Building a Strong Foundation
As instructors, we are working with kids a lot. Observing their movement, lack of flexibility, and lack of mobility is not good. It all starts with feet. Performing all the exercises, especially the kicks with a proper form is extremely important. If the kids stick with a bad form, injuries might happen. I think we, as instructors, are on a mission here.
We often see how bad some of those little feet are at such early ages! I always feel conflicted, because I notice fallen arches or the way the walking visibly affects the knees and the whole posture. Wanting to help is one thing, but how to bring it up to the parents? As a parent I would be offended and/or angry. There are so many ways we as parents can help out. Some simple exercises help a lot. Don’t wait until your child is in need of an orthopedic insoles. Another delicate issue is the choice of footwear parents provide for their kids. Trust me, Crocs and flip flops are not doing them any good! But this is the topic for another article.
Importance of Mobility
Ankle mobility is more important than most of us think. Many injuries are connected to lack of thereof. Next available joints, the knees often take over trying to help the ankles. (see my article about knee problems here)
People think we need to restrict our ankle movement in order to perform better – check out all the basketball sneakers out there. Ankles in fact need mobility and restricting that doesn’t do us any good. In fact if you strengthen your ankle it will help you walk better (correctly) and will help to stop or slow down the weakening of your knee and hip muscles. Your future self will be grateful!
Luckily for us Martial Artists, we mostly work out barefoot. People think shoes are this great invention that is designed to help us. Well that all depends. There are shoes – even the pricey ones – that are hurting us. I’m not even talking about high heels here. I’m talking about sneakers. (Here you can read a little about common foot problems and how to chose the right shoes
Adding some ankle stretches to the usual stretching routine might benefit us all. Your ankles need mobility, you should work on that for a couple of minutes every time you train.
According to a joint by joint approach, if we don’t have mobility in our ankles, the next joint – the knee – a joint that is supposed to be stable, will try to do both – and add mobility to compensate for ankles lack thereof. We all know knee problems are one of the most common amongst Martial Artists, so you might want to try to be proactive!
We have 28 bones in our feet and 30 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments in each foot (see here ). Whichever movement we do, we need to make sure our feet are stable. It’s equally important while running, jumping or kicking. Training your balance is important. Try some yoga balance asanas, or just stand on one leg while washing dishes or brushing your teeth. One of the simple assessments is the one I mentioned here.
Some Helpful Drills
It’s a very good idea to try to incorporate some of ankle mobility exercises to the classes, maybe as a warm up or an easy drill?
Start with ankle assessment. Place your right foot 5-6 inches away from the wall. Kneel down.
Keeping the right foot at this position, try to touch the wall in front of you with your left knee without lifting your heel. Repeat on the other side. You might measure your assessment, add some ankle mobility stretches and reassess before your next workout. Ideally, you will be able to touch the wall with your knee. If that’s a problem, try working on ankle mobility, stretch it out and definitely reassess after a while.
A great, easy, and inexpensive thing we can start helping out ankle mobility is a foot massage with the help or a simple lacrosse ball. Yes, it’s bottom of the foot, not exactly and ankle, but I promise it will help you a lot. Start with a couple minutes of rolling. Either standing up or sitting down if standing up is too painful.
Martial Arts Taekwondo Stretches
Improving ankle mobility can start here with these simple exercises:
1. Standing up ankle rotations: Stand up, feet shoulder width apart and start rotating your ankle. Then do 10-15 each direction and switch legs.
This can be performed anytime, so try it out when you in line to the register, waiting for your coffee, etc. For more advanced version, try to rotate the ankle outlining bottom of your foot.
2. Standing up 4 direction stretch: Still standing up, stretch your ankle in all four directions, holding the stretch for at lest 30 seconds. Then switch legs, and If you want to make it harder, use the wall to help with it.
3. Seated calf release with the help of a foam roller. Sitting down, use a foam roller to roll on your calf. Harder version is putting your opposite leg on top of the one you’re rolling on. Starting rolling from the bottom up, focusing on tight spots – stop and roll there for a little longer. Switch legs and repeat.
4. Seated calf release – twisting: Next, roll side to side, imagine twisting your ankle while still foam rolling. Same as the previous exercise, spend more time on the tight spots. Switch legs and repeat the process.
5. Deep squat stretch: Assume deep squat stretch position and stay there for a while. After at least 30 seconds, start using your body weight to push down on your knees to get more stretch. You should feel it in your calves. Gently rock with it, spend a 2-3 minutes alternating the legs.
6. Body weight long lounge: From the lizard asana you might know from yoga, as seen on the picture below. Since this is an ankle mobility stretch, focus on having you knee way past the foot. Using your shoulder and your body weight start pushing down. You will most definitely feel this stretch. Stay there for a minute or more and repeat with the other leg.
7. Any yoga balance poses you can think of (or find online): I recommend my all time favorite tree pose 🙂 After at least a minute, switch legs. If a minute is too long, start with 15-20 seconds. When it gets too easy try closing your eyes. If that is not a challenge, use a balance board (with your eyes closed 😉 ) Balance boards are great tools that can help with balance.
I hope I got some instructors inspired. Sometimes it’s the little things that can make a change and let’s start with ankles!
Anna is a co-author of a book: "Reach Your Goal. Stretching and Mobility Exercises for Fitness, Personal Training and Martial Arts" available on Amazon.
- Young Athletes and Martial Arts Injuries - November 11, 2020
- Martial Journal Spotlight: Anthony DelMar On Adults in Traditional Martial Arts - April 3, 2020
- Ankle Mobility Stretches for Martial Arts - February 24, 2020
Leave a Reply