Oh, you caught me stretching my calves. The wall stretch that a lot of people do, a lot of runners like it to warm up, is actually a pretty silly stretch. There are lots of better ways to create normal flexibility and stability in your lower leg without having to stretch a muscle, only to weaken it and hinder performance, and even decrease injury recovery time. So let’s look at a couple of other ways that you can strengthen your calf muscles, especially your soleus and Achilles tendon, to prevent and treat injuries.
One great way to increase the natural flexibility of your lower legs, hips, knees, and ankles is to work on your deep squat, which I talked about in one of my other videos. So let’s just go over it really quickly. Feet about shoulder-width apart, you’re going to go straight down as far as you can while hopefully keeping your heels on the ground. This is a rest position in many parts of the world. So at first, it’s going to be a difficult position for many people to get into. And actually, you’ll feel where you might have some mobility issues, maybe in the anterior tips of your ankles, maybe you’ll feel a little bit of a stretch or tightening in your Achilles, or maybe even in your thighs. So eventually, you should be able to get into this nice, relaxed position. If you have problems doing this, then what you can do is get up on a two-by-four, so your heels are a little bit elevated, and then it’ll be much easier for you to come down. And another thing that I’ve shown in one of my other videos is that you can grab a pole or something in front of you to help with the counterbalance, or even hold a kettlebell, so the weight will keep you more forward, so you’re not falling back onto your heels. So that’s one great exercise or a drill to work on.
The second drill I want you to work on to help increase mobility and flexibility of your lower legs is to do a backward run. This is a great eccentric loading exercise, so your heel is sort of dropping down after the ball of your foot touches. A lot of people like to do eccentric heel drops. I think these are even better because you’re getting more of a loading into your Achilles and into your soleus, that lower part of your calf, and you’re going to help with a lot of strength in the foot and ankle. So, really simply, you’re going to run backward really easy and lightly touch the heels after the ball of the foot lands.
The last drill I want you to try is a little bit more advanced, maybe a lot more advanced for many people. And this one is going to really hone in on any little weaknesses that you may have in your ankles and your feet, and any little ligament strain that you might have down there, too. It’s going to help a whole lot with strength, the stability of your lower leg, and your balance too. You’re going to need a two-by-four, and what you’re going to do is, as simple as it may sound, you’re going to stand on the board, with the balls of your feet on the board and your big toe just hanging off a little bit. So, not the arch and definitely not the heel. Just stand on the board without your heels dropping down, okay?
So get nice and comfortable and, once you do, traverse the board. Walk across, and it’s a lot harder than it looks. You’ll really feel any little imbalance you might have in there. Once you get to one end, or get a little ways, then come back and go the other way, keeping those heels off the ground. What you can also do is stop at a certain point and squat down, staying nice and relaxed, staying on the balls of the feet, and then, to make it even more advanced, if you can, come up on the balls of your feet. Get right up on your toes as much as you can and then back down, and do a couple of those, almost like little calf raises, but in the squatted position on the two-by-four. It’s pretty difficult, just like that, and back down, and come back up. I’m keeping my balance. I’m keeping my position, nice and tall. I’m keeping my heels off the ground, and I’m going to go and traverse the board again, just like that, never touching, or hopefully not touching. And if you do, just get right back on.
So let me just show you from the back now so you can see my heels. Put them on like so, traverse, and across. Okay! And that’s how it’s done.
A common warm-up or cooldown ritual, particularly in the running community, is the straight-leg calf stretch. Of the many ways you can warm up your calves, runners tend to like to push against a wall or other vertical object to get a good stretch and give them a feeling of security, as false as it may be. After all, most runners have tight calves, and most think it’s completely normal and comes with the total package of being a runner. Some feel the need to stretch to temporarily “loosen” the calves and be able to run, while many more mistakenly think the more they stretch the calves, the less their chance of injury. Yet, stretching the calves in such a static “hold and stretch” manner is not associated with any reduction in injury and definitely not any faster healing time of injured tissue. Calf wall stretches, however, are a great isometric upper body exercise if you’re training to push something or someone over.
The Calf Stretch: Stretch More, Stabilize Less
Stretch and hold all you want, but as a runner, you’ll not effectively lengthen the muscles and improve stability to the point where you become a better athlete. Actually, the more you choose to do this calf stretch while leaning against the wall, the weaker those tendons and muscles will become, resulting in increased injury rates. Some runners are even taught to perform this and many other silly stretches after they run to “retain the flexibility,” which they hopefully gained during the run. Are you kidding me? If you hold a stretch for 8–20+ seconds, then all of a sudden your body magically locks in the increased flexibility you got from your run? This is assuming you’re running efficiently in the first place (which most people are not doing) and that you are creating some increased and healthy range of motion. It’s also assuming that you ran in the Land of Magic, where post-exercise stretching for some short, predetermined time now prolongs gains just by adding in this little extra movement gimmick.
