POSTERIOR CHAIN LOAD-UP

Have you ever coached an athlete in the deadlift or squat that just couldn’t seem to figure out how to sit back and let the posterior chain load up?  A rob the forefoot drill is a drill I use with many clients ranging from extremely high-level athletes to the weekend warrior.  Here is the premise behind the movement.  First, I want to clear ankle mobility issues, which is really quite easy.  Put your athlete in half kneeling barefoot and have them lunge forward keeping their heel on the ground, if they can get their shin to be 45 degrees or greater, they don’t have a mobility problem at the ankles.  An even easier test is to do a plate squat, where you have an athlete hold a 10 pound plate out in front with their arms locked out and have them squat as deep as they can.  If it drastically improves then odds are, it’s a stability issue not a mobility issue.  This also explains why a ton of your mobility work has probably not helped too much.  So if you’re one of those athletes or coaches who works with athletes and mobility work just doesn’t seem to work no matter how much you do, this post is for you.