In last week’s post I revealed my core lower body reaches using one leg for stance and the other leg fro dynamic movement.  Today, I will show you 3 fundamental upper body patterns I use with many of my athletes.

They include anterior hand touches, ipsilateral hand touches and contralteral hand touches.  You may progress from a 12″ cone all the way to tape on the floor.  The rotational reaching should only be added after the other two progressions have been mastered.  Perform 1-2 sets repetitions for these exercises.

The purpose of these exercises is:

  1. Increase strength
  2. Increase stability
  3. Improve proprioception
  4. Improve mobility
  5. Reduce injury risk

I highly recommend incorporating some of these simple yet effective training strategies if you are a field or court athlete or someone who works directly with this population.  In addition, any clients prone to ankle sprains or with a history of knee injuries should be doing some form of these routinely if they are still actively competing.