Tight calves

[virago]

Since doing more hill work, hill sprints and fartleks my left calf muscle (and sometimes my right) feels tight. When I run on them, until I'm warmed up (so 35 mins or so in the chilly mornings) they feel tight as my feet strike. I regularly stretch my hamstrings as I run but it doesn't seem to make much difference to the calves.

Are there any stretches I can do that will loosen my calves? It feels like all they need is a few good stretches and then they'll loosen, but I can't seem to find any yoga stretches that will do the trick!

[fredrikw]

when you stretch them, are you stretching both main calf muscles, Soleus and Gastrocnemius? You want to target both, Soleus is done with the knee bent and Gastrocnemius is done with the knee straight

spiderman spiderman

[ultra_whippet]

Another little tip - try rolling a tennis ball under your feet to stretch your plantar fascia. It's all connected, y'know

p.s. fredrik - bizzare!

[fredrikw]

p.s. fredrik - bizzare!

does whatever a spider can

[virago]

Ooh I haven't been stretching with knees bent, I'll add that to my repertoire.

The tennis ball is a nice idea in practice but I'd be mobbed by dogs if I did it at my house

[fredrikw]

Sometimes it's easier to do this stretch against a chair or something

[xjohanx]

Another little tip - try rolling a tennis ball under your feet to stretch your plantar fascia. It's all connected, y'know

tennisball thing works perfect. i work my calfs three times a week, plus i do some running. i almost never get tight or sore if i do the tennisball excersise properly

[Birdbloke]

Oh those tennis ball massages, work everytime.