Stretching Exercises for the Calf Muscles

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m Angela, and right now I’m going to show you how to stretch your calf. This is one of the many ways. You want to have a stationary object in front of you. Something that won’t move, maybe a wall or this piece of machine is obviously not going to move anywhere. You want to have your feet facing the object or the wall shoulder width apart. Then you want to take the object so you can support against it. I’m going to use my left foot in this example, and I’m going to extend it exactly where it was in the beginning. I’m not going to cross it over like this, I’m just going to bring it straight back. In this point in time, I’m going to bend my right leg forward, making sure that my back is straight at all times, posture is essential. If you bend like this, you’re hyper-extending your muscles, in which case you’re most likely to strain them. Now, you extend your back leg depending on how often you stretch and how flexible you are. You can hold this for about 15-20 seconds, in which case you exchange and do the other leg, and immediately you’ll feel the stretch. It’s slightly discomforting, but that’s what a stretch feels like. If you ever feel extreme pain, you want to stop immediately. Again, hold it for 15-29 seconds. Remember to inhale and exhale, it’s very important. The breathing process is extremely important for this stretch. It increases the impact of the stretch as well as the level of relaxation."