5 Joint Restrictions
HINDERING Your
FUNCTIONAL TRAINING
By Jeremy McCann
I
n exercise and sports science,
achieving triple extension has
been the goal of many common athletic movements. Triple
extension is a position in which
the ankle, knee, and hip are extended. In functional fitness programming, there is revolution in
the way coaches and trainers
look at movement. Most function-
Big Toe
Lack of extension in the big toe
prevents our foot from creating
an arch when our heel hits the
ground. This is referred to as the
windlass mechanism. As the heel
strikes the ground during gait,
our foot rolls into pronation (collapse of the arch). The contact
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The sport of fitness is incredibly dynamic and requires explosiveness, coordination, flexibility, and
stamina. Often overlooked is the importance of
maintaining a center of mass.
al exercises and workouts emphasize what I call global quadruple extension. This means
the athlete extends the foot/ankle, knee, hip, and the thoracic
spine. The inability to get to this
position results in poor performance and pain. The following
is a list of joints that I find are
routinely restricted and prevent
athletes from moving efficiently
into this globally extended position. Keep in mind that dysfunction at one joint leads to dysfunction throughout the entire body.
4
METCON | June 2016
of our toe with the ground slows
pronation and pulls on the plantar fascia to form the arch of the
foot. The inability to slow pronation leads the athlete to overpronation, or pushing off almost
completely from the big and second toes. This forces compensation from other joints to slow the
knee as weight is transferred.
How this impacts an athlete’s
performance: Many functional
workouts have exercises that involve transferring weight from