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Monday, June 24, 2013

Training Idea's You've Never Heard Of Part 3 - Put Your Best Foot Forward


What's the most important part of your car?

The engine is a good answer but what connects the engine with the road?

Ah yes, the wheels.

If your wheels can't support the engine then bad things happen. Bad expensive things. And no doubt you'd get onto that right away.

As this a blog on footy and the preparation of your body for it, lets go out of the speaking in metaphors.

You pump it all the way up in the gym getting bigger and stronger in the hope of getting faster and thus better (cos speed is king).

You'll squat. You'll deadlift. You'll lunge. A lot of you will leg extend which is a waste of time but hey, not everyone's perfect.

But let's go back a bit and think about the actual motion of running.

What's the only part of your body to touch the ground when you run?

What part of your body needs to be able to absorb and then release all the strength and power you've built up in your hips and legs to make sprinting faster an actual reality?

I bet you've never trained your feet and that's a huge mistake.

Specifically you want to focus on your big toe and your arch.

Addressing the big toe first If you have a stiff big toe then 3 major issues can arise.

1 - When you walk the entire body must advance over the foot and ankle but if your big toe is inhibited (just doesn't work like its meant to) then you'll fond another way around which alters your alignment and can cause problems at the foot, ankle, knee, hip, low back and even shoulder/neck issues.

2 - If you can't load your big toe then it can become arthritic pretty quickly.

3 - You won't be able to achieve triple extension or an adequate toe off position to achieve optimal sprinting mechanics and thus you won't be able to access the "engine room' you've worked long and hard to build up in the gym.

Addressing the arch, it's main role in sprinting is to be able to be strong enough to put as much force as you can generate into the ground with as little deformity as possible. If you bounce a flat footy on the ground it flattens out when it comes in contact with the ground and barely springs back if at all.

If you have a weak arch, and in a lot cases no arch at all, then you're leaking just as much power as you are generating.

To determine if it your big toe is an issue for you then record yourself doing some reverse lunges and look at your back foot. If your big toe is no good then you'll be loading your smaller toes on the outside of your foot and you won't be very stable either.

To determine if your arch is an issue then record your self performing a bodyweight squat and look for your foot to roll inwards as you descend into your deepest position.

Below is a video of some exercises that I've been using to train the forefoot.

For the squats onto toes focusing on pushing right through the big toe on every rep.

For the step ups again focusing on pushing through the big toe and limit foot deformity by maintaining the plantar flexed angle you start with.

For the depth drops focus on landing on your toes again limiting deformity of the foot upon landing and hold each landing for 1 - 2 seconds in an athletic stance.

The skipping basically puts all this together so stay on tour toes, push right through your big toe and keep foot deformity to a minimum where your heels should not touch the ground at all


Pop these in your warm up for 8 - 15 reps focusing on quality over quantity and aim for 3 - 4 times a week.

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