Be Easy on Your Calves

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!

Stretching Is For Everyone

Your health and fitness program is never going to be complete without stretching.  It is so easy to ignore this activity and barge straight into your workouts but it is stretching that can really add to your efforts by lengthening your muscles and giving your body that lean, toned look.  It also lowers the chance that you’ll suffer sore muscles/joints and quickens your recovery time.

Everyone, young and old, male and female, should be stretching

The more you stretch, the more flexible you will be.  Not only will this help you complete your training sessions but it also decreases the likelihood of an injury.  The older you get the greater chance you’ll have of getting injured, so all the more reason to pay attention to stretching.  Of course most people will have different levels of flexibility so you shouldn’t compare your own flexibility to someone 20 years younger than you!

Bad posture can make the most attractive people look unattractive

Stretching can be a great preventative against postural problems (both now and later on in your life).  If you start to neglect your posture and just carry on with the rest of your workout problem you could suffer as you become older because unfortunately some posture problems can get to the point where they’re irreversible.  Give your future retired body a break now by improving your posture and stretching before and after your workouts.

Stretching should be performed directly after warming up

Warm muscles stretch a lot better than cold muscles so don’t go out and try and stretch outright.  Do a low intensity 5 or 10 minute workout such as jogging.  Ideally you’ll want to warm up your entire body though so sometimes I like to do some creative jogging on the spot (please don’t ask to see videos of this).

Once you’re all warmed up you can go on and stretch all the muscle groups in your body.

Only use slow and controlled movements when stretching

Don’t jab your muscles into shape!  If you bounce around trying to ‘feel the burn’ you’ll actually run the risk of an injury not to mention the fact that you won’t truly be ‘stretching’ your muscles as the muscles will engage and tense as a reaction to the bouncing.  Just make sure you’re slow and relaxed as you complete your stretches.

Stretching before a workout and afterward is going to really put your body in a good place physically

I would recommend trying to improve your flexibility in the same way one tries to improve their muscle size, or strength.  Keep trying to make small improvements until you’re at your optimum flexibility.

Some pointers regarding stretching:

• Try not to favor one muscle group over the other.  For instance if you’re stretching your core, make sure to stretch your lower back as well as your abs.
• Try stretching just before going to bed as it can be a great way to calm yourself and prepare for a good night’s sleep
• Make stretching as much of a habit as brushing your teeth and just a week’s time you’ll notice the difference – both in the way you feel, and the way you look.