Suicide Drills – Agility Training

Suicide Drills or Shuttle Runs – Agility Training

This page will teach you how to do “Suicide Drills” (as known as Shuttle Runs). These intense sprinting drills are used to improve overall martial arts agilityconditioning and speed. These drills are also used by many other sports (such as basketball, soccer and football) in order to improve athletic performance. Suicide drills involve running to cones or line markers at progressively further distances.

Examples of Suicide Drills

  • Forward Suicides – An athlete will sprint forward to the 5 yard line, sprint back to the start, sprint to the 10 yard line, sprint back to the start, sprint to the 15 yard line, sprint back to the start, sprint to the 20 yard line and finally sprint back to the start.
  • Karaoke Suicides or Carioca Suicides – This is a lateral speed drill that uses the Karaoke or Carioca technique (a cross-stepping movement) in order to complete the suicide running drill.
  • Lateral Suicides – This is another suicide drill variation. However, with this exercise, the athlete will perform a lateral shuffle (versus a forward sprint) to each cone or designated yard line.

All stretches and exercises should be supervised by a trained martial arts instructor in order to prevent injuries and to ensure the proper technique is utilized.

Instructional Video for Suicide Drills

Instructional Video with a Suicide Drill Tutorial