HOW: Begin with your mid-back against a bench or elevated surface. Bring one knee up towards your chest. While keeping your chin tucked, thrust your hips towards the ceiling. Focus on driving into the floor with your heel and tuck your tailbone (AKA posteriorly tilt your pelvis) at the top of the thrust.  Slowly return back to the starting position and repeat.

 

FEEL: You will feel the gluteal and hamstring muscles working with this exercise.

 

 

COMPENSATION: Avoid arching with the lower back, allow a majority of this movement to come from the hips and pelvis.

HOW: While standing, shift your weight to one leg with your knee slightly bent and the opposite knee bent causing lifting your foot off of the ground. From this position, raise your heel off the ground pushing the balls of your feet into the ground and hop forwards and backwards in a continuous, controlled, motion. Try to be as springy as possible and quickly absorb the force and explode off the ground with your ankle!

 

FEEL: You will feel all the muscles in your legs working.

 

COMPENSATION: Landing Position. Make sure your knees are aligned over your toes. They should not dive inwards on the landing. Your goal is to absorb as much of the landing forces as you can and land softly. That means that you want your hips and knees to bend as much as they need to, to absorb the force. If you do not let them bend much, you will land “stiff” and hard. Let your hips go back and while keeping your chest up to help absorb the forces. Your toes should touch the ground first when you land and quickly your heels will follow. You should land in a “ready position” like you would if you were playing sports, with your weight ever so slightly forward on the balls of your feet. You should not fall forward or backwards after landing. 

 

For a detailed video on landing mechanics on one leg, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RCOGM5tZRM

HOW: Start in a standing athletic position. Shift your bodyweight to one side, then jump to the other side landing with the opposite foot.  Land softly and stay strong in the hip, knee, and ankle as you land. Then, rapidly push off with that leg and land back on your other leg, where you started. Repeat this going in a side to side motion trying to minimize how long you stay on leg.

 

FEEL: You should feel your hip, thigh, and calf muscles working. 

 

COMPENSATION: Keep your chest up, don’t arch at the back as you go side to side.  Jump in a lateral motion, not forward or backward. Land on the balls of your feet, not flat footed.

HOW: Place an elevated surface in front of you. Stand in a tall standing position with your feet shoulder width apart. All in one motion, bend your knees, hinge forward at the waist, straighten your arms back, push into the ground and jump up with both feet landing softly on top of the elevated surface. 

 

FEEL: You will feel all the muscles in your legs working.

 

COMPENSATION: Landing Position. Make sure your knees are aligned over your toes. They should not dive inwards on the landing. Your goal is to absorb as much of the landing forces as you can and land softly. That means that you want your hips and knees to bend as much as they need to, to absorb the force. If you do not let them bend much, you will land “stiff” and hard. Let your hips go back and while keeping your chest up to help absorb the forces. Your toes should touch the ground first when you land and quickly your heels will follow. You should land in a “ready position” like you would if you were playing sports, with your weight ever so slightly forward on the balls of your feet. You should not fall forward or backwards after landing. 

 

For a detailed video on landing mechanics on two legs, click here: https://youtu.be/RThUCYRDyZw

HOW: Shift your weight to one leg with your knee slightly bent and the other leg off of the ground. Slightly bend down and push into the ground, jump up onto the box landing on the same leg. 

 

FEEL: You will feel all the muscles in your legs working.

 

COMPENSATION: Landing Position. Make sure your knees are aligned over your toes. They should not dive inwards on the landing. Your goal is to absorb as much of the landing forces as you can and land softly. That means that you want your hips and knees to bend as much as they need to, to absorb the force. If you do not let them bend much, you will land “stiff” and hard. Let your hips go back and while keeping your chest up to help absorb the forces. Your toes should touch the ground first when you land and quickly your heels will follow. You should land in a “ready position” like you would if you were playing sports, with your weight ever so slightly forward on the balls of your feet. You should not fall forward or backwards after landing. 

 

For a detailed video on landing mechanics on one leg, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RCOGM5tZRM

HOW: Start with one leg on the ground. Load the weight bearing leg to jump as high as you can. Control the landing and repeat.

 

FEEL: You will feel all the muscles in your leg working to control the landing and descent.

 

COMPENSATION: When you land, make sure your knee is aligned over your toes. Your knee should not dive inwards on the landing. Your goal is to absorb as much of the landing forces as you can and land softly. That means that you want your hip and knee to bend as much as they can to absorb the force. If you do not let them bend much, you will land “stiff” and hard. Let your hips go back and your chest go down to help absorb the forces. Your toes should touch the ground first when you land and quickly your heels will follow. You should land in a “ready position” like you would if you were playing sports, with your weight ever so slightly forward on the balls of your feet. You should not fall forward or backward after landing.

HOW: Start in a split stance position with equal weight between your front leg and your back leg. The goal is to push off of both feet to jump in the air. In the air, you will “scissor” and switch your foot position so you land in the opposite split stance position with your back foot forward, and your front foot behind you. Land in control. Then repeat.

 

FEEL: You should feel all the muscles in your legs working to jump and land.

 

COMPENSATION: Land evenly with both feet and use both legs to jump. Do not lose your balance.