The Hidden Key for Ankle Mobility

Unlock Your Ankles and Unleash Your Movement! 👟🔓

Do your ankles feel like you’ve been sleepin’ with the fishes in a mob movie? Is your squat game whack? Or does your walk feel more like a waddle?

If you’ve been trying to stretch or band mob your way to better ankle mobility, I got news for ya.

You’re missing the boat. 🚫🚢

Ankle mobility is SO much more than the ankle. It’s a complex dance involving several joints throughout the foot. If you’re not addressing these, you’re not maximizing your mobility.

But don’t worry, I’ve got your back (and your feet!).

I’ll break down the REAL ankle mobility keys and show the best exercises to lock it in!

Buckle up, because this is going to be the last set of ankle mobility drills you’ll ever need! 🎯

Walking the Walk: Supination and Pronation 👣

Before we dive into the drills, let’s talk about walking. The REAL focus to improving foot and ankle motion lies within two gait movements:

  1. Supination
  2. Pronation

These movements impact every joint within the foot-ankle complex.

Supination

When the foot supinates, the following actions happen:

  • Ankle plantarflexion
  • Subtalar inversion
  • Midfoot supination
  • 1st ray plantarflexion
  • Big toe extension

These actions happen during 2 phases of gait: early and late. Early happens when the heel touches the ground; transitioning from outer to inner.

Late happens during toe-off, so weight bearing is on the big toe.

Pronation

When the foot pronates, the following actions happen:

  • Ankle dorsiflexion
  • Subtalar eversion
  • Midfoot pronation
  • 1st ray dorsiflexion
  • Big toe flexion

These actions happen during 1 phase of gait: mid. This is when I go from inner heel contact toward the 1st metatarsal head (big toe base).

Gait for Mobility Gains 🚶‍

If you want to improve your foot and ankle mobility, you need to go through these phases. Faster than your hairstyle phases in your teen years.

I got some exercises that’ll do just that. No hair cuts required!

The Heel Traction Roll: Mobilizing the Subtalar Joint 🦶

This exercise mobilizes the subtalar joint, driving inversion and eversion. These movements are the highest priority because they control what the rest of the foot does. Can’t move the heel, you’ll get some funky stuff through the foot.

Here’s how you do it:

  1. Get into a kneeling position.
  2. Take the web space on your hand, grab behind the ankle bones, and push downward on the heel. This creates a traction effect.
  3. Lean back, but not so far that the base of the big toe comes off the ground.
  4. Silent nasal inhale. Subtly shift your weight to the outside heel.
  5. Exhale, put the weight on the inside heel
  6. Oscillate back and forth as you breathe.
  7. Perform 10-20 reps per side, 2 times per day.

Remember, it’s a subtle motion because there’s not a lot of motion at this joint to begin with. Avoid lifting the foot up or wiggling the knee back and forth.

If it’s getting easy, you can progress it to a standing variation.

Weighting yourself into the foam roller creates a similar traction effect on the leg. Go through the same oscillations as before.

Squatting for Early Stance: Plantar Flexion and Supination 🏋️‍

The squat is a great exercise for biasing early stance IF you can get full depth. You’ll superimpose foot midstance atop this, which is necessary for maximizing motion.

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Eyes are looking forward.
  2. Hold a kettlebell out in front of you.
  3. Silent nasal inhale. As you do so, you want your knees to go forward and your butt to go down. Go slow.
  4. Squat up on the exhale. Make sure to keep the kettlebell out in front of you.
  5. Perform 2-3 sets x 8-12 reps

The Lateral Squat: Mid-Stance Mechanics 🔄

The lateral squat is a great exercise for working on mid-stance mechanics.

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Keep both of your feet flat and maintain contact through the inner heel and the base of the big toe.
  2. Inhale and push towards the working leg. As you do this, you want a straight line from your foot to your knee, to your hip, to your chest, to your eye.
  3. Exhale and return to the start position.
  4. Keep hips centered throughout
  5. Perform 2-3 sets x 8-12 reps

The Forward Lunge: Late Stance and Push Off 🏃‍

The forward lunge is a great exercise for working on late stance mechanics. The foot that will be mobilizing is not the working leg but the push-off leg.

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Step forward and push off the big toe, dropping down into a forward lunge. Make sure to look straight ahead.
  2. Come back to the start position.
  3. Inhale as you drop down, making sure your whole foot is in contact with the ground.
  4. Exhale as you push back.
  5. Perform 2-3 sets x 8-12 reps

Sum up

There you have it, folks! The last set of ankle mobility drills you’ll ever need. If you can master and progressively load these moves, your ankle mobility will be on fleek!

To recap:

  • Ankle mobility involves more than just the ankles. It’s a complex dance involving several joints throughout the foot.
  • Supination and pronation are key movements that impact the foot-ankle complex.
  • The key is restoring the mechanics of early, mid, and late stance.

If you get stuck anywhere within this progression, don’t worry. This post will have you NAILING mid-stance. Because remember, it’s critical to improve your foot and ankle mobility.