Kneeling Achilles: not feeling a stretch

Hello!

I have this problem with the kneeling achilles stretch: On my left foot, my mobility is good enough so that when I lay my chest on my thigh, it's enough force to feel a stretch in my achilles. My right ankle, on the other hand, is not as flexible and it's really hard to apply enough force to feel a stretch without lifting the heel off the floor.

What would be the best way to go about this issue until the ankle mobility catches up? Should I lift the heel off the floor? Keep it elevated on a weight plate to increase leverage? Anything else?

Greetings

Daniel

Just keep it in the progressions, and if you're making progress over time you should start to feel it.  I would just hold it for the length of time and it will get better.  You could try doing it as a limbering exercise daily.  It is most likely your ankle mobility that is holding it back, so until that improves there's no point in trying to get around that.

Daniel, when I first started training this stretch I had the same issue of feeling I wasn't getting deep into the achilles.  One thing I tried was going in to the stretch with a deep squat and change the focus from getting chest to thigh to glute to calf and then leaning forward.  I also keep my back straight and head between shoulders and not jutting ahead.  This helps keep the weight bearing down through the glute resulting in a deeper stretch in the achilles.

Tried this yesterday and the stretch was much deeper for me, thanks a lot, Mark!

Want to add a plug to check out the new stretch series videos. they are a great addition to look at again for any stretches you are not feeling well or poorly understanding.

I want to add to this as I also cannot feel a stretch in my achilles in this position. If you can imagine that my ankles are so limited in mobility that my shin is basically at little less than a 90 degree angle, it makes sense that there's not enough pressure on the achilles to really feel anything.

My question is - should I continue with the same position as it doesn't feel like it's doing anything, or for a short time switch to something like a standing achilles stretch, where my body weight is fully over one leg and I can feel the deep stretch?

Continue with both positions. This will help you develop the ankle ROM to eventually get a good stretch during kneeling achilles.

I've found (nearly) daily limbering of the kneeling Achilles stretch to be magical. I'm really pleased with the progress, so I highly recommend that.

Additionally, when I've wanted more weight to bring me forward during the course, I've grabbed a 25 lb weight plate to help pull my forward over my foot.

Ape Crawls and Stiff Bear or whatever they're called from Fundamentals/Movement Series are also a good dynamic way to work on this (in addition to the kneeling Achilles stretch -- I, too, find myself finagling the stretch to try and 'feel' it [this is also the case with my piriformis but that's for another post]). When dealing with exceptionally tight areas, I like to take the active mobility route unless doing the daily limbering or stretch series. While I'm by no means 'there' with my ankle mobility, I find that doing these movements really help loosen up and increase ROM for my ankles and the calf muscles that intersect at that area of the leg. Could be worth a shot, it's really helped my biceps/pec minor not be such a pain in the ass and has helped my lats/shoulders open for overhead handstand work.  

If you feel nothing you could try the stretch on a decline, or simply raise the heel, to allow the knees to track further over the toes.

Max

When I do this exercise my hipflexor hurts on the same side as im stretching, not the passive one. When Im leaning my chest on the leg trying to get the stretch, my hipflexor makes so that I cant be in that position to long. Any tips for this or should I just keep going? 

Maybe you can consider to do it again at the end of the course after the serious hips flexor stretch. if the hips flexor stretch is the limiting factor then you need to solve it first before feeling the benefit from the ankle pose. Or maybe you are enough mobile to feel no tension,