Agility Ladder: 6 Steps to Make Your Own One – Garage Gym Builder
Agility and speed training is the quickest way to being able to run faster, jump higher, and be more agile. It’s also a terrific way to burn off body fat. But you don’t have to pay for a commercially produced ladder to train with. In this article, we’ll teach you everything you need to know to make your agility ladder for just a few bucks.
Before you get started on the first step, gather together all of your materials. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Staple Gun
- Twine
- Scissors/ Razorblade
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Measuring tape
- Cardboard box
- Spray Paint
- 4 x tent pins
- Hole Punch
The cardboard box should be 18-22 inches wide. It will allow you to make a device with agility ladder dimensions of 18-20 inches wide and 15 feet long.
Prepare your ladder on a firm, flat surface, such as concrete. The grass will not give you the level of flatness that you need. If you have your gym set up in your garage, perhaps raise the door and extend into your driveway temporarily, as long as your drive doesn’t slope down too much.
Step #1
Cut eleven one inch strips from the cardboard box. Each strip will be the width of the box. Mark the strips put with a pencil and ruler before cutting.
Scissor will work to cut the strips, but a razor blade will be a lot easier (be careful not to cut yourself).
Step #2
Lay out the size of the ladder with the string. Extend your tape measure out to 15 feet. Lay it out flat on your surface. Now measure two pieces of twine that are 15 feet long. Lay the two parts of string out so that they are 18 inches apart. Do your best to make them parallel.
Agility Ladder training is the perfect complement to working out on a plyometric box. Doing the two together will super-charge your speed, mobility, and caloric burn. It will also infuse power into your lower body like nothing else.
Check out how to build a plyo box with our accessible how-to article.
Step #3
Take one of your rungs and place it at the beginning of the ladder. Then take another rung and out it at the end. Now, grab your stapler and staple your end rungs to the twine. Do this on the very edge of the rung, with 3 to 4 staples on either side.
Step #4
Take a heavy object, such as a book, and place it on top of one of the end rungs. Stretch out the other end so that it is perfectly straight and parallel. Now place your tape measure, pulled out to 15 feet, alongside the twine. Use the tape measure to place a rung every 18 inches down the length of the twine.
Once you have your rungs spaced out evenly, it is time to staple them into place. Use two staples on each side for these middle rungs.
Are you a soccer player? Check out this excellent ladder workout with a soccer ball . . .
Step #5
Paint the rungs of your ladder to make them easily visible. You may have noticed that most agility ladders are a fluorescent yellow color. It is easy to see under any conditions. It is best to hang your ladder from an upright surface so that you can spray if from every angle. Apply two coats to give the best finish.
Making sure that the area around where you are spraying is protected from paint spray, especially if it is a windy day.
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Step #6
The final step is to make holes for the tent pins. Use a standard hole punch to place a hole in each of the corners of the end rungs of the ladder. Make sure that they are at least an inch and a half from the outer edge to prevent rung weakness.
When you use the ladder on the grass, place a tent pin through each of these holes, to hold the ladder securely in place.
Now that you’ve made your DIY agility ladder learn how to get the maximum use out of it with our comprehensive workout article.
Check out how to Increase Speed with 5 Agility Ladder Workouts to help you to be your best.
Conclusion
You now know how to make an agility ladder for under five dollars. Your agility ladder will last for a long time as long as you take care of it. It will allow you to dramatically increase your speed, change of motion, and coordination to make you a much better sportsperson. At the same time, it will torch body fat to get you super lean. So, get out there and start getting agile!
