A Doctor of Physical Therapy Shares the 5 Best Lower-Body Moves For Athletes

@drmalekpt

Exercises I love giving and my athletes hate getting! Lol More on IG #noroots #sportsinjury #athletesoftiktok #doctorsodtiktok #kneepain #foryou

♬ No Roots – Alice Merton

For all you athletes out there, this TikTok video is for you! Sports specialist, CSCS-certified personal trainer, and physical therapist Dr. Leada Malek, PT, DPT, SCS, shared this TikTok of the five best lower-body exercises. She said in the caption that there are “exercises I love giving and my athletes hate getting.”

Dr. Malek said in the Instagram caption of this same video, “There are no ‘BEST’ exercises for anyone, because obviously everyone’s needs are different.” However, if she were to pick her top five exercises for her athletic client to do regularly, she said, “these make a pretty close list.” ⁣

Even if you’re not an athlete, Dr. Malek said everyone should do these. ⁣But these are especially key for athletes because of the nature of sports. “Fast, quick strength, and ability to decelerate and change direction at the drop of a dime require a level of baseline strength I think these exercises do an excellent job of providing.” Also, she said they target common injury spots like the achilles and patellar tendon and hamstring strain risk. ⁣
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Inspired by her favorite patient reactions, here are five of her favorite exercises to give to clients, despite how universally disliked they can be:
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1. Reverse Nordics
2. RFE (rear foot elevated) Bulgarian split squat⁣
3. Triple extension calf raise⁣
4. Tempo SL (single leg) wall squats ⁣
5. Nordic hamstring curls⁣