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Sure, everyone familiar with running knows the importance of strengthening the foot and ankle ligaments. The other thing is that sometimes it's hard to spend 5-10 minutes preparing for ankle exercises: we get dressed, lace up our shoes and run down the street. This is unfortunate. After all, good elastic ligaments can reduce the risk of leg pain. And strong ankle muscles can improve lower back and even shoulder strength when you're running or just walking. Of course, there are plenty of good exercises to help you strengthen your ankles, so without further ado, let's take a look. Stretching Sit on the floor and straighten your leg in front of you. It's important to make sure your big toe, little toe, and heel stay in the same direction as you extend your foot. Only then the muscles will be strengthened and stretched in a balanced manner so that you don't walk and run with your foot falling out or in. While pulling your foot apart, stretch your toes as much as possible, as if you were lengthening them, without tucking them under your feet. Repeat 15 times. Rolling Pose From a seated position, place your feet in front of you and bring your feet as close to yourself as possible. Spread your knees and keep your feet together. Keeping your feet in this position, place your hands on the floor, bend your body forward and lift your pelvis off the floor and try to stay in this position for a while. If you feel your potential, you can roll to the left and to the right, touching your feet with the palms of your hands. Rising and falling Exercise It is traditionally recommended to do these on a ladder, but doing them slowly on a flat surface will give good results. Raise your toes as high as you can, keeping your heels in the air, then bend your knees so your heels are forward. Place your heel on the floor and then straighten your leg. It is very important to make sure your knees and ankles don't flip or drop. Dumbbell Squats Deep squats are good for developing the ankles, and when combined with dumbbells or barbells (if you have trained enough), this exercise is even more effective. Start with dumbbells that you can lift 15 times without dropping to the floor. 2-3 kg is suitable for beginners. Bodybuilders need to lift more weight to develop their leg muscles. Make a deep squat as follows: stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart, arms at your sides, holding a dumbbell, or if you are doing the exercise with a barbell, place it in front of your chest or behind your head. Sit down with your knees bent and your hips on the floor. Keeping your back straight, squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Keep your knees straight over your feet at all times and do not extend your knees further than your toes. Return to the starting position. Perform 2 sets of 10-15 squats each. Lunges Keeping your torso straight and your shoulders back, step forward and sit until both knees are at a 90-degree angle. Your knees should not protrude over your toes. Do a series of two on each leg and repeat 10 times. Final Words Strengthening your ankles is crucial for professional and amateur athletes alike, so whether sports are your life or you're just exercising to stay healthy, in is necessary to work on your ankles.

People often underestimate hamstrings. Often, focusing on training the quadriceps and calves, hamstrings seem less important. However, you should remember that neglecting any muscle has aesthetic and medical consequences that can be avoided if you work it properly. The reason you shouldn't ignore these muscles is not just about the symmetry and appearance of your body. Hamstring weakness is one of the most common causes of injury in most professional athletes. The best way to strengthen your leg muscles is to work them out properly. So let's have a look at the exercises. Barbell 90 The main advantage of this exercise is that you don't need much equipment, just a simple barbell. Starting in a standing position and holding the barbell on your shoulders, keep your back straight. While bending your knees slightly, tense your hips, and bend forward 90 degrees. Then return to the starting position inhaling. Except for hamstrings, this exercise will also strengthen your hips and back. Hyperextensions Hyperextensions are a great workout for your hamstrings as well as the lower back and glute muscles. Sit on the hyperextension training machine comfortably with your heels pressed against the platform at the bottom of the trainer. Place your arms crossed in front of your chest or behind your head. Slowly lower yourself down until you inhale and feel the stretch in your lower back and leg muscles. Without stopping at the bottom point, straighten up to the starting position and exhale. Return to the beginning position then. Maintain your head in line with your torso, keeping your back straight throughout the exercise. Tights Up This exercise can be done on the playground with two pull-ups or simply by placing your feet on a chair or bench. We will present a variation of the home exercise.Choose a sitting position on the floor with your feet on a chair. Lift your torso with your hands so that the tights are in the air. Bending your knees, raise the tights so that your body is paralleled to the floor. Perform 7-8 repetitions. Single-Leg and Dumbbell The exercise requires a good sense of balance and gives you good results. With a dumbbell in your hand, bring one leg back and keep it on the floor until the end of the exercise. Then return to the previous position. Repeat this exercise several times before you have tired. Final Words Hamstrings may look insignificant, but that has nothing to do with the fact that you can skip working these muscles. As a matter of fact, stronger hamstrings prevent you from many injuries. Therefore, don't delay and start exercising these muscles now.

