How to Fix your Tight Ankles to Improve your Squat

This video of the week is focusing on how to Fix your Tight Ankles to Improve your Squat.

There is a common misconception that Australian Institute of Kettlebells is solely just about about Kettlebells. Whilst we love our Kettlebells we are much more than that and our focus is on functional movement and movement efficiency. Functional Training is all about movement patterns which is why mobility is so important. That is why our Functional Mobility Course is one of our most popular courses after our Kettlebell Level 1 Course. We learn over 40 new exercises (8 joint mobilisations, 8 muscle releases, 19 mobilisations & activations, 3 effective stretches). 

Everybody knows that poor ankle mobility will inhibit your squat technique. If yu have poo ankle mobility then you will borrow mobility from areas that it shouldn’t (for example, your knees). A mobile ankle will allow us to do more exercises more efficiently such as the Kettlebell Pistol Squat.

Here is a good sequence that focuses on the soft tissue surrounding the ankle:

1. Get on the ground with a foam roller
2. Roll up and down your soft tissue focusing on the Soleus for 30 seconds (Rumble roller work really well if you can bear the pressure)
3. Move Further up the leg to the Gastrocnemius and work that tissue for 30 seconds
4. Alternate to the other Ankle

Note: The important thing to remember is to hit those different and angles and locate those trigger point adhesions and work through them.

Now its time for exercises that are going increase our dorsiflexion for more efficient mobilization of the ankle:

1. Use a band around the ankle to create tension
2. Get your knee as far forward as you can whilst moving through the ankle
3. Make sure your heel is on the ground
4. Slowly move through the different angles
5. Alternate to the other Ankle

Note: The aim of this exercise is to get your knee as far past your toe as you can while still maintaining movement throughout the ankle. If you don’t have a strap or band that’s okay you can use a wall and try to get your knee as close to the wall as possible.

If you can accomplish that without any heel lifts or compensatory inversion/eversion come back a little further and increase the distance between the wall and your big toe. This is a great measuring tool to see how much more mobility your body has become as you can see the distance increased.

If you are interested in Functional Mobility and realise the importance to not only trainers but Everyone Check out our Functional Mobility Course.

Train Hard,

Train Safe.