Squat Progression Question

I have very limited ankle mobility due to sports injuries, which has always impacted my ability to fully squat. I spend a lot of time working on my ankle range of motion via the various programs in GymFit, but the progress is slow going as you'd expect. Without the ankle mobility, I can only squat so low before I start to tip backward. If I hold on to something in front of me or put something under my heels, it's no problem to go all the way down. So my question is, with the squat progression in the foundation series, now that I'm at the full squat, is it better to continue forward with the program but hold on to something in front of me to accommodate going into a full squat, place something under my heals so I can go all the way down without tipping backwards, only go as low as I naturally can with my current range of motion, backtrack and stay at the parallel squat until my ankles catch up (who knows if that's ever going to happen), or do something else?

Thank you!

12 hours ago, Anthony R Dundas-Lucca Dundas-Lucca said:

I have very limited ankle mobility due to sports injuries, which has always impacted my ability to fully squat. I spend a lot of time working on my ankle range of motion via the various programs in GymFit, but the progress is slow going as you'd expect. Without the ankle mobility, I can only squat so low before I start to tip backward. If I hold on to something in front of me or put something under my heels, it's no problem to go all the way down. So my question is, with the squat progression in the foundation series, now that I'm at the full squat, is it better to continue forward with the program but hold on to something in front of me to accommodate going into a full squat, place something under my heals so I can go all the way down without tipping backwards, only go as low as I naturally can with my current range of motion, backtrack and stay at the parallel squat until my ankles catch up (who knows if that's ever going to happen), or do something else?

Thank you!

HI Anthony, i'm in your situation and i'm sorry but in 15 years i have never gained one single cm of rom in my ankles, any matter of frequency or time of the holds etc. Simply if i have to do squat i use something under my heels or a counterbalance weight.

Thanks for the speedy response! I guess it'll be heel wedges and counterbalance weights for me, as well.

Hi Anthony, sorry to hear about your tight calves preventing you from deep squats.

I've seen clients make very good progress by focusing on single-leg exercises like lateral step-up, front foot elevated split squats, tibialis raises and performing ankle inversion and eversion stretches.

I'd be curious to know if you've tried any of these?

Step-up, Lateral: https://youtu.be/hoImLqu2JhY

FFE Split Squats (I like the ATG version to start) https://youtu.be/tndkDuNLz_o

Tibialis Raises: https://youtu.be/PaYUuTjPTEA

Eversion: https://youtu.be/wpa6TQSNlbc

Inversion: https://youtu.be/7Z_GxKQwUmU

Thanks for sharing these, Andrew! I don't do any of these regularly (I've never done the eversion/inversion), but I'll start to mix them in. The step-up lateral really accentuates my lack of mobility, not to mention the imbalances between my two sides!