Many people mistakenly believe that developing shoulder muscles is not important. Well, obviously, it’s not true. So why is it important to work on the shoulder muscles and how to improve them is the topic of this article. What Are Shoulder Muscles? Shoulder muscles are basically the muscles that provide shoulder movement. These muscles are voluntary, meaning we control their work. The main functions of the shoulder muscles are the following: Holding the shoulder joint and its bones in place Allowing your shoulder joint to rotate Providing the ability to move your arms forward, up, and down Shoulder joint protection As you can see, these muscles are extremely important for performing basic things such as lifting objects or holding something. In addition to that, these muscles are rather important for certain sports that require lots of jerky movements in the shoulder area. For example, dancers, basketball players, tennis players, swimmers, and others. All in all, shoulder muscles do a lot of work, which is why we have to develop them. Why Do I Need to Work on My Shoulder Muscles? We have already partly answered this question above, but we’ll give you a more detailed answer just to make things clear. First of all, strong shoulder muscles are a must for many athletes, dancers, and fitness enthusiasts who actively involve arms and shoulders in their activities. The thing is, these muscles are rather fragile, and jerky movements can lead to an injury. At the same time, if one works on these muscles regularly, they significantly lower the risks of possible injuries. But what about people who are not professional dancers or athletes? Well, even if you are not a pro athlete, you still need to go to the gym at least a few times a week to maintain your health, and simple workouts can also cause an injury if you have weak shoulder muscles. So as you might have already understood that working on the shoulder muscles is a must for everyone. Exercises for Improving Shoulder Muscles So what workouts can you do to improve your shoulders? Well, why don’t you consider the following ones: Push-ups Barbell overhead press One-hand push-ups Half-kneeling landmine press Dumbbell shrugs Arnold press Sideways dumbbells Push press Barbell press Wide-grip seated row Final Thoughts Stronger muscles minimize the risks of having severe injuries while working out or even doing your regular chores. So no matter if you are a pro athlete or dancer or just a regular person, you should consider working on your shoulder muscles.

The quadriceps is a large and strong muscle that acts as the primary extensor of the knee joint. Because the knee joint carries most of the body's weight, the quadriceps is the main muscle of the lower thigh. Weakness of this muscle, in fact, would simply make it impossible for people to maintain an upright posture. Quads are made up of the four coronary muscles: the straight, inner, outer, and middle muscles. In spite of this, during various exercises, the load falls completely on this muscle. Sure, strengthening your quads is important, so let's give a quick look at a few of the best exercises for them. Barbell and Dumbbell Lunging You can do lunges in many different ways. You can do this either with a barbell, or dumbbells, while walking around the gym, or from a stand-up position. Let's consider a variation where the athlete stands in a position using a barbell or dumbbell. This position is similar to the squat position with a barbell on your back. Take a step forward with your right foot. The lunge should make the thigh of the working leg to be parallel to the ground at the low point. Simultaneously, the knee of the left leg almost touches the floor, also forming a 90-degree angle. Back to the previous position. Change legs - take a step forward with your left leg. Leg Press The leg press takes as much of the work out of your back and hips as possible. At the same time, it allows you to train with a much heavier weight than a deep squat. In order to place the load on your quads, your feet should be shoulder-width apart while doing the leg press. Just follow the right workout technique. Press your back and head firmly against the bench, with your legs almost completely straight and resting on the frame and your hands firmly gripping the handles. Bending the knees, form a straight angle between the thighs and calves. Lower the legs back to the previous position. Single-Leg Squat Make single-leg squats if you can't go to the gym to train with