Think about all the activity taking place on your feet—walking, standing, taking the stairs, running, jumping, squatting, lunging. The ankle supports nearly every movement involving the foot. Training ankle strength and stability is important to our functionality both inside the gym and out—even though it’s rarely considered.
“The importance of ankle strength in exercise routines is often underestimated. However, the ankle plays a vital role in the kinetic chain to keep our base stable for movement,” says Brett Warner, P.T., D.P.T., C.S.C.S. of Bespoke Treatments. “Our body uses something called ankle strategy, which is when the tendons of the ankle contract to both anticipate and react to movement, in order to keep our base stable for exercise, athletics, balance, or even daily tasks.”
If you’ve ever rolled an ankle, you’re well aware of the difficulties of getting around afterwards. You don’t want an ankle sprain, torn ligament, broken bone, or shin splints to be the reason you wake up to the importance of ankle health. Whether you’re a professional athlete or a normal guy just trying to get in your daily walk or rack up a few kays—nothing is easy with a bum ankle. Preserve your functionality and fitness progress by giving this vital joint the TLC it deserves.
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Reserve a little time at the beginning or end of your workout for some focused ankle training. There are several exercises and stretches that you can program into your day that take minimal time to maximise your joint health. It’s called proprioception training, and it can help the mind better connect to the muscles.
It’s important to remember that these exercises shouldn’t hurt. If any movements are causing pain, or if you think you have a previous injury, it’s best to see a medical professional, like a primary care doctor or physical therapist.
Benefits of Strengthening Your Ankles
The ankle joints and the muscles that move them aren’t only essential in that they connect your feet to your legs; they’re also an important mechanism for your overall ability to walk, jump, and more. And if they’re not in great shape, you won’t be either. Weak, wobbly ankles are often a precursor to more serious issues, so making sure that you train them to build strength can help to prevent injuries.
What is Proprioception?
You can strengthen the muscles in and around your ankles all you want, but if you lack good proprioception, your ankle strength isn’t going to help you. Proprioception is perception or awareness of your body’s position and movement in space. Basically, it’s your brain’s ability to orient yourself in space.
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There is a feedback loop between your peripheral nervous system (particularly sensory receptors) and your brain that helps your brain send the quick signals it needs to help you stabilise long before you have had time to make a conscious decision about which muscles to activate. So, for better ankle stability, you’ll want to bolster both systems—the neuromuscular and the musculoskeletal systems.
The Muscles of the Ankle
There are many muscles that cross the ankle joint, including the gastrocnemius, soleus, posterior tibialis, flexor hallucis longus, and peroneal longis and brevis. You’ll want to strengthen these muscles in a few different ways. Each muscle contributes to both moving your ankle and stabilising the ankle joint.
When muscles on one side of the joint contract or shorten, the ankle moves in that direction, simultaneously lengthening the muscles on the opposite side. When you want to stay still, instead of none of the muscles being active, you want multiple muscles to work together, or “co-contract” preventing movement in multiple directions at the same time.
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Many of the strengthening exercises for the ankle focus on ankle stability, which is important for any running or jumping sport, as well as daily function. But ankle stability doesn’t just come from your muscles—it also comes from your brain. This is where proprioception matters By practicing these drills, you can help your brain know how and when to stabilise the ankle joint, and support that system with stronger ankle muscles.
Check out this list of ankle exercises that target both the muscles in and around the joint, as well as the system that helps activate them when you need them most.
13 Ankle Strengthening Exercises
Eccentric Dorsiflexion
3 rounds of 15 reps
Dorsiflexion is what allows you to pull your toes up towards your shin. It’s a vital ankle movement. Even though it sounds super basic, training something as simple as dorsiflexion can help improve endurance for running, sprinting, or other sports. It can even help prevent shin splints, says Warner.
How to Do It:
- To do this move, sit in a chair with your feet propped up on a stool or bumper plate if you’re doing this in the gym. Let the forefoot dangle off the edge.
