HOW: Grab one foot’s ankle with the same side’s hand. Pull your heel to your butt while keeping your thigh straight. Reach straight up overhead with the opposite arm. Hold this stretch for as long as prescribed. Repeat by moving forward and alternating legs. 

 

FEEL: You should feel a stretch in your quadriceps muscles. 

COMPENSATION: Don’t push your knee out when trying to hold the stretch, keep it straight down from your hip. Don’t lean forwards or backwards, stay tall.

HOW: Begin the exercise by laying on your side, the side closest to the ground will be doing most of the work. Lift up into a full side plank with your feet stacked or one foot in front of the other, keeping your body in one straight line from your heels to your hips to your shoulders.

 

FEEL: You will feel your shoulder, hip, and core working – specifically the side facing the floor.

 

COMPENSATION: Avoid allowing your shoulder blade to sag back. Avoid allowing your hips to dip towards the floor when holding at the top. If having difficulty performing this exercises, perform up against a wall to ensure that your body is in line.

HOW: Begin in a squat position, with a majority of your weight in the balls of your feet. Take a large step out to one site. Allow your opposite leg to slowly meet with the leg that stepped out. Make sure to keep tension on the band for the entirety of this exercise, avoid bringing the knees to close together. Repeat taking a step from side to side.

 

FEEL: You will feel the entire leg with this exercise, majority of the burn will likely be in the glute and quad muscles.

 

COMPENSATION: Avoid allowing the knees to cave in during this exercise, make sure to keep the knees spread into the band. Also avoid allowing the knee from going forward past your toes.

HOW: Get set-up laying flat on your back with your heels on a foam roller. Begin the exercise by bridging up to lift your hips up into the air. While keeping your hips as high as you can the entire time, bend your knees and bring your feet back towards your butt as close as you can, then slowly straighten out your knees. Repeat

 

FEEL: You will feel the muscles behind your thigh, knee, hip, and butt muscles working hard with this exercise. You may also feel your core and back muscles working too, but do not compensate and overuse your back muscles.

 

COMPENSATION: Limit excessive arching of your back, keep your hips level with the ground. Do not let your hips drop very fast during the eccentric curl out as your legs straighten

HOW: Begin by placing a band around your knees just above your knee cap. Stand with one foot flat in front of you and the other behind you with your toes pushing into the ground. Bend both knees and shift most of your weight to the front leg. Hold that position for as long as prescribed. Push back into the ground and return to the starting position when you go as low as you can comfortably go. 

 

FEEL: You should feel your lower leg muscles working. 

 

COMPENSATION: Keep your chest upright, don’t slouch.

HOW: Place a slider under the leg you do NOT want to work. The working leg is the leg that does not move. Slowly lower your body and reach out in front of you, then return back to the starting position by ‘pushing’ yourself back.

 

FEEL: You should feel all the muscles, especially your quadriceps muscles, in your stationary leg working to maintain your balance.

 

COMPENSATION: Do not put too much weight through the slider! Pretend there is an eggshell under your foot.

HOW: Start in a split stance position with one foot forward and the other foot behind you with your toes pushing into the ground. Load most of your weight into the front leg. From this position, lift your heels up. Make sure to lift your entire body up as your heels come up. Return to the starting position and repeat. 

 

FEEL: You should feel your calf muscles working. 

 

COMPENSATION: Keep your back straight up, don’t slouch forward. Keep a bend in both knees as you perform a heel raise, don’t straighten your knee.

HOW: Take a step 130 deg back and out to the side. Bend at your hip and knee and descend into a lunge. You will need to turn and pivot your back leg to spin. Push yourself back up to starting position. The goal is to learn to control the rotational forces are your knee.

 

FEEL: You should feel your glutes work to stabilize the rotational movement

 

COMPENSATION: Don’t let either your front or back knee dive inward.

HOW: Start with your hands on the ground directly underneath your shoulders in a push up position. Your toes should be pushing into the ground with your knees straight and a little less than shoulder width apart. From this position, drive one knee up to your chest and bring it back as you do the same to the other side. Maintain a flat back as you alternate your knees coming up. Think of it as performing high knee running in a plank position. 

 

FEEL: You should feel your core and hip muscles working.

 

COMPENSATION: Keep your back flat, don’t arch it. Keep your elbows straight and stay strong in your shoulders for stability.