This is article 2 of 7 in which I discuss the fexibility and function of the body through my Most-Ability philosiphy borrowed from functional training guru Gary Gray.
The body is aligned in joints that connect from head to toe through, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia (connective tissue). Limited function or range of motion usually leads to decreased function further up the chain. The site of pain is usually a compensation or overuse from the joint above or below. Meaning if your knee hurts it's not really your knees fault. It is usually your lack of mobility in your hips or your ankle. This lack of mobility causes you to compensate motion and over use the knee. That's why today we are starting with arguabaly the most important joint in your body, the ankle. The ankle is so important because it is closest to the ground and absorbs ground reaction forces. Therefore, if you have disfunction at your ankle it will feed up through the entire kinetic chain decreasing your chance of ideal performance.
Most-Ability chart Ankle -> Mobile
Knee -> Stable
Hip complex-> Mobile
Lumbar Spine -> Stable
Thoracic Spine -> Mobile
Shoulders -> Mostability (there are technically 2 shoulder joints they need to be mobile and stable.
When most people think of loosening their ankles it usally comes back to a general calf stretch. This approach only targets the calf muscles and in one plane of motion. To add ankle mobility we must lengthen or strengthen the muscles around the ankle in three plans of motion. Don't forget about your anterior tibs, peronials, soleus, plantar fascia, and all other fascia that connects everything together. Wow what is all that stuff? We will keep it to the KISS method by giving you pictures of the stretches and brief descriptions of why you need them in your routine.
Myofascial release- To borrow from the Movement Based Flexibility Certification, "Fascia is a continuous matrix of connective tissue that surrounds every muscle, bone, organ, nerve, blood vessel and cell of the body.
This tissue allows muscle to change length. In fact, during passive motion, the sum of the muscle’s fascia accounts for 41% of the total resistance to movement" So unless you are foam rolling, you are doing little to add true mobility to a joint. Fascia consist of 2/5 of a joints potential range of motion. Have you ever felt a crick in your neck or a knot in your back? These tightnesses are really fibrotic adhesions where fascia bunches together. Massages hurt so good and make you loose because they break up fascia. The following 3 stretches will help break up or massage your fascia. These exercises are done best in warm up, but can also be done in cool down. I usually dedicate 1-2 lighter workouts a week simply to adding mobiiity.
The Stick- Amazing tool available at performbetter.com. Think of the stick as a rolling pin. Roll the sides of your lower leg searching for areas of tenderness or knots. Once you find areas of tenderness apply pressure to the area until the tightness loosens by about 30%. Then continue to massage the muscle in long strokes from all angles. Continue until all tightness or tenderness subsides in the muscles between the ankle and knee. There is basically no wrong way to do this simply roll till it feels good. Take your time!
Golf Ball Plantar Fascia Massage Same concept of above, but we forget about the small muscles of the foot. Many muscles of the ankle complex connect to the bottom of the foot. Try this out to massage your foot. You will be surprised how tight your foot truly is. Once again there is no real wrong way to do this. Simply follow the steps from the sticks description about holding in areas of tightness.
Self Massage Even better if you can talk your significant other to do it, but this massage technique will get where the stick can not. Find your tibia, your shin bone, place a finger on each side of the bone and try to go get as deep as you can pressing the length of the bone. Start slow and in small range of motion. As fascia releases you will be able to press deeper amd more continually along the length of the tibia. Continue until tightness releases. Once again you will be amazed at how tight this line of muscles are along the orgin or insertion.
Dorsiflexion Dynamic Stretches The following mobility exercises are done using a slant board to force dorsiflexion in the ankle. If you do not have access to a slant board you can use almost anything to prop your heal up. Outside a curb is often used. In the gym a 10 or 25 pound plate can do the trick. Dorsiflexion is simply flexing the ankle. To have proper function you should be able to flex your foot to about 80 degrees, or about 10 degrees past your foot flat to the floor. Many people have no where near this amount of mobility, especially without a compensation of turning the foot in or out. The following exercises are effective because they will add dorsiflexion in 3 planes of motion and with lines of other muscles that feed dorsiflexion. Use these preworkout after a good warmup or on mobility days.
Transverse plane slant board Prop the heal up and turn your foot in towards the midline of your body. If you are on your right foot, your foot should be facing about 10 o'clock. Raise the knee to waist height. Use your knee as a driver to open the gate of your hips as far across your foot and as far back as you can open the hips. Once end range of motion has been found. Swing from side to side as quickly as you can maintain control. Allowing your ankle to roll as your knee crosses over your ankle. Be sure to push down the four corners of your feet into the board with your glutes squeezed forward. You should feel this in your ankle, high on the outside part of your calf, and in the hip complex. This is one of my favorite moves and can greatly increase your mobility and performance. Perform 15 on each side.
