility. Strong hamstrings, glutes, core and arms are strongly related to agility.

Ben Johnson could Squat over 600Lb @ 175Lb body weight. If you or I could do that you won't win the an olimpic medal unless you have the CNS to go with it but you will be agile.

Leon11

I just realised we were talking about GAA :oand I know feck all about it really, my response was from a rugby point of view and I'll stand by it. "Springing" to me is evading a tackle just as contact is about to be made. My reasoning doesn't apply to the OP's question so I'll leave it at that.