Lady Luck Lifting

Back injuries can be a bitch.

3 disc injuries, chronic health issues, hyper mobility/EDS and limited access to training meant that for a while, heavy lifting wasn’t really on the cards.

Instead, Laura spent a decent chunk of time working through rehab based movements, specific strength exercises and adapted sessions to help manage flare ups, heart rate issues and whatever else her body decided to throw hands into the chat at us that session.

A lot of that looked pretty boring.
- Core work.
- Pelvic stability.
- Strength work.
- Building capacity.
Doing the stuff that isn’t particularly exciting but needs to be done.


Over time, we’ve worked back into barbell movements, returning to front squats (on the Transformer Bar because she bruises like a peach) and trap bar deadlifts instead of conventional deadlifts, alongside a bunch of other exercises aimed at rebuilding her strength and confidence under load.


Curiosity got the better of us, so naturally it was time for a little f**k around and find out session.
70kg front squats on the Transformer Bar.
80kg trap bar deadlifts for reps.
Shes SO back!

The thing with rehab is that it rarely looks the same from person to person.
Injuries are different, bodies are different, and what one person needs isn’t necessarily what the next person needs.

But if you’re willing to trust the process, do the boring stuff and be patient with the timeline, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll end up back doing the fun s**t!

Do you ever feel like your ankles are stiff in either your squat or runs?

Lately, I’ve noticed this more with the addition of running back into the training cycle and leaning back into more hybrid athlete training.

Its nothing crazy, but enough that both have felt icky.

Squats have felt more stubborn in the bottom, runs have involved more stopping BS, and there’s been more discomfort in the front of the ankle or shin pain in runs. 

If you’ve ever felt stuck in the bottom of your squat, struggled to push depth or had to stop a run 300m in…
Sometimes it might be your ankles that are the ones throwing hands.

It’s not 1 miracle drill or magic fix. 
Over time, the joint restriction eases, calf tightness lessens, dorsiflexion range is pushed further, and the muscles strengthen to be in that position under load or during runs. 

I keep coming back to these drills (with a sneaky extra one) because they’ve all helped my squats feel smoother, depth feeling easier to reach and running with no shin pain or having to stop every 300m. 


Give these 4 Drills a crack:
👉🏻 Banded joint mobilisation
Low band anchor to help the joint move and encourage better tib/fib glide.

👉🏻 Weighted knee-over-toe stretch
Deep lunge with load through the knee to challenge dorsiflexion.
(I like shifting around a bit in this position.)

👉🏻 Deep pole squat shifts
Supported squat shifting side to side with a little rotation to open up range and build comfort.

👉🏻 Full ROM calf raises
Single or double leg — building strength and flexibility through the range you actually want access to.
(I will also superset these with some Tib Ant Raises for my running)

I’ll usually push 2 x 8–10/side or honestly… just until things stop feeling icky.

And while you’re working on your ankle mobility
Heel elevation for squats can be your friend.
Plates, mats or heeled lifters can be a useful tool while you work on the actual limitation instead of forcing s**tty positions.