Top Five Issues with Student Athlete’s

1.       Ability to hold a proper tripod of the foot.

As a collegiate strength and conditioning coach, it startles me, how many athletes come in every year with inability to maintain a proper base of support on their foot. The foot is their connection to the ground and that relationship with the ground determines how they move and handle forces. The tripod of the foot is the three contact points made by the heel, under the big toe, and small toe contact points. Typically, you will see a collapse of the arch or an inability of the big toe contact point to stay strong. If the arch is collapsing, you typically have some major issues that require orthotics and some therapy. If the big toe is collapsing, you can re-pattern easily by creating a strong arch (Lift the toes, hold the contraction and set toes back down) and maintaining while performing regular movements (i.e. squats and deadlifts). Sometimes weight lifting and running barefoot as well as light jump rope work can help too.

2.       Lack of proper ankle rocker or dorsi flexion.

Ankle rocker is the ability of the ankle to dorsi flex during gait the cycle. Loss of mobility at the ankle due to injury or improper foot function causes a variety of issues. This typically shows up in how an athlete’s walking, running, and during their squat patterns. Athletes that cannot sit down and perform more of a “low bar” powerlifting type squat or modified good morning are typically suffer this issue. Soccer, volleyball, football and baseball pitchers are athletes that seem to have a higher rate of ankle injuries due to the nature of their sport and should be checked. Strengthening the anterior extensors will help re-educate and lengthen the posterior, which will allow more mobility.

3.       Lack of proper hip mobility

Proper hip mobility should be a basic no brainer. Tight flexors and weak extensors make for a injury prone, weakling, athlete that may get it done in the short term, but long term is plagued with low back, I.T., and hamstring issues. Sadly, I see this in the “work horses” of the football team all the time. I think because the offensive and defensive linemen are typically your tallest, largest guys, they don’t want to get into those low positions, and often they lack the strength in those low positions. Split squats and lunges are not true unilateral lifting movements, but do a great job stretching and strengthening at the end range of movement. I think they can be highly beneficial in helping to open up the hips. Dan John’s Goblet Squat is another exercise that has been great to help pry the hips open. Half-kneeling, Turkish Get UP or a Windmill are also great to help stretch that I.T. band and loosen up the hips.

4.       Lack of proper shoulder mobility.

The next no brainer on the list is, shoulder mobility. Typically, this runs in conjunction with proper hip mobility. You can really break this area down into two separate areas, the T-spine and glenohumeral joint itself. Mobility in the thoracic vertebra is extremely important in all over head sports, without the necessary mobility to move rotationally and allow the scapula to glide back to front and down to up is vital in injury prevention. At the glenohumeral joint proper balance of antagonistic muscle groups is the most important issue. Typically, strong internal rotators dominate weak external rotators, so in program design this is something to think about when looking at exercise selection and total volume.

5.       Proper abdominal stability pattern.

Although mobility is always the first thing to look at, teaching athletes how to properly stabilize their pelvis and spine with their abdominals is the first thing I try to do. Nothing will single handedly help them more in the weight room, while they work on developing mobility, strength, and coordination. If the role of the abdominals is twofold, stabilize the pelvis making a platform for the spine to anchor from, and stabilizing the spine as to not bend or flex while under load, then it will keep your athlete safe and enhance performance. People have an extremely difficult time discerning hip movement and spinal movement separately, and this causes injury. Take an Romanian Deadlift for example, a fairly simple movement where the spine is braced and hips are pulled back to elongate the glutes and hamstrings with only a slight knee bend to get the hamstrings into stretch faster. As a coach, I used to be able to model the exercise with a quick explanation of do’s and don’ts, and let them go perform it. Success rate was typically ninety percent. Now a day, athletes will lock out knees and arch back to accomplish this movement and less than half will be close to successful. This is a hip-hinge movement pattern discrepancy, but you must teach the stabilization of the pelvis is first, in beginning to understanding the movement pattern. Bracing comes next to stabilize the spine while the torso comes forward in the sagittal plane. Next, the movement pattern is taught and every lift builds off this same concept of pelvic stability and spine stability. Almost all of my coaching comments are finished with the phrase, “squeeze your butt and pull vertical with your abs.” All fundamental movements share the same qualities, and if repetition teaches, emphasize this as much as possible.

Jeremy Layport is a Strength and Conditioning coach as San Jose State University. Holds a Masters Degree in Kinesiology and Bachelors degree in Exercise Science. Is an RKC Team Leader, C.S.C.S. and USA Weightlifting Coach. He is a contributer to www.evolutionaryathletics.com and will soon be comming out with a sports speed video and program.