- Slowly lower the toes down towards the ground for 5 seconds, and then lift the toes back up towards the shins for a count of 2 seconds.
- You can always add some resistance to this move by holding a resistance band or light kettlebell over the forefoot. Warner suggests doing this for 3 rounds of 15 reps on each side.
Resisted Ankle Eversion & Inversion
2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps each side
The ankle evertors and inverters power the rotation of the ankle inward and outward. Strengthening these muscles is key in reducing the risk of rolling the ankle, often causing ankle sprains and strains. This exercise requires a resistance band. Tie a small loop at the end of a 3-foot elastic resistance band. Loop your foot into the hole.
How to Do It:
- Begin by placing the centre of the loop around the base of the big toe. Wrap the band so that you create a line of pull perpendicular to your leg from that point.
- Begin with the foot rotated toward the little toe. Then, slowly move your foot out towards the big toe against the resistance without moving your knee.
- Gently return foot to starting position with control —do not let the band whip it back.
- Repeat with the band set up the opposite way—with the loop around the base of the little toe and the band anchored to the opposite side.
Standing Heel Raises
2 to 3 sets of 10 reps for a count of two up, two down
To stabilize a joint, you need to strengthen the muscles that support it. That includes your calf muscles—the two main ones being the gastrocnemius and soleus. This exercise focuses on those.
How to Do It:
- Stand at a kitchen counter or table so that you can lightly touch the surface for stability. Begin standing normally, with feet hip width apart.
- Slowly lift up your heels by going up on your toes. Slowly lower yourself back down with control (don’t just drop).
- Be sure to stay in control of the movement and go all the way onto your toes as long as this movement is pain free. Try not to let your ankles roll as you do this.
- Stretch your calves afterwards.
Standing Heel Raises with Single-Leg Eccentric
2 to 3 sets of 10 reps on each side for a count of two up, two down
Once you’re comfortable with the standing heel raises, take it up a notch with this slightly more challenging variation.
How to Do It:
- Begin the same way as the standing heel raises, going up onto your toes.
- Instead of lowering down both heels at the same time, remove one foot so that you are standing on the toes of one foot and lower down only with that one foot.
- Repeat by going up with both feet, then down with one again. Do this 10 times on one side, then 10 times on the other side.
Single Leg Balance with Rotation
2 sets of 60 seconds each side
As Warner said before, incorporating single leg exercises helps address strength differentials between each leg. Now, it’s time to incorporate single leg training in all planes of motion. It’s not enough to just balance on one foot, perfectly still.
“Adding trunk and hip rotation to single leg balance trains the ankle to maintain a stable base while twisting or rotating, such as direction changes on the field or court,” says Warner.
How to Do It:
- Balance on one foot and bring the opposite knee up to hip height.
- When you’re stable, slowly start rotating the knee out towards the side of the body.
- Slowly return back to the starting position.
Single Leg Balance on an Unstable Surface
2 sets of 30 seconds each side
One of the best ways to improve ankle stability is to challenge the ankle’s balance. This move requires some kind of dense foam or slightly squishy surface. If you don’t have access to gear like an Airex or BOSU ball, you can use a folded towel or a cushion as a simple alternative.
How to Do It:
- Simply stand on one foot on the squishy object, and try to balance for at least 30 seconds.
- If your ankle is wobbling all over the place or if you cannot maintain your balance for more than 5 seconds, you might not be ready for this exercise.
- If 30 seconds on one foot is easy, up this move by trying a softer surface or throwing a ball up and down in place if you’re alone, or playing catch with a friend if someone else is around.
- Still easy? Use a weighted ball and have your friend throw it to each side of you so that you throw off your center of gravity.
Lateral Step Downs
3 sets of 12 reps each side
Lateral steps downs are a functional exercise that you can add into your routine to train single leg stability. If you’re coming off an ankle injury, this movement will also prime your ankles for squatting, “as it moves the ankle through a similar range of motion and works the quads, hip stabilisers, and glutes,” Warner says.
