List Of Handball Exercises

The sport of handball requires lots of exercises to improve a player's performance. Exercises are important for avoiding injury and strengthening the athlete’s body. Let’s learn about the most common handball exercises and how they help players compete!

Handball Training Exercises

Handball requires strength, flexibility, and endurance. Handball players use training exercises to strengthen their muscles and prevent injury by stretching and increasing range of motion. Keep reading for a list of the best exercises for handball, categorized by warmup, stretching, and strength exercises.

Warmup Exercises

Warming up is an important part of preventing injury in handball. It also helps a player by getting their heart rate up and their body moving. Some common warmup exercises include:

• Side Lying Rotation
• High Knees
• Curl-Up

Side Lying Rotation

Side lying rotations stretch the shoulders and spine and will help a player’s stability in these areas. The player should start by lying on their side with their back straight. The legs should be bent outward in the same direction, creating a 90° angle. The bottoms of both feet should be flat, and the arms should be straight and flat on the ground. Next, the player will turn their body and head to the opposite side of where the legs are bent. After laying in this position for the amount of time desired, the legs should switch sides. This exercise should give the player a stretch in the shoulder and back area.

High Knees

High knees are the perfect way to get your heart rate up and strengthen the muscles in your legs. This exercise is very similar to a jogging motion. The player should do a light run forward, except the knees should be raised to approximately the height of the abdomen or chest. Each leg alternates being lifted, so after raising the knee of one leg, the other knee should be lifted.

Curl-Up

Curl-ups help to strengthen and stretch the core. It is also another great way to get the heart rate up. It requires the player to lie on their back and have their knees bent with their arms starting off on their thighs. Next, the arms and the upper half of the body will move up the thighs while keeping the bottom half of the body still. The arms and upper half of the body will move toward the knees until the hands have gone past the knees.

Stretching Exercises

Stretching is very important for handball as it helps prevent injury. It also is beneficial to a player by increasing their flexibility and creating a stronger form. Some common stretching exercises include:

• Toe Touch
• Individual Toe Touch
• Gate Stretches

Toe Touch

Toe touch is an exercise that plays an important part in creating flexible and sturdy legs. For this exercise, the player will need to be sitting on the ground with their legs straight and flat on the ground. The upper half of the body should face the wall. Next, the hands move toward the feet, aiming to touch the feet or to reach as far as possible.

Individual Toe Touch

Individual toe touch is an exercise very similar to the toe touch, except it focuses on strengthening the flexibility of each individual leg. The player should be sitting on the ground with the back sitting straight up and the legs lying straight. Next, one leg should be bent so that the arch of the leg’s foot is touching the side of the knee on the opposite leg. The player should have both arms straight and use them to reach for the foot of the leg lying straight down. The goal of this exercise is to try to reach for the foot. After finishing this stretch for one leg, the player should switch to the other leg.

Gate Stretches

Gate stretches focus on stretching the legs and are beneficial for preventing injury in the legs. To start the exercise, the player should be standing straight up with enough room to move around. The feet should be hip-width apart, and the toes should be pointing forward. Next, one leg should be lifted with the knee bent.

After lifting the leg, it should be turned to the side. The legs should be at a 90° angle, and the hips should start to open. The leg should then go back to being bent and in front of the body. Repeat with the other leg. In between stretching each leg, a step or two should be taken. The goal is to continuously do this to stretch out the legs.

Strength Exercises

Strength benefits a handball player by allowing them to perform on offense and defense. The stronger the player is, the stronger their performance will be. Some common strength exercises include:

• Squats
• Hip Thrusts
• Bench Press
• Push-Ups
• Planking

Squats

Squats are beneficial for strengthening the upper legs, glutes, and core. In handball, strength in the legs is an important part of the game. To begin your squat, start by standing up straight with the feet hip-width apart. Next, bend your knees and lower your thighs parallel to the floor at the bottom of the squat. It should look very similar to sitting in a chair. Then after pausing for a few seconds, the body will go back up with your knees and back straight. Repeat this movement for at least ten reps.

Hip Thrusts

Hip thrusts focus on strengthening the legs. Lay flat on your back with your legs bent at the knees, with your feet flat on the floor. Next, the glutes will be lifted off the floor by using the strength in your legs. This position should be held for several seconds, and then the glutes will go back to touching the ground. This should be repeated several times. A good number for doing this exercise is around 20 to 30 reps.

Bench Press

Bench press focuses on strengthening the chest. It is beneficial to strengthen the chest for handball because of the strength needed to throw the ball. One should lie flat on a bench and have a bar with weight on it above them. While laying flat on the bench, the bar should be held up over the chest with the arms straight. Next, the bar will be lowered to the mid-chest area, then pressed back up so that the arms are straight again.

Push-Ups

Push-ups focus on strengthening the arms. The player should start by lying on their stomach with their body flat. The palms should be touching the floor at chest width, with the arms straight. Lastly, the tips of the toes should be touching the ground with the heels facing up. To start the exercise, the arms should bend to make a 90° angle and create a straight back. Next, the arms will be straightened again to go back to the starting position. This exercise should be repeated several times until the player is unable to maintain a strong and sturdy form.

Planking

Planking focuses on the core and will help to create a stronger spine. Having a strong spine in handball is necessary due to the twisting that occurs while throwing the ball. To start off, the player should be lying on their stomach with the body flat. Next, the arms should be moved so that just the forearms touch the ground with the rest of the arm facing toward the body.

The forearms should be in front of each shoulder. Next, the tips of the toes should be touching the ground with the bottoms of the feet facing away from one. The whole body should be straight and sturdy. This position should be held until a burning feeling in the abdominals occurs. The goal is to repeat this exercise several times and create a stronger core.