I want to be able to sit as deep as Eric Liliebridge in the starting position of the deadlift,
However my ankles are not flexible enough and I would just fall backwards in attempt to go to depth. Right now I cant go parrelel with a narrow stance.
Has anyone improved their ankle flexibility with a certain exercise or stretch? Please share, I have tried tennis ball stretching and wall stretching but I still cant seem to achieve flexibility in the calves…
The exercises from California strength like the other guy said is the way to go. Those guys are wicked flexible, because they have to be. I don’t this (from the video) that there is much flexibility required unless you have elephant ankles. If you sit back and drive with your hips and heels, everything you’ll be fine.
It takes a bunch of tissue work to make that better. Voodoo banding my ankles and calves gave me a ton of improvement. Also rolling all around your entire ankle area with lacrosse ball and really get in there and make it hurt. I also used a rumble roller to roll out my calves and ankles including the Achilles.
Post a video of your deadlift setup. Ankle flexibility is a good thing, but I find it hard to believe that it’s really what is keeping you from getting into a good deadlift starting position. While it’s possible you just have horrible ankle mobility, the more likely explanation is that you are not setting up correctly and improperly blaming poor ankle flexibility.
Not trying to take away anything from lilliebridge he is an animal and this is his optimal way he likes to set up for his leverages but if you will notice right before the bar breaks the floor his hips rise to a slightly higher position. You dont want your hips too low or too high. If your build is not similar to his chances are your hips will be higher. I dk about your ankle flexibility but i could not see that being the limiting factor. Maybe tight hamstrings or tight hips.
Another not about falling back in the deadlift. Quite a few heavy pullers use this as a que they will rock back slightly as if they are going to fall back then explode up and bring the hips inward so they dont fall back once the bar gets past knee level ofcourse. Make sure you try some hip hinges if you arent doing so. Mkral explained that to me and my deadlift has never been better.
Im not an expert on deadlifts but i seem to be able to explain the lifts better than i can perform them. If that makes any sense.