Slant Board Dorsiflexion Stand in your classic calf stretch position with your back foot facing forward. Your foot will probably try to turn out. Only go as far as you can keep both heals down and toes forward. Drive your back heal into the ground while pushing your hips forward. All while trying to push your front knee close to your toes. Rock forward and back 10 times in this driving/dynamic fashion. Hold the 10th rep for 10 seconds.
Dorsiflexion with transverse twist Place front leg up on a bench or raised surface. Prop rear heal up on a slant board or plate. Drive th
rough rear heal, push hips forward, drive front knee towards toes, and twist shoulders in the direction of the front leg. Perform 10 rocks and hold the last move for 10 seconds. This stretch will loosen up the calf complex in conjunction with the opposite hip similar to how the two work together in function.
Drosiflexion with posterior reach Follow the same cues from the above stretch except that you reach over your head by lifting the chest and rib cage. The lower half of the body drives forward while the upper body extends back through the thoracic spine with a tight core. You may play around with different reaches to affect the chain in different ways. If you find a line of restricted mobility or tightness focus on that reach. 10 dynamic reaches and 1 10sec hold on each side.
Dynamic Stretching This form of stretching should always be performed prior to a workout after the heart rate has been elevated for at least 5 minutes. Dynamic simply means moving. These stretches often mimic the movements you will go through during your workout and are much more effective in activating muscles and adding balance and control than static stretches. Static stretches should only be preformed post workout in shortened muscles.
Standing Alphabet or ankle circles Simply stand on 1 leg and write the alphabet with the other ankle. Be mindful to squeeze the end ranges of motion. Write the letters as big as possible. If you were going to do 1 thing before you went for a paddle or run, do this. You can also play with this while on the couch or during meetings. Doing this once or twice a day can make a big difference. You can also quickly write your full name or as I tell my clients, write Garrett is awesome with your ankle.
Hand walks begining- Could be the best dynamic stretch out there. Start in a pushup position. Keep your legs as long as possible and slowly walk your feet towards your hands. Try your best to get your heals to the ground with only a slight bend in your knee. You should progressivly be able to get a lot further on each rep.
Hand Walks part 2 ideal finishing position
Closed Chain Pronation/Supination Ground the 4 corners of your feet into the ground. While keeping the force into the ground, drive your knee to the outside of your foot. Hold this position for 5 seconds. Repeat driving knee to the outside for 5 reps of 5 seconds. You will begin to feel the muscles of the outside of your leg activate. After you have driven your knee out repeat the same steps and drive your knee to the inside. This will help you feel the tightness or weakness in your peronals and other muscles that allow your ankle load properly. Spend more time on the side of weakness or tightness. You may also practice driving the knee at different angles forward while maintaining the downward force through the 4 corners of your foot. This will allow further mobility through your soleus and achilles.
Static stretches are the ones you learned in gym class. Where you reach and hold. These should only be done post exercise. Hold these poses for approximatly 30 seconds. These stretches are usually done in isolation meaning they do not mimic how the body truly functions. For example if you over stretch your calves and dont add the hamstring or hip flexors into the move all the sudden you have altered the loading patterns and neural drive to this line of muscles.
2 foot calf stretch This just feels good. Make sure both feet are facing forward. Drive down through your heals. Squeeze your glutes to drive the hip forward. Reach as high as you can on the wall. Play around with reaches to your right or your left wih all of the drivers intact. This can give you a more 3D stretch.
In Conclusion Flexibility is simply the freedom to move. Movements are the key to mobility. If you train mobility movements in 3 planes of motion the ability of that joint improves. Focusing on the ankle complex alone can relieve tightness all the way up the body even up to your shoulders! Mobility training not only decreases the chance of injury, but increases your performance. Always add balance to a new range of motion after performing mobility exercises. This can be done by standing on 1 leg, 1 leg squats, or single leg reaches. Here's to your most-ability.
Works citedMBF certification
NASM PES certification
Gary Gray lectures at Perform Better Confrences
My clients who let me treat them like exnsive Guinea Pigs
Amy Hazelrig my lovely model and client who owns a gymnastics/ cheerleading gym in the Apopka area and is a fromer University of Texas cheerleader. Hook em horns.
