Ankle Hops
This is the foundational teaching drill for plyometric ankle stiffness. You bounce continuously off the balls of your feet with nearly locked knees, letting the calves and Achilles behave like springs. It is where every jumper should start before progressing to bigger, higher-force plyometrics.
- Equipment
- Body Weight
- Body part
- Calves
- Type
- Cardio, Plyometric
- Browse by muscle
- Gastrocnemius Lateral Head, Gastrocnemius Medial Head, Soleus Gastrocnemius
- Browse by movement
- Gait Drill
- Target
- Gastrocnemius Lateral Head, Gastrocnemius Medial Head, Soleus Gastrocnemius
- Secondary
- Fibularis Longus, Tibialis Anterior
- Tertiary
- Rectus Femoris, Gluteus Maximus
How to do it
- 1
Stand tall with feet hip-width, weight on the balls of your feet and knees only slightly bent.
- 2
Keep your arms relaxed or lightly bouncing at your sides for rhythm.
- 3
Hop straight up a few inches by rapidly extending the ankles, keeping the knees nearly straight.
- 4
Land on the balls of both feet and immediately rebound, minimizing ground-contact time.
- 5
Stay tall through the torso and breathe in a steady rhythm.
- 6
Continue for a set count or time, then rest fully before repeating.
Tips
- Think 'quiet, quick feet' and imagine the floor is hot to shorten contact time.
- Do not let the heels crash to the floor; stay on the balls of the feet throughout.
- Keep the knees soft but avoid turning this into a full squat jump; the ankles do the work.
Variations
Common mistakes
- Your ankles are supposed to be the spring, so thick cushioned running shoes swallow most of the rebound. Flat, firm shoes or bare feet on a hard floor give the bounce back.
- The cadence slows as the set runs on and nobody notices, but a slow bounce is a different drill; count contacts for the first few sessions so you can hear the rhythm drop.
- Arms get recruited into a hard double pump to add height, which turns this into a small squat jump and hides how little the ankles are contributing.
- Sets run back to back with a few breaths between them, so the calves fatigue into a slow, absorbing bounce instead of a fast elastic one. Rest a full minute.
- The toes curl and grip as if hanging on to the floor, which cramps the arch; push through the ball of the foot with the toes long.
Frequently asked
- How many sets of ankle hops should a beginner do, and for how long?
- Three to five sets of 15 to 20 continuous contacts, which takes about ten seconds, with a full minute of rest between sets. Counting contacts beats counting seconds here, because a set that has turned slow has already stopped being useful. Twice a week is plenty alongside other training. When those sets feel easy, add sets rather than stretching each one out, since the point is a crisp bounce and not calf endurance.
- How do I make ankle hops easier or harder?
- To make them easier, keep the hops tiny and rest a fingertip on a wall so balance is not part of the task. To make them harder, take the same bounce to one leg, or travel side to side as a lateral pogo hop; both raise the demand without making the hops bigger. Adding height is the one progression to avoid, since a taller hop pulls the knees into the movement and the ankles stop being the spring.
- What are ankle hops for, and when are they a poor choice?
- They teach the ankle and Achilles to behave like a stiff spring, which is the quality every bigger jump is built on, so they suit anyone starting plyometric work and make a tidy primer before sprinting. They are a poor main course for a trained jumper who needs heavier force, and a poor idea on a sore Achilles or a painful heel, since repeated small bounces load exactly that tissue. They also build little strength on their own, so keep calf raises and squats in the program.
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