JONGSON PARK

Flexibility is muscle length. Mobility is tendon length. We commonly understand flexibility a little better, it’s the stretches we’ve been taught since P.E. The concept is lengthening the muscles through extension. But mobility is a little less commonly understood, probably because as a child our mobility is great and so we don’t do much mobility work while growing up. The core property that allows for greater mobility is length in the tendons and the viscoelastic property of becoming either rigid and elastic.

So as we get older how do we improve or regain our mobility? If you think of muscles lengthening through extensions, i.e. straight legs to stretch out your hamstrings. Think of lengthening tendons through flexion. The tendon wraps around the joint, it’s that hinge where the tendon needs to have more length. The tendon will always have enough to work in the mid-range motions but it’s in the deep flexion where the tendon will start to lose its range. But even as we get older, that mid-range can become smaller and smaller, if you’ve ever seen an older person with very short strides walking, the tendons in their ankles, knees and hips have drastically shortened over time. If our body doesn’t get into those deep ranges, our body will deprogram the tendons physical requirements to maintain that ability.

Tendons have amazingly high tensile strength. The achilles tendon can withstand loads of 8x your body weight. They’re like steel cables. Imagine trying to lengthen steel cables. So when we get into a squat and our hips or knees can’t get into a deep crease or try to get deeper dorsiflexion. We seem stuck and hardly able to increase the range because our tendons are so rigid and shortened. So what are the keys to improving mobility.

• Relaxed flexion. Increasing relaxed flexion is the key principle to unlocking mobility. The tendons wrap the hinge of our joints. Imagine a garden hose wrapping around a corner, the garden hose needs more length to be able to comfortably go around the corner. And our joints should be able to crease like a book not fold like a pencil is stuck in the spine. Look at any joint in our body if we cannot get a tight crease in any of our ankle, knees, hips, arms the tendon wrapping that joint is too short to allow that hinge to fold without limiting restriction or impingement.
• Frequency. Do them everyday like eating a meal. You are telling your body that it still needs these body positions. Programming your body to maintain proper nutrition, fluid, circulation, neurological motor, tissue health and repair to those body parts.
• Relax all tension. Relaxing all tension is the only way to reach the end range of your tendon. If there is any bit of tension, the tendon will never lengthen past its current fixed end point.
• Your body weight can only do so much. Once you can get into a deep floor squat and sit comfortably for 2+ minutes. You’ve reached the end of that progression. Your body weight will only do so much to lengthen your tendons. Your tendons will not lengthen past what your bodyweight is producing. Start holding a 5 pound weight in the relaxed flexion. And only start with small incremental weight increases. Using too heavy of a weight will force your body to tense up and contract, remembering the previous rule – relax all tension.

How to progress into deeper floor squats. Go from not being able to keep your heals down for more than 15 seconds to getting into a deep squat comfortably for 5+ minutes.

One key point is to be completely relaxed in the squat. Any tension across the muscles and tendons keeps the tendons short of their full-extended range, which prevents lengthening. Relaxing and zeroing-out the tension allows the tendons to be stretched to their absolute end range and pulling it longer. And work on trying to create a relaxed crease at your hips like a book.

Another hint is frequency creates the greatest, fastest gains. Once a day, everyday is good. A couple times a day is even better.

• If you’re unable to squat with heels on the ground, squat with elevated heels or squat on a slant board.
• Squat, supporting yourself with a chair. If we are not able to get into a deep squat, our body will protect itself by keeping tension in the knees. By using your arms to take some weight off your knees will allow your knees to relax. Every time you do this, you’ll notice your knees able to relax more and will need less use of your upper body for support.
• More ankle range. Get into a runner’s stretch, but push down on your ankle, creating tension-free dorsiflexion in your ankle. Your knees will have to go over your toes. Do this first without weights. As you feel like you’ve reached your end-range, start with 5 pound weights, placed them on top of your knees to help increase the flexion range of your ankles. Increase the weights each time you reach the end point.
• When you get to being able to comfortably rest in a floor-squat comfortably for more than 2 minutes. Start holding onto 5 pound weights in your squat. Do not start with heavy weights, when the weight is too heavy your body will tense up, defeating the purpose and ability to relax and lengthen your tendons.

This progression can take weeks or months, but by this point your floor squats should feel amazing and able to stay in this position relaxed and comfortably for over 5 minutes. You should feel an awesome crease in your hips, your knees should feel relaxed in this position with the bottom of your glutes and ankles almost touching, and the dorsiflexion range in your ankles will have improved dramatically.

Floor squats are the single-most effect mobility position that will give you the most benefits and best results. First, a proper floor squat is being able to be in completely relaxed, zero-tension floor squat, heels on the ground for at least 1 minute but could comfortably sit in that position for more than 5 minutes.

The Benefits:

• Floor squats create triple flexion in the ankle, knees and hips and lengthens tendons across all those joints. Achilles tendon length across the back of the ankle. Patellar and quadriceps tendon length across the knees. Lengthening the connective tissue and tendons in the hips, connecting to the glutes, hamstrings and lower back.
• Lengthening tendons provides amazing flexibility gains in muscles. The tendons connect muscles to bones. The thinking is create stretch in the muscles to produce overall flexibility and mobility. Because tendons are like steel cables and there really isn’t a practiced methodology for creating length in the tendons. But many times, the limiting factor is length in the tendons because it’s so rigid and short. But by creating length in the tendons, creates overall length in the tendons and muscles.
• Flushes and recycles the lactic acid, blood and other fluids that pool up in the back of the leg. Your calves are known as your “second heart”!
• Resets your fascia. Through overuse, injury or a trigger point the fascia can tighten up, cause adhesions or knot up sending continuous pain signal hormones to your body. Which might not necessarily turn off even if the danger, injury or trigger are no longer at risk. Foam rollers, scraping and massage guns try to “reset” the fascia but the most effective by far for me has been deep-range floor squats. This is also true for minor calf or hamstrings tweaks before, after or even during a run or workout, doing a quick deep squat can reset your fascia to stop pain signals that will allow you to move properly and stop recruiting compensation muscles or mechanics, which would eventually cause other injuries down the road.
• Floor squats can reset joint and tendon alignment. If you are in a run or a workout, you might “tweak” your ankle, knee or maybe even your hip. If you continue running or working out, the tweak can develop into a full-blown injury. Getting into the the deep squat after you feel the tweak, can reset your joints and mechanics, that will first allow you to move more naturally but also avoid further injury to that movement.