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Ankle exercises
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

Following on from the problem I had with my achilles tendon http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=31056 (which seems to be a lot better now after a few days of rest) and this thread http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=31014 I thought I should really try to do regular calf/ankle exercises.

The ones I normally do are:

    Standing on the stairs, one foot fully on, the other one just the ball with the heel dropping down below the step - hold that position.

    On the stairs (but holding on!), raise yourself on tip toes and slowly lower your heels down below the step. Repeat several times.

    Standing with both feet facing forwards, take a step forwards, bend the front leg and stretch out the back leg down into the heel.

Are these useful ones? Any others that people use?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

cathy, I do number 3 pushing against the wall/door.... and repeat each leg with the rear leg bent.... also the podiatrist insists these be done with the inside edge of the foot lifted a little .... the physio wants the rear foot slightly turned in (must accost physio as to the why of each of these)....

Try the lift one without holding on to improve your balance (stand on bottom step).... Do it on 1 leg and if that gets too easy add weights to your hands... I think I have got to around 15kg on 1 leg when I was going to the gym regularly...

Stand on dynadisc on 1 foot.... Do stuff to challenge yourself if this is easy - eg catch and throw medicine balls... - squats etc etc.... - close eyes...

Add dynadisc to your regular exercises - eg lunge to dynadisc, squat on dynadisc, wall squat on dynadisc, lunge from dynadisc, lunge backwwards from dynadisc, lunge diagonally onto dynadisc etc etc etc
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

cathy, I do the same as little tiger, in her 1st paragraph. 3 x each leg, 1st with a straight rear leg and then a set with a bent leg trying to get the knee down to the floor. Most importantly - Make sure each rep is of at least 30 secs.
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as per Frosty the Snowman, if you do the #1 exercise with the knee bent as well as knee flexed you work different parts of the calf

I also like to stretch my ankle sideways when standing up by rolling one foot onto its side and slowly lean over to build up some pressure on the side of the ankle, hold for 20 -30 secs.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

skimottaret wrote:
as per Frosty the Snowman, if you do the #1 exercise with the knee bent as well as knee flexed you work different parts of the calf


The reason for the straight leg/bent leg variations is that the gastroc(nemius?) muscle spans the ankle and knee joint, but soleus only spans the ankle joint and is deeper that gastroc. So with a straight leg you work both, but with a bent leg you isolate the soleus. If you have low body fat you can probably see these these two muscles if you tense your calf, the gastroc sits on top of soleus.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.

zebedee, you obviously know your stuff, any other stretches or exercises that you could recommend?
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

skimottaret, no, just recalling the odd fact from a misspent degree Smile

The main one I do is where you step back so your back leg is straight, front leg bent and push against a wall, then hold that position, take breathes in and out, as you exhale try to feel the muscle relax a little bit more. Then, keep your knee (back leg) where it is and shift your weight back over a now bent back leg and then push this knee forwards and towards toward the floor. The stair one sounds good too.

You can also combine these positions with PNF stretching technques http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/archives/pnf-stretching.php.

I need to do more stretching myself - my ankle range of movement is terrible. The only thing that puts me off is that you should really only stretch once you're warmed up, that and I'm lazy wink
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!

Good things here thanks! Not sure I'm getting the exercise where you do my third exercise but with the back leg bent and knee pushing towards the floor - my knee can just go on the floor so I'm sure I'm doing something not right. Can someone explain a bit further what should be happening/what I should be doing?

Edit - just tried it again, but this time with my heel staying on the floor but with knee bent - I was doing it with my heel off the ground previously! Embarassed Toofy Grin
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.

I dislocated my left ankle a few years ago, best excercise yet was five-a-side footy.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads

I honestly don't know what my ankle flex is like now, but from about the age of 4 to my late teens I rode horses regularly at a time when the mantra was 'toes up, heels down'. Even now if I sit on a horse, regardless of whether I have stirrups, my feet naturally assume this orientation. From the exercises described above it seems to me that this can't have been bad news for the development of my ankles as I grew up.
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