Lots of Squats

Yesterday, the outside of my right ankle (That's the one that I injured in late April 2013) was bothering me a little for the first time in a few weeks. In an attempt to prevent myself from undoing all of the progress I have made during the past couple of months, I did not run. Instead, I strength-trained, which primarily entailed performing a plethora of variations of the classic exercise, the squat.

Following, a 15-minute warm-up on the stationary bike, I performed some of my favorite dual crossing cables exercises at the cable column, which I learned from Arlene Patruno, an amazing personal trainer from New York Health & Racquet Club on 23rd Street in Manhattan. Such shoulder strengthening exercises all begin in a squat position.

One of them, which works your lateral deltoids, incorporates what I call a reverse squat. To do this exercise, begin in a deep squat with cables at the lowest setting on the cable column and ends of cables in hand. Cross arms with palms facing your body and knuckles facing the floor. Slowly rise from squat position as you bring your shoulders and arms up and away from your body. Hold end-position with elbows extended, shoulders abducted and knees extended for a couple of seconds (I recommend doing three sets of 10-15 reps with low weight.)

Then I moved onto exercises targeting the glutes, hamstrings and hip flexors. Jim Collins, the physical therapist I had been working with in October and November, advised me to do the following variations of the squat. Performing these and several other exercises from Collins seem to be primarily responsible for alleviating my right and left ankle pain.

1. Squats beginning with stability ball between wall and lower back, resistance band placed at knees and dumbbells in hands: Slowly lower into squat with knees at 90 degrees. As you rise to return to starting position, perform bicep curls. (I use 10-12 lb. dumbbells for the bicep curls.)

2. Lateral walks in squat position with resistance band at ankles: Begin in squat position with resistance band at ankles and feet slightly apart. Walk sideways, meaning first walk your right foot to the left, then immediately afterwards, walk your left foot to the left. Continue walking this way for about fifteen strides, maintaining approximately a foot of distance between your feet the entire time to keep tension in the resistance band. Then walk sideways in the opposite direction (to the right), leading with the left foot. (I do three sets in each direction.)

3. Skating walks in squat position with resistance bands at ankles: Begin in squat position with resistance band at ankles and feet slightly apart. Use your right hip and thigh to bring flexed knee and hip forward and to the right side of your body, in one fluid, sweeping motion, like you are ice-skating. Then immediately do the same thing with the opposite leg. Continue doing this for about 15 sweeps. (I recommend doing 6 sets.)

4. One legged squats while balancing on a Bosu: (This takes a lot of balance!) Begin by balancing on one leg on a Bosu with the other leg straight and lifted in front of your body.  Squat down on standing leg and lower leg in the air to the floor, tapping floor with heel of that leg. Then rise to return to starting position Do as many of these as you can in a row, then switch legs. (I can do about five in a row on each leg, but hope to work up to ten in a row.)

5. Walking lunges: Lunge with right foot forward and quickly rise before lunging with left foot forward. Keep lunging, alternating which leg is in front and focusing on using your glutes to squat each time you lower your body into a lunge. To ensure you are doing a proper squat, don't lean forward or backwards; just keep you spine neutral and squeeze your glutes. (I do about forty lunges and hold ten lb. dumbbells at my sides while performing this exercise.)

Happy squatting!