Ankle Flexibility

carpetrug · Post by **carpetrug** » 11 May 2009 19:24

I am very natural with flexibility but my best shred partners flexibility is so bad that he cant even do clipper stalls, only delays. He cannot do inside stalls and just barley outside stalls, but he can do plenty of tricks that do not require ankle flexibility. Any suggestions on how to fix this? get more flexible?

*Jethro* · Post by ***Jethro*** » 11 May 2009 20:17

He's pretty much screwed.

9 cases out of 10 if it's that bad starting out, it will never really be that good.

Actually, I guess there are ankle stretches that can help. Also, just school the ass outta insides, clippers and walk overs.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 11 May 2009 20:23

I think ankle flexibility is a limiting factor in clipper stalls. I've never met anybody who I can't teach how to get a flat enough surface on their clippers, no matter how flexible. Even with guys who have really flexible ankles, like Vasek, it's largely their form over the rest of their body that is important. If you have bad ankle flexibility you need to bend your support knee more and have your stalling foot higher. You also need to twist away from the stalling foot at the hips and to push your toes up using your knee (ie. twist your knee inwards). I'm not sure if this makes complete sense but I'd recommend trying to stand and get a flat clipper surface without a bag. I have ok ankle flexibility but I just put myself into a position where I had a flat clipper surface while keeping my ankle straight. Worrying about ankle flexibility is defeatist - just look at guys like Seb D - shit ankles, can still use his clippers fine.

I have heard about people, Dan Ednie in particular, doing ankle exercises to get better clippers. In particular putting the foot on the ground in an inside stall kind of position and then standing on it with the other foot, or just pushing it into a flat position. I don't know if this is successful or not _ Dan's always had very solid clippers, at least since I started playing with him, which was a couple of years after he started playing footbag, but he thinks it's important.

Jorden · Post by **Jorden** » 12 May 2009 19:10

Ankle stretches will definitely make your ankles more flexible for insides/clippers etc.

Stand feet shoulder width apart. Put one foot in front, pointing the toes with the heel off ground. Inwardly rotate that foot and put it on the other side of your support leg. Lean forward until you feel slight ankle tension and hold for 20-60 sec. Switch feet and repeat.

Standing on the inside of your foot is not recommended!

JM

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 13 May 2009 10:02

Frequently players think they have flexibility problems, when really, they have never developed the muscles to pull the foot into a clipper position.

FlexThis · Post by **FlexThis** » 13 May 2009 14:44

I am not advocating this as everyone is different:

I use a low profile insole which keeps my foot down deep into the shoe. This prevents me from fully flexing my ankle. After performing the Broka (sp?) Ankle Bone Mod, I am having much better success.