TRAINING DAY – Blog by Mike Niklos

We all watch and mimic our favorite athlete’s moves, but how are they able to be so successful making their opponent look silly? Incorporate these single leg lifts in your workout and start implementing the moves you do in Madden in real life.

1) Side Lunges

Just like a forward lunge increases linear strength, side lunges will allow you to come out of a break much faster and lower increasing your ability to put more moves on your opponent.

2) Pistol Squats

The stronger we are at a low center of gravity the harder break we can make. Pistol squats will enhance your strength levels allowing you to produce the force to come out of a juke.

3) Depth Drops into Exercise

Want to put multiple jukes on your opponent? Try low depth drops on one leg (no more than 6″). Not only can this ensure stability strength, but by delivering force unknowingly to the body we can increase our reaction time with multiple movements. Once you have mastered a low drop, try dropping from a 6″ box on one leg jumping laterally onto two feet.

4) Calf Pops

Float like a buterfly sting like a bee? Calf pops teach us to stay light on our feet yet keeping explosiveness in height. Try sets of 50 with your foot facing forward, then rotate your foot 45* either way forcing your shoulders to stay parallel.

5) Bulgarian Split Squats

Two for one special: open up your hips and gain hamstring strength at the same time. Gain more flexibility in your hips allows us to stay strong while your legs are outside of your body. Bulgarian Split Squats will help produce strength while increasing stability in the knee.