Why is my calf tight
Fix Tight Calves! [Best Stretches For Tight Calf Muscles]
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what's up guys dr jared here and these
are six of my favorite exercises that
are going to help you to eliminate
tightness and pain right back here in
these calf muscles so whether it was
from trying a new activity recently or
increasing intensity in an activity that
you're used to these are going to help
you out those are two of the most common
reasons why people come in to see me
with tightness with pain in their calves
and so i hope the things that i share
help you out because here's the thing by
itself tightness pain in your calves
yeah it's annoying but what we really
want to do is prevent future injury from
happening the most common injuries that
you're going to develop from this calf
tightness and pain are going to be
achilles tendinitis and plantar
fasciitis so we definitely don't want it
to progress to that point so you're in
the right place we're going to get on
top of this right now and so that's what
i want to share with you in this video
that's the benefit that i hope you get
of course if this does help you out
smash the thumbs up button thank you so
much for doing that in advance that
being said first stretch coming your way
right now the first place i'm always
going to start is right down here on the
floor with the foam roller for two
reasons first you probably have some
lactic acid built up in those muscles
that we want to mobilize out of there
second all of our muscles are covered in
a thin protective layer called fascia if
we develop adhesions in these fascia
meaning if the muscle doesn't move the
way that we need it to then we're
fighting a losing battle with our
stretching so we're going to loosen it
up right down here with a foam roller
now the way that i like to do this well
let me mention so if you don't have a
foam roller they're pretty inexpensive
to pick up i've got this one linked down
below in the description but a lot of
gyms health clubs rec centers like that
will have them also so hopefully you're
able to track one down what we're going
to do is we're going to well so i'll
give you the easiest version first
both of your legs out straight that foam
roller is right down here underneath
your calves you're going to use a little
bit of your upper body strength and then
we're just going to slide forward and
back right on that foam roller and it
looks just like this this one will be a
little bit tender but what you should
notice is that as you continue to do it
it gets better as your calves loosen up
now if this is okay i tend to go to a
little bit more aggressive if you can
tolerate what you can do is actually
cross one leg over the other so right
here i had equal weight distributed on
two legs now all of that weight is right
down right through my left calf that's
the one that i tend to prefer it's a
little bit more effective but again do
what you can tolerate and in my clinic
what i do is i'll just set like either a
one or two minute timer on this and have
you foam roll for about that duration
we'll follow up the foam roller with one
of my favorite stretches for the entire
back of your leg this is a seated calf
stretch now rarely does calf tightness
occur in isolation i'd say in most cases
you're going to get some tightness
probably up here in the hamstring and
behind the knee with it as well this is
a great stretch to stretch all three of
those what i want you to do is you're
either going to come to your bed or your
kitchen table i found that those are
kind of the two surfaces that work the
best the couch is maybe a little bit too
low for this and you're going to get
into a seated position with your leg out
straight like this now you will need
like a belt or a towel or a sheet
i have a stretch out strap this is also
linked down below this is nice it's got
some handles on it just something that
doesn't stretch that you're going to
then loop around your foot and then what
you can do is use your hands to kind of
pull your toes back towards you right
here now the thing that i love about
this one is when you pull like this
that's going to get a really good
stretch right here in your calf but now
what i want you to do is also sit up
straight and tall and you're going to
feel that one up behind your knee and
then if you keep your back nice and
straight and then lean forward slightly
you get that up into your hamstring so i
tell people i want you to fill it in
three places right behind your calf
right behind your knee and right up here
in your hamstring you're going to take
it until it's just a good comfortable
range a good comfortable stretch you're
going to hold that for 20 seconds and
then you're going to repeat that one
three times now these next two stretches
this is the whole reason why you're here
this is the whole reason why you're
watching this video these are the ones
that people tend to love because they
are so effective here's the reason why
your calf is not one muscle your calf is
actually two muscles you've got a more
superficial muscle called your
gastrocnemius looks like this but then
sitting underneath that you've got
another muscle called your soleus and
it's then it looks just like this we can
actually stretch those muscles
individually based on the position of
our leg and that is what i'm going to
show you with these next two stretches
so let's stretch out that gastrocnemius
first what we're going to do is a
runner's stretch you're going to come up
to a wall or a tree depending on where
you're at something that you can push on
that's not going to move we're going to
get into this position with the affected
leg back behind us right now my knee is
straight and my heel is down on the
ground what i'm going to do is now just
push my hips forward so i'm going to put
my weight onto that front foot while i'm
pushing through my hands just until we
get a good comfortable stretch right
through the back of the leg most people
feel that one a little bit higher even
up into the back of the knee but kind of
the top of the calf is where most people
will feel that one about a 20 to 30
second hold and so now if we want to
stretch the soleus the muscle that's
underneath that gastroc what i'm going
to do is slide my foot forward just a
little bit get into that same position
and then just unlock your knee and oh
man there you go again that's the one
that most people really like they said
oh i didn't know that i could do that
stretch you're going to fill that one
down a little bit lower most people get
that one down here low in the calf and
even down into that achilles tendon as
they hold it right there again that's
the deeper muscle that's the deeper gas
or excuse me deeper soleus that we
stretch with the knee bent you're going
to hold that for 20 to 30 seconds and
then i tell people to alternate between
those so kind of back to the gastroc
with the knee straight back to the
soleus with the knee bent hold for about
20 to 30 seconds each and repeat that
three times these last two stretches are
also for your gastrocnemius and your
soleus all you need is a small stair or
a small step this is kind of convenient
when there's nothing around to push on
but if there's like a step or a curb or
something like that you can do these
right there and so what we're going to
do so first thing that i like to show
people is you can just put the balls of
your feet up on that stair or on that
curb and then just hang out like that
drop your heels down below your toes
until there's a good stretch in your
calf and that's just a really great
place to start if you want to be a
little more focused with it if you want
something a little more aggressive what
you can do is if i'm going to stretch my
left foot out i would put my left foot
in that same position but my right foot
is all the way up on top of the stair or
curb and now what i can do is i can
lower my right foot until i get a
focused good stretch on that left side
and once again with the knee straight
i'm going to stretch out that
gastrocnemius muscle you can hold that
for 20 to 30 seconds but then if you
want to hit that deeper soleus all we
need to do is stay in this same position
and then just unlock that knee slightly
and you'll see that as i unlock my knee
my weight is still here on my right foot
but i can put as much as i can tolerate
here onto that left foot until i get
that same good stretch deep in that calf
muscle i'd hang out there for 20 to 30
seconds and then alternate between those
two three times now in the beginning of
this video i mentioned achilles
tendinitis and plantar fasciitis if you
have pain in that achilles tendon or in
the bottom of your foot i'd love to help
you out there as well here's my achilles
tendinitis video here's my plantar
fasciitis video click this circle right
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you haven't done so already i hope you
found this video beneficial and we'll
see you again soon
