HOW: Place your foot flat on an elevated surface. Loop the anchored band around the lowest part of your lower leg. The band should be right below the bend of the ankle joint. With tension in the band, lean forward while keeping your heel flat on the elevated surface. You can play around with different directions like in the video.

 

FEEL: You should feel a stretch in your ankle as you lean forward. You should also feel a stretch from the band mobilizing the front of your ankle joint.

 

COMPENSATION: Don’t let your heel come up as you lean forward. Keep the band as low as possible on your lower leg.

HOW:  Place a resistance band around your forefoot. Use your other foot to apply a line of resistance that is to the outside and closer than your working ankle (shown in the video). Your goal is to slowly push your ankle in a down + inwards direction in a diagonal line. Point your ankle down and in. Slowly return back to the starting position.

 

FEEL:  You should feel the muscles on the inside part of your calf working as you move your foot away from you.

 

COMPENSATION:  Do not let the band pull your foot back into the starting position. Slowly bring your foot back in and fight the resistance of the band.

HOW:  Place a resistance band around your forefoot. Use your other foot to apply a line of resistance that is to the inside of your working ankle (shown in the video). Slowly push your ankle outwards. Imagine you are a car windshield wiper cleaning just the outside of the window. Slowly return back to the starting position.

 

FEEL:  You should feel the muscles on the outside part of your calf working as you move your foot away from you.

 

COMPENSATION:  Do not let the band pull your foot back into the starting position. Slowly bring your foot back in and fight the resistance of the band.

HOW: Attach a resistance band to something at about waist height. Have the attachment of the band at one side and grab onto it with both hands. Shift all of your weight to the outside leg. Lift up and bend the inside knee and keep it straight out from your hip. From here, press the band straight out in front of your chest while balancing on the one leg and not letting the band pull you outward. Perform the press motion for the prescribed amount of reps. 

FEEL: You should feel your core muscles working and your leg muscles working to keep your foot flat on the ground. 

COMPENSATION: Don’t let your body rotate towards the anchored portion of the band, stay facing forwards.

HOW: Place a tennis ball, lacrosse ball, or any other small circular like object in between your heels. Squeeze the ball with your heelas and keep that constant tension during the whole exercise. Then, push up with your toes raising your heels. Make sure to push straight up with all of your toes working simultaneously. The goal is to keep the ball between your heel the entire time.

 

FEEL: You should feel your calf muscles working.

 

COMPENSATION: Don’t let go of the ball as you raise your heels. Control the motion and do not go too fast.

HOW: Place a band underneath the ball of your big toe. You will apply pressure on the band through your big toe, the outside toe, and your heel. This will engage your arch, which is key! From here, grab the band with the opposite arm and perform an RDL by shifting all of your weight to the foot holding the band down, hinging forward at the hips and kicking the opposite leg backwards. Return to the starting position and repeat. 

 

FEEL: You should feel the muscles in your foot and arch working to hold the band down as you perform an RDL. You will also feel your hamstrings muscles working in the leg that is balancing. 

 

COMPENSATION: Make sure to apply the pressure you need to hold the band down, don’t rotate your foot as you perform the RDL.

HOW:  Sit in a chair with your foot comfortably on the ground, be sure to perform this exercise barefoot. To begin the exercise, push through the balls of your foot to raise your heel off the ground. You can use a weight placed on top of your thigh or your hands and upper body weight to make the exercise harder.

 

FEEL:  You should feel the muscles in your calve working as you try to lift your heel off the ground.

 

COMPENSATION:  Maintain good arch height the entire time. Make sure to keep constant pressure/weight on your foot for proper resistance training.

HOW:  Stand on one leg with a slight bend in your hip and knee. Using a band above the knees, push your opposite knee out and back at a 45 deg angle and hold this position for a second. Then slowly bring your knee back to the starting position. Repeat.

 

FEEL:  You should feel both glutes working, but especially on the side that has the foot on the ground.

 

COMPENSATION:  Don’t let your hips rotate out, don’t arch your back, don’t let your knee cave in on the side you’re standing on, do not lean your torso side-to-side

HOW: Step backwards and out to the side like you were to perform a curtsey, lower yourself into a lunge position. Keep most of your weight on your front leg, use the back leg for balance.

 

FEEL: You should feel a good glute stretch and your hip muscles activated. You should feel your glutes and quads working to lower yourself and stand back up.

 

COMPENSATION: Don’t put too much of your weight on your back leg as you step back, focus on good knee position with the front leg by not letting it cave in or bow out too much.

HOW: Begin this exercise by taking a large step to your side. The larger the step, the deeper you will be able to go with this exercise. Once you have stepped, perform a lateral lunge motion by letting your hip and knee bend and lower yourself as far as you feel comfortable then push into the ground forcefully to return to starting position.

 

FEEL: The leg that you are lunging on will be working, from the calves up to the thigh and hips. Most feel a burn in the quad and glute muscles here. You may feel a stretch in the groin on the hip of the leg that is straight.

 

COMPENSATION: Avoid landing very stiff on the leg that is lunging, you want to absorb shock with the muscle by landing softly. Avoid allowing the knee to go very far forward past your toes, let your hip bend as well with this exercise. Also, avoid your knee caving inward, make sure to keep your ankle, knee, and hip in alignment.