When you're building your legs up you're also building your calves. But, there are times when you really need to give them some attention and for you to exercise your calfs. So what can you do to really give those lower legs of yours a real work out?
Here are some tips that give your calfs the attention they deserve:
1.Stretch those muscles and warm up before you start. This is the tenet for all basic workouts. You should warm up your muscles first to give them time to prepare for the activity you have planned for them and to boost blood flow to them. Doing this prevents painful cramps and dangerous injuries. This is especially true for your calfs since you'll be concentrating on them, they're incredibly easy to get cramps if they're not prepared well enough.
2.Give them a real hard workout. Since your calfs are used to carrying heavy weight (mostly yours) everyday they're quite a tough bunch. This means you have to overload them to get better results! There are plenty of workout moves you can do to work these muscles, to name a few they are: standing calf raise, single calf raise, seated calf raise/press. These activities really do the work; the key though is to set the weight a bit higher than you're used to but not high enough to cause injury. Also varying the weight every time you work out helps avoid stagnation of muscle growth.
3.Perform your movements correctly and safely. When you are performing these exercises make sure you go through the correct movement arc for your joints and muscles. Breathe out as you contract and breathe in as you relax, you may need to practice this as it may take some getting used to. Do your movements slowly and feel the weight and don't release abruptly. Rather ease off slowly after you tense up your muscle. Doing all these prevents painful injuries and helps you get maximum benefit from your workout.
4.Keep them fit, walk! Or run! Walking and running gives you the benefits of a cardio workout which helps give you definition by taking out unwanted fat. These activities also keep your calfs toned. What's good is you can do them almost anywhere at any time and they don't cost a dime!
5.Give your calfs some rest. Overloading your calf muscles can be painful, give them time to rest. You may want to give them a couple of days off before working them out again. Doing this can do wonders in bulking up your calf muscles!
Exercising your calfs can be one of the best things you can do for yourself. You'll find people will be complimenting you for them!
