Before squat: Relax the calf muscles to make you squat deeper

Before squats: Relax the calf muscles!

In squat training! Many people just can't squat and can only barely squat until their thighs are parallel to the ground. If they are hard down, they will arch their backs and pelvis will be tilted back!

What is this? Is it because of poor skills?

A good squats require good technical and control skills, but this is just one of them!

The problem may be your ankles!

In the squat, the ankles are the easiest to be ignored, and everyone's attention is on the hip and knee joints!

When squats, when your knees push forward, your ankles are cooperating with the dorsiflexion of foot! Normally, dorsiflexion The degree of movement is about 20 degrees, and our squats can be carried out smoothly!

When the dorsiflexion movement is limited, it will limit the depth of your squat. When you squat to a certain point, it will be stuck and unable to squat anymore. If you have to squat down, it will cause tiptoe, or the spine will be bent, the pelvis will be flipped, and the person will fall backward!

You can try it yourself: see if your back can be straightened, and all your feet can be pressed against the ground and squat to the bottom. Many people have to tiptoe to squat to the bottom, or when squat to the bottom!

How to judge your ankle movement is limited?

Single kneeling dorsiflexion test (Half Kneeling Dorsiflexion Test), test barefoot, the distance between the soles of the foot (big toe) and the wall is 5 inches (16.6 cm).

If the knees move forward, you can touch the wall (the knees are not inclined inward, the soles of the foot and heels are not far away), it means that your dorsiflexion is very good; on the contrary, there is room for improvement.

There are many reasons for the limit of dorsiflexion, and the most important reason is that the calf muscles responsible for plantar flexion are too tight!

The calf muscles are too tight, which limits The amplitude of dorsiflexion. If the dorsiflexion is not enough when squatting, it will limit your squatting amplitude.

Before squatting, you can improve the elasticity of the calf muscles by massage and stretching to improve the ankle mobility to help you better squat!

Massage and relaxation: Use foam rollers or tennis balls to relieve the pain points and relax the muscles

Stretching and restoring the flexibility of the muscles

Motional training: Restore the ankles to normal mobility!