Lateral Suicides – Agility & Conditioning Exercise
This page provides details on the exercise known as “Lateral Suicides”. This intense drill is used to improve agility, speed and conditioning. It is often timed and athletes try to beat their previous best time. Lateral suicides are a variation of the traditional forward running suicide drill.
Improved lateral agility & speed enables martial artists to move quicker sideways in order to launch an attack and/or to avoid an opponent’s strike. Improved conditioning helps martial artists to better handle the physical and mental stress in the later rounds of sparring matches or long & intense training sessions.
Lateral suicides involve an athlete doing a lateral shuffle to a series of lines or cones at progressively further distances. For example, an athlete will do a lateral shuffle to the 5 yards line (on a field), shuffle back to the start, shuffle to the 10 yard line, shuffle back to the start, shuffle to the 15 yard line, shuffle back to the start, shuffle to the 20 yard line and finally shuffle back to the start.
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. For additional drills, please visit the main Martial Arts Agility or Lateral Agility sections.
Lateral Suicide Shuffle Drill