Putting the Quick In Your First Step- Frappier Drills
#39- Putting the Quick in Your First Step! Frappier Drills
by Alan Lambert
Introduction
There isn't a basketball player alive that doesn't dream of having a quicker first step. Hall of Fame Coach John Wooden once said (paraphrased) give me five quick players versus five tall one's and we will beat you every time. However a quick first step isn't enough to turn you into a player. Michael Jordan, arguably one of, it not the greatest player of all time, could beat people consistently off the dribbler due to a combination of speed, power and agility. My observations of Michael Jordan as a player drew me to the one conclusion. That he was blessed with an ability most players don't have, the ability to recover his center of gravity (COG) once it was violently "hurled" out of balance in beating defenders to the basket. Gary Payton is also another example of a player with great agility and balance. Many quick players can get by their defender, but few have the ability to adequately recover their balance and successfully execute the critical basketball skill: whether shot, pass, or changing directions off the dribble. Balance is also required after explosive defensive footwork in order to stop an explosive penetrator attacking the basket. Today's Playground Pointer is directed at teaching you some simply ideas about developing first step quickness, balance and agility which together can take your game to another level.
Who's Frappier?
In the early 1980's an Exercise Physiologist from Kansas State University named John Frappier came back to the U.S. from Europe having studied speed and agility training programs of the former Soviet Union. He became convinced that there were external ways which athletes could train which would stimulate the body's muscles, neurophysiological, and skeletal systems to perform more quickly, powerfully, and with extended intensity. This acceleration program and their drills have become known in athletic development and training circles as "Frappier Drills". I will introduce you to a few today, but you probably don't realize that you have almost certainly done some of these already in your young basketball career. The most obvious one is what is coaches call "double line slides" where you execute a defensive slide across 3 parallel lines about 1 yard (or meter) apart as rapidly as you can in a given set of time. You count the number of times both feet cross a line as 1, for a measured period of time, say 30 seconds or 1 minute. The more strength, acceleration, and balance you have the higher you score on this drill. In a very oversimplified way this is how most of the Frappier Drills work. These drills are designed to teach a player how to move their feet out from under their center of gravity, recover, and continue to move their feet while keeping their dynamic balance.
Frappier believes that by combining Sprint Training, Resistance Cord Training, Strength Training, Plyometrics, and what they call the Super Treadmill (capable of tilting upward to 40 degrees and a maximum speed of 28 mph) that a player can gain a competitive edge in acceleration over other athletes. The breadth of his program's goes well beyond the scope of today's Playground Pointer. What I simply want to do is make you aware that foot quickness, acceleration and the recovery of your body's center of gravity after dynamic motion are all interrelated and to ignore them in your training unnecessarily puts a cap on your basketball playing ability. Frappier's program is not recommended for kids under the age of 9-10, and for all athlete's starting sprint training, resistance cord training, strength and Plyometrics program, proper supervision by trained and accredited personal is a must.
Hopscotch
In their simplest form the games of "hopscotch" or playing the old "four square" ball game which you may have played as a young child are Frappier Drills. You don't need an expensive program to develop your own Frappier type drills and have fun doing them. To get the most out of our ability however consult trained acceleration and sports training and health or medical professionals before implementing a complete Frappier acceleration program for the best and safest results. Results of these acceleration programs have been argued to increase your foot quickness 2 tenths of a second in a 40 yard dash, increase your vertical jump 4 inches, increase of 50-70% of multi-directional agility, and improve recovery time from this exertion 50%. For more information you can visit their web site at www.accelerationproducts.com where there are a number of references and contact for such programs. Many professional players already have personal trainers who work with them on these types of drills, and several Division I College programs are beginning to add Frappier type training equipment to their strength training facilities.
Caution in Overloading Workouts
Now that you have a cursory background on Frappier's ideas, let me show you a few simple drills you could do on your own to improve your foot speed, and agility. These are commonly and simply called "ground basics". One thing to remember when working on your athleticism is that over-training when "strength loading" the body can be physically detrimental to your body and eliminate any positive gain by properly spacing out your training and recovery time from intensive loading. Carelessly overloading also makes you much more prone to injuries. Keep such training sessions down to 2 times per week for less than an hour for all the drills. More importantly, give yourself 2-3 minutes active (walking, jogging, or moving about) recovery time in between each set of drills to allow your body proper time to recover. You may not feel it at the time, but later on you will if you don't respect this strong recommendation. In Frappier's own highly developed and specialized program there are basically four footwork drills (the 4-square pattern, eight-square pattern, the Krumrie and Munoz patterns they use. However you can get quite creative and develop your own. Frappier's settled on these drills because over time they seemed to produce the best results. However training is sport specific so any time you build your own footwork quickness drill, keep in mind the type of movement you make in basketball.
