Your calf is more than the bulging muscles you see in the back of your lower leg. It is made up of eight muscles that work together to flex your ankle or bring your toe upward. The calf also extends your ankle, plants your toes down, and raises your heel up. You also have important calf muscles that invert and evert your foot at the ankle. This means they pull your foot either inward toward your mid-line or outward away from your mid-line. Calf exercises at your desk should attend to the strength of all of these muscles.
Foot Circles
Do foot circles or ankle rotations to create circulation, flexibility and lower leg muscle tone. Raise one foot off of the floor and rotate it in the same direction ten times. Reverse directions and rotate it the other direction ten times. Switch legs and repeat. Continue until you have done three sets of 10 on each leg. If your leg is bent, this exercise will tone seven of your eight calf muscles. If your leg is straight, you will tone all eight of your calf muscles.
Resistance Heel Raises and Toe Taps
These two exercises tone opposing calf muscles. The bent-knee heel raises tone your soleus muscle in the back of your calf. The toe taps tone your tibialis anterior on the front of your lower leg alongside your shin bone. Place one hand on top if each of your knees. Press your stomach inward and straighten your spine. Push with your shoulders down your arms to create resistance at the top of your knees. Raise and lower your heels. Continue for three sets of ten repetitions with a 30-second rest between. Remain in the same position for toe taps. Raise and lower the balls of your feet. Keep your heels on the floor. Continue for three sets of ten repetitions with a 30-second rest between.
Inversion and Eversion
Inversion means to pull your flexed foot in toward the mid-line of your body. Eversion means to pull your flexed foot away from the mid-line of your body. The benefit of this exercise, other than muscle tone, is ankle stabilization and improved balance. Sit tall and raise one foot off of the floor. Keep a 90-degree angle at your ankle. Pull your big toe in toward the mid-line of your body ten times. Reverse the motion and pull your little toe outward away from the mid-line of your body ten times. Perform three sets of ten repetitions in each direction before switching to the other leg.
Standing Heel Raises
Your gastrocnemius muscle is the bulging muscle in the back of your calf. It attaches at the back of your femur or thigh bone. This means that your knee must be straight to sculpt your gastrocnemius. The standing heel raise is the best choice. However, if you cannot stand at your desk, turn so that you can straighten your leg. Point your ankle or point your foot. This action is called plantar flexion. Angle your toes inward during calf raises to emphasize tone in the outer or lateral portion of your gastrocnemius. Open your toes wider than your heels to emphasize tone in the inner or medial portion of your gastrocnemius. Perform three sets of ten repetitions.
References
- "Women's Strength Training Anatomy"; Frederic Delavier; 2003
- PhysioAdvisor.com: Ankle Strengthening Exercises
- "Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology"; John W. Hole, Jr.;1986
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