Ask yourself this question: when was the last time you did exercises dedicated strictly for your calves?
For most people, the answer is never - or too far back for them to remember. With all the focus going towards the more aesthetic muscle groups such as the...
shoulders,
arms,
abs, and
legs,
often times the calves get overlooked.
This is a shame however, because the calf muscles are some of the most utilized muscles in your body as they'll be engaged in each and every session you do. Therefore, it pays to do some strengthening work for them as well.
In doing so, you'll help ensure you are going to be preventing injuries and improving the performance you show with your other exercises as well.
Here are some top tips to work your calf muscles more effectively...
1. Try Incline Walking .
First off, for your cardio training, consider doing some uphill walking whenever you can. This form of exercise is going to be most demanding on your calf muscles and can help to build up their muscular endurance level very well.
Incline walking is great for burning up the same calories as running would as well, which would mean you can see excellent fat loss results with this workout also.
2. Do Standing And Seated Calf Raises.
Next, make sure you are including both standing as well as seated calf raises in your workout program as well. This is important because this will allow you to better work both the gastrocnemius and the soleus, the two muscles that make up the calf, as you move through the workout session.
If you just do standing, as many people do, you'll cut your progress short. If you don't workout in a commercial gym with a seated calf raise machine, consider placing a dumbbell on top of your thighs and pressing up from there.
3. Focus On The Lower Contraction.
Finally, as you do the workout, make sure you are focusing on the lowering contraction element as well. This is really going to help to build up more total intensity with your training session and ensure optimal results. If you can lower beyond the point of parallel, this too will help you get a greater muscle stretch which means more total force generation capacity.
So there you have some quick and simple tips for superior calf training. Make sure you aren't overlooking this muscle group any longer.
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