The Roll Of Ankle Mobility In The Front Squat - Pictures Are Worth A Thousand Words

Front Squat 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2
Resting 1-2 minutes between, go heavy!

5 Rounds For Time:
9 Deadlift 135/95
6 Hang Power Snatch, 6 reps
3 Overhead Squat, 3 reps

Jason Khalipa 3:01, Josh Everett 3:29, Nate Beard 4:03, Kristan Clever 3:50 (95lbs), Katie Hogan 5:04 (95lbs), Miranda Oldroyd 5:06 (95lbs).

You probably need to read this post, so grab a cup of coffee and get comfy.
Last week I sent out an email "reply all" to the adaptations group adding ankle mobility to the list of things to work on for the front squat.  I stated that stretching your ankles could take pressure off your wrists.  I probably had a bunch of your heads spinning, so I wanted to clarify how and why ankle mobility is important and can dramatically imporve your front squat.

Poor Ankle Mobility
The above picture shows Angie after a warmup that did not include ankle flexibility.  Notice the near vertical angle of the lower leg.  This vertical shin causes the butt to move backward too far and the torso to be leaned dramatically forward.  Forward lean of the torso causes the elbows and shoulders to fall down.  As the front rack dissappears, barbell puts tremendous strain on the wrists. 

As you can see, Angie's wrists are taking a beating and she can't get below parallel.  This picture is the real deal best she could do, no acting here.


Incorrect Solution #1
In this picture, I instructed Angie to keep her elbows up and squat below parallel any way possible.  She solved the ankle mobility problem by creating another problem.  Squatting on the toes.  We see this one a lot and it is no good!  Bad for the knees, incorect movement pattern, and limited muscle mass involved.








Incorrect Solution #2
Another poor solution your bodies will find to get below parallel with poor ankle mobility is the toes screwing out and the knees falling in.  In this picture I told Angie to squat all the way down and keep her heels on the floor... good coaching right? 

Because the anke can't flex forward, the toe turns out so the anlke can fall inward.  This also negates much of the muscle mass in the squat and is dangerous on the knees.  In this shot, where Angie has turned the toes out too far and squatted with knees in, she actually said, "Ouch that hurts!"


The Quick Fix
So what do you do?  Get a box or a 45# bumper plate or anything you can hang your heel off.  With a bent knee, relax your claves into a deep stretch and let your heel sink toward the floor. 

The knee bent postion will focus the lower part of the calf (soleous) which is most restrictive in the squat position.  We stretched Angie's soleous for apromixately 1 minute each, and low and behold...





The Front Squat After Stretch

In this picture Angie was able to stay much more upright and keep her heels down on the floor.  Pressure is relieved from the wrists, and she is in a much stronger postion.  Scroll back up to the first picture and look what a difference just stretching the ankles made. 

But can we do even better?  Yep!






Even Better in Lifting Shoes
In this last shot, we added the lifitng shoes into the equation and achieved the best position.  The lifting shoe elevates the heel and makes the squat even deeper and more upright.  For those with long legs and tight ankles, the lifting shoe can be a game changer.









If you have made it this far, you are truly interested in improving yourself.  Here are two more bits from K-Star and the Mobility WOD on ankles and other things that influence front squat position.  Be an over achiever and click below to learn more.
Heel Cord Love
Solving Front Rack Problems

Comments

[Chris]

Adaptations folks take note... Notice this post and how serious it can affect your movement. Imagine if you guys truly do the drills of FS each day. A mere 2 min of targeted stretching changed Angie this much, so what if she did all the drills each and every day? Thank Justin for posting such a faith builder today... I know a lot of work went in to putting this together and it speaks loud and clear as to what we are doing in the FRONT SQUAT over the next 2.5 weeks.

[Steve]

thanks Justin, that was very helpful!

[Steve]

Lene I think you may have left something at the box this morning...

[Arturo]

Ever since I started working OHS and FS I noticed how restrictive my shoulders are (years of doing pushups and body building style lifts). Then a box owner clued me in that my restrictions have more to do with just the hips in the overhead position. It can be everything from hips, lats, chest, and traps as well - Jenni Orr told me the same thing. I have been pouring over M WOD for weeks and searching (shoulder mobility) to find this very video. Serendipitous. Thanks guys. Up until now the only mobility drill I had been working on for shoulders was "stick ups" (putting your hands up like you were being held up by a burglar).

[Josh Stonier]

Awesome post, Justin. I definitely need to work on this. Thanks.

[jessica]

Thanks Justin! I am always being coached to get my weight back on my heels, elbows up! I will for sure work on this! Keep these tips coming : )

[Scott]

Justin: thanks. One question: isn't getting a heel lift from shoes the same as being on our toes?

[Olga B]

Sweet, another a-ha moment. Angie, thank you for being a perfect model.

Scott, it's not the same.

[brother mike]

Angie was at the noon class and it was like having our very own celebrity sighting.

[Scott]

Olga: why not?

[brother mike]

Scott: the first two reasons I think of are stability and amount of lift- with stability being the more important of the two. Teetering on the relatively small ball of your foot, which is being created by numberous flexible joints holding still versus the huge surface area of the bottom of a lifting shoe being held in place by the relatively single pivot ankle.

If there is much question about the difference in stability perch on your toes in a squat and have someone bump into you- after you pick yourself up off the floor stretch, put on lifting shoes and repeat.

[Lene]

The weight lifting shoes are in contact with the floor. The answer is "no", being on your toes eliminates a natural base that your body and larger muscles are intended to use. Get your shoes! It will help!

[J P Carey]

Can someone clarify the schedule for Sat?

We want to come in to watch the try outs for the Sac Town Throwdown-- but are there classes as usual?

Basically -- we need to know whether to bring our workout gear or mimosas while we watch :)

[Brooke]

Great post Justin. Miss you guys! Get off your fucking toes when you squat dammit! Who can name the points of performance on squats?

[J P Carey]

Did my comment get modded out or automatically removed?

Here it is again w/ a smaller image.

We miss YOU Brooke! I'm going to use the baby squat cheat sheet for squat points of performance here... :)

[Olga B]

Scott, in my humble dilettante opinion, the heel is slightly elevated but supported in shoes, weight distribution goes on your heels like it supposed to. Without shoes, we're balancing on our toes like ballerinas in Bolshoi theater in Moscow.

[Scott]

John: nice!

Olga and everybody: thanks.

[Ashley Latimer]

Another great post! I tried the box calf stretch today and it even seemed to help out with my ankle pain. Thanks Justin.

[Shem]

Excellent post, I love all the technical details and honestly I wish I had that baby's flexibility.

[brother mike]

John- you forgot the most important part of the baby squat photo- poop in pants before the bar hits the floor.

[North Face Outlet]

I'm saying be like Angela. Grab the heavy rope and figure it out. There was a day when regular double unders were hard, right? But people get over it.