European Football Academy

The King Squat – Stability and Strength Exercise

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The King Squat

Previously I have talked about some exercises great for strengthening and developing stability in your ankle joint. The beauty of these exercises are that they can be done at home by any player of any age.

In this article the exercise “The King Squat” is for the ankle, leg and hip muscles. It works your balance, and strength of the leg and again is a great exercise that you can do at home. I first learnt this exercise from a leading Physical Preparation coach called Ian King, and it’s one of my favourite exercises for players in any sport.

Why?

Take a look at the picture…most sport takes place with movement upon a single leg the more stability/strength they have in this movement the more efficient their ability to move.

How to do it

  1. First find a small step or something similar you can use to stand on.
  2. Standing on the side of the step with one of your legs in mid air, slowly bend the leg you are standing on until your foot just brushes the ground lightly.
  3. Once you very lightly touch the ground push in to the foot that you are balancing on so you straighten back up again.
  4. Repeat up and down 9 times
  5. On number 10 you bend your leg again, but this time hold your foot just above the ground and stay there for 10 seconds (that is your goal).
  6. Once you,your friend or your parents finish counting up to 10, push back up on the leg you are balancing on so your leg is straight again.

Each 9 times followed by a 10 second hold, is equal to 10 repetitions 9+1 (repetitions are the number of times you perform an exercise once through)

King Squat Challenge 

The challenge is to do this 5 times in a row on each leg before trying the other leg. 9+1=(10) so 5 x 10 = 50 total repetitions.

To see the video on how to do this exercise and for some important tips use the link below.

King Squat Video

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