10 Drills to Compliment Your Basketball Workouts
Here are 10 different drills I have used over the years to give you an idea of what you can do on your own or with teammates. Remember use a fixed time each day (30 seconds is good) and restrict each drill to three sets with 2-3 minute break in between (teammates can take turns during the break), and as much as 5 minute rest between different drills (shoot free throws). Remember to keep the duration of your total workout down to between 30-45 minutes twice per week. Record your performance on each drill on paper both as a motivator and to help you chart your development and progress. These drills are not substitutes for basketball skill workouts but should be worked on as compliments to developing your quickness and athleticism. The more advanced Frappier Drills use elastic cords to restrain and provide resistance, again however only use these types of devices in the hands of trained and certified specialists. However you can benefit from these types of drills even with minimal external resistance. The smoothing of the neuromuscular pathways and balance and conditioning you develop by doing them will improve your foot quickness.
Looking at these footwork drills you will get some good ideas how to build your agility and quickness but remember you can be creative too. Use some simple non-slip tape to mark the lines on your court indoors, or chalk to mark it outdoors. Change the shape and distance between the lines for variety and to improve your steps. The smaller box and X drills diagrammed here should be lines about 3-4 feet long. For the larger movement drills such as Big S Carioca and Big X Carioca each leg represents about 3-4 feet. However making your big box drills more than 15-20' doesn't make sense because you seldom must react and change directions to accelerate in greater space on the basketball court.
Partner Up
Now get those feet moving. Partner up with a friend, have them time you and count the touches. You can vary the pattern and methods of foot touches in almost every drill and I will give you some examples as well. What is the key execution point in all of these drills is to keep your head over your center of gravity and move your feet. Balance, and quickness must be done together. When starting perfect execution of balance and clean and proper footwork are more important than speed. As you get better then work to increase your speed of footwork. Never sacrifice balance, or not cleanly touching the numbers outside of the lines for speed.
10 Footwork Drills for Basketball | ||
 1. The Box (box 3 feet square)Start on the X. On go move both feet completely outside the box to touch the number 1, back to the X, both feet outside the box to touch the number 2, back to the X, to the 3, back to the X, then to the 4. Count this as 1. Variations: Change the pattern of number touching. Jump only off the left or right foot. Jump 1-X-3-X-2-X-4-X. Jump X-1-2-3-4-X count 1. | ||
 2. Cross (lines 3 feet long)Start on the 1. On go move both feet completely over the lines touching 2-3-4-1 count 1. Variations: Change the pattern of number jumping. Jump only off the left and right foot. Jump 1-2-3-4-3-4-1 count 1. Jump 1-3-4-2 count 1. Jump 1-1-2-1-3-1-4-1 count 1. Jump 1-2-1-3-1-4-1 count 1. | ||
 3. The X (lines 4 feet long)Start on the 1. On go move both feet completely over the lines touching 2-3-4 count 1. Variations: Change the pattern of number jumping just as in the previous drill called Cross. You can also put small X's where the numbers are and increase the horizontal distance your feet must move each time they touch while keeping your head quiet and mid-body and center of gravity balanced. | ||
 4. Eight Box (lines 4-6 feet long)Start on the X. On go move both feet completely over a set of lines to touch specific numbers. Go 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 count 1. Variations: X-1-X-2-X-3-X-4...and so forth. Go X-1-X-5-X-3-X-7-X-2-X-6-X-4-X-8 count 1. Jump on left or right leg only. Jump X-1-2-1-3-2-4-3-5-4-6-5-7-6-8-7-1-8-X count 1. This box has provides a large variety of jumping patterns. | ||
 5. Big X Carioca (lines 20 feet)These are what are called Big Box drills. Start in the lower left hand corner. On go sprint straight to the top of the line, then carioca diagonally down and to the right hand corner, sprint to the top of the right line, then carioca down and to the left hand corner count 1. Variations: Make one of the sprints forward, one of them backwards. Change the carioca to defensive slides. Change the carioca section to one defensive slide-two sprint steps, one defensive slide. | ||
