Being stuck at home during this COVID-19 quarantine doesn’t mean we can’t work on things that will set us up for success when we are finally able to get back into a real weight room. One thing that we can all work on from home is our mobility/movement patterning.
You’ve probably heard how important the squat is to any well-designed program, and the ankles play a major role in your ability to properly (and safely) perform a squat. One of the common limiting factors of a quality squat pattern that we see across an array of clients is poor ankle mobility. Stiff ankles come from poor muscle and movement quality in the plantar fascia, soleus, and gastrocnemius. Those are all just fancy words for the muscles of the foot and calf. When these muscles and tendons are limited they tend to cause problems up the chain to the hips and spine. Most of the time we see a hard leaning torso or limited hips.
Here’s a few mobilization tools you can use at home to improve your ankle mobility and have you ready to hit the ground running when we’re back in the gym:
Lacrosse Ball Soft Tissue Mobilization
Banded Ankle Distraction
Stay fit and strong at home with the equipment you have. No equipment need and exercise alternatives given if you have extra equipment.
Ankle PAILs/RAILs
Goblet Squat w/ Weight Shift
If you missed yesterday blog here’s a link to it: Immediately Improve your Squat with this Modification.