What do ankle weights do for you

Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. When you want to up the challenge of your workouts, adding weights is a no-brainer. Dumbbells are a popular option, but you may have seen ankle weights pop up online via your Instagram feed, or in real life, strapped around the ankles of power walkers in your neighborhood.

Read ahead about the benefits of adding ankle weights to your next workout, a few exercises you can try at home with ankle weights, and types of movements when you should leave them aside. Adding weights to your workout is a great extra challenge, and ankle weights are compact, portable, and versatile. They conveniently strap around your ankles or wrists so you can have a wide range of motion without worrying about having to hold, pick up, put down, or chase after loose dumbbells or other weights.

They can also create more resistance in your exercises and force you to consider the importance of body alignment when you perform certain movements.

Ankle weights are great for lower-body strength exercises, says Benner. The goal of adding ankle weights is to increase strength, so she suggests choosing exercises like single leg pelvic tilts or left lifts that focus on the legs or glutes. Tori Simeone , a Tone It Up trainer, says she likes adding ankle weights to barre, butt, and even yoga sculpt workouts. And wearing ankle weights during long walks or running may seem tempting, but they can increase the pressure in your joints and increase your risk of injury, says Simeone.

Ankle weights can increase the risk of injury due to additional stress they add to your ankle joint and leg muscles. The right weight will vary depending on individual differences in fitness and comfort level. SImeone suggests starting with ankle weights around 2.

For something like adding resistance to a brisk walk, Benner suggests something lighter, such as 5 pounds or under. For strength exercises, choose something that will challenge your body in the right way. Her advice is to start light and work up from there.

With butt lifts, use a medium weight to really make your butt work without putting strain on the back. Use the heaviest weight when doing front raises with thighs, this allows the runway muscles at the top of the thigh and in the front of the hip to become more prominent and to eliminate the bulk in the front of the thigh.

Try out some of our favorite lower-body workouts using the ankle weights to get started. Repeat 8 times on both sides. Start with leg at a 90 degree angle at hip height. Rotate leg inward at a 45 degree angle, then dip leg down slowly past standing foot and bring back up while squeezing through abs and inner thigh. Slow and Steady. Start in p. Squeeze glutes while tapping foot out to the side, then lift leg halfway up before slowly lowering down for 3 counts. Rotate Twist. Start in a p. Pull knee forward and externally rotate the standing leg hip.

Hinge Lift. Start in shifted p. Lift leg up and slowly drop down while keeping standing leg slightly bent with knee in-line with the heel. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Thanks for visiting. Don't miss your FREE gift. Sign up to get tips for living a healthy lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive health , plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise , pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, and more.

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