The calf muscles, which include the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, shorten and lengthen when you extend and flex your ankles, respectively. Exercising your calves and ankles regularly can help keep them flexible, strong and healthy. Perform stretching and strengthening exercises as part of your normal workout routine, and add power-building exercises if you're an athlete. Consult a personal trainer to develop an individualized program.
Warm-Up Exercises
Exercises to warm up help prepare your body for more intense exercises by increasing your core temperature and the amount of blood flow to the targeted muscles, making them more pliable and potentially less susceptible to injury. Performing warm-up exercises also may help prepare your mind for an exercise session, according to Roger Earle and Thomas Baechle, authors of "NSCA's Essentials of Personal Training." A warm-up routine for your calves and ankles can include ankle bounces, jumping jacks, rope jumping and skipping. Do one or more of these exercises until you break a sweat -- usually five to 15 minutes -- before each workout.
Stretching Exercises
Performing stretching exercises can improve the flexibility of your calf muscles and the range of motion of your ankle joints. Both static and dynamic stretches may help. A static stretch that targets the calves, for example, involves setting your body at a 45-degree angle, with your head in front of your feet, and pressing your heels into the floor with your knees locked. The ankle roll exercise, which involves circling your feet through as wide a range of motion as possible, both clockwise and counterclockwise, is a dynamic stretch.
Strengthening Exercises
Strengthening the calf muscles and the other soft tissues that act on and surround your ankles will help them function properly, stabilize your joints and possibly prevent injuries. Perform resistance exercises, using your body weight or external devices, to achieve these objectives. The heel raise exercise, for example, is a classic calf-strengthening exercise that involves lifting your heels off the floor as high as possible and lowering them slowly. You also can perform a toe push exercise on a leg press machine by extending your ankles to push the attached platform forward, or by wrapping a resistance band around the bottom of your feet and extending your ankles to stretch the band forward.
Plyometric Exercises
Perform plyometric exercises to build power in your calves, helping to improve your agility and jumping and sprinting ability. These attributes are particularly important if you play baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball, tennis, volleyball or any other power sport. Plyometric exercises that work your calves and ankles include ankle bounces, rope jumping and skipping -- performed at a much higher intensity than for your warm-up -- and box jumps, long jumps and any type of sprinting activity. Complete a plyometric workout two to three times per week with at least two days of rest between sessions.
References
- "Basic Biomechanics"; Susan J. Hall; 2007
- "NSCA's Essentials of Personal Training"; Roger Earle and Thomas Baechle; 2004
- United States Figure Skating: Warm-Up Exercises
- American Council on Exercise: Lower-Leg Exercises
- ExRx.net: Calf Exercise Menu
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