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Thread: "Least Bad" Modification to Squat with Very Poor Ankle Dorsiflexion

  1. #1
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    Default "Least Bad" Modification to Squat with Very Poor Ankle Dorsiflexion

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    My left ankle has very poor dorsiflexion due to a severe avulsion fracture 8 years ago in which the bone was not set correctly before it healed. The result of which is that it is essentially impossible for me to do front squats and proper high bar back squats anymore. (My knee to wall test for my good ankle is 12-13cm but for my bad ankles is 0.5-1cm)

    I have managed to do lowbar squats since the injury (but never with very heavy weights) by compensating in 4 ways; widening my stance, pointing my toes further out, and lowing my back angle more horizontal (~75 degrees vs 45) and not going to proper depth. If I do "proper" form I can not get to depth without a bar, or with an empty bar without falling over backwards,

    I started my NLP 8 weeks ago but have had to exaggerate some of those compensations in order or to get the depth the program requires. I started to have pretty bad hip flexor pain around 285-300lb work sets (Im age 32, 170lb, 5'8). I was searching the forums for post about dorsiflexion to see if this was just inevitable because of the form compensations . I came across this post from someone with worse dorsiflexion than me who said:

    "I have an ankle with really poor flexibility (I can't get my knee over my toe with rogue do wins on). Use a slightly wider stance and bend over more."

    Clearly he seems to be able to make modifications without breaking something else. Once my hip heals a bit i'am going to start again (de-loaded 50+lbs)

    My question is what should the order of priority for modifications to hit depth with bad ankle dorsiflexion that are the "least bad". Should I start by widening stance, then lower back, then point toes more as needed?. Should I do the reverse of that? Should you always keep toes at 30 degrees but modify stance and back angle? Should I widen stance but then point my toes a little less? Is there a reasonable limit to back angle before its considered detrimental (ie. going from 45 -> 60 is probably fine but going to 75 is not)?

    Any advise would be appreciated

  2. #2
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    Video? Duh.

  3. #3
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    Jun 2019
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    as i'm injured I cant post a video until I get my hip checked out and healed up (its currently is quite painful even trying air squats), but hopefully it wont be more than a week or two. I have also ordered shoes with 0.3 extra inches of heel than what i was using, i think that should also help.

    My question was more about first principals. bad ankle dorsiflexion causes your center of mass to be behind your midfoot at depth if your back angle, stance width, and foot angle are all in line with optimal positions from the book. To compensate for this you can counter balance in a number of ways such as; lean more forward bringing the bar slightly in front of the midfoot or widen/open the stance so hips don't go back as far and the midfoot position is back slightly. The question becomes as the weights get heavy both seem bad but which should be avoided more if possible?

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by DarkIntegral View Post
    bad ankle dorsiflexion causes your center of mass to be behind your midfoot at depth if your back angle, stance width, and foot angle are all in line with optimal positions from the book.
    A misunderstanding. Optimal position is the CCOM in balance over the mid-foot. More vertical shins require a more horizontal back angle. Read this:

    Understanding the Master Cue | Mark Rippetoe

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