Developing both mobility and strength in the wrists and ankles—two common weak points in athletes—through stretching and strength exercises. I run technical, rocky trails regularly and used to handbalance almost every day and have never had a wrist or ankle injury using these protocols.
Who should use these exercises?
There are four different types of wrist movement: flexion, extension, ulnar deviation, and radial deviation.
Five types of wrist mobility exercises will be performed. Because these exercises target the tendons, the progression of each should be very gradual and only done by increasing the ROM. All stretches should be done on the knees and with straight arms.
All wrist stretches can be found in the following video (timestamps included in each exercise's description):
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There is no good stretch that targets radial deviation since the ROM is so small.
Three types of wrist strength exercises will be performed. Because these exercises target the tendons, the progression of each should be very gradual and only done with increasing the amount of bodyweight used. Never work to failure or pain. Increasing reps is preferable to adding weight when the full version is reached.
Typical progression:
All wrist exercises and progressions can be found in the following video (timestamps included in each exercise's description):
To perform variation 2, simply keep both the back of the hand and fingers on the ground and perform pushups. Note that getting full lockout on the plank is limited by the wrists' mobility.
Novel movements for hand, wrist, and elbow. These are helpful to do once per day for 10-15 reps per exercise.
Wrist exercises need only be done once per week for 1-2 sets per exercise. These can be done at the end of a training session or in a stand-alone session.
The wrist strength you develop from these does not go away quickly—I have not done these in over a year, but was able to do sets of 15 with no warm-up.
There are a few different types of ankle movement: dorsiflexion, plantarflexion, inversion, eversion, lateral rotation, and medial rotation.
Six type of ankle stretches will be performed, each corresponding to one of the types of movements. They can be done in reps or held for time. All ankle stretches can be found in the following video (timestamps included in each exercise's description):
The dorsiflexion stretch can be done on one (preferable) or two legs. Simply keep the entire foot grounded and move the knees as far forward as possible. The soleus is primarily stretched. Depending on the amount of weight and lean, this can double as a strength exercise.
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The plantarflexion stretch is done on one leg at a time. Take one leg, curl the toes down so they touch the ground, then move the ankle forward.
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The inversion stretch can be done on one or two legs. While trying to keep the legs as vertical as possible, roll your foot to the outside, so the larger toes come off the ground.
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The eversion stretch can be done on one or two legs. While trying to keep the legs as vertical as possible, roll your foot to the inside, so the smaller toes come off the ground. The ESc range-of-motion is much less than the ISc ROM.
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The lateral rotation stretch is done on one leg. Plant one foot, then attempt to rotate the entire body, including the leg, away from the inside of the planted foot without moving it. For example, if your right foot is planted, the body will rotate left (counterclockwise about the body).
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The medial rotation stretch is done on one leg. Plant one foot, then attempt to rotate the entire body, including the leg, to the outside of the planted foot without moving it. For example, if your right foot is planted, the body will rotate right (clockwise about the body).
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Dogen's Titanium Ankles tutorial (see below) is a great resource for general ankle strength:
Just Fly Sports slant board training:
Other strength exercises are simply variations of the stretches. The exercises can be found in the following video (timestamps included in each exercise's description):
Similar to the stretch, attempt to hold for longer and with minimal external support.
PF strength is tough to train, as well as a bit dangerous. The best method seems to be a variation of the PFSc, but with support. Using a counter/parallel bars/etc, enter into full support, then position both feet in the PF stretch position. Slowly decrease the support the arms are giving (increase bodyweight used) to load the muscles.
(Note: I strained my shins doing this, so be careful!)
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There are three options for inversion strength, all of which can be used.
The first exercise is walking while inverted: after getting into the stretch position, simply begin walking. This loads all of the bodyweight onto one ankle momentarily and can be scaled by supporting the body with the arms.
The second exercise is jumping while in inversion, like Ido Portal does in the video above. Doing this on a soft surface is recommended.
The third exercise is one-leg inversion holds. Simply invert one ankle and stand on it for time. Weight can be added as needed.
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Eversion strength exercises are the same as inversion, albeit more awkward: eversion walks, eversion jumps, and eversion holds.
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Both lateral and medial rotation strength can be trained through Dogen's lateral isometrics (6:39 on the video): push against the wall with both the inside and outside of the foot to train both types.
Ankle exercises will be done only once per week for 1-2 sets per exercise. These can be done at the end of a training session or in a stand-alone session.
The ankle strength you develop from these does not go away quickly—I have not done these in over a year, but was able to do all exercises with no warm-up.