How to Stretch Calves

Video Transcript

"One muscle group in the body that's particularly tight are the calf muscles. It's really important to make sure that after any activity or even at the end of the day that you stretch the calf muscles. So I'm going to demonstrate a couple of exercises for you to do that. If you start in a split stand position, and make sure the back heel remains on the floor. Body should be in an upright position and you can place your hands in your forward thigh. Lean forward, keeping the knee straight and the heel down and you should be able to feel the stretch in that calf muscle or the gastrocnemius. You want to hold your stretch about ten or thirty seconds, maybe up to sixty if you have the time. Bending the back knee will then shift that stretch down into the soleus which is just below the calf muscle. So again holding and making sure that you do it on both sides. Standing and putting the heel forward and pressing the hips back will also give a little stretch to the calf muscle as well. Particularly if you walk around in high heels during the day or you do a lot of running, your calves are going to be very tight so this is going to be very, very important for you. Another stretch to do would be in a supine position which is a lying position. And you can use a rope to help you with your stretch. Simply lie back, place the rope underneath the foot, secure it, hold on and let the rope, let, pull down on the rope so you feel a slight stretch in the back of the calf muscle. Relax the head down and hold and of course repeat on the other side for muscle balance. This is Alice Monsaert hoping that you incorporate calf stretches into your daily fitness routine."