Want to skater faster... Fix this!! (Shin angle)

Shin angle or dorsiflexion is an ankle pillar that refers to getting the knee forward over the toe.

When we talk about mechanical advantage it doesn’t get much more impactful than shin angle. Increasing your shin angle a couple degrees will likely have a greater effect on your overall speed and performance than increasing your squat by a say hundred pounds (roughly).
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WHY?

1. Vertical vs. horizontal force production

- When the knee’s behind the toe and you extend through the knee, the force goes up vertically, which is not ideal for forward speed.

- By having the knee forward and in front of the toe, the force is applied more horizontally, leading to forward movement.

- For this reason, we differentiate between knee bend and shin angle, as you can have a deep knee bend but poor shin angle (ie. by sticking your b*tt back).

- We classify shin angle levels as red, yellow and green zones. Being, behind the toe, in line with the toe and in front of the toe respectively.

2. Stretch shortening cycle / “calf-spring”

- In many sports it is taught to be bouncy or springy, ie. taking advantage of the stretch shortening cycle. That is the muscles/tendons spring like qualities. But it’s rarely talked about when it comes to skating, even though the best players take full advantage of it to move faster and more efficient.

- As it relates to shin angle, when the knee goes forward, it creates a stretch along the "calf", loading it up to act like a spring to propel you forward. At Train 2.0 we call this the “calf spring”.

3. And more!

- Ex. More balance, less tension, more options etc...
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A lot of people think their shin angle is held back by their ankle mobility and in some cases they’re right. But a lot of times it comes down to needing to reduce the tension in their calfs while skating (that’s my problem), we call this degrees of freedom (ROM available in a specific motor program)

That is, you might have great ankle mobility off the ice, but as soon as you start skating... you lose it. Thus, you have a limited ROM in the specific motor program of skating.

If you want to test this out for yourself, take a video of your forward stride or cross unders/overs and compare it to an off-ice ankle mobility test, I think you’ll find that you have not maximized your current mobility level on the ice (NOTE: You likely won't have the same degree of ankle mobility on and off the ice, but it should be close)

Although it doesn’t hurt to improve your ankle mobility, you may need to focus more on your ability to get shin angle while skating.

And of course, the first step to improving your shin angle is awareness!

#mcdavid #speed #shorts
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