Slant boards have become a very popular item here at Hippy Chippy Australia. But have you actually looked into what the benefits are of incorporating slant boards into your training? And how slant boards can dramatically help with knee strength and injury recovery? Hippy Chippy Slant Boards aren’t popping up in physios and rehab centres around the country for no reason!
The angle of the slant boards allow you to isolate the muscles that support your knee, known as the VMO muscles. This makes for stronger knees and quads. So even though slant boards are very beneficial for knee injury rehabilitation, incorporating slant boards into your training schedule means you’re building those important supportive muscles to allow you to advance in heavy weight lifting and help prevent future injuries. It also helps maintain the overall health of your muscles and tendons.
The main tendons or muscles that benefit from using the slant boards are your Achilles- which connects your calf muscle to the heel, and the Patellor Ligament or Patellor tendon. This tendon helps keep your knee cap in position and assists in bending your knee and standing as it connects your quadricep (thigh muscle) to the patella and then tibia (your knee). One fantastic resource we recommend you get onto is Ben Patrick or as most know him- the @kneesovertoesguy on Instagram. Having suffered from extensive knee injuries Ben has developed his own training program for knee rehabilitation and highly recommends slant boards to assist this.
The Hippy Chippy offers 3 different slant boards set at 15 degrees, 20 degrees and 24 degrees. The 15 degree slant board is primarily used at the early stages of injury rehabilitation. It’s a great progression stage to improve mobility after surgery and increase strength in the muscles and tendons around your ankles and knees. The 20 and 24 degree boards are ideal for building strength and mobility in your squats and lunges.
The slant board is a valuable tool in weight lifting or to build strength in accessory work in CrossFit or other HIIT style training. The boards are strong and durable and can withstand a very heavy load. Using the slant boards for heavy back squats allows a bigger range of movement and means you have accessibility to the full depth to the bottom of your squat. But you are not limited to back squats on the slant board, you can perform front squats, overhead squats, overhead one arm kettlebell squats, pistol squats and more!
Recovery is equally as important as exercise and slant boards help ampliphy stretching too. You can use the boards to perform the ATG split squat which Ben Patrick recommends as one of the top two exercises for knee longevity. Facing your toes up the slant can help get that extra stretch in your vital hamstring muscles. Adding a little bit of weight can then help isolate the glute muscles to get that extra burn and tone.
The versatility of the slant board is almost endless in so many aspects of your life- training, recovery and rehab. And the long list of benefits are undeniable.
You can view the Hippy Chippy Australia Slant Board range here and jump on our Instagram @hippyhippyaustralia to learn more about the different exercises and techniques on the boards. As mentioned earlier the @kneesovertoesguy is also a great resource for knee injury rehabilitation and training. If you have any questions you can reach out to Adrian at adrian@hippychippyaustralia.com.au and he’d love to help!