On Oct 23, 2008, at 1:22 AM, "Sean Van Staden"
wrote:
I have just broken a sweat watch your workout. Andrew you are a machine! A technical question. When you are doing the jump squats, are you landing heel toe or ball heel?
Sean aka South Africa
ASP
*****************
Hi Sean!
Thanks for checking out the video.
The jump squat landings are ball-heel. The ankle is loose during the flight phase (it's a short flight!) as I want to (a) begin the deceleration at my foot/calf instead of quad/hip, and (b) I want to encourage as much ankle mobility as possible, so as much as I do love the principle of dorsiflexing (had to get it in there!) each time the foot leaves the ground, physiologically, I just don't land that way.
Essentially, the ankle needs to remain as mobile as possible to prevent knee issues, so I let it hang loose.
It's certainly open for discussion; that's been my hope for Dorsiflexion from the beginning.
Great to hear from you!
Andrew
*****************
Sean Van Staden wrote:
Hmmm,
I am a little confused to the movement, could you please explain it again. From what I understand. Once we take off from a ball heel position, the foot is loose? Hence pointing downwards. If the foot is cock back or up to the sky there is a greater distance which will mean more force can be generated. Also if you are saying that foot should be loose, why would this movement be any different from a sprinting movement but i know the foot needs to be cocked back?
Also why then do we when doing squats or box jumps push from the heels and land on the box heel toe. Clearly if we land or use our balls in the squat it create a lot of pressure for the patella and hence problems with the knees. I also understand that the biomechanical lines of greatest strength lie from the hell, knee, hips. What again I don't understand is that yes we are doing these exercises to gain strength but it is far from a function movement pushing off your heels.
Regards, Sean
*****************
Hi Sean -
Let me try to clarify my perspective.
First, there is a significant difference between the execution of a squat jump and the drive phase of a sprint. The squat jump is all about movement/counter-movement; the athlete's ability to absorb then redirect the force of the landing is the emphasis. The sprint is all about the drive of the cocked foot into the ground to create propulsion/acceleration, no counter-movement. The goals are different, so the actions are different.
Second, it has to be stated that the ankle joint is designed for mobility. As soon as that mobility is compromised, so is the natural ability to absorb and distribute force. Think about this - 20 years ago, there was no such thing as a 'high ankle sprain.' There were not nearly the number of ACL injuries in pro and amateur sports as we have today.
What's the first thing today's athletes do to prepare for competition? They have their ankles taped. Why? Theoretically, the tape adds stability to the joint, but that's not what the joint is designed for. When a basketball athlete comes down on the side of someone else's foot, instead of the ankle rolling and the knee and hip following, allowing the athlete to simply fall, the ankle is locked by the tape,
and the stress of the landing/inversion goes to the mid-shin ("high ankle") or knee.
Try standing up, and making a quick lateral move to the right. Did your left heel leave the ground? Make the same move, but keep your left heel flat on on the ground - no push off to the ball of your foot. Just a quick lateral move to the right from a flat left foot. It's not easy; imagine a soccer or American football player having to make that move with a taped ankle, limiting the ability to push off. Where does the stress go? To the knee.
As to the question about box jumps, I personally do not teach heel takeoffs. Same form as squat jumps; flat foot start, heel rolls to toe. Box jump landings, if landing on an elevated platform, may be done with a dorsiflexed ankle, but to me, this is more of a strategy to be sure the athlete doesn't catch his toes on the landing surface, and to insure that the hips are involved with the landing.
Squats are a different animal, again because we're seeking a different goal. What do you spend more time doing - teaching correct squat technique, including neck, torso, hip, knee, and ankle position, or loading the bar? Since many folks are strength-deficient in the glutes, it would be irresponsible for us to teach them to perform quad-dominant squats. People need to learn to engage the hips & glutes for function, balance, AND strength, and because they are so quad-dominant, we move away from actual functional mechanics (pressing feet thru knees thru hips, etc) to bring them back into balance.
Hope that answers some questions - or creates new ones!
Andrew
Phone: 847 877 6673
Email: drew@asaptraining.net
Web: www.asaptraining.net
No comments:
Post a Comment