Ladder Workout is a great tool for agility-based exercise because it’s lightweight, portable with endless variations to perform at home and outdoors. If you really want to kick up your metabolism and incinerate fat, you can intensify the cardio and conditioning nature of the workout. It is a high-intensity interval training to attack your fat: accomplish more in less time!
These short bursts of intense effort accompanied with a brief pause, blast fat and burn more calories. Exercises like the lateral bear crawl pounce and plank in-and-out travel will challenge your core endurance. All these moves will get your heart pumping and enhance your conditioning.
5 Calorie-burning Ladder Drills
Two Feet In Each Square
- Place two feet in each square before moving onto the next. You want to stay on the balls of your feet and move your feet quickly.
- Similar to the single foot in each square, the extra challenge to this move is to also pick up your knees. Think high knees down the ladder. Push your heart rate further and uses a bigger range of motion.
Jumping Jack Feet
- Jump two feet together inside a square, then jump out while moving down the ladder. Just as you would do regular jumping jacks, continue to use your arms in an overhead position to increase the heart rate.
- Stay on the balls of the feet as you jack them out and in down the entire ladder.
In In Out Out
- Begin by placing the right foot in the square and then the left foot. Then you will step outside of the ladder with the right foot, then the left, leaving both feet on the outside of the ladder.
- Follow the pattern of in in, out out, leading with the same foot as you go down the entire ladder.
- Once you are back, the challenge now is to start with the opposite foot, making sure you are evening out your body and not always choosing the more dominant foot to lead.
Beast Crawl
- The beast drill is great for strengthening your upper-body and core.
- Proper beast form starts with getting into tabletop position and lining your shoulders directly above your wrists. Then, lift your knees an inch or two off the floor.
- The move is almost like a puzzle. You move from side to side to find the right spot. Your whole body is engaged throughout the movement.
Single Foot Hops
- Begin with the ladder in front of you. Hop with the right foot into square one, then square two, square three, and so on.
- Continue hopping only on the right foot until the end. Then turn around and repeat the sequence hopping on the left foot.
These exercises if practiced regularly will help improve coordination and body awareness for exercisers at all levels. As a result, activities of daily living (ADL) can become safer and easier to perform.
Note:
- Perform each drill two times in a row. Always warm-up & stretch before a workout.
- The upper body shouldn’t be leaning forward as your body moves forward. The shoulders stay over the hips so that your weight is centered over the midline of your body.
- The easiest way to make this exercise easier is to do it slowly. However, if you slow the movement down and still find it hard to coordinate your feet, consider using an agility ladder with bigger squares.
- Move down the ladder, shuffle back to the beginning of the ladder again and do it one more time.
- Do that for each of the 5 drills. Take a rest to catch your breath and then repeat all 5 again!
- You should have healthy knees and feet to use an agility drill ladder. Many physical therapists use an agility ladder as part of their treatment protocols for hip and other lower body injuries, but you should work with a qualified professional if you use the device for rehab.