Mackey’s Summer Workout Plan: Ankle Strengthening
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Loading ...Devlin just blitzed me asking what I do for my ankle strengthening, so I figured it was worth posting here, too.
— Devlin wrote: wrote:
what work are you doing for ankle strengthening?
— end of quote —
I’ve done some work with theraband, working up/down and left/right motions, and some rotational work going CW and CCW with theraband as well.
I haven’t been doing it lately, but walking around barefoot on the sides of your feet or the heels/toes is prettty good stuff to do.
I’ve been doing some flexibility stuff too, it’s primarily for the knees but it works on flexibility in the ankles…I can find the link for you if you want, it’s the “18 tips for bulletproof knees” that the Lean & Hungry Fitness blog linked to a week or two ago.
When I’m in the gym I also like to do one-legged quarter squats on stability balls/discs. you’ve got instability under the ankle, so motion in general helps work on proprioception (the ankle’s ability to “know” its position–good proprioception means the ankle adjusts faster and on its own to avoid rolling) and balance, and doing quarter squats helps work the knee as well as putting the ankle in a different position. I like to do these one-legged, with the other leg held out either forward, to the left or right, or behind the foot that’s squatting, to work the knee and ankle in different planes.
I also do a lot of general ankle rotating/massage-type stuff on a daily basis to help my range of motion and try and get the swelling down, since they both still have some residual swelling. icing would be smart on my part, but I haven’t been doing it at all lately. I have been taking ibuprofen on a pretty regular basis though, which has helped.
Most of my knee/ankle work consists of the above stability single-leg squats and flexibility work. I also figure I get some benefit out of squatting and the like as well, from a functional standpoint.
