Coordination drills
The Top 10 Benefits of Coordination Drills
Struggling to stay in shape? Not seeing the results you want? Have you tried coordination drills? Coordination drills are a great way to tone your full body, improve balance and flexibility, and increase agility and strength. In this blog post, we’ll explore the top 10 benefits of coordination drills and why you should give them a try.
1. Improve athletic performance
For athletes, coordination drills are essential for maximizing performance and avoiding injury. Coordination drills focus on the tone and movement of the body in order to improve agility, coordination, and overall athleticism. With consistent coordination training, athletes can gain a multitude of benefits, such as improved speed, power, endurance, and balance.
Coordination drills can also help athletes work on specific skills, like throwing or shooting a basketball. In these drills, athletes use their full body to move quickly and accurately in order to improve their response time and accuracy. This not only enhances their ability to perform during games but can also help them develop a better understanding of the sport they’re playing. In addition, coordination drills help athletes maintain good form during the performance of their sport. This prevents injuries that can occur due to bad posture or incorrect technique.
Overall, coordination drills are essential for any athlete looking to take their game to the next level. With regular drills and practice, athletes can gain a number of beneficial skills and abilities that will help them reach their peak performance.
2. Enhance cognitive function
Coordination drills can provide multiple cognitive benefits. Not only can they help improve the tone of your full body, but they can also help enhance mental clarity, focus and concentration. Studies have shown that coordination drills can increase the speed at which the brain processes information and signals from the body. In other words, performing these exercises can make you think faster and more accurately. Additionally, coordination drills can improve multitasking capabilities, as well as overall agility and reaction time. Coordination drills also offer benefits for long-term cognitive health. By regularly engaging in these drills, you can potentially reduce your risk of developing dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other age-related cognitive decline.
3. Delay the onset of age-related decline
As we age, our bodies naturally begin to lose their coordination and agility. Coordination drills can help to delay the onset of these age-related declines. These exercises help to keep the body in motion and allow it to maintain its strength, balance, and range of motion. Regular practice can help seniors retain their abilities to perform activities like climbing stairs, reaching for objects, and even walking. Coordination drills can also reduce the risk of falls and other accidents that could cause serious injury. By engaging in regular coordination exercises, seniors can retain their mobility, coordination, and balance for a longer period of time.
4. Reduce the risk of injury
One of the top benefits of coordination drills is the ability to reduce the risk of injury. With increased balance, posture, and muscular control, your body can move with less risk of strains and sprains. Coordination drills target multiple muscle groups and improve their ability to respond to sudden movements and changes in direction. This can help protect you from injuries such as torn ligaments, pulled muscles, and even joint dislocations. In addition, improved proprioception (the body’s awareness of its own position) can help prevent sprains and strains when you exercise.
5. Improve balance and coordination
Having good balance and coordination is essential for physical performance and everyday activities. Performing coordination drills can help you to become more aware of your body and how it moves, which in turn can improve your balance and coordination. Coordination drills involve using different body parts, such as the arms, legs, feet and hands, and performing various movements in order to improve balance and coordination. These drills involve performing quick movements, like jumping, hopping, turning and reaching, which require coordination between multiple body parts.
By regularly performing coordination drills, you can develop muscle memory that will help you to react faster and more accurately when needed. You will also be able to perform complex movements with greater ease, as your body will have become used to performing a certain set of motions. This improved coordination can be beneficial for athletes, as well as those who want to improve their physical performance or reduce their risk of injury.
6. Improve posture
Good posture plays an essential role in maintaining optimal health. Poor posture can lead to a range of physical ailments, including back and neck pain, as well as headaches. Fortunately, coordination drills can help you to improve your posture and keep it that way. Coordination drills work by training your body to move in different directions, thereby increasing your overall range of motion. This helps to increase your flexibility and coordination, which can lead to improved posture.
By performing coordination drills regularly, you can also strengthen your core muscles and improve your spinal alignment. In addition, coordination drills help to create awareness about your posture, so you can quickly correct it when you notice that you’re slouching or not standing upright.
Overall, regular coordination drills can help you to improve your posture significantly, leading to greater comfort and better overall health.
