Ladder drills are an enjoyable and effective way to strengthen badminton footwork speed, agility, and balance. Incorporate these ladder exercises into your training and watch your game soar to new heights!
Start by placing one foot into each square of the ladder. Step with your right foot forward in front of your left. When switching squares, switch with both feet at once.
Sideways Fast Feet
This ladder drill is an effective way to develop your ability to move laterally while changing direction simultaneously. Starting by standing with feet hip-width apart and facing perpendicularly to an end of a ladder, shuffle along its length by first entering each square with your right foot before taking one step with each foot (also known as an “Icky Shuffle”) with both feet in that square (this practice is known as an “Icky Shuffle”) until reaching the other end of the ladder. Repeat this pattern all the way back until reaching both ends!
“Centipede” ladder drill focuses on lateral movement. Start at the front of your ladder with toes pointed toward the first rung and begin taking lateral steps into and out of each box with four counts “In, In, Out.” Your lead leg should enter first if going left, or otherwise first place if right. Continue this series of lateral steps until reaching opposite side and back down again using same pattern.
This simple ladder drill is one of the best ways to develop your footwork and change of direction skills in badminton. All it requires is a line to jump over; ideally this should be tape or string on the ground. Face this line and begin jumping forward over both legs at once; when finished hop backward across it again.
Step Behind Crossovers
This ladder drill helps improve footwork speed, agility and coordination while increasing movement efficiency by emphasizing sharp direction changes using the calf muscles for quick foot movements.
Start by standing perpendicular to a ladder, placing your left foot into the first square on its left side, quickly moving your right leg into its center box so that it crosses over behind your left foot, and repeat this pattern along all four corners of the ladder.
Add extra difficulty to the exercise by using a zig-zag hopping motion. Start by hopping diagonally forwards with both feet until both of your feet land inside the first ladder square, and then move both legs out of that square and into another one.
The Centipede ladder drill focuses on lateral movement. Stand with your toes pointing at the first ladder square, and take several lateral in-and-out toe tap steps down its length.
Shuttle runs are an extremely common badminton agility drill that measures agility, speed and quickness on the court. These tests measure your agility, speed and quickness to help measure player performance. In addition to measuring these characteristics, your shuttle run’s starting point line or marker can transform it into a ladder drill; running forwards to one cone before side stepping backwards into another cone before sprinting again to your farthest line and repeating this sequence until returning back to where you started from – all without ever running in reverse until returning back to where you started – challenging yourself as much as possible during these drills! You could even switch running directions between repetitions for increased challenge and variety during these drills!
Side Straddle
The Side Straddle ladder drill develops agility while simultaneously challenging your balance and coordination. To perform it, stand so that you are straddling one side of the ladder while touching each box with both feet sequentially; your goal should be to clear all four levels without having to hop across! Throughout your movements you should aim to combine quick yet precise steps with dynamic forward motion for maximum results.
Centipede drill is another plyometric ladder exercise for developing reaction speed and quickness, similar to Forward, Forward, Back Hops drill; instead of jumping with both feet simultaneously into each ladder square at once, one foot only must land into each square then immediately followed up by series of lateral shuffling movements with both feet.
This drill will challenge both your legs and footspeed. To perform the Snake ladder workout, stand perpendicular to the ladder and step into each square with your left foot as lead before crossing your right leg behind your left and stepping down in each of the next three squares; do this pattern until both feet have reached the end of the ladder.
Make the basic ladder drill even more challenging with a zig-zag pattern of hops as you descend the ladder. Start off standing in one square on each side of the ladder before performing this ladder workout by hopping forward and to the left to land in one box on each successive rung, immediately jumping back across and jumping right to land in an opposite box on another rung – repeat this pattern as you move down while keeping your feet smooth and controlled!
Icky Shuffle
The Icky Shuffle is an effective drill to quickly change direction within a ladder. To start this exercise, start by placing your right foot into one square before hopping diagonally forward out and landing next to the next one – repeat this pattern until reaching the end and backtrack backward.
Add cones to your Icky Shuffle drill in order to increase its difficulty and make balance and agility more challenging, while at the same time working your calf muscles! By strategically placing cones along each ladder rung, adding this challenge can provide extra incentive to work your Icky Shuffle exercises more thoroughly.
If you want to take the Icky Shuffle up a notch, a double trouble version of this ladder drill could be ideal. By swapping feet in an Icky Shuffle pattern as you go up each ladder step, this drill can further improve your balance and agility as you switch between lead and non-lead feet in this pattern.
Add an extra level of difficulty to this lateral fast feet ladder drill by switching back and forth between moving through its box-like areas in a two-in, one-out pattern – this will really challenge both your nervous system and speed while maintaining proper badminton footwork technique.
Add hopscotch to this lateral quick feet ladder drill and really put yourself to the test by testing both balance and coordination. Hop from side to side through each space in the ladder until landing in a different box; to make things even harder you could add a zig zag pattern of hopscotch instead, testing your footwork as well as your ability to hop.
Hopscotch
If you don’t have access to an entire court, try this ladder routine that requires only half. It is perfect for developing the necessary lateral footwork movements needed for quickly navigating around a court surface. Place a shuttle in each corner of a pretend court and move it using side-to-side footwork movements as you descend the ladder; try switching corners or even switching direction as ways of improving agility and quickness.
Make the most out of lateral ladder training with this innovative take on hopscotch: instead of hopping down each block at once, alternate stepping into one square then across to your right and back into it, with each leg leading in turn. This drill focuses on building balance while developing sideways movement through using your non-dominant foot stepping practice – an invaluable way to enhance lateral movement!
Substituting toe tapping with foot exchange motion provides another variation on this drill. Stand next to a ladder and tap both feet simultaneously into one ladder square; alternate tapping the right and left feet simultaneously as you progress down the ladder; gradually increasing both speed and intensity as you swap feet throughout each level in order to improve lateral agility.