Ankle Performance and You

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Function and mobility of the ankle

The ankle, one of the smaller joints but bears a huge load.  1.5 times yourweight is being applied when you are walking or standing, and eight times your weight when running. The ankle is a hinge joint The three bones, the tibia the fibula and the talus come together with articular cartilage in between. The cartilage allows the bones to move against one another smoothly and acts a shock absorber. Although the ankle is only made up of three bones, it is one of the most commonly injured parts of the human body.

Many do not have adequate ankle mobility.  From a movement stand point, decreased joint mobility at the ankle joint or tibiofibular joint. When walking, running, skating, squatting, picking something up, ankle mobility can be the difference between moving properly and getting injured. It’s like Jenga, if the blocks are built over a strong foundation, the game continues. Once the base begins to tilt the end is near! When the ankle doesn’t move properly the knee is affected. Once the knee is affected, you guessed it, the hip also begins to suffer.

The ankle up the chain:

The inability to perform a proper stride forces the body to find different ways to complete the movement. Compensation pattern do not eliminate the load experienced when hitting the ground during running; they simply shift it to other parts of the body which can lead to pain elsewhere.

Knee pain

The human body is a kinetic chain, if the knee tracks properly over the ankle there should be limited wear and tear on the knee. What happens at one joint will have an effect at another joint. The joints not sitting properly and the lack of ankle dorsiflexion when running or walking can lead to an early bending in the knee, which in turn can disrupt the whole efficiency of stride pattern.

 

Hip/lower back pain

Reduced dorsiflexion can increase the duration of time in which the heel is off the ground. The result… a decrease in hip extension, not allowing the person to complete a a full stride through the hip, knee and ankle. It may limit glute activation and create the feeling of tight hamstrings and in turn develop an anterior pelvic tilt.

 

Stay tuned, the next few weeks, we will focus in on the signs of ankle dysfunction and and how to fix the problem to increase performance in life, sports and performance.

Written By: Kirill Vaks

Fitness Specialist

BA,CSCS,ACSM-cpt,NFPT-sns

 

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Training Aspects Personal Training and Sports Performance:

Visit us:
Inside of the Flyers Training Center
601 Laurel Oak Rd.
Voorhees, NJ 08043

Training Aspects’  personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals!  Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

 

3 Things to Make Your Sports Season a Success

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Top 3 Things to Make Your Sports Season a Success

Athletes want to get compete on the highest level, get stronger and dominant their sport, doing whatever it takes. Great mentality to have for the  majority of the year. During the offseason, training can be at it’s highest intensity, your body will be able to recover properly in your down time. In season, that’s another story!  Practices and games and the “on the go mentality” increases stress on the body. Active recovery and proper nutrition needs to be a focus during the season. Here are the top 3 ways to get you there.

 Sports Success Tip 1: Adjust Your Training intensity

Decrease your training volume! During the offseason many athletes are working out 5-6 times a week. This is usually the right balance between getting in as much performance work as possible, while still allowing your body to recover. Once the season starts with increased practices and game days you’re going to need to scale back on the amount of training you’re doing. Some different ways to adjust your training load can be to lower the intensity, limit heavy weights, reduce number of training days and increase recovery methods. Focus on bodyweight mobility and strength.

Sports Success Tip 2: Increase Recovery Methods

Keeping your body fresh is most important! This is the time your body needs to be performing at its peak. The last thing you want is to go out on the ice or field and feel tight, sluggish, and under perform. Consistently going out to play with tight muscles and your body moving in-efficiently can lead to potential injures that will bring your season to a halt. No matter how talented you are, if you are on the sidelines, it doesn’t matter. Increasing muscle releasing, stretching and mobilizing combined with efficient body movement training can greatly improve performance and reduce injury risk.

Sports Season Success Tip 3: Pre and Post Game Nutrition

Athletes have a Go-Go-Go mindset, Plan your food and drink!  Food and water is the same as  fuel for a car. If you have a Ferrari you can’t put regular gas in it. As an athlete you are a Ferrari. Away game trips do not give you an excuse to eat poorly.  So make sure you make eating and hydration a priority. Carbs are your friend, give the body easy energy for the athlete. An in game electrolyte drink such Accelerade or bodyarmour can be beneficial in aiding endurance sports lasting over 1 hour 1/2 – 2 hours. Plenty of water, about 12-16 fl.oz per hour pre game. During the game have a mix between water an electrolyte carb drink. Post game drink 12-16 Fl.oz per pound lost, as well as, a protein, sugar, electrolyte combination to replenish lost fluids and nutrients and begin the rebuilding process. Then a meal an hour later.

