Tight Calves

Your gastrocnemius muscle, the bigger of the two, runs from your thigh bone to your Achilles tendon. Your soleus muscle, which lies beneath the gastrocnemius, runs from your shin bone to your Achilles tendon. Tightness in these muscles leads to lower leg and ankle pain. Eventually, the tightness in these muscles causes them to weaken. Combat tight calves with a thorough stretching program designed to restore flexibility to your calf muscles.

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WARMING UP

Whenever you workout, start with a thorough warm-up. Spend three to five minutes doing light cardiovascular exercise, such as marching in place or climbing stairs. Follow this cardiovascular activity with a thorough dynamic stretching routine that stretches all of your muscles from head to toe. Dynamic stretching uses movement to warm up your muscles. Knee lifts, side bends and neck circles are all examples of dynamic stretching movements to include in the warm-up portion of your workout. Pay attention to dynamically warming up your calves by rising up on your toes and rocking back on your heels. Rock back and forth between these two positions six to eight times to warm up your calves.

STATIC STRETCHING

Static or stationary stretching is the type of stretching that will improve your flexibility in your calf muscles and relieve tightness. Do static stretching at the very end of your workout. On days when you are not working out, you can still stretch your calf muscles. Just perform a thorough warm-up, as detailed above, before doing any static stretching. Hold each static stretch for 30 seconds. Repeat all stretches two to three times. Never bounce during your stretches, which is ballistic stretching. It can be painful and cause injury to your muscles.

GASTROCNEMIUS

When isolating your gastrocnemius muscle in a stretch, keep your leg straight. For example with your hands pressed against a wall, extend one straight leg behind you. Point your toe at the wall and keep your heel pressed into the ground. As you lean forward, you will feel the stretch in your calf muscle. You can also stretch this same muscle in a seated position with your straight leg extended out in front of you. Either grab your foot or wrap a towel around the ball of your foot and pull your foot toward your body, keeping your leg straight.

SOLEUS

Stretching your soleus muscle requires you to bend your knee to isolate the muscle. In the same wall stretch described above, bend your back knee, keeping your back heel pressed into the ground. Lean forward toward the wall stretching your soleus muscle. You can also isolate your soleus muscle while sitting in a chair. Slide one foot slightly underneath you and lean forward as if you were going to stand up. The bent position of your back leg will cause stretching in your soleus muscle.