Functional Movement
Movement should be functional, meaning it should benefit your activity/lifestyle in a positive way. This is why deep bodyweight squats, for example, help with most activities, as the increased range of motion developed in your hips, knees, and ankles will improve your flexibility and mobility despite not actually needing to squat while you run. Your body also isn’t in the elongated position of the straight-leg wall stretch while running, yet at the same time, you’re isolating the calves, which makes them temporarily more flexible, weaker, and unstable. What are you trying to develop? A longer stride where you’re pushing off to the point your glutes (the power muscles of running) are no longer engaged and you’re relying on your Achilles tendon for power? It’s a very compromised position, and if you’re really feeling a “good stretch” while doing this movement, you’ve got other issues that need to be addressed far beyond stretching.
More Is Not Always Better
With muscles, longer is not necessarily better unless the muscles and connective tissue (primarily fascia) have shortened due to some muscular imbalances. Stretching will never correct muscular imbalances. Simply stretching a muscle and holding it to try to make it longer and “looser” decreases stability while compromising function. When you lack stability, you’ll increase your chances of injury and decrease performance. Flexibility is a reflection of health and fitness, and it is accomplished in part by performing activities that develop a normal range of motion relative to the level you currently function. In other words, stretching to the point of a traditional “deep stretch” beyond your means is a bad idea. Let me explain more.
Flexibility can be increased in a healthy manner if you develop it within the confines of your current fitness. So if you’re unable to touch your toes yet you force yourself to do it (or have someone push your back down or legs up to accomplish the task), then you’re going beyond your current functional ability. Nothing good can come from doing this type of stretch; it’s too much for your body at your current health and fitness level. (Yeah, there are exceptions for some athletes, but we’re not talking about those specific sports here.) The same thing goes if you feel the need to stretch your calves in the straight-leg wall stretch manner. If you feel like getting your leg out to a certain length and pushing your foot down is going to improve anything, you’re mistaken. You should be able to perform such a “stretch,” or movement, as I’ll call it now, without it being too difficult if your calves are naturally flexible. Said another way, if you feel the need to do the wall stretch and you get a “good stretch,” then that’s a great indicator NOT to do it because you’re only going to cause problems. If you don’t feel the need to do the movement, then why do it? You’re beyond the ridiculous drill anyway.
Eccentric Heel Drops? Let’s Make It Better
If you want to naturally elongate your calves and create strength and stability, some recommend eccentric heel drops. Though these are definitely better than the wall calf stretch, as now you’re elongating in a (hopefully) controlled manner under an eccentric (lengthening) load, I feel there are better methods. Plus, if you’re dropping your heel off a step and holding the calf stretch for a prolonged period, then you’re right back to the disadvantages of stretching—trying to make something longer that either does not need to or does not want to be lengthened. Running in zero-drop shoes or barefoot is going to elongate (stretch) your calf muscles and Achilles tendon while improving strength. This means better mobility!
Create Flexibility, Stability, and Strength in Your Calves
Simply wearing a shoe with less heel height will start to “stretch” your calves and Achilles tendon, and naturally elongate this area. This is why if you transition too quickly to a lower-drop shoe or barefoot walking/running, you’ll often have sore calves the next day. Even worse, if you progress faster than what you’re capable of, you’ll actually injure yourself in this transition period. Check out “Lose Your Shoes” for more on this.
Many people are doing the wall calf stretch to try to lengthen the calves, yet they cannot even walk barefoot or in a zero-drop shoe without issues. If your body can’t handle this normal (or what should be normal) stress to the calf, then why put it in a compromised position by doing a wall stretch? This is like trying to run before you can crawl. Pushing on a wall in traditional shoes with heels is just plain silly; you’ve shortened your calf while trying to lengthen it.
Once you can handle some barefoot and zero-drop shoes, the next step to help with foot and lower-leg mobility and stability is to work on your deep squat. I won’t get too much into that here, as you can watch the video. Full-body squats are a great functional exercise to help you move better overall, especially if you’re a runner.
Another great way to develop strength, stability, and flexibility in your calves is to run backward. Again, this eccentric loading training is like a weighted stretch, but, of course, your heel can never go past the plane of the ball of your foot. But by landing on your toes and lowering your heel down in a controlled fashion, yes, you’re getting a good “stretch” without the many disadvantages of stretching. Do a few sets of these for 50–75’ and see how your calves feel the next day.
Finally, and this is the most advanced, though it may look simple: Walk on a two-by-four board as I show in the video. This will further improve your strength, stability, and flexibility in your calves. Add in a deep squat on the board too—it’s much harder than if you are on the ground.
Can you do all these drills? If you can, then there’s no reason to ever push on a wall because your body is so far advanced that you would achieve absolutely nothing beneficial. Now, of course, if you’re bored and don’t want to chit-chat before a race yet want to blend in, then find a tree, stick your back leg out really far, and lean. Enjoy!
