How to do the calf raises more effectively from my Tennis Workout at home: 6 exercises that GET RESULTS video!
For your tennis workout at home you should focus on the legs, both the upper and the lower leg. In the next video the upper leg will be covered. Right now, the lower leg calf raise exercises are shown with cues for you on how to perform calf raises more effectively, so that you really get results.
Often people find the calf muscles quite tricky to get results with. I have found that the two calf raise variations in this video are very effective in strengthening and defining my calves!
No equipment is needed to perform this exercise except for a step. If you are on stairs always perform on the very booth step for added safety. All exercises are demonstrated by Jay Davern a bachelor degree qualified applied exercise sports scientist.
The 2 calf raise exercises are:
1. Lowered straight single leg calf raises (starts at the 11-second mark)
2. Bent leg single leg calf raises (starts at the 1 minute and 42-second mark)
Strong calves are essential to strong running, handling the repetitive strain of landing, braking, pushing off and in protecting you against common injuries eg. achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis.
Tips on the “How To”
I like to do and prescribe exercises that are low injury risk and at the same time reap high rewards. These calf raises are quite simple to do and efficient so are easy to become good at doing. A simple and easy movement is especially important when choosing which exercise to do from the multitude of fancy, complicated manoeuvers possible. Many do not really perform exercises that well and just like in tennis, the better your court movement and stroke movement the better results you will enjoy.
The tips on how to perform calf raises effectively are provided in this video so that you can watch the exercise demonstration and perform it your self whilst listening to your workout music.
Here they are again…
The critical factors are to activate the muscle fibres as much as you can through the full range of motion and to keep the muscles under tension or doing work for a longer time.
Single-leg
Balance and work the muscles only on one leg at a time. Stand straight up with good posture and if you need to, as lightly as possible rest a finger or two on the wall or bannister beside you to keep a balanced straight up posture. Lift one leg up so that it does not come in contact with anything to force just one leg at a time to do all the work, stabilising and balancing to be in the starting position. Ensure that just one leg does all the work through the exercise.
Lowered
Make sure you drop your heel below the step as much as you can whilst remaining balanced on the ball of your selected foot to perform the first set. Pause in this lowered position before raising your body upwards so that you eliminate any bounce or momentum to assist the upward or lifting phase. By doing this, you stretch the muscles through a greater range of motion and really activate the muscle fibres instead of using body mechanical advantages eg. the explosive stretch shorten cycle of the muscle.
Get to the TOP
To commence the next phase now that you are lowered and balanced on one leg, press up onto your toes as as high as you can whist maintaining balance. When you first press up make sure you do it slowly and controlled so that the difficult part of first moving remains difficult! By doing this, you do not cheat yourself of results as you will then be really activating muscle fibres. Once you get to the top, pause and squeeze the muscle before slowly returning the lowered starting position. Remember that the easier or lowering phase is where you can get a lot of results IF you control it and go slowly.
It is all about QUALITY: not speed, quantity and how heavy you are lifting.
Weighted
Only add a weight/s IF you can still really correctly perform the exercise movement and slowly through the full range of motion.
Once you begin using a weight, hold a single dumbbell in one hand straight up and down. Make sure you line up the dunbbell at the ankle of the foot you are balancing on. Hold the dumbbell close to your chest to help balance throughout this exercise.
Bent-leg
Bend your leg at the knee to switch the workload from the gastrocnemius muscle – to the smaller soleus muscle. Single bent-leg exercise are important to strengthen, improve flexibility in and to balance in order to be able to go with the larger gastrocnemius muscle.
Repetitions and Sets
You can do the number of repetitions and number of sets that suit your fitness level. If these exercises are new to you or you have not done them in a while, please start off with just one set of each and a low number of repetitions.
Emerge stronger from the lockdown, stay fit and get stronger.
