When you are going through your workout routine at the gym you might have noticed trainers correcting other people. Have you ever wondered what your trainer would suggest to you if you ask for a correction? A piece of free advice from gym-goers and trainers can go a long way. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you perfect your movements during calf exercises.
Steps on How to Do a Standing Calf raises workout at home:
Step one (the standing)
Stand straight on a yoga mat. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart, your toes should be pointing in a forwarding direction. Pull in your abs and keep your shoulders back and down.
Step two (the raising)
Now raise your heels while your knees are in an extended position. Do the calf raise slowly. Do not lock your knees.
Step three (the pause)
When you are standing right at the tips of your toes you need to pause for a second at least.
Step four ( the coming back)
Now get back to the ground slowly,
Lower your heels and return to the ground, getting back to the position you started from.
What to do in calf raises:
Slow your speed way down:
Your calf workouts are a combination of several muscles working together. For most people, these muscles do around five thousand reps a day. To strengthen these muscles and increase their size, a mind-to-muscle connection is very crucial.
So, don’t worry about going fast. Take around two seconds for the stretching motion, then one second for contraction. Again take two seconds to hold the position and one second for coming back down.
Standing up the right way:
Developing calve muscles is hard to achieve. These muscles belong to the tougher muscle group. Seated calve raises activate the outer perimeter of calves ie the soleus. Your hamstrings are not engaged in sitting calf raises so prefer the standing calf raises.
The more reps the better:
The more steps you take the more repetitions you are doing. The more repetitions you are doing the better and faster you’ll achieve your desired goal. Because your calves have higher endurance compared to other muscles of the body you can always do more reps.
Walking and running allow you to do high-volume sets. You can also do alternative days of lighter and heavier sets to work your calves the best.
Boxes rock:
If you feel like the normal standing or sitting calf raises aren’t enough you can try box jumps. Use your calves for jumping and landing and stay on your toes. This is not only a great exercise for your calves but also great cardio.
There are other variations you can try like donkey calf raises, dumbbell calf raises, double-leg calf raises, soccer calves, and weighted calf raises.
What not to do in calf raises:
Calf raises are hard to perfect but they are among the great leg workouts. They are a great leg workout for men and a great leg workout for women as well.
Here are some common mistakes that people do while doing calf raises. Avoid these so that you can effectively do these leg workouts:
No stretching or warming up:
Stretching right before your workout helps to avoid cramps. It increases flexibility which could otherwise be affected by cramping. Give at least five minutes to stretching your muscles before the workout to avoid these problems.
Fast tempo:
You can not get the full benefits of this exercise if you are focusing just on your speed. It is not effective to just quickly do the calf raises. Do all the motions slowly to avoid injury and get the best possible results.
Forward bending:
People often lean forwards while doing these leg workouts at home. This disturbs your balance and causes redistribution of weight. This can result in back pain and bad posture. Make sure to stand straight and keep your chest up.
Once you learn how to do them right, you can easily do these leg workouts at home.
