Your calf muscles are essential for health and mobility. They are among your body's strongest and most shapely muscles, with their long and gentle curves. Luckily, developing beautiful calves is not difficult because they respond quickly to exercise. The most important moves for healthy, attractive calves are vertical and lateral exercises that can be performed even while you are seated.
Calf Anatomy and Function
You calf has four main physiological structures: the gastrocnemius, soleus and tibialis anterior muscles, plus the achilles tendon. The Anatomy of the Calf Muscle illustrates three well: the gastrocnemius is the largest, most visible calf muscle. The soleus lies underneath the gastrocnemius and works with the achilles tendon to stabilize the leg and propel the body forwards. The tibialis anterior is in the lower front; it flexes your foot upwards and orients it mid-air and upon footstrike. Exercising these structures improves your balance and your power significantly, allowing smooth and powerful strides. Because they stabilize the lower leg, strong calves are a strong defense against injuries.
Vertical Exercises for Calf Power
When you perform calf exercises while sitting in a chair, you are effectively isolating the calf muscles. Isolation is important for concentrating energy to the working muscle. It's as if you are putting a spotlight on your calves; you want to focus your mind on your muscles in order to get the maximum power and stretching. A basic power-move that works all three calf components is the simple action of rolling onto the balls of your feet, up and down, and for an added "kick," pushing off the floor a couple of inches, quickly, and setting your foot down again, toes first, pushing into the floor as you lower your heel. Placing a weight on your knee and holding it there will increase the workload and further enhance your calf strength. An alternate seated calf exercise, as detailed by Calves, relies on a leg-press machine: you sit with legs extended forwards, and you press on the foot-plate using only your calves and ankles.
Lateral Exercises for Calf Stability
Lateral, or side-to-side, exercises create stability by forcing the muscles to adapt to simultaneous but opposing stresses. Warm up your calves by doing ankle circles 3-4 inches off the floor, for 1 minute. Next, place both heels on the floor, 12 inches apart, and pull your feet upwards and outwards by contracting your calves' tibialis anterior muscles in the lower-front region of your shins. Then use the insides of your calves to pull your feet back inwards so that your soles are facing each other. Keep your heels down and toes off the floor throughout. Repeat 20 times, rest, and do two more sets. An advanced version involves adding a resistance band looped around both forefeet for the outward pulling. Pull slowly outwards against the resistance, then release inward just enough to keep some tension in the band. Repeat. To pull inwards with resistance, wrap the band around one forefoot and an immobile object somewhere to your side, like a desk leg, and slowly pull. With continued work, your calves will improve!
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