The 5-10-5 shuttle is a speed and agility test where you sprint 5 yards to one side, 10 yards back the other way, then 5 yards to finish at the starting point, covering 20 yards total with two sharp direction changes. Also called the pro agility test or 20-yard shuttle, it’s one of the most widely used assessments in sports, most famously at the NFL Scouting Combine but also in basketball, soccer, rugby, and baseball evaluations.
How the Drill Is Set Up
The setup is minimal. Three cones are placed in a straight line, each 5 yards apart. That’s it. You need a flat surface at least 15 meters long, and ideally electronic timing gates positioned at the middle cone (the start/finish line), though a stopwatch works for informal testing. The middle cone marks both your starting position and the finish line. The two outer cones are your turnaround points.
How to Run It
You begin in a three-point stance straddling the middle line, feet shoulder-width apart with one hand on the ground. The hand touching the ground determines which direction you go first: if your right hand is down, you’ll sprint to the right.
On the “go” signal, you explode laterally toward the first cone 5 yards away. When you reach it, you must touch the line with your lead foot and your hand. Your opposite (inside) hand must not touch the ground during this direction change. You then reverse and sprint 10 yards to the far cone, touch that line the same way, reverse again, and sprint 5 yards back through the start line to finish.
The entire test takes roughly 4 to 5 seconds for trained athletes. At the NFL Combine, elite times dip below 4.1 seconds. Most competitive college athletes fall somewhere between 4.2 and 4.8 seconds depending on position and sport.
What It Actually Measures
The name tells you the distances, but the real test is what happens between them. The 5-10-5 shuttle measures three distinct physical qualities in quick succession: how fast you accelerate from a standstill, how efficiently you decelerate and redirect your body at each cone, and how quickly you can reaccelerate in the opposite direction. These rapid 180-degree direction changes in a linear plane load the ankles, knees, and hips with forces several times your body weight, making it a revealing test of lower-body power and stability, not just straight-line speed.
Athletes who are fast in a 40-yard dash don’t automatically perform well here. The shuttle rewards people who can “put on the brakes” and change direction without wasting time or movement. That combination of deceleration control and explosive lateral power is why the test remains a staple in scouting: it mirrors the short, choppy bursts that most field and court sports actually demand.
Where It’s Used
The NFL Combine made this drill famous, but it’s far from exclusive to football. Basketball programs use it to evaluate guards’ lateral quickness. Soccer and rugby clubs test it as part of broader athletic profiles. Baseball and softball programs include it in preseason assessments, particularly for outfielders and infielders who need fast lateral breaks. Anywhere coaches need a quick, standardized snapshot of an athlete’s change-of-direction ability, the 5-10-5 shows up.
How to Get Faster at It
A systematic review published in the Journal of Human Kinetics examined which training methods actually improve pro agility times. Four approaches produced statistically significant results: sprint training, plyometric training, resistance training, and combinations of all three. Sprint training showed the largest per-session effect, followed closely by plyometrics and resistance work.
Each method targets a different piece of the drill. Resisted or incline sprinting (for example, 10 sets of 10-second sprints on a 7% grade) builds the acceleration you need between cones. Single-leg strength work, particularly squats performed unilaterally, develops the braking strength required at each turnaround point. In one study with sub-elite rugby athletes, unilateral squat training over just 10 sessions produced the greatest per-session improvement in pro agility time of any resistance training program reviewed.
Plyometric exercises that move in multiple directions help your muscles store and release energy across different angles, which is exactly what a 180-degree cut demands. A program of forward jumps, lateral hops, hurdle hops, tuck jumps, and 90- to 180-degree jump turns performed for 2 sets of 6 to 10 reps produced some of the best plyometric results in the literature.
The researchers specifically recommended including 180-degree change-of-direction drills in any training plan aimed at improving pro agility performance, since the test itself involves two full 180-degree turns. Practicing those exact movement patterns, under fatigue and at speed, transfers directly to test day. A combined program that mixes squats, jump training, short sprints, and agility drills with various cutting angles covers all the bases and allows you to develop each quality simultaneously rather than in isolation.
Common Mistakes That Cost Time
The biggest time killer is a wide, looping turn at the cones. Athletes who round their direction changes add distance and lose the sharp, compact reversal that fast times require. Your goal is to plant, drop your hips low, and drive out in the opposite direction with as little wasted lateral drift as possible.
Another common error is standing too tall during the cuts. Keeping a low center of gravity through the turns lets you apply more force into the ground horizontally, which is where your speed comes from. Athletes who pop upright at the turnaround point lose ground force and take longer to reaccelerate.
Finally, neglecting the hand-touch requirement can invalidate a rep in formal testing. Practice reaching down to the line without breaking stride so it becomes automatic rather than an awkward interruption to your momentum.