Tension with Your Feet

During our movement assessment with new clients, we look at how they move and what sorts of movement habits they've developed. Besides watching, it’s an opportunity for us coaches to provide cues and see if we can clean up the movement.

There is one cue that seems to make things click for people. It’s screwing your feet into the ground. Even the most die-hard fitness enthusiast is unaware of this simple cue and how much it can impact their movement patterns. 

Hopefully, if you’ve been training at GAIN for while, this is a boring reminder of something you always do. When we screw our foot outward, or heels towards each other, without letting them move, we effect the whole lower body system. I create a stable foot arch, my knee caps rotate away from each other, creating a stable knee, and my hips rotate outward, providing you with the optimum position to create tension and therefore, move.

Your squat may look great while being unaware of this. I would challenge you to think that it could feel a lot better if there were more tension. The more tension we create, the more stable we are and the more force we’ll be able to produce.

Justin Miner

@porstmouthcoach