Super Fitness Health BlogHow to Strengthen Ankles for Beginners
Your ankles are very precious. Although you may not really pay attention, your ankles do a heck of a lot for you. With all of the activities you do on a daily basis, you place tremendous amounts of stress on these hard working joints.
If your objective is to avoid ankle injuries, you have to first learn how to strengthen ankle ligaments. The fact of the matter is that it is the strength and flexibility of your supporting connective tissues that determine the strue strength of your ankles. You have to progressively teach your ankles how to absorb loads from varying angles.
Keep in mind that we focus on two types of ankle strengthening exercises. The first type is progressive loading in forward-back and lateral movements using resistance bands. The 2nd type of exercise utilizes stabilization tools to improve your ankle’s ability to stabilize itself.
Together, these two types of exercises will develop strong connective tissues that will support you in all activities of life.
When it comes to ankle strengthening tools, there are three that I would recommend. Number one would be a resistance band that you can use to load your ankle in the first type of exercise. The second is a bosu ball. The third is a stability disc. These last two tools, the bosu ball and the stability disc, are perfect for the second type of exercise – ankle stabilization.
The light resistance band would come in handy when you want to place resistance on your ankle as it moves through plantarflexion, dorsiflexion, inversion and eversion. The two stabilizing tools are great aids for balancing exercises. Start with short, simple holds and move on from there as you progress.
If you are a beginner and you’re learning how to strengthen ankles, start slow. If possible, perform all listed ankle strengthening exercises on a daily basis to make sure your ankles are always ready.
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