10 Best Boxing-Specific Agility Ladder Drills

In many people's opinion (mine included), footwork is the most important thing in boxing. Whether it is offense or defense, everything starts in the feet. But as I have also said many times before, boxing footwork is not at all natural. Bipedal creatures like us humans tend to bring our feet together when we stand and cross them as we walk. Both things we pretty much NEVER want to do in boxing!

To make this unnatural movement style in boxing start to feel natural, we need to practice it. A lot. Certainly while we're boxing is the ideal time to practice but you can do it at just about any time. In your living room, a park, at Wegmans, etc. You just need a little bit of space.

One tool that is popular in just about every sport is the agility ladder and boxing is no exception. There are a million (probably literally) footwork drills you can do on these ladders and just about all of them will help your boxing footwork in some level, even if just strengthening the primary moving muscles and increases the general coordination of your feet. It can be a great workout too if you really push the envelope.

You can also use these ladders to more boxing-specific footwork drills that of course have a more direct application to what we do in boxing. Maybe the workout itself won't be quite as intense as some of the more explosive ladder drills but I guarantee your footwork will improve faster. Plus you can always add some more intense drills to your workout if need be. You don't necessarily need a ladder to do all of this. You can draw chalk lines on the ground or just use your imagination but I have found that having the squares as a guideline really helps.

NOTE: When I talk about "boxing-specific" drills, I am referring only to drills where you are in a boxing stance and do actual boxing footwork, including punches. Something like hop scotch is a great exercise, will strengthen the muscles you use for boxing footwork and certainly may help you improve said footwork, I just wouldn't consider it a boxing-specific exercise. 

So without further ado, here are my Top 10 favorite BOXING-SPECIFIC ladder drills. I recommend taking these all very slowly at first, as I generally do in the examples. When you start to get them down, you can speed up but the whole point is to keep your footwork disciplined so make sure you don't start to lose form.

1.) Advance & Retreat (+ punches)

Simply moving forward in your boxing stance for the length of the ladder and then backwards. The trick is to make sure your rear foot never catches your lead foot when going forward so look down at first. You can add straight punches to this one as well, timing the extension of your punch with your foot landing.

2.) Two Steps Forward, 1 Step Back (+ punches)

Similar to #1 but now we are moving forward two steps, then back a step, breaking up the rhythm and really forcing that disciplined footwork I talk about. You can add straight punches to this one too.

3.) Lateral Steps

Just moving left and right in your fighting stance all the way down the length of the ladder and back. Seems simple enough but it is very easy, particularly when you are moving to your lead side, to bring the rear foot too far over and right behind your lead foot.

4.) In and Out, Side to Side (+ punches)

Combining forward, backward, and lateral movement, you are now stepping into the ladder, out, stepping laterally, and then taking a step laterally before doing it again. You can add punches and to keep the broken record playing, the trick will be too stay disciplined. If you want to take an angle step out instead of the lateral portion, that can be okay and good drill so long as you don't break your stance.

5.) Burst and Punch

A more explosive version of #4 where you are constantly bouncing in and out with a punch (usually a jab) as you move side to side. You could do this without the punch. Good for those calf muscles.

6.) Zigzag Boxing Shuffle

Facing forward in your boxing stance, you move in and out of the ladder advancing to the length of the ladder, then going backwards. "Zigzag" may not be the best work because you can only go forward when moving left, whereas you just move laterally to right, then the opposite backwards. This is so that you are able to maintain your stance.

7.) Slip Line Shuffle

Another word that isn't quite accurate. The slip line drill is actually a roll line drill but for some reason, boxing refers to it a slip line. In this case, you don't have a line per se but you just imagine you are rolling under one while stepping forward and laterally, using the ladder to help place your feet. You can add a punch or even punches after each roll.

8). Pivot Steps

As your lead foot steps into the next ladder square, your rear foot pivots around to the left and to the right. You will be turning a lot on the ball of your lead foot so make sure you don't do this in a pair of shoes either without a lot of tread/traction or ones you don't mind wearing down.

9.) Tyson Shuffle Steps (+Uppercuts)

You see a lot of people doing this kind of footwork on the internet as it certainly looks cool but pulling it off in a real fight is a little trickier. Even Tyson didn't do it as much as people remember him doing. Still though, it is fun, builds coordination, and helps to understand the connection between shifting your weight from one foot to the other, loading it for a punch. Speaking of which, you can add those uppercuts (or hooks or body shots if you want) once you start to get it down.

10.) L-Step Backward

Another Linguistics Alert: When you generally hear people refer to the "L-Step" in boxing, they are talking about a rhythmic shuffle maneuver where they slide their front foot towards the back foot as their back steps out to their rear side. It also looks kind of cool but the problem I have with it is the problem I have with every type of rhythm step where you are putting yourself into a position, however brief, where you are unable to throw a strong punch or meaningfully defend any punch.

My version of the L-Step in this drill is more like how a Knight would move in chess. One or two normal steps back, followed by a lateral pivot step out (shape of the letter L, more of less). The practical use in boxing would be if someone is coming towards you and you naturally back straight up. This can be a good defensive move but not something you want to do more than two times in a row as your opponent will keep charging towards you, getting momentum behind their punches. By stepping out laterally and pivoting, you are able to move off line like a matador gets out of the way of a charging bull. You can then follow this movement up with punches.

If you practice these 10 drills or really any of these drills at all, your boxing footwork will get better and start to feel more natural. I also recommend doing at least 2 sets per session because the first time, you will be kind of feeling things out and the second set is where you can really dial it up. It is true that boxing involves a lot of circular footwork that is harder to replicate within the confines of a traditional agility ladder. There is a rounded, web-shaped agility ladder that I like for more circular drills but the more you are able to move efficiently in your fighting stance in just a traditional ladder, the better your boxing footwork will be all around. Plus as I said before, there are probably another million (literally) exercises and drills you can do with these things and pretty much all of them are good for you.