The Ready State: Mobility Training with Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Rollerblading

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    • 09/10/2013 at 3:39 pm #70464
      AvatarBailey Martinez
      Participant

      So I have yet to hear rollerblading come up in any exercises or activities. I get that running and perhaps cycling are more popular…but I thought rollerblading might help my situation and I wanted to get the communities thoughts on the matter.

      I’ve spent months fixing my flat foot. Overall doing a ton better. My foot now has good musculature to support an arch. My calves start out really tight when I get up, but throughout the day they loosen up and I’m able to squat barefooted with my heel down the whole time.
      My biggest problem recently has been weakness in my inner leg muscles. VMO (quads), Inner hamstring and calf muscles. Essentially, the last piece I need to work on is keeping my big toes on the ground and pushing through them. When I do this, I’m able to really utilize my interior posterior chain. 
      My issue is finding an effective way of working these muscles. I thought rollerblading would help.
      Thoughts or other suggestions?
    • 09/14/2013 at 3:27 pm #72770
      AvatarElias Ventura
      Participant

      Thor,

      If you enjoy rollerblading, then rollerblade away!  Keep in mind that due to the push technique usually associated with roller-blading that you’ll use the muscles in your hips and lateral or outside portion of the legs.  My question is, how do you know you have inner leg muscle weakness?  Have you tried smashing your calves to assist in decreasing the stiffness that you notice in them when you wake up?  Sounds like you’re off to a great start in creating an arch and torque for yourself.  Keep it up!
    • 09/16/2013 at 12:02 pm #72774
      AvatarBailey Martinez
      Participant

      Yup I do realize that rollerblading targets mainly the exterior hip area primarily. But I felt that keeping a steady stride with all 4 wheels really required the inner muscles for the front wheels. The primary driver/que was that I had to push down with my big toe to keep the front wheels stable on the ground. I thought that maybe just with the high frequency, this could help activate and strengthen the inner muscles. Especially if I focus on using those muscles over the others.

      How do I know? Well, I’ve had knee problems for about the past 2 years – primarily aggrivated from volleyball and all the jumping. I have a wicked valgas knee issue combined with having a flat foot/arch drop problem that I’ve also been working on. I used to have HORRIBLE HORRIBLE squat form. Pretty embarrasing now that I know better. 😛  I got all the way to having PFS. I’ve come a long way and have decent form when doing squats and deadlifts, etc. But when I get back on the court and am jumping to spike or block, my bad motor control kicks back in and I know my legs aren’t doing what they should.

      Also, when I do any kind of isolation strengthening with ham curls and leg extensions, it’s the inner muscles that are really slowing me down. I have to go down to about 35 pounds for each leg with the extensions and only about 10-15 pounds on the curls. This is where my VMO and inner hammies start to have trouble.

      I do a ridiculous amount of smashing to just about everywhere on my legs since they have been the primary driver for my pain the past couple of years. I wouldn’t think that they would feel this way in the morning, but it has been getting better.

    • 09/22/2013 at 2:02 pm #72826
      AvatarMartin Repcek
      Participant

      Rollerblading isn’t going to do anything for you. Do it if you enjoy it, but it isn’t going to do anything for your foot, ankle, or calves. Every rollerblading boot I’ve ever worn keeps the ankle in a fixed position.

      The best overall exercise I’ve found for improving the overall biomechanics of the lower body is the elliptical machine. Specifically, the commercial grade LifeFitness (like the 95xi?). The LifeFitness has a longer stride length than most of the other ones I’ve used. They key to using the elliptical for fixing your crappy biomechanics is to always keep both feet firmly planted on the platform at all times. Don’t let your heels lift up as your feet cycle around. Keep your toes pointed straight and keep your knees tracking to the outside of the big toe. BTW, it is best to do this barefoot. The beauty of the elliptical is that since your feet are always planted you have something to push against to create torque. The elliptical is a low impact and easy way to get thousands of repetitions in while maintaining proper form. 
      Before last Christmas I couldn’t keep both heels planted to save my life. I had so much tightness in the right hip capsule that the femur wanted to push up through my pelvis as the right side cycled around.The severely limited range of motion on the right side was causing the left foot to lift entirely off the platform. After about 15 minutes, with quite a bit of pain, things finally loosened up to the point where I could keep both feet planted with little pain. Four of five elliptical workouts did more for my hip than 5 months of physical therapy. I still have ankle problems I’m working on, but it’s getting there. 
    • 09/23/2013 at 9:46 am #72832
      AvatarBailey Martinez
      Participant

      Thanks Jesse!

      Now that it’s starting to get colder, I’ll have to try that out in the gym. 🙂

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