training machines. It is a perfect way to get your quads workout done. Because it allows you to load your legs without using extra weight. Start in a standing position, extending one leg slightly forward. While squatting down, extend the leg forward and straighten it. Get back to the previous position. Repeat at least 10 times for each leg. Kick Squat Standing with feet shoulder-width apart and toes slightly to the side, place your hands at your waist or cradle them in front of your chest. Focus on the center of your feet. Squat down horizontally at the hips, remembering to keep your back straight. Stand up shifting your weight to one side. Lift your knee to a horizontal position and make a kick with your foot. The kick should be done in one movement. Squats With Fitness Ball Position your feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart with your toes out to the sides at a 45-degree angle. Grasp the fitness ball, keeping a tense and natural bend at the waist, straight shoulders, and neck. Holding the exercise ball, raise your arms up to shoulder height. As you inhale, begin to bend your knees to your sides, making sure they don't stick out past your toes. Your hips should go down first. Your weight is on your heels. Bring your back slightly forward as you squat down and extend your arms to lift the exercise ball over your head. Perform 30-50 repetitions. Final Thoughts Every person dreams of having beautiful legs, and luckily, getting great quads isn't that hard if you know what to do. So why don't you try these exercises?

While working on their arms, many people concentrate on the biceps and completely forget about the workouts for the triceps. Of course, working on your triceps is super important since you have to develop these muscles in order to have strong and relief arms. So how to train your triceps and grow beautiful muscles? This is the question we’ll try to answer in this article. Is It Difficult to Develop Triceps? Many people believe that growing triceps is extremely challenging, but luckily, it’s not true. The thing is anatomically triceps are rather easy to train and eventually grow. At the same time, these muscles easily get sore after training and therefore impact your entire arm workout routine since you aren’t able to do certain exercises. In general, working on triceps is not as difficult as many people think, yet it still requires some time and effort. How Long Does It Take To Grow Triceps? The amount of time it takes to develop triceps depends on what you are striving for as well as what you start with. For example, if you are skinny and you just want to make your arms more fit, a few months will be enough. In case you want to grow really pronounced muscles, you might need from 6 to 12 months. At the same time, if you have some extra pounds, working on your triceps can take longer since you also have to lose weight. As you can see, every situation is different, so it’s hard to give you the precise amount of time you’ll need to grow your triceps. How Often Should I Exercise? To grow any muscle group as well as be healthy and fit, you need to work out at least three times a week. Of course, you need to understand that even if you try to develop triceps, you still have to work on other muscle groups, so all the muscles in your body are harmoniously developed. In general, most trainers recommend doing 4-6 exercises for triceps during your workouts. Each exercise has to be done in 2-3 sets, while the set has to have 10-15 repetitions. In addition to that, you have to keep in mind that you should start with simple workouts and gradually move towards more advanced ones to see the results of your training sessions. Exercises for Triceps Of course, many of you are interested in the best workouts for developing triceps muscles. Well, first of all, you can head to our video sessions and rain with our experienced coaches. Secondly, you can check out the following workouts: Close-grip bench press Tricep dips Lying triceps extension Isolated triceps extension Cable rope tricep pushdown JM press Diamond push-ups Underhand cable pushdowns One-arm overhead extension Dumbbell tricep extensions Bench dip Dumbbell floor press Push-up One arm kettlebell floor press 45-degree incline dumbbell chest press Wrapping Up Gorgeous triceps is a dream come true for any fitness enthusiast and professional athlete, so no wonder why these exercises are so popular. Head to our videos section and explore triceps workouts from our instructors.