7. Increase bone density
When it comes to keeping bones strong, coordination drills are a great way to help increase bone density. Coordination exercises involve using multiple muscles at the same time and repeatedly overloading them with resistance. This helps create a stimulus for the bones to become denser and stronger, reducing the risk of fractures and osteoporosis. Exercises such as jumping jacks, squats, lunges, burpees, and mountain climbers are all excellent coordination drills that can help improve bone health. In addition, coordination drills can also be modified to create more resistance in order to further challenge the bones and muscles. By including coordination drills in your exercise regimen, you can strengthen your bones and reduce your risk of developing osteoporosis.
8. Decrease stress levels
One of the biggest benefits of coordination drills is that they can help reduce stress levels. When we exercise, our bodies release endorphins which can reduce stress and improve mood. By regularly engaging in coordination drills, you can benefit from the endorphin boost and the resulting reduced stress levels. Coordination drills can also help improve body awareness and self-confidence, both of which can help to reduce stress and tension. Working on coordination drills can give you an outlet to focus on your physical performance, which can be a great way to take your mind off of stressors and worries.
9. Improve sleep quality
Sleep is essential for both physical and mental health, yet many of us suffer from poor-quality sleep. Coordination drills can help improve sleep quality by improving the body’s ability to relax and reduce stress levels. Coordination drills can also strengthen the muscles that support good posture and decrease tension in the neck and back, which can lead to better sleep. Additionally, coordination drills have been found to promote the release of hormones such as serotonin and melatonin, which are associated with improved sleep quality. Finally, coordination drills can help increase cardiovascular activity, which has been linked to deeper and more restful sleep. All in all, incorporating coordination drills into your workout routine can help you get the most out of your sleep.
10. Boost energy levels
When it comes to achieving peak physical performance, energy levels are key. Coordination drills are an excellent way to boost your energy levels and increase your stamina. These exercises can help you to become more aware of how your body moves and increase the power output from each muscle group. This improved efficiency can result in higher energy levels, allowing you to work harder for longer. Improved coordination drills also help to improve your posture, which can reduce fatigue and allow your muscles to work more efficiently. Regular coordination drills can also help to develop better breathing techniques, further improving your energy levels and reducing the likelihood of fatigue. All of these factors can lead to improved athletic performance, as well as increased energy levels.
5 Reasons Footwork and Hand-Eye Coordination Drills Are Important
Source: https://theedgesportstraining.com/5-reasons-footwork-and-hand-eye-coordination-drills-are-important/
Most of the time, when you mention footwork and hand-eye coordination drills, you will hear a collective groan from your athletes. These drills are tedious, require a lot of focus and energy, and usually come at the beginning of what athletes know is already going to be a difficult workout.
So why do them? The reason every athlete should be doing these drills is that every sport requires some degree of hand-eye coordination and footwork. If you want effective movements, you have to do them. If you have great footwork and hand-eye coordination – you will be able to quickly position the body where it needs to be with minimal effort.
Below are 5 reasons you should be working on these drills:
- Increased Body Control This is especially important in sports that require a lot of side-to-side movements and frequent direction changes. Without proper footwork, you can kiss agility goodbye!
- Increased Quickness -While there several stories of athletes dominating their opponents with better footwork, the one that most often comes to mind is Mohammad Ali. His level of success was mostly due to his finess in his footwork that can only come from doing drills.
- Teaches Proper Body Positioning – This is one of our favorites! When an athlete begins to understand how to position their body – their game goes to the next level. Additionally, learning to be aware of body position is another line of defense against injuries.
- Allows You to Cover Ground More Effectively – We’ve all been watching sports on television and heard the announcers say, “Look at those quick feet! That play was made due to one thing – quickness!” When you can control your center of gravity to your favor – you’ll be the one the announcers are talking about.
- Increases Speed – While these drills are not the end-all for building speed – they are an effective way to increase your speed in addition to strengthening your lower body. It all comes down to how effectively your body produces force from the ground.
Drills, exercises to help athletes across multiple sports
Source: https://coachad.com/articles/drills-exercises-to-help-athletes-across-multiple-sports/
by Courtney Campbell
For many sports, it’s now time to plan your offseason development program. Your goal is to design a program that directs you toward your fall goals.
When designing your offseason performance program, for example, basketball players want to include drills that directly translate to their on-court performance. But drills that improve coordination, speed, agility and power can benefit athletes across many sports.
Let’s take a look at some areas of improvement along with a few ideas for enhancing athletes in that specific area.
