During the quarantine phase of dealing with COVID-19, we had to shift our workouts from the studio to online and provide them virtually for our members. Participants having minimal or no equipment forced us to use bodyweight as the resistance for many exercises. When I started designing these programs, I considered it an optimal time (I had a captive quarantined audience) to dedicate 2-3 exercises daily with the objective of improving mobility. The 3 areas that are traditionally addressed for mobility in strength and conditioning are the ankle, hips, and thoracic (upper back) spine. Hip mobility and it’s lack thereof, have become all the rage recently. There are Instagram pages dedicated to it. As we have become a more sedentary society, the need for hip mobility is rarely argued. Excessive sitting has a similar effect in creating disfunction for the upper back. The ankle does not experience a diminish in movement from sitting, but rather from years of wearing footwear (I have heard shoes referred to as leather coffins), deconditioning of the lower limb, and trauma from past injuries (who hasn’t rolled an ankle).
The normal range of motion for the ankle is 10-20 degrees of dorsi flexion. Dorsi refers to the top portion of the foot and flexion at the ankle joint is done by drawing your toes toward your shins.
This position can be challenging for woman who wear elevated heels frequently. Dorsi flexion also lengthens the back side of the lower leg. Adding to the bucket of negative side effects from sitting, the posterior side of the body tends to be shortened. At the studio, it is common for someone to initially have challenges when we teach them how to perform a leg curl in the TRX suspension trainer. To do the exercise you lie on your back and put your heels in foot-cradles. Performing dorsi flexion keeps your feet in the cradles. Once the person starts the exercise, if they are not coached to pull their toes towards their shins, most will instinctively point their toes, which pushes them out of the foot cradle. My reason for sharing this observation is to provide a common example of how dorsi-flexion is a common problem.
Proper squat and lunge mechanics require good movement at the talus joint. We are all born with
good ankle mobility, unless genetically born with some type of ankle disfunction, but over time and possibly experiencing ankle trauma, we tend to lose it. The ankle is made up of many boney structures and ligaments, which if properly and consistently worked, can return to adequate function. The key word here is consistently. When a new member shares with me their desire to have shapely glutes or well-developed quadriceps, before we dive into sets of goblet squats or max lunges with the sandbag, I must insure they have good ankle movement. This importance sometimes takes a little convincing from me.
The good thing is that most of these mobility drills are simple to do and take minimal time. An effective drill is an ankle rock. You get into a ½ kneeling position, then gently apply upward pressure to the lower limb/shin with both hands as you proceed to drive the knee forward over the toes while keeping the heel on the ground. The objective is to work through the 10-20 degrees of range without observing a compromise in the foot. As the knee goes forward if the arch of the foot collapses that can lead to medial rotation of the knee. To see an example of this exercise, watch the video below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_sy2_6nyRE/
Another drill is performing dorsi-flexion with the toe elevated on a ½ foam roller. You perform a ¼ squat with an emphasis on driving the knee forward. Here is a video demonstrating that drill.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_xU0SjHMiB/
Squats and lunges are great exercises for developing an impressive lower body and building strength. Just make sure you include some type of ankle mobility drill to your arsenal, so you maximize the benefits from those benchmark exercises.
I’ll see you at the studio.