3.21 – Got Tight Calf/Ankles/Feet? Here’s your Troubleshoot! (part VI)

Hey all, my apologies for the hiatus, I’ve been swamped with clients, finishing off 2011 tax return stuff, car shopping, and in general trying not to tear hair out of my head! The result?
– Client success rates still remain high
– Tax return has been filed
– Batta-bing, batta-boom:

Yours truly is the owner of a 2010 Toyota 4Runner! I bought it for about $5000-$6000 less than the Kelly Blue Book value, and honestly,
I couldn’t be happier with it… rides like a dream, fresh pair of brake pads, tinted windows, power everything, and it fits all my gear I need for training and fitcamps (which, by the way, a new AG Fitcamp begins tomorrow, Thursday March 22 down at Westenfield Park at 6pm… we’ll be going on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next 8 weeks…come on down and give it a try!). Needless to say, I’m a happy camper ;).

Moving along!

We’re about to wrap up our series on how to troubleshoot issues with your calf/ankle/foot, but in case you missed out, here are the other 5 parts of the series:

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V

So, for today, I wanted to continue discussing additional progressions you can implement into your training program to further loosen up those restricted joint segments of the lower leg. Take a look:

Front Leg Knee Driver w/ Frontal Plane Tweak (Posterior View):

This is just a variation of the previous one, placing special emphasis on the frontal plane.

Key Points (as illustrated in video):
– Maintain all the same components of the key points as the previous video
– Take up all the motion in the sagital plane (forward and backward plane)
– Then, you can drive side to side to get relatively more frontal plane movement
– Finally, you can drive into sagital plane, while shading relatively into eversion, and relatively into inversion (again, as displayed in the video)

(side note: although I did not provide a video, we can also drive into the Transverse (think, twisting) plane as well, twisting over and away from the stabilizing leg, as oppose to just side to side presented in the Frontal plane)

Tri-Planar Ankle Mobility (Back Leg stretch, front leg driver)

Even more integrative, and a little more challenging since we are in a one-legged stance. With this one, we can truly appreciate the tri-planar aspect of the mobility of the ankle. I know that with me personally, I move terribly in the transverse plane… if you look closely at my left foot, its flying all over the place. As a result, I work on this one a lot on my own.

Key Points:
– Maintain stable hip/trunk musculature
– Back heel MUST STAY ON GROUND!
– Back knee is bent to stress soleus/deep ankle musculature (in case you didn’t see it on the video… how could you miss it though? Hello, McFly?? Think McFly, think…)

So we have a few more ways you can increase mobility in the lower leg for those of you who suffer from chronic tension in that area. Next time we meet, I’ll discuss ways we can “cement” these changes so that the new motion you created “sticks” a bit more! Have a great hump day everyone!

MG