For those of you guys that are like I don’t have any plantar flexion. Here are three quick things that you can do to improve that, big caveat here is you’re stretching tendons not muscles when you’re trying to improve your plantar flexion, tendons aren’t supposed to stretch so this isn’t something that you would hold for like 30 minutes or something like that it’s not yoga. This isn’t something that you should just do spontaneously should be very intentional and you shouldn’t have to be having any pain. The first thing you can do is foam roll shins, just like this first lady is here, that muscle is the muscle that comes in and attaches to all the tendons on the top of your feet, which are the tendons that determine the amount of plantar flexion that you have. Once again you can’t stretch tendons well, so let’s foam roll the muscle that connects to those tendons and see if that muscle is tight and if it increases your plantar flexion. Most people that I’ve worked with, especially triathletes and master swimmers if I had them start doing foam rolling or even having one of the rollers and doing that muscle. They were tight because they were super sore from all the running and everything else that they’re doing. They’ve all seen an increase in plantar flexion so foam rolling that muscle specifically it’s on the side of your shin, your posterior Posterior Tibialis muscle is going to help you. Another thing you can do is sit on the tops of your ankles. This is for people who don’t have knee issues. You can also sit in a chair, or do this in a chair just putting your big toe down, and then pushing the shin forward. This is a very passive way to stretch the tops of your feet. The reality is you should be able to sit like this little guy right here that’s not anatomically different. So you want to make sure that you can do what’s called heroes pose in yoga, and it also ensures that you’re still getting that 50 degrees of plantar flexion, which we’re testing in the line test. Another thing you can do is just perform ankle pumps, ankle pumps are just strictly you put your heel down on the ground and you pump the foot back and forth so you’re working plantar flexion dorsiflexion, as you’re moving those toes. And that just gets blood flow moving down there it’s requiring those tendons to activate and fire and every time that you’re moving the tendons around you’re elongating them that shortening them so it will help improve your plantar flexion. Out of all those things, my favorite is foam rolling. I’ve seen the most help with that. There’s been not as many injuries or pain or anything associated with it, but overall it’s not common that people don’t like foaming rolling.