Coordination
The goal of coordination training is to enable the body to move smoothly, effectively and efficiently. Coordination includes footwork, agility, balance and movement skills. It also includes training the brain to be efficient while moving.
Have you ever noticed the lack of coordination a younger player has while performing a new footwork drill. After two or three sessions, the player usually picks it up. Many times, this is due to the movement pattern being foreign to the player’s brain. Their brain is learning a new movement pattern, so it’s important to be patient.
Think about when you were young, learning how to ride a bike. You did not immediately pick it up, and it likely took a few falls before you started to get the hang of it. If the athlete is giving a valiant effort to learn, you must be patient.
- Tools to use: Agility ladders, agility rings, dowels, small plyometric boxes and mini-hurdles
- Drill to try: The lateral carioca drill. Perform this on an agility ladder. Start slow and increase pace when proficient. Perform going to your right and left.
Make sure to regress drills when necessary. To increase coordination learning, simplify the drill. To simplify a drill, remove one level of difficulty. For example, do not add dribbling to a foot ladder drill if the player cannot properly perform the drill without dribbling a basketball. Once they gain proficiency, then it’s acceptable to move forward.
Force absorption and production
Force production is your ability to use power and strength. It’s expressed in many ways, including strength, power, vertical jump, speed and acceleration. This type of training occurs during resistance training sessions, like the weight room. However, it also includes plyometrics, Olympic lifts, sled drags, inline sprints and parachute sprints.
Force absorption is expressed while decelerating. This happens when slowing down, changing directions or landing from a vertical jump.
The ability for your players’ bodies to absorb forces helps prevents injuries and improves agility and explosiveness. Force absorption is what makes your posterior chain of muscles — hamstrings, butt, back — so important for athletic development.
- Tools to use: barbells, dumbbells, bands, bodyweight drills
- Exercise to try (force absorption): The hip thrust. Perform this by sitting on the ground with your back against a bench and feet planted in front of you. Place a barbell on your hips with your feet on the ground, and push your hips toward the ceiling. Perform 10 times.
- Exercise to try (force absorption, force production): Drop jumps. Stand on a bench or box. Drop off the bench and immediately jump once you hit the ground. Perform five times.
Use the “eye test.” If it looks un-athletic while loading a movement, decrease the resistance used. Do not sacrifice proper form for increased weight or resistance. Doing so will increase your player’s risk for injuries.
Also remember that excessively using bands for dribbling drills and sprint drills without considering force absorption is a recipe for knee and ankle injuries. Banded drills address force production, however if your athlete cannot absorb the force that it produces, an injury will occur.
There has been a dramatic increase in non-contact ACL injuries in some sports like basketball. Are we (coaches, skill coaches, etc.) causing these injuries? More is not always better. However, balanced training is always better.
Proper angles
To move efficiently when changing directions, you need to teach proper angular mechanics. This includes acceleration, changing directions and lateral movement drills.
This area can be a neglected part of performance training, however, a critical area to maximize your players’ performances. The proper angle and mechanics will save a step and increase the speed in which a player moves to a new position.
- Tools to use: Walls, court drills
- Drill to try: The wall sprint drill. Stand with your hands on the wall and your body at an angle. Raise your right leg to waist high and continue to switch legs in a marching movement. Perform for 15 seconds.
Mobility
Mobility is the ability of your joints to properly move and feel comfortable in certain positions. Mobility includes, but is not a limited to, flexibility.
Mobility is more active. It includes the body’s ability to relax, feel comfortable and in control within the range of motion. Mobility can be trained with drills that can be considered stretches, however mobility can also be trained by forcing your athlete to perform movements that challenge a player’s range of motion.
- Tools to use: Bands, hurdles, mobility exercises
- Drill to try: The hurdle mobility drill. Stand next to a track hurdle or something that you can step underneath. Step through with the right leg, and move your entire body through the hurdle. Stand up on the opposite side and repeat in the other direction. Perform for 30 to 45 seconds.
Understand that static stretching decreases performance prior to playing. Move away from static stretching to a dynamic warm-up. Dynamic warm-ups increase a player’s mobility without decreasing performance.
Coordination, force production and absorption, angles and mobility are foundations of a great offseason workout. Each contributes to athletic development.
The ultimate goal is to develop efficient athletes. Creating efficient athletes increases your team’s performance and helps you win more games.