Whether you walk, bicycle, swim or play basketball, your calf muscles play a huge role in almost any physical activity involving your legs. When you're strength training your upper body, your calves help stabilize your body in every standing position. Spending your day at work on your feet increases your potential for calf-muscle tightness and pain. Stretching your calf muscles regularly can help reduce stress and injury potential while improving range of motion and circulation.
Basics
The calf muscles include the gastrocnemius and the soleus. Stretch both muscles regularly, along with the body's other major muscle groups. Always warm up with light aerobic exercise before stretching or stretch regularly after your exercise sessions, when your muscles are already warm. Perform each calf muscle stretch without bouncing for about 30 seconds, and repeat each stretch three or four times.
Standing Stretches
Stand facing a wall. Place your palms shoulder-width apart on the wall directly in front of your shoulders. Step one leg back about 2 feet behind you, pressing your heel into the floor. Keeping the back leg straight, bend the front leg to stretch the back leg's gastrocnemius muscle. Bend both legs to stretch the back leg's soleus muscle. Stand facing a wall, using it for balance with your hands as necessary. Bend one leg slightly while keeping your foot flat on the ground. Press the ball of the other foot into the wall. Slowly straighten both legs, feeling the stretch in your soleus muscle of the foot touching the wall.
Seated Stretch
This seated calf stretch targets the gastrocnemius and stretches your hamstrings muscles. Sit with your legs straight in front of you. Lean forward from your waist and grasp your toes, gently pulling back on them. If you can't reach your toes, bend one leg slightly, placing your foot flat on the floor. Use a towel or resistance band looped around the straight leg to pull gently back on the toes, as explained by BodyBuilding.com.
