Yes, animals need to be looked after, especially young ones, but the calves I’m talking about are your lower legs. We’ve all had calf pain. I remember growing up I used to have painful calves in the evenings - I’d call them growing pains. But then when I still had those pains in my late teens when I’d obviously stopped growing (upwards), I realised that they probably weren’t growing pains! I actually don’t know what they are, but I do think that we need to take care of our calves.
Why? Well, it would be pretty painful walking with a damaged calf. Muscles hold your skeleton together in a way and if they’re temporarily damaged or strained, then simple activities can be excruciating. And no-one likes to be in pain!
The calf muscle sort of has three heads. There are two muscles, the soleus and the gastrocnemius. The gastrocnemius has two heads in a way, that are at the rear of the leg, and the soleus goes around the front of the leg and the sides. Without these two muscles we’d have trouble walking. There has to be a certain amount of flexibility in these muscles so that we can perform every day activities. A test you can do to see how flexible you are is to place your toes 12cm away from the wall, then bend your knee so it touches the wall. If it touches, good! If not, you’ll have to work on it! Another test is to put your foot up against the wall with the heel on the ground at a 45 degree angle. You should be able to touch your knee to the wall or at least straighten it out.
I think it is important to train these muscles. It is essential that they are strong so that you can perform every day tasks. The most simple of calf exercises are the calf raises. Because there are three sort of heads to the muscles, there are three ways to do this exercise. Firstly, stand with your feet hip width apart and facing forwards. Rise up onto your toes about 6 times. You should feel something! Then turn your toes out (like a dancer) and do the same thing. Thirdly, turn your toes inward - think pigeon - and rise up 6 times again. By now you’ll probably be feeling the burn. The calf muscle is delicate, so take care not to overdo it! If 6 times is too many, take it down a few. After a few squats or other exercises, repeat these sets 2 more times. Doing this every day will ensure your calves stay healthy and strong - but in order to take ultimate care of them, make sure you stretch them out afterwards. Do this by putting your toes up against the wall and feeling the muscle stretch out. Even siting on the floor with your legs outstretched and pulling your toes back towards you is an effective stretch. Only stretch until you can feel it - not so that it hurts!
Taking care of your calves is much easier than the animals. A little bit of attention every few days can go a long way!
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