[quote]alexus wrote:
i have old injuries that restrict the range of motion in my ankles / feet. i can’t stretch my toes back from the ball of my foot to balance on the ball of my back foot in a lunge position. so when i lunge my back foot is kinda on tippy toes. you try it. feel balanced and safe to load for you? i can’t plantarflex, either, so bulgerians are out, too.
it causes me no end of grief that i can’t split jerk as an oly lifter. means i need to bloody squat jerk.
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We’ve all got our crosses to bear.
Generally speaking, without proper extension range at the big toe, the following ramifications (or a variation there of) can take place:
compromised hip extension
over activity of hip flexors
possible trigger points along the iliopsoas (this could be the cause of your hip flexor woes)
possible lateral flexion which can lead to leg length discrepancy
lumbar rotation
over activity of contralateral quadratus lumborum, internal/external obliques, ipsilateral tensor fascia lata and IT band
potential issues with contralateral sacro iliac joint
potential issues with contralateral piriformis
If you’re not dizzy after reading all that, the take home is you’ve got some work to do - rehab and prehab work that is.
[quote]alexus wrote:
i have realized that i need to focus on single leg work, though! working on pistols at the moment. interesting for me to discover that i’m not strong enough to stand up on one leg lolz. knees getting serious wobbles before i even get to parallel.
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Generally speaking, unilateral movements place a significant recruitment on the adductors and glute medius of the squatting leg and contralateral quadratus lumborum. It’s also a nice way to deload the spine.
I do NOT recommend the pistols in which you basically sit on the calves. It’s much too easy to relax the muscles and place all the load on the connective tissue.
A better option - one that I coach for those who have no contraindications - is band-assisted single leg squats off a box. The box will allow the non working leg to relax a bit more as it does not have to clear the ground. After all, it sounds like your hip flexors are over active.
Also, using the band (hung off pull up bar or similar) allows you to sit back and finish with a vertical tibia when in the hole. This vertical tibia, as I stated in another thread, makes the movement more glute dominant. This will help you more efficient neurally with the glutes.
As your strength improves, progress onto a lighter band until you can do the movement with body weight - at which point it will be near impossible to keep the vertical tibia in the hole. When this happens, you have the option to use this as a post exhaust with bands (again, this can now be safely turned into a glute dominant move). Even when you are strong enough to do this at bw or higher, you can incorporate the band on your repetition/volume days using methods such as 1 or 2 reps half way up and 1 full rep. I’ve done sets in which I do 10 “pulses” in the mid range followed by a full rep. Because I don’t have a loaded bar to deal with, I can relax the diaphragm and breath during the 10 “pulses” - performed with a slow eccentric, this type of training can be valuable.
Also, you can do step ups with a controlled eccentric. The nature of the movement will allow you to choose the tibia angle and make it more or less glute dominant.
Unilateral RDLs can be another viable option.
[quote]alexus wrote:
i do think the restricted range of ankle motion is at least partly responsible for my needing to release things daily, though. it is my calves that i need to spend the most time on. and my feet. and starting to get more focal with a golf ball around the back of my heel / achilles / round the ankle /under the arches. i also rarely get DOMS (even though i train basically every day). seems that i get knots that need to be released instead (e.g., if i do front squats quads need a lot of work, if i do deads hammies and glutes do).
my hips have always been a bit dodgey (long limbed female). doing a lot lately on stretching out the front of my hip and really waking up my glutes. need better control over my hip for the externally rotated position that is needed for oly lifting / standing up deep squats. just feeling one long massive knotty cable of a right hip flexor at the moment. and suffering from DOMS mostly outside my hip.[/quote]
Not only do you need to address the plantar fascia, you need to address the soleus and gastrocs as well. Given your situation, there could still be some room for improvement in terms of greater range there.
How do you perform the hip flexor stretch. A small adjustment such as NOT extending at the lumbar spine can help because the lack of extension increases the distance from the origin (T-12 to L5) to the insertion at the femur. Greater distance between two points - without causing injury - equals a more effective stretch.
As for releasing the trigger points at the iliopsoas complex, that’s where a skilled therapist can be valuable.