Will doing regular workouts improve my overall agility?

Question

I run 3-5 times per week, averaging about 30 kilometres. My runs range from short 5-kilometre runs (at ~22 minutes) up to longer 15-kilometre runs (at ~1 hour, 20 minutes). I suppose my cardiovascular fitness is somewhere between okay and good.

In addition to my runs, I have been doing Adidas' Micoach-guided workouts, 1-2 times per week, which includes different lunges, squats, push-ups, etc.

I recently switched to the Nike Training Center app, which packs tougher workouts, and I am now starting to notice that my agility is pretty weak. These workouts also include different lunges, dead lifts, etc.

My question is: will doing these workouts eventually increase my agility, or should I incorporate some agility exercises in my weekly routine?

Answer 1

Agility is a term that comprises multiple assets of an exercise program:

• balance - if the nike workouts incorporate any single leg or off-balance workouts you should be good, otherwise you could incorporate exercises that use those balance boards, or swiss ball work.

• coordination - how do you really measure your coordination based on exercises? I think you would have to test this yourself, and see if you're as coordinated as you had hoped.

• speed - speed work, explosiveness, are both important to a sudden change in position. If you're already doing dead lifts you could do light weight deadlifts on a balance board, or explosively, by getting from start to finish position as fast as possible.
• reflex - your reflexes again are more measurements you would have to test on yourself, I don't think there's any way to tell how quick your reflexes are unless you were in some kind of martial arts program.
• strength - obviously you're increasing strength, as long as you're lifting an appropriate weight (are you getting sore post-workout, DOMS?)
• endurance - you're greatly increasing your endurance by mixing your short and long distance runs, to be able to run 15Km is impressive nonetheless

Are you trying to get specifically agile for a competition? Or just increase overall agility?

I would say, learn your body by doing explosive plyometric work, high-box jumps, rope slams, hit a light bag as fast as you can if you have access to boxing equipment. Heavy bag work dodges and jabs, cross work. If you have no access to HIIT equipment such as the high-box or ropes, nor do you have access to boxing equip, you could do explosive plyo at home, by clap pushups, kip pull ups, cross-fit may be a big benefactor to your overall agility development.