Often the most effective exercise innovations are the most simple. That’s certainly the case with the slant board, which has been trending ever since Ben Patrick (Knees Over Toes Guy) began showcasing it in his viral ATG workouts.
But the simplicity of design doesn’t stop the slant board from being an excellent lower body workout tool that is especially beneficial for people with knee problems.
In this article, we find out what a slant board is and how it can improve your life.
What is a slant board?
A slant board is a flat wooden platform that you stand on when doing exercises. It is angled with a triangular profile of about 30 degrees. This places the heels higher than the toes when you are standing on the board.
The surface of the board is covered with a strong grippy surface to make sure that you never slip.
What Does a slant board Do?
There are 5 key benefits to using a slant board:
A slant board Helps to Stay Upright When Squatting
With your heels elevated on a slant board, it is easier to maintain an upright position when doing squats. This helps to keep your spine in a neutral position, vastly reducing the tendency to round the lower back.
Squatting on a slant board is great for people who have ankle mobility. It puts you in a position that is more forgiving while also maintaining that upright position. Staying upright also minimizes lower back strain when squatting.
A slant board Targets the Quads When Squatting
As already noted, the slant board keeps you more upright than when squatting with flat heels. As a result, your hamstrings and glutes are loaded less. This puts more of the load on the quads, making squatting on the board a more quad-focused exercise.
A slant board is a Very Effective Stretching Tool
The unique design of the slant board makes it ideal for stretching the calves, ankles, and tibialis. When you stand facing the board with both feet fully on the platform, you are in an ideal position to get a full calf extension and contraction. The calf raise movement will also stretch out the ankles.
By turning around so that your feet are angled downward on the slant board, you are in position to perform the tibialis stretch exercise. Simply extend your toes up to full extension and slowly release.
The tibialis anterior muscle is located at the front of your lower leg. When you strengthen this muscle you will enhance your ability to suddenly decelerate.
A slant board Targets the VMO
VMO stands for Vastus Medialis. It is one of the four quadriceps muscles and is responsible for knee extension. Strengthening and developing the VMO will help relieve knee pain. The slant board provides the ideal angle, grip, and width to target the VMO muscle.
This makes the slant board an excellent tool to bring relief from knee pain and as a recovery tool following a knee injury.
A slant board is Great for Athletic Power and Agility
Athletes all over the world are adopting the slant board into their workouts. That’s because they appreciate the extra power and agility benefits they can receive from doing their lower body workouts on a slant board.
The slant board teams perfectly with low cables allowing you to perform cable squats in such a way that the knees come over the toes. This allows for maximum VMO activation. By placing all of the emphasis on the quads, cable squats on the slant board allow you to get more bang for your exercise buck – and it does so without putting any compressive pressure on your spine!
The slant board also helps athletes to enhance their jumping, stopping, and change of direction ability by strengthening and stretching the tibialis anterior, calves, and ankles.
Summary
The portability of the slanty board makes it perfect to carry with you to and from the gym. You can also take it with you when you’re traveling, which you’ll definitely want to do. That’s because once you try lower body training on the slant board, you’ll never want to be without it!
