Three for the Price of One
Christie Rampone shows great balance
and leg-strength as she sends a pass forward.
BRAD SMITH/ISIPHOTOS.COM
This issue, our resident soccer strength training expert, Mark Williams, suggests an exercise to introduce to your weekly regime that has three benefits plus works three major joints in your leg …
Here is a training tip that concentrates on a single leg hamstring (second stabilizer of the ACL) strengthening movement (RDL) for the soccer player.
What?
The Single Leg RDL (Romanian Deadlift) is great not only to strengthen the hamstring but also works on balance and proprioception of the three major joints in the leg (ankle, knee, and hip). Single leg RDLs are very demanding on your balance and will initially make you sore.
Why?
The first reason to strengthen athletes is for injury prevention purposes and with the many cases of ACL injuries that happen in the sport of soccer, particularly in the female game, I would definitely include this exercise in your weekly workout.
How?
You can use either one or two dumbbells, I usually have my players use one because it is more taxing on their balance, but if you want more of a strengthening effect then use two dumbbells.
What is proprioception?
It is not easy to explain in simple terms but it is basically the process by which the body can vary muscle contraction in immediate response to incoming information regarding external forces. Imagine you start to go over on your ankle, a message is sent to your brain that the joint is unstable and so you right yourself and avoid bad injury. That was proprioception in action