Monday, March 30, 2009

Questions & Answers: 3-30-09 (Foot & Ankle)


Question:
First I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read my question. I play college basketball and my leg strength is really sub par. I am very flat footed, I have no arch at all. I know that squatting would help me be more explosive and stronger. Any advice you could give me would be great.
M.C.

Answer:
M.C., no problem. I'm not exactly sure if there was a direct question in there, but I will give you some of my thoughts on strength, squatting for athletes, and flat feet. Although It might take some time to answer questions that are submitted to me through this blog (I am, in fact, in the trenches training athletes. Sometimes seven days per week while traveling to support my fighters at their fights and preparing to open up our facility next year), I would not do it if I did not enjoy helping others with their own training. The fact that I can have a positive influence on someone else's training is what it is all about for me. It has been so from the very beginning. Enough with the B.S. and lets get on to your question.

Coming from a strength stand point, there is no doubt in my mind that a college basketball athlete needs to be strong and explosive. Every athlete needs to be strong and explosive to some degree. This is the ultimate goal and should be the big picture in your training. If you have weak legs then you are limiting your ability to be powerful (You can not be truly powerful if areas of your body are weak and underdeveloped).

Like someone who I admire very much once said: "You can't flex Bone!" I am using this quote to hammer home a point. Like a strong grip in relation to a strong upper body, strong feet have a direct relationship to a strong lower body. You need to build muscle and get stronger from the ground up. As a basketball athlete, your feet are the only direct link to the ground. If your feet are weak and are unable to properly support the rest of your body (flat feet and no arch is a good indicator for a weak foot and ankle complex) then you are holding yourself back from building the strength and explosiveness that you need as an athlete. Plus, I have found a direct correlation to weak flat feet and ankle sprains! Try getting stronger when you are injured. It's not happening. Basketball athletes and ankle sprains go together more than any top entree cooked up in Hell's Kitchen!

I'm Telling 'Ya That This Guy Was One Of My Little League Baseball Coaches

You need to build muscle and strength in the foot and ankle complex just like the hand and grip. When the grip is strong and stable, so is the wrist and forearms. When the feet are strong and stable, so are the ankles. Look at it as Injury Prevention 101.

This is a very situational topic as a lot of athletes will become stronger in their feet just from squatting properly all while making adequate strength gains within their training (Squatting ques such as Spreading The Floor and Pushing The Feet Out while have appropriate weight on your back can build the feet up as long as you can maintain those postures while doing so). If you have flat feet and collapsed arches, and experiencing shin and knee pain from overpronation of the foot and ankle, then it will take a bit more special attention then squatting ques like the ones I just mentioned.

In my opinion, Squatting and Deadlifting (With all of their variations) is the superior way to build strength and power. This can all be attained and manipulated through training the Max Effort Method (Maximal Strength) and the Dynamic Effort Method (Moving Submaximal Weight Fast). I respectfully think you must be full of shit if you are a performance coach or an athlete who disagrees! On that note, none of this can be trained optimally if you have a severe weak link such as flat feet or collapsed arches of the foot. Again, "You are only as strong as your weakest link". This may be where you need to take a few steps back in your training so you can take a bunch of steps forward.

Yeah, That's Him

Before I tell you what to do, I am going to explain some of the reasons why athletes and people in general have weak and flat feet. Again, this is in no specific order:

Genetics play a role in the way you are structurally built (put together). You just have to thank your parents for this one! Good or bad, genetics are in no way an excuse to fall back on because no body is created perfect. If you fall back on excuses then you are holding yourself back on reaching your full potential whether in life, the gym, or on the basketball court. If we fell back on excuses, then I believe nobody would be great in life. What is great about the weaknesses of our bodies and our lives is that we can work on them and build them up and make them our greatest strengths. Like I tell all of my athletes, "All you have to give yourselves is time, 100% effort, and consistency. It is then when you see things come together and develop."

Not enough time walking around barefoot. There are strength coaches who believe their athletes should train barefoot all the time! Although I have mixed feelings about this (what if you have no feet or what if you are training in a complete shit hole for a place and you wouldn't use some one else's feet to train barefoot with) as barefoot training may be too much when done all the time and safety can be an issue in the weight room with certain training regiments, walking around your house barefoot is the first step. What does this mean? Clean your dirty floors, take off the socks,flip flops, and shoes and walk around. It may be the next best thing to being naked if your are not use to having anything on your feet. It also is the first step in building strength, balance, and stability of the foot and ankles.

