Cat/Cow (Back Flexion/Extension)

Transverse Step to Balance

Ball Pike

Ball Twister

Single Leg Hip Rotary Drill

Frontal Step to Balance

Side Iso-Ab or the Side Plank

Sagittal Step up to Balance

Power Transverse Rope Med Ball Chop

Sagittal Stationary Lunge

Bosu Walk Around Toe Up/Toe Down

Tight joints, including our ankles, affect movement patterns that can cause compensation overload leading to injury.  Tight ankles can affect literally everything in your body.  That sore right elbow, caused by a tight left hip that was caused by a tight left ankle.   You can see where we are going here with the connect the dots of etiology of a problem.  Keeping things in their ideal state prevents these out of control compensation patterns from occurring.   This exercise is aimed to wake up the balance proprioceptors while stabilizing the ankle joint in plantarflexion and dorsiflexion.   Check out the video and comment with any questions or requests for future videos!

Inch Worms

Inch Worms serve as a great dynamic warmup for the entire body.  They really do work chest, shoulders, back, arms, core, and legs.   Instructions for fun are below!

1. Begin in a standing position with knees straight but not locked.
2. Inhale arms overhead, draw belly toward spine and as you exhale, hinge at the hips reaching fingers towards the floor.  Keep knees straight unless hamstrings/calfs are too tight, then give them a slight bend.  
3. Place hands on floor.  While keeping core engaged walk hand forward into a high plank/pushup position.  Shoulders over wrists with a straight spine.  
4. If your back is healthy, keeping arms straight, drop hips into an updog position.  Otherwise skip this.
5. Keeping knees as straight as posible walk toes toward hands.  Repeat steps 3, 4 & 5 for desired distance.

Squat Jump to Stabilization

With many people becoming more active not only for health reasons, but also for recreational activities, the incidence of ACL/MCL knee injuries is increasing rapidly.  A majority of these injuries are non-contact in nature and occur while planting and cutting or landing from a jump.  With proper stabilization of the knee joint, the likelihood of a non-contact injury can be greatly decreased.  The squat jump to stabilization exercise serves as a mandatory precursor to all high impact plyometrics.  If you follow this rule, not only will you minimize the chance of injury, you will reach higher levels of peak performance for your individual body.   Check out this video and start practicing!  Comment with any questions or requests for future videos.

Single Leg Balance

Balance is a very underestimated part of fitness that has a large impact on muscle balance and ultimately how efficient our movements are.  This exercise, while looking quite simple, is aimed to set the stage for future progressions.  Without a solid base on one leg, you will be limiting the overall potential for your progressions of other exercises in the future and also limiting strength & power output.   It’s amazing how much time we spend on one leg and that when we get better with balance we expend less energy in day to day tasks and get stronger!  Watch the video and start practicing!!