How do I strengthen my ankles for hockey?

To improve ankle strength and prevent injury it is important to improve proprioception, or the feed back you get from the ankle joint. In addition, strengthening your hips will help to strengthen your ankles, since the hips are in control of the lower legs. You can do this by performing a superset of a strength exercise immediately followed by a stabilization exercise that both involve the ankle joint. This type of training requires the use of the following acute variables: 2-4 sets of 8-12 repetitions using a medium tempo for the strength exercise and a slow tempo for the stabilization exercise; rest for 30 seconds between supersets. An example workout to strengthen ankles is: 2 sets of 10 repetitions of calf raises on a machine supersetted with 2 sets of 10 repetitions of single-leg squats. Follow this group with 2 sets of 10 repetitions of squats supersetted with 2 sets of 10 repetitions of single-leg step-ups to balance. To make the strength exercises more difficult, you can increase the amount of weight you use as resistance. To make the stabilization exercises more difficult, you can stand on less stable surfaces such as a half foam roll, airex pad, or dyna disc. By doing these exercises you can improve ankle joint stability and increase the muscle, tendon, and ligament strength of the ankle joint.