Reebok Fit2Kick: Workout for Striker Position - Bulletproofing

#1 The importance of strong ankles and knees

Getting your ankles and your knees ripped out from under you can be a particularly painful experience, irrespective of whether it is a practice session or a full blown 90 minute match.

Strong ankles and knees are the weapons which can help you achieve football glory.

Many footballers at the highest levels have suffered greatly and have not been able to realize their full potential due to the fact that they never actually worked hard to strengthen these two significant body parts.

#2 The Bulletproofing Workout

The last workout session for strikers is a set of four exercises which helps you bulletproof your ankles and knees.

Number of Exercises: 4

Time Duration: 20 minutes for the entire set

No. of Reps: mentioned ahead

#3 Side Walks

Target Muscles: Ankles and to a certain degree your knees

The most common injury to the ankle is one where you twist it and end up tearing the ligaments. This can be due to a misstep during a mad dash towards the ball or a badly timed tackle or can even happen while walking up or down the stairs in your house.

Awfully painful, this injury not only puts you out of action but it also makes the ankle considerably weaker and prone to future injury.

The first exercise in this series helps you strengthen the ankle to the degree that it can withstand the ‘twist’, and also makes the ligaments around your ankle considerably stronger.

The steps of this particular exercise are:

Step 1: Stand up straight with your body relaxed and then try and balance on the outer edges of the soles of both your feet (you will notice this to be the most common way your ankle twists).

Step 2: Start walking while balancing on the outer edge of your toes, and take 10 firm and slow steps.

Step 3: Turn around and come back to the starting point.

Each set ends after the above 20 steps; you have to do 6 sets of this exercise.

This exercise basically strengthens the small tissues around a person’s ankles which in turn allow better flexibility as well as excellent protection against any kind of ankle twists while running. Also, remember to do it on a slightly softer surface (the field is an ideal place to practice).

Breathing: Breathe in and out in rhythm with your steps. Remember to inhale and exhale as deeply as possible.

Levels: To make it difficult, increase the number of steps in each set.

#4 The Sissy Squat

Target Muscles: Ankles, Knees and Quads.

Again using the basic movement of the squat, this exercise helps you strengthen both your knees and your ankles.

The basic steps of this exercise are:

Step 1: Stand with your legs slightly apart and then push up to balance on your toes.

Step 2: Lower your body as if trying to make your knees touch the floor; stop this motion the moment your calves are nearly parallel to the ground (you are allowed to hold on to a box or the wall or a chair for better balance and support).

Step 3: Pause for about half a second and push back up to the initial position.

The sissy squat helps you strengthen your quads as well as your knees much more effectively than any machine in any gym. It also allows for your knees to be able to handle different and more dynamic kinds of movements.

Remember that if you go in too deep, your own body weight will force your knees to touch the ground. Try and control your movement to allow for a better form and posture while doing this exercise.

Your set gets over the moment you have done at least 10 squats, and you have to do four sets of this exercise.

Breathing: Inhale while going down and exhale while going back up.

Levels: The best way to increase the level is to do each rep as slowly as possible. You can also try and NOT hold on to any object for support, but that will require a near superhuman kind of balance.

#5 The Pistol Squat

Target Muscles: Hamstrings, Quads, Lower Back, Knees and Ankles.

Again, a variation of the squat, this exercise works extensively on your knees and ankles. The added advantage is that it helps improve your balance by leaps and bounds and ensures that your legs are strong enough to handle any kind of impact or injury.

The basic steps of these exercises are:

Step 1: Stand with your legs slightly apart, lift one leg and try to balance on the other one. With one hand (the one that is on the side that you are balancing upon), hold on to a chair or a box to stabilize your body.

Step 2: Point your other hand straight ahead and try and point straight with the leg that you lifted too. This would essentially mean that both your hand and your leg on the ‘non-balancing’ side are pointed straight ahead and are nearly parallel.

Step 3: Lower your body as if trying to make yourself sit down on a chair; this motion has to be done while balancing on one leg.

Step 4: Go as low as possible, pause for about half a second and push back up to the initial position.

Step 5: Change sides and repeat the above four steps.

Your set ends after you have done 5 reps each for each leg. You have to do at least four sets.

Breathing: Inhale while doing a downward motion, exhale while doing an upward motion.

Levels: The difficulty of this exercise can be increased by doing each step as slowly as possible as well as going as low as possible.

#6 The Knee Rotation

Target Muscles: Knees and Ankles.

A very simple and basic exercise, this movement helps bring flexibility to both your knees and your ankles.

The basic steps of these exercises are:

Step 1: Stand with your legs slightly apart, bend down and place both your hands on your knees. Also, ensure that your knees are slightly bent and your body is as relaxed as possible.

Step 2: Start rotating your knees as if drawing a circle in the air with them.

Step 2: Do about 10 clockwise and 10 anti-clockwise rotations.

This exercise helps your knees prepare for any twists and turns while playing a game. Remember to keep your knees as relaxed and as soft as possible; also, the heel of your body should be flat on the ground.

You have to do four such sets.

Breathing: Breathe in and out rhythmically with each rotation.