 6. Big S Carioca (lines 3-4 feet apart vertically, 20 feet long horizontally). Another Big Box DrillSimilar to the previous Big X Carioca drills but more variation and changes of direction. Variations: Have players do 180 degree turns at the start of each level of the horizontal lines. It would go like this. Start lower left corner, carioca 20 feet to the lower right hand corner, sprint ahead 3-4 feet, do a 180 turn, carioca 20 feet to the end of the middle horizontal line, back pedal 3-4 feet, turn 180, carioca 20 feet, and so forth. You can complete a figure 8 and count 1, or count 1 for every horizontal box they complete. | ||
 7. Christmas Tree (horizontal line marked with S is 4-6 feet from X. Vertical lines marks L (left) R (right) 2-3 feet distance from X.Start on the X. Back pedal to so that both feet clear the horizontal line and touch the S. Sprint to the X. Laterally jump or slide step over the line to the L, back to the X. Back pedal to the S, sprint to the X, laterally jump or slide step over the line to the R, back to the 1. count 1. Variations: Start S, touch X-L-X-R-X-L-X-R-X-S count 1. Start. S, touch X-L-X-R-X-S-X-S count 1. | ||
 8. Six Sider (lines approximately 2-3 feet)Start on the X. On go move both feet outside the line to touch 1-X-2-X-3-X-4-X-5-X-6-X count 1. Variations: Start X-1-3-5-X-2-4-6-X count 1. Start X-1-X-4-X-2-X-5-X-3-X-6-X count 1. Again there are number of jump permutations with the Six Sider. Add a jump rope to some of the simpler drills shown here today to give your cardiovascular system and upper body additional work as well. | ||
 9. Runway Lights (X and subsequent circles or x's are 6-12 inches apart)Start with both feet the X on go the left (L) foot touches 1 as the right (R) foot simultaneously touches 4, then L2-R5 then L3-R6, L2-R5, L1-R4, proceed as quickly as possible with Ra-Ld, Rb-Le, Rc-Lf, Rb-Le, Ra-Ld, return to X count 1. Variations: L1-R4-X-L2-R5-X-L3-R6-X and proceed to Ra-Ld-X-Rb-Le-X-Rc-Lf-X count 1. | ||
 10. Turn-Sprint-Tap (use the free throw line and a backboard or wall)Most of the drills we have shown involve horizontal movement. However you can also incorporate a number of footwork drills that take the player from horizontally required movements to sprints- to vertical jumps, and back. Start on the S back to the basket. On go, turn 180, sprint and jump to touch the T with both hands, upon landing, turn 180, back pedal over the free throw line, turn 180 count 1. Variations: Make two S's one at each elbow of the foul line. Start back to the basket, on go slide shuffle to the other S and return, turn 180 sprint basket, jump, touch the T, back pedal to the S, turn 180 count 1. Add multiple slide shuffles between sprints and jumps. Add a basketball to improve ball handling while maintain balance. | ||
Be Creative Be Quick
There are literally hundreds of drills like this you can use to develop foot speed, agility and balance. Keep in mind that you can add a basketball to the drills, having a coach or partner pass you the ball as you are moving, or working on your dribbling in combination as well. While I haven't gone into great detail here today, I also have had success working with similar drills that are not just horizontal but work from horizontal to vertical, like the Turn-Sprint-Tap drill shown last in our 10 drill sequence.
The point is you can't expect to have quick feet, balance, and agility if you don't make it a part of your training regimen. It can be fun, it can be challenging, and it will help get you in shape as well. Remember having a partner to observe you and give you feedback regarding your body's position and center of gravity while doing these drills is essential to your improvement. To practice not controlling your center of gravity and head will negate all your hard footwork. Keep that head quiet, control your waist, and make your feet do the work. If you want to accelerate your footwork, and put the quick in your first step, get to work.
Check back next month for another Playground Pointers courtesy of The Basketball Highway®.
Check back next month for another Playground Pointers courtesy of The Basketball Highway®.