Ankle Strengthening Program - first level

Ankles! Ouch! Well, mine went owie a few timds. Once in elementary school I was running across a lawn which had sprinkler holes for the sprinklers to retract into, I stepped into one of the holes and twisted my ankle badly enough that I couldn't walk for a week. Swelling, some bruising, I stared at it as if the zerz rays from my eyes could make it go down. This means that I might have needed some rehabilitation now, fifty years later. In fact, I got away with it, because of John Robert Powers, bless their hearts. See, it happens that when I was 11 my mother decided I needed some self-confidence lessons. She sent me off to a modeling school named John Robert Powers. Back then, they were famous. I've even heard them mentioned in an old movie. She talked my way into a class for thirteen year olds--I'm not sure how, unless it was because I was in 8th grade and thus all the other girls I had to associate with were 13. Part of the modeling shtick is to keep yourself skinny as you can, but you also need to walk confidently on absurdly high shoes. Thus, you need strong, slender ankles. They taught us an exercise I've done all my life, partly because it feels good, partly because I didn't want to get thick ankles, and mostly because I never wanted my ankles to get weak, in spite of the fact that I don't wear high heels. I'm a tom boy, which my mother didn't take into consideration. I wear pants and shirts, I used to sew my own dresses and I always altered the patterns to suit me. Sometimes I'd slash a pattern in half, diagonally, and make it up in two different colors, just because the pattern didn't look like that. Anyway, here is this wonderful exercise: Sit. Stick your foot out. Just one foot. I cross my legs so the one foot is up in the air. Start writing the alphabet in the air with your toes. The cursive alphabet: lots of loops and curlicues in it. Try to make the biggest loops you can, without going to such extremes that you have to move your leg too. I always feel the reach and the stretch by the time I get done, so that tells me that if you haven't been working your ankles all your life, you'll probably need to ease into this one. Use your common sense. With any of these exercises they're meant to start out soft because we're all soft. Then use your own sense to tell you when you can get a little more strenuous with them. It's better to advance too slowly than to push yourself too hard and advance fast into damage. If you're feeling your ankles crackle or pop when you try it, get to a doctor to have you and your ankles checked out. Seriously. Don't overdo this. Don't overwork anything. We're just starting out and there are probably years of neglect needing to be remedied all around. Some other level 1 exercises. These are against resistance, so be careful. Get yourself some surgical tubing, or inner tube, or Thera-Band, or what Bonnie Prudden used to call "Stretchy Bands". http://www.amazon.com/DYNA-BAND-Green-Medium-Resistance-Band/dp/B000NCW8T6 In my case, I'm using a nylon stocking with a loop tied in one end, and the other end tied to the leg of the chair I'm sitting in. I'm thinking another option is just to push against non-adjustable resistance, like the side of an upholstered chair or the front of a sofa. I'm doing mine without the purchased stuff. I'm pressing the two feet against each other and using both feet simultaneously as the resistance. There are more complicated flexes, but I can't exactly describe them without pictures. Those will wait for later.