| Pages: | 1 | 2 | |
| MrAnkles |
| ||
|
I'm curious to know if ankle flexibility is required to be a good runner? When you see pictures of the very top fast runners, their back foot as it's about to lift off the ground, is fully extended. I say this because in swimming I could never get my ankles flat and equal with my shins. Lately i've been kneeling down and trying to get them to the ground to help me with swimming and i thought a by product would be to get me push off higher on my back foot. Is it necessary to have flexible ankles for running though? |
| Lorenzo the Magnificent |
| ||
|
A coach I used to work with actually told me that ankle dorsiflexion is the best predictor of who will be a good runner. That may overstate the case a bit, but it is important. |
| MrAnkles |
| ||
Ah, secrets from the Simpsons Stonecutters revealed! I've never read anything about it or seen anybody do ankle stretches. The one time coach did it these after fartlek training but said something about shins but never understood that either. So me at work lying on the floor listening to dreary speeches could benefit me even if i do have bad ankle dorsiflexion? |
| Frank Storch |
| ||
|
The more flexibility you have in general is good. I wrote a post about my favorite shoe the Vibram Five Fingers on my blog. http://www.storchthetorch.com/ These will really increase overall mobility. |
| ggg |
| ||
|
that is correct. And in particular runners who didn't wear shoes in their childhood have a superior technique cf many Africans. Lydiard used to say that runners could learn something from ballet dancers regarding ankle flexibility. |
| mstars |
| ||
|
Are you talking about ankle flexibility with toes pointed straight out or flexed up towards your chin? Plantarflexed is pointed out and dorsiflexed is pointed up. I've only heard of dorsiflexion being important. But, I've never looked for info about ankle flexion, so both could be important, I don't know for sure. |
| Robot Unicorn |
| ||
|
Dude, why the fvck is there a comma in the name of this thread? |
| aha |
| ||
|
Yes, I was wondering that too, a superfluous comma. But why? |
| Conundrum |
| ||
|
Actually, contrary to conventional running wisdom, flexible muscles are slower.
|
| Conundrum |
| ||
|
Newer research provideds evidence that above average flexibility relates to below average speed. "When the Nebraska Wesleyan researchers compared the runners’ sit-and-reach scores to the measurements of their economy, which had been garnered from a treadmill test, they found that, across the board, the tightest runners were the most economical. This was true throughout the groups and within the genders. The inflexible men were more economical than the women, and for both men and women, those with the tightest hamstrings had the best running economy. They also typically had the fastest 10-kilometer race times. Probably, the researchers concluded, tighter muscles allow “for greater elastic energy storage and use” during each stride. Inflexibility, in other words, seems to make running easier. For years, flexibility has been widely considered a cornerstone of health and fitness. Many of us stretch before or after every workout and fret if we can’t lean over and touch our toes. We gape enviously at yogis wrapping their legs around their ears. “It’s been drummed into people that they should stretch, stretch, stretch — that they have to be flexible,” says Dr. Duane Knudson, professor of biomechanics at Texas State University in San Marcos, who has extensively studied flexibility and muscle response. “But there’s not much scientific support for that.” |
| old fool |
| ||
|
You can have flexibility and be fast too. Don't believe all the 'new research' you read. |
| MAURICE |
| ||
|
kind of a dumb comment. Nobody is saying you can't "have flexibility and be fast too.." What has been written about more extensively the last few years though is the surprising abscence of scientific/performance data that supports the idea that more flexibility = running faster. In fact, it appears the opposite could be true, to an extent. Why cling to static stretching when dynamic warm-ups and active isolated stretching have been shown to be more effective to help you run faster? |
| old fool |
| ||
|
Who says I'm clinging to static streching only? What I am saying is that runners are prone to hamstring/sciatic nerve problems, which can affect all other parts of the body. By improving the range of motion and doing specific strenghthening exercizes, we can eliminate/minimize these problems. |
| surprise macaroni surprise |
| ||
|
People need to get back on point here. He's talking specifically about how flexible the ankle is in terms of pushing downwards against the ground. I think it is hugely important. A really tight calve/ankle definitely grossly limits your stride length. |
| Bell Lapper |
| ||
|
"Did the cat do stretches? did the cat jog around? Did the cat do knee bends? No, the cat just got up and went. Nor more warming up. Forget it." Percy Cerutty |
| surprise macaroni surprise |
| ||
I've never watched a cat or dog's track event, so I can't say. |
| fdasfadsfasdfadsf |
| ||
|
People have a funny tendency to pull muscles when they don't warm up. Hence warm-ups. Anyhow, not much info out there on ankle flexibility, other than the fact that people who don't have good ankle dorsiflexion tend to be forefoot strikers (by necessity). |
| MAURICE |
| ||
|
I've seen my cat drop the hammer & throw in some brutal surges in the last 1k of local 10k races. I can't even find a kenyan who'll agree to race her these days. In training, she favors tongue strengthening exercises, hairball regurgitation work and about 18 hours of sleep a day. She's tried to be a positive influence on my dog, but he seems fixated on licking his nuts and begging for treats. Throw a few squirrels in a race as rabbits - or just use real rabbits - and I think he'd do OK. He thinks Lydiard is a dork. |
| brohemoth |
| ||
Warm-ups, yes. Stretching, no. |
| Conundrum |
| ||
|
Thanks for the intelligent reply. Some people get such a anti-science bias because they don't fully understand and interpret findings. Its possible that extreme inflexibility is not positive for speed. But higher average inflexibility correlates with higher average speed. For instance, the study doesn't say that the inflexibility/speed correlation exists at the extremes of inflexibility.
|
| Pages: | 1 | 2 | |