In this video Matt Brindle our functional strength coach discuss the three complexes that develop efficient movement. This is the fourth part of eight videos on the subject of functional strength training.

Video Transcript:

David:    So even if you look at the joint at the ankle, the fact that the foots locked into the pedal, and then you’ve got this motion happening from side to side so there’s that dynamic motion happening in different plains of movement that you’re not getting with obviously a leg press because your foots basically just on the plate.

Matt:    Just fixed.

David:    Fixed.  So the strength that you need to develop in that ankle joint is quite important as well isn’t it?

Matt: It’s huge.  Look, we look at in terms of creating efficient movement we look at three complexes in the body; ankle is one of them, the hips, and the thoracic spine, and they’re all the big bony structures of the body, you know, the rib cage, the pelvis and hips, and the ankle joints.  Now between the hips and the ankle you’ve got your knee, all right?  One of the forms that cyclists do have all of the time and it not only comes from traditional based training but also from spending so many hours in the saddle is that that loss of motion in that ankle will transfer to the knee.  The knee if you look at this bone in here.  Probably can’t see it on the screen.  So it’s the same bone.  If it moves down here it’s going to move up here.

David:    Yeah, of course.  Makes sense.

Matt:    OK.  If it doesn’t move down here it’s not going to move up here, but if there’s a force being applied that is required to transmit through the body this is going to start moving more because this is locked up for whatever reason the knee then needs to transmit that force, and the knees not really designed to transmit that force too well.  It can take it if the ankle works with it and the hip works with it. OK.  There’s this emergence of I suppose, a new understanding of biomechanics in the body and they now call it the ankle hip.

David:    Right.  OK.

Matt:    All right, the hip and the ankle together when they work well are brilliant.

David:    Fantastic.

Matt:    They’re brilliant at creating the motion that the knee needs, and it needs all three plains again, but they’re also brilliant at protecting that knee because they will allow the knee to go where it can go because they’ll facilitate the right actions.  As soon as they start to shut down in the ankle cyclist then that knee needs to compensate.  That’s how the body works; something doesn’t move, something else has to, and generally, it’s the joints which aren’t designed to which will do the compensation and then the wear and tear, and the inflammation, and the injury.  So, we look at those three complexes; ankle, hip, and thoracic because they’re great for enabling great motion throughout the body, and protecting the lesser mobile areas such as the knee, the lumbar spine, neck and shoulders.

Matt:    Sure they’ve all got to work together.

David:    Have to.  Have to work together.