Wearing the wrong footwear. Throw away the Man Heels! In the case for female athletes, high-heels aren't helping you either. Guys, it really isn't cool to be wearing sneakers or shoes with a three inch lift in the back. It's not productive for performance because it screws with your posture, desensitizes your feet, and has you walking around like a runway model. A great solution for shoes to train with would be Converse's Chuck Taylors for weight room training or you can go with the high bread route and train with Adidas Sambas. Adidas Sambas are great for weight room training and give good enough support for speed and agility training. These two training shoe choices will not only put the masculinity back into your training, but will provide appropriate foot and ankle support and also help in winning the fight against the desensitisation of athletes feet.
Athletes, Just Say No!
Men, It's Just Not Good For Posture

Overlooking the importance of foot strength for over all injury prevention and lower body health is a big mistake. I believe it is well established in the training community and athletic sports world on the importance of a strong grip and grip training. The same should go for the foot as they are structurally similar. You obviously are not going to be swinging from the trees with your feet like monkeys and won't be deadlifting weight off the floor with your feet, but you need to train the feet directly at times. Collapsed arches and severe ankle sprains should be considered one of those times to start training them! This leads me into the last and maybe most important reason because it will pertain to most athletes regarding the foot and ankle.

Not enough unilateral training with a full range of motion is a huge reason athletes suffer injury at the foot and ankle (besides the knee, groin, and hip). Single leg squats, step ups, lunges, and deadlifts not only build leg strength, but they challenge an athletes balance, mobility, and creates the ultimate enviorment for stability in the ankle and foot to be enhanced. I can spot weak ankles and feet as soon as an athlete attempts to perform unilateral training. Especially if it's for the very first first time. I can't count how many times I see an athlete with weak feet and ankles not be able to hold their balance while performing body weight single leg squats. How funny is it though that over time, balance issues go away when they become stronger in their unilateral training. It's not a coincidence! Stronger feet and ankles equal better balance. It's that simple. Although this may not be the end all be all for correcting flat feet and weak ankles for everybody, it has been a huge help with enabling an athlete to become stronger in the foot complex while still squatting (it's still a form of squatting even though it's with one leg) for increased leg strength. Check this video out below:



This is a Single Leg Squat progression that we have our athletes perform with no shoes for an improved arch of the foot. The only way this will work is if you force the foot that is in contact with the floor to arch ("Crunch Your Toes" is the que) the entire time while performing the Single Leg Squat. You have to maintain the arch so grip the hell out of the floor. It will make the bottom of your feet burn like nothing else because you are training the muscles of the foot. Those muscle are weak and inhibited. This is why you need to train them. Stick with your own body weight to start. Shoot for 4 sets of 8-12 reps with no weight. If you can perform the full 4 sets of 12 reps without loosing your arch and balance, then add some weight. I would make this the first exercise for leg day. Isolate to integrate is what you are doing here. Train the hell out of this movement until you can get stronger in your feet and ankles to integrate this back into Squatting and Deadlifting. Again, you are taking a step back in your training to correct a weak link so you can become injury reduced, stronger, and more powerful in the future. Kiss B.S. ankle sprains good bye. As you are able to maintain a forced arch of the foot, add in some foam so the foot can grip for increased foot strength. The foam will challenge the foot and ankle to a greater degree. This is the next step from the floor. This is one of our "Go To" movements for our athletes with flat feet and weak ankles. Keep in mind the progression here: Body weight for 4 sets of 12 controlled reps to adding weights for 4 sets of 12 controlled reps. When adding in the foam, do the same. Body weight for 4 sets of 12 controlled reps followed by adding in weight. We only perform the stuff that works!

If It Moves, Then It Can Be Trained,

Joe Rossi


A Side Note:

If you can add up the amount of years that you have been walking around with flat and weak feet (or any posture due to weakness), you will then realize how long it will take you to truly correct this problem. I am not going to B.S. you into thinking if you do A,B, and C then you will be completely restored and cured. As athletes, we all have our weak links that develop over time and some we are just born with. It takes a conscious decision to always attack weak areas in your training even if it means performing the shit we do not like to do. The greater good is feeling and performing better. If you think this is a bunch of fluff then don't do it. If you think there is some truth to what I am saying then give it a try. It will only make you better.