How to program for stronger feet and ankles. Part two.

Part Two

A quick recap from the last blog! The six adaptations to exercise include: Skill, strength, speed, power, hypertrophy and muscular endurance. 

There’s endless exercises that can be prescribed in the aim of seeking an adaptation to improve foot and ankle capacity. A key concept to keep in mind: 

Exercises themselves do not determine adaptations. 

For example, if you want to get greater endurance in your calf muscles, you can't just select a calf raise. Although the calf raise is a great exercise choice, it doesn't determine you getting more calf endurance if it’s not executed in the right fashion. The calf raise prescription must be underpinned by the following variables to ensure the appropriate adaptation.

Choice: Calf raise is the exercise choice, but this can be further modified to a variety of calf raise variations such as standing calf raise, seated calf raise, single leg calf raise with or without a step and so on (the list could go on forever). 

Volume: The amount of sets and reps of calf raises need to be completed to induce a muscular endurance adaptation? This is important as it will dictate the response. For this example, we will be in the upper rep ranges (think >20). 

Frequency: How many times per week will the calf raises need to be completed? Recovery is an important factor here. Want to know more about recovery? Get our Free Recovery Guide here (link).  

Intensity: Intensity can be measured in a number of ways, but an easy way to think about this in respect to a calf raise is a percentage of your one repetition maximum. Being specific about this range is important to ensure the adaptation aligns with the goal.

So the exercise selection itself is important, but it does not determine the outcome adaptation. 

If this all seems a bit overwhelming, don’t worry, the team at Foot & Ankle Albury are here to help and guide you. 

Get in touch with the team or you can book now