Sports Performance Training | Kbands Alley Misdirection Drill
Cone drills are an excellent tool athletes and coaches can use to improve overall athletic performance. The keys to using cone drills to increase sports performance is by making the cones drills as sports specific as possible. Routinely practicing these movements during high speed cone drills will help improve athletic performance when executing these quick and agile movements at high speeds and intensities.
Using Kbands Leg Resistance Bands during cone drills will continue to aid athletes in improved athletic performance by strengthening the muscles in the hips, thighs, and legs. Athletes who use a proper amount of resistance with the Kbands Leg Resistance Bands can perform a wide variety of cone drills with and without resistance. While resisted cone drills will help to increase the strength and overall activation of the muscle fibers in the targeted areas, unresisted sets will continue to utilize this extreme activation of muscle fibers by increasing the speed these limbs and body parts can move. Increased muscle fiber activation means more force will be produced by the body.
Kbands Alley Misdirection Cone Drill
During a football, basketball, or soccer game athletes never know which direction the game will take them. A football player who bites on a play action pass must be fast enough to recover and get back into pass coverage. A basketball player who gets a ball stripped away from them must be quick to turn and sprint down the court to be in good position to make a defensive play. Soccer players can have a pass intercepted at any point and will need to quickly redirect their movement to defend their goal. Using resisted cone drills like the Kbands Alley Misdirection Drill will help to improve sports performance during these quick moving situations. Other cone drills like the Explosive Cuts Football Training Drill, or the cone drills found in the Cone Drill FX will continue to help athletes build and improve sports performance and athletic performance. To perform the Kbands Alley Misdirection Drill athletes will need a set of Kbands Leg Resistance Bands, 8 Speed and Agility Cones, and a partner or coach.
Athletes will create four lines of cones for the Kbands Alley Misdirection Drill. The first row of Speed and Agility Cones will be a starting marker with only one Speed and Agility Cone. The second Speed and Agility Cone line will consist of 2 Speed and Agility Cones placed 5-10 yards apart from each other, and 5-10 yards from the first Speed and Agility Cone. Athletes will then place three Speed and Agility Cones with the center Speed and Agility Cone in line with the starting Speed and Agility Cone and the two outside Speed and Agility Cones in line with the second row of cones. A final two Speed and Agility Cones will be placed 20 yards past the first three rows of cones and act as the finishing line for the Kbands Alley Misdirection Drill.
Improved Sports Performance
Once athletes have the Speed and Agility Cones in place they will stand at the starting Speed and Agility Cone and securely attach the Kbands Leg Resistance Bands just above their knees. A coach or partner will stand behind the center Speed and Agility Cone in the third cone row. Athletes will sprint out from the starting line toward the center Speed and Agility Cone of the third row. At this point in the Kbands Alley Misdirection Drill coaches or partners will begin to control the sports performance drill directing the athlete on which Speed and Agility Cone to move to.
Athletes will move side to side, drop step, and accelerate forward for 12-15 seconds before the partner signals the athlete to finish the athletic performance drill with a 20 yard sprint through the final row of Speed and Agility Cones. As athletes move from Speed and Agility Cone to Speed and Agility Cone they need to work against the Kbands Leg Resistance Bands and not allow the resistance to alter their movements.
Athletes will complete 6-8 resisted sets of the Kbands Alley Misdirection Drill before removing the Kbands Leg Resistance Bands and performing 2-4 unresisted sets of the sports performance drill. Allow 40-60 seconds of recovery time between sets of the athletic performance drill.
Unresisted Cone Drills
When moving through cone drills with resistance athletes need to maintain good body movements and positioning. This will improve sports performance by reducing wasted movements like false steps or leaning when trying to change directions. As athletes approach each Speed and Agility Cone during the cone drills they need to take short choppy steps, then powerfully step, and redirect themselves toward their next destination. When moving side to side athletes need to keep good space between their knees and feet, while not allowing the feet and legs to become excessively wide.
During unresisted sets athletes will have a greater amount of muscle activation due to the use of the Kbands Leg Resistance Bands during the cone drills. Just because athletes have removed the Kbands Leg Resistance Bands from the cone drills and the athletes legs feel light and free does not eliminate the amount of work that was just performed by these muscles. Athletes will have to focus and work hard to maintain good body positioning while actively trying to take advantage of the increased muscle activation and move faster through the cone drills. These unresisted cone drills are equally important for improving athletic performance.
Athletes will not, and should not, wear Kbands Leg Resistance Bands during competition so learning how to move quickly and powerfully without the Kbands Leg Resistance Bands is important. Athletes can find additional resisted and unresisted cone drills and sports performance training drills in the Sports Section. Athletes looking for additional athletic performance training drills to pair up with the Kbands Alley Misdirection Drill or any other cone drills can click on their individual sport inside of the Sports Training Section to learn how to incorporate specific sports performance training into your workout routine.