Is Your Hypermobility Hurting Your Speed?

DEEP DIVE

Some athletes seem naturally built for movement. They can touch their toes without warming up, their ankles bend in ways that make other sprinters jealous, and coaches often comment on their "natural flexibility."

But what if that flexibility is actually working against them?

Joint hypermobility, especially in the ankle and foot, creates a problem most athletes don't see coming.

When you need maximum force transfer through the ground in milliseconds, having joints that move too much becomes a liability rather than an asset.

Think about what happens during sprinting. Your foot hits the ground, and for a brief moment, every joint from your toe to your hip needs to work together to create forward propulsion.

The stiffer and more stable that chain is, the better the energy transfer.

When joints are hypermobile, energy gets lost in excessive movement instead of being directed into speed.

Research shows this pretty clearly. Athletes with hypermobile ankles and feet tend to have longer ground contact times. They experience more medial foot collapse under load.

Their plantarflexors contribute less to propulsion because the joint system can't maintain the stiffness needed for optimal force production.

It's not just about performance either. Hypermobile athletes face higher injury rates, particularly ankle sprains and issues stemming from foot instability.

The same flexibility that might look impressive in warm-ups becomes a vulnerability when forces multiply during high-speed running.

This explains why some athletes struggle to improve their sprint times despite consistent training. They're doing everything right on paper, but their joint structure is working against the adaptations they're trying to create.

No amount of traditional speed work will fix a fundamental stability problem.

But the solution isn't to accept limitations. Hypermobility can be trained around, but it requires a specific approach most sprint programs ignore.

Progressive plyometrics become crucial. Short ground contact drills that teach the nervous system to stiffen at the right moments.

Eccentric jumping exercises that build the strength to control excessive range of motion. Ankling and skipping drills that specifically target foot-ankle stiffness patterns.

Strengthening intrinsic foot muscles becomes non-negotiable. Most training focuses on big muscle groups, but hypermobile athletes need to build control from the ground up.

Barefoot exercises, resisted toe splaying, precision landing drills. These aren't flashy, but they address the root of the problem.

The key insight is learning to stiffen selectively.

Hypermobile athletes don't need to become rigid everywhere, but they need to develop the ability to create stiffness on demand during ground contact. That's a skill that can be taught and improved over time.

Some athletes will always need more attention to this area than others. The naturally stiff athlete might get away with basic strength work, while the hypermobile athlete needs ongoing focus on stability and control.

It's not fair, but it's reality.

What matters is recognizing the pattern. If you're hypermobile and struggling with sprint development, or dealing with recurring foot and ankle issues, this might be the missing piece.

The flexibility that seems like an advantage might actually be the thing holding you back from the times you're capable of running.

The good news is that once you understand the problem, there are clear steps to address it.

It just requires a different approach than what most sprint programs provide.