Incorporate these 3 things into your in-season training and see a huge spike in your performance.

Written By:

Robert Jost

NSCA-CPT, ACE-CPT

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Training Aspects Personal Training and Sports Performance:

Visit us:
Inside of the Flyers Training Center
601 Laurel Oak Rd.
Voorhees, NJ 08043

Training Aspects’  personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals!  Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

 

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Diets and the Pavlovian Conditioning Battle

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3 Tips to succeed on a “Diet”

 

If it isn’t the new fitness craze it’s usually a new diet that cures all and is the ultimate weight loss, toner. The various diets marketed: Atkins, intermittent fasting, carb cycling, weight watchers, keto, southbeach and the numerous others that hit the main stream. There are some that get results others a horror story.

Nutrition, for many, creates a challenge. The food that is often available is “junk food” fast food chains, as well as many pop in food restaurants. Food is also used for celebration, meetings, bordem, and it brings people together! Papa John’s pizza pays millions to be the NFL’s pizza sponsor. If a house has a football game on, there is a good chance Pizza, wings and coke are also being indulged. Food, events and having the right people creates the ultimate source of pleasure. The personal stories shared and the bonds that are created at these gatherings, overtime, create that involuntary positive response, classical conditioning. This happens with many situation, though they may be different, the habit created becomes the greatest obstacle.

The ANSWER!?… Change the behavior or get a hypnotist… could work! For the article’s sake, we’ll assume you’re doing it yourself. Here are 3 ways to succeed!

Nutrition Tip 1:  It’s a marathon not a sprint 

Choose a diet which fits your lifestyle not just for the moment, because you have a goal that’s a few weeks away, but a diet that can be adopted as a lifestyle.

Nutrition Tip 2 : Stop saying you’re on a diet

Everyone has done it, sat at a Thanksgiving meal ate the veggies and some of the turkey breast. Someone yells across the table “you have to try the stuffing”… “I’m on a diet I can’t eat that”. You create two specific problems. First, you become a target. Someone at the table is going to continue to insist you have some. “It’s ok it’s a holiday you can have a cheat meal” now you test your will and continue to fight back and though some may commend you… WHY?! just say “it looks great but I honestly don’t want any right now.” Without realizing it, when you answer “I’m on a diet” you reinforced to everyone but more importantly yourself, that instead of a lifestyle change this is just a temporary habit. Which leads into the second problem, don’t create a situation for yourself that makes you want to push the “red button”. You know, when you tell a kid don’t push that button? curiosity kills them! they push it. Maybe you don’t give in that time, but you’re creating an obstacle for yourself where there doesn’t need to be one. Don’t be your own worst enemy… “Thank you for the offer, it looks great! Honestly, I’m full”… try it!

Nutrition Tip 3:Plan your food

As you’re reading this you’re probably making a face. We plan our whole lives, activities, Dr. appointments, Kids soccer games, friends spelling bees, you name it it’s in a schedule. As big of a challenge as food is, it needs to be Scheduled! Set up a day to prep your food for the week. Then Make appointments for yourself to make sure you’ll eat it at the appropriate time. Even the busiest person can find time to sneak in a healthy meal, they just may not realize it. The meal is made by you and has everything you need to succeed, minus all the extra stuff. Don’t leave your food to chance, first time you get busy you will stop for the quickest food choice, and as discussed earlier, it’s usually not the greatest option.

Creating a habit with intent is the difference between having success on a “diet” and having a horror story experience. Reflect on the poor nutritional habits you have created and find solutions to combat them. The three in this article are a great place to start.

Written By: Kirill Vaks

Fitness Specialist

BA,CSCS,ACSM-cpt,NFPT-sns

 

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Training Aspects Personal Training and Sports Performance:

Visit us:
Inside of the Flyers Training Center
601 Laurel Oak Rd.
Voorhees, NJ 08043

Training Aspects’  personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals!  Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…