Ankle Mobility

Ankle inflexibility can be a huge inhibitor for beginner weightlifters. It’s something I’m struggling to fix with one of my two cubicle monkey clients: a tall, lanky former D1 tennis player.

While the traditional bootstrap method of sticking a small weight under the back of the shoe to elevate the heel and increase ankle range-of-motion can work, it’s far from ideal, and merely treats the symptom, not the disease.

Here is my own favorite ankle mobility method:

However my client can’t get his hip below parallel, so this option doesn’t work.

Instead, I’ve turned to Kellly Starrett’s MobilityWOD for help. Specifically, his book: Becoming A Supple Leopard. In the chapter titled ‘Area 13: Ankle and Plantar Surface’, Kelly offers a couple ideas for restoring ankle mobility.

Ball Whack

Does your skin slide over your anklebones and tendons? If it doesn’t, you should immediately recognize that as a problem and work on restoring sliding surfaces to that tacked-down skin. To use the ball whack to restore sliding surfaces to the skin over the bony prominence and tendons of your foot, pin a ball on the inside and outside of your anklebone and around the areas of the heel cord and give it a firm whack. This momentarily stretches the skin, peeling it off the underlying surfaces.

Although you can do this mobilization on your own, it’s difficult to generate sufficient force. For this reason, I advocate employing the help of a Superfriend.

You can try this method on the inside ankle, heel cord, and outside ankle. Try multiple directions, until the skin starts to slide smoothly over the underlying surfaces.

Calf Mobility

One of the points Kelly constantly reinforces is to think upstream and downstream of the issue you’re dealing with. Tight ankles? Mobilize your calves!

Two calf options are:

calf smashes with a foam roller – even better with a friend

foot-against-the-wall calf stretch

That’s enough from Kelly’s book. I really recommend you buy the book and see for yourself how useful it is. It’s half-off on Amazon and it’s definitely the book I most frequently consult in my day to day training.

Core Training for Weightlifting

I recently bought Greg Everett’s Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches. I’ve only scratched the surface of the material inside, but the book leaves me stunned by its detail and quality.

One of the first sections I read focused on core training; a needed priority for the two cubicle monkey athletes I train.

Before discussing the movements involved, it’s important to understand what core is:

The musculature of the mid to lower trunk that stabilizes and moves the spine.

In other words, not just your abs, but your back muscles too.

So what kind of exercises should a weightlifter prioritize to develop greater core strength? First of all, it’s important to note that all of the major weightlifting exercises and accessories work the core: snatches, clean and jerks, squats, pulls and presses all challenge and strengthen the core.

Beyond that, Greg recommends “prioritiz[ing] the function of static strength”. Below are some of the exercises recommended (for a full list, buy the damn book. It’s worth it):

Jerk Rack Support [video]

Best done in a power rack or on jerk blocks for safety, but can be done out of a squat rack. Lift the bar from the rack in a jerk rack position and hold for 2-5 seconds.

Hanging Leg Raise / Hold [video]

Though Catalyst instructs to “not allow your legs to bend”, realistically, a bent knee raise or hold is necessary for many beginning athletes. Additionally, full range of motion will be difficult for those with less mobility.

Back Extension Holds [video]

While back extensions are a well known exercise, back extension holds challenge and build that isometric strength even more. In his series of posts on his travels through China’s weightlifting gyms, Yatin Parasher mentioned Chinese coaches programming “6×1 min holds weighted preferably” for bodybuilding work.