Multi-directional jumps

A great lower body and ankle-strengthening exercise you can do on your dog walk is multi-directional jumps!  They also get your heart pumping and keep your muscles guessing by moving in several directions.  Our Leash Your Fitness runners are VERY familiar with these since we need to keep our balance and agility for the trails!  Fido should stay in a sit while you are jumping (great obedience practice for them!).  When you’re done with your jumps, they can do theirs!  Here’s how to do these:

•  Imagine a plus sign (+) on the ground, or draw one in the dirt with your shoe.
• Standing on both feet in the lower left box, hop to the lower right box, then to the upper right, upper left, and finally back to the start.  If you don’t have good balance with these, try holding onto a park table or other sturdy structure as you jump.
• Continue with these in the same direction for 15-30 seconds, then change directions (clockwise now) for another 15-30.
• Use your arms for momentum and keep your knees soft.
• When you feel like you’ve mastered these, add in some diagonal jumps!  You can also make these segments longer as you get stronger.  You can also mix up the order of the boxes you jump into, it doesn’t have to be the same each time.
• Finally, and only when you feel VERY strong with these, try doing 1 foot at a time!

 Your pup can do some jumps too, up onto a bench, over a low wall, or if they are a small dog, onto a curb!

Once you and Fido have both done your jumps, continue on your walk!  These are great cardio bursts to add along your walk, they keep your pup interested, and get YOU STRONG!  Let us know how they go!