Ankle movement and strengthening exercises

We have ankle stiffness. And, because mobility precedes strength – and is indeed necessary for true strength – we have weak ankles. Do not believe me? Stand up now. Point your feet straight forward. Straight toes. Don’t explode them. Place your feet close together. Not touching, but almost. Squat down, keeping your heels on the ground.

Can you do it? Can you squat at the bottom with your heels down and your back fairly straight, or do you start to roll over? Did your foot accidentally point out at a 45-degree angle to accommodate your stiff ankle? Is your lower back starting to cramp? Do you have to tiptoe to reach the bottom?

If you can’t quite straighten your toes, put your feet together, and lower your heels completely into a squat without your back rising, you need to work your ankles.

Don’t feel bad. You are not alone. Like I said, it’s a plague for a number of reasons:

• Everyone was sitting, almost no one was squatting. No one goes deep into the ankle (the angle between the foot and the ankle is reduced).
• Everyone wears shoes with prominent heels that force their ankles into permanent folds (the angle between the foot and the ankle increases).
• Everyone walks along flat roads (sidewalks, paths, hardwood floors), almost no one moves through varied terrain, over uneven surfaces, up and down slopes, through rock.

Luckily, there’s a lot you can do to fix the problem. Here are exercises to help you regain ankle strength and mobility.

Tilt or stretch the calf wall

Tight calves lead to tight ankles. First thing first, you stretch them. The best calf stretch is to place your foot against a wall or on an incline (hill, or even one of these specialized calf stretch boards) and then press your hips into the stretch.

Press your hips forward and hold for 5 seconds, making sure to flex your calves as far as you can into the stretch. When it gets easier, press further forward. Repeat until you can’t stretch anymore.

Do this move with both knees straight and knees bent to target different calf muscles.

Ankle stretch with hips extended

Most of us worry about training our ankle rotators with our hip flexors. Just like when we are at the bottom of a squat or lunge, our hips are flexed (flexed) and our ankles flexed (shortened angle between foot and ankle). But it’s important to exercise the mobility of the ankle flexors when our hips are extended (upright), like when we walk or run.

A really cool way to do this is to do the classic calf stretch mentioned above with one foot combined with the other on the chair in front of you with your feet turned inward.

Feel that stretch and rotate the hips toward the midline to really feel more and hit the different fibers of the calves. Lie for 30 seconds to a minute, then switch sides.

Deep knees on split toes squat

Deep hitting the ankle is one thing. Hitting it while loading the tissues with resistance is another thing — and dorsiflexion under load can apply even more to everyday life, intense sports, and weight lifting. The deep knee split squat above the knee is a safe way to do that crunch.

Bring one foot far behind, then lower into a deep split squat, pressing forward until your knees are over your toes. Press back and up to return to an upright position (legs still behind you) and repeat. Really feel the stretch as your knees extend beyond your toes and ankles reach deep into the sternocleidomastoid muscle.

Start doing these no-load moves, then, once you’ve got good balance and achieved your desired ankle range of motion, start loading weight on it to train and deepen the pattern. move. The safest way is to hold a few dumbbells in your hand or wear a weighted vest.

The tibia increases

Sometimes you get stiff and immobile because you’re weak — because the muscles that support the movement you seek can’t handle the load. The tibia is the anterior (anterior) part of your lower leg that controls the muscle that rotates your ankle, and almost no one consciously exercises it. Enter tibia elevation mode.

You can do the tibia lift by holding a dumbbell between your feet, sliding light weights over your feet, using a resistance band, or using a tibia trainer.

No matter what equipment you use, it’s important to sit on a bench with your legs stretched out in front of you or stand up straight and do a weighted dorsiflexion — dorsiflex against resistance.

1. Start with your toes pointed straight ahead with weights/straps/tibias resting on your feet, ankles in a crunch.
2. Bring your toes up toward your face (dorsiflexion).
3. Hold for half a second, then slowly lower the weight back down to sit-ups.
4. Say again.

Rolled Lacrosse Ball Legs

Another common but non-intuitive circular cause of ankle strain is a tight midfoot and a sagging arch. Your midfoot is tight to compensate for tight ankles, your arch collapses to allow ankle movement despite strain, and bouncing back impacts make things awkward. worse than.

A simple way to help break the cycle is to stand on a round ball and roll it around your midfoot, which helps reduce neuromuscular adhesions and frees up space to allow movement through the foot and arch. better. Roll around the ball for 5 minutes on each leg while engaging your feet and toes, putting as much weight on the ball as you can, then try doing the squat from the beginning of this article. It will improve everything.

Explore the free ankle angle

There’s no good way to describe this, so I’ll just link to one great video of someone doing it. It’s about exploring all the different angles your ankle can touch. You’re rolling to the sides, then back to the other sides. You are walking on tiptoe and then back on your heels. You’re spinning in every way. You’re doing everything the ankle can do while standing.

Note which angles feel stiffer and more constricted, then target those that are more flexible and your range of motion. These are formal exercises you should do to improve ankle strength and mobility, but the foundation should be consistent movement through those ranges of motion. You also need to

• Walk every day: do this along different surfaces and textures like slopes, sand, rocks and trails to get your ankle through different angles
• Squat: to practice this is both exercise and rest
• Playing: movement and sports games place unique and spontaneous demands on your ankle’s range of motion

Best of all, just move consistently and consistently throughout the day. Motion is lotion, as they say. Everyone please care and let me know below what your favorite ankle movements are.

Information about the Authors

Mark Sisson is the founder of Mark’s Daily Apple, godfather of the Primal food and lifestyle movement, and New York Times best-selling author of Keto Reset Diet. His latest book is Keto for life, where he discusses how he combines the keto diet with the Primal lifestyle for optimal health and longevity. Mark is also the author of many other books, including Preliminary designis credited with fueling the growth of the primal/palo movement back in 2009. After spending three decades researching and educating people about why food is the key ingredient to achieving and Maintaining optimal health, Mark founded Primal Kitchen, a food company that creates Primal/pale, keto, and Whole30-friendly kitchen staples.

If you want to add an avatar for all your comments, click here!