How to Do It:
- Stand near the edge of a box on one leg. With your other leg by your side and dangling off, squat to slowly lower the foot to the ground until you just barely tap it with your heel.
- Extend your hip and knee to rise back up. Make sure the centre of your knee cap stays in line over the second toe, preventing it from caving inwards, and that your knee pushes forward to the tip of your toes, but not beyond.
- This move is easily scalable by incorporating more challenging elements such as a balance pad, added weight, and higher height.
Star Exercise
5 reps on each leg
Challenge your balance further with this dynamic exercise. The movement of the non-balancing foot makes focusing on the balance aspect a bit more difficult.
How to Do It:
- Stand in one place and set up cones in a “star” formation, with 5 cones in a circle around you.
- While balancing on one foot, tap each cone gently with your other foot as you make your way around the star.
- Once you’ve tapped all the cones, you’ve completed one rep.
- If it’s easy, try it standing on a squishy or unstable surface like an Airex foam pad or a BOSU.
Squats on Balance Board
2 to 3 sets of 10 reps
Similar to the star exercise, adding a dynamic component to your balance drill will increase the challenge. This exercise incorporates a fuller range of motion of the ankle through the act of squatting, while balancing on an unstable surface.
How to Do It:
- Stand on a balance board or wobble board with one fulcrum of movement—that can mean either medial to lateral or anterior to posterior. Both ways will challenge your balance.
- Bend your knees slightly to find stability, then perform 10 squats without letting either edge of the board touch the ground.
Double Leg Pogo Hops
3 sets of 20 seconds
“These are a great introduction to plyometric activities,” Warner says. “They train the ankle to tolerate impact and improve reactive strength, which is an important measure of performance for explosiveness and the ability to change direction quickly.”
Incorporate these into your warm up for anything plyometric based to prep the ankles for more intense activity like a HIIT class or a weekend game of five-a-side soccer or touch rugby with mates.
How to Do It:
- Stand with both feet together. Using only a small bend at the hip and knee, jump up and down in place as quickly as you can—like you would when jump roping.
- Make sure you are taking off and landing from the ball of your feet. The heels stay off the ground the entire time.
Single Leg Pogo Hops
3 sets of 10 to 15 seconds per side
Once double pogo hops start to feel comfortable, try them on one leg next. Single leg training helps work out asymmetries in the body, Warner says.
How to Do It:
- Stand on one leg. Using only a small bend at the hip and knee, jump up and down in place as quickly as you can, just like you did with the double leg hops.
- Make sure you are taking off and landing from the ball of your foot. Your heel stays off the ground the entire time.
Squat Jumps
The gastrocnemius and soleus muscles are key muscles for propulsion and power. They act like a wound-up spring storing kinetic energy that, when released, creates an elastic energy to propel you into the air. Squat jumps are a great exercise to strengthen these muscles while also strengthening the glutes, quads and hamstrings.
How to Do It:
- Begin in a standing position with feet hip width apart. Slowly lower down to the ground before jumping straight up, pushing off your toes.
- Land on the balls of your feet, lowering the heels back onto the floor as you lower down into a squat to absorb impact. Utilize the power from the squat to push back up into the next rep.
Single Leg Lateral Jumps
2 rounds of 60 seconds on each side
Single-leg lateral jumps are a great way to improve your athleticism and balance. These exercises “develop the ability to explosively move side to side, while training both the tendons and proprioceptive system to land in a stable and safe position,” says Warner.
How to Do It:
- Start by balancing on one leg. Slightly bend the knee to find stability, and push off the balls of your feet to power the jump.
- Hop a few inches laterally, landing in a partial squat position to protect the knee. Do the same thing in the reverse direction.
This article was originally published on Men’s Health US – additional reporting and products added by the Men’s Health SA team.
