♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ on the internet. ♪
- Hi folks.
I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist
- Brad Heineck physical therapist.
- And we are the most famous physical therapists
on internet.
- And I'll pin it of course Bob
- Top 10 calf exercises to get stronger, hotter calves.
(Brad laughs)
- Hot like in..
- Hot to touch.
- Exactly bob.
No they gotta be hot.
You know, you gotta have some hot calves.
But you know we're not talking about the calves
like moo the cow calves.
We're talking about these calves right here.
(Brad slaps his calf)
And I thought we'd get Napoleon out.
- You had that joke all loaded up didn't you?
- Oh, you better believe it.
And they are loving it.
(Brad laughs)
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- Thank you.
I appreciate that Bob.
So the calf muscles, let's just look at the...
just a basic look at them.
The purple tape here represents it.
Going from the calcaneus, so the heel bone.
Big solid bone in your foot.
And the gastroc goes all the way up
and it crosses the knee joint.
Now that little bit of information is real critical
when we start to strengthen it.
So we can actually specify that muscle getting stronger
versus the deeper soleus, which is right in here.
And that also assists with the same function
of plantar flexion or pointing your toes down
which you use every time you walk, run, jump.
- [Bob] But it doesn't cross the knee, the soleus doesn't.
- [Brad] The soleus. Right, the soleus actually connects
up into the the tibia, deep inside.
So it's a short muscle.
I don't have a tape to represent that.
- [Bob] So the reason we're point all this out is when
if your knee is bent like this
and you start going on your toes
you're working really mostly the soleus then.
- [Brad] Right.
- [Bob] So even if you're doing like these,
it's more the soleus.
- [Brad] So what's so significant about that Bob
is because a lot of people
they want to get stronger calf muscles.
If you want your calf muscles to look
that shape that you want.
I kind of have a little bit of that.
So I use some red tape to show it.
- [Bob] So here you can see it says gastroc on there.
That's the gastroc muscle right here.
And then it also attaches
down into the the heel.
The soleus is now underneath here and attaches here.
And it doesn't attach way up here on the knee.
- [Brad] So if you want these muscles up here to get defined
you're gonna do it more with a straight knee
as opposed to a flex knee.
Because that takes that gastroc out of the picture.
So that little piece of biomechanics is really helpful.
So you know you're strengthening the proper way to
get the goal you want.
- Not bad legs there Brad, not bad.
- Wow almost 55 and they're still there.
Anyways and they work.
- Have you heard the term
either you're a calf or a calf not.
He's a calf, I'm a calf not.
- I'm telling you, looking on the internet
there's some calves out there
that really make a person moo.
- Yeah, that's right.
- So anyways...
- First one, first exercise.
- And we're starting from the easiest.
- Say after an injury.
Or if you have not done any strengthening,
you've been sedentary.
You can just use a Theraband.
- and that's just some of the heavier stuff
is the black stuff.
- Here's some red, which is a little lighter,
you could start out with that.
And I'm gonna start with my leg straight
because that's gonna work that big gastroc muscle
and strictly we call this plantar flexion,
all the way down.
And make sure you come all the way up
full range of motion
is gonna give you more bang for your buck.
- As you may know he calf muscles are very powerful muscles.
So they can tolerate a lot.
- You can always get the heavier black.
- And even double it, yep.
When you're looking for increasing the size of the muscle
you're gonna keep your reps low and your intensity higher.
So I'm gonna pull on this harder
and hopefully it won't break and snap me.
And keep your repetitions.
So by the time you get to 10 to 15
it's getting difficult already and do three sets of 10.
And that goes for all these exercises
if you want more bulk.
- Well you could actually do higher reps on the calf.
Couldn't you?
- You can, but you won't get the bulk.
You get you'll get definition.
- Right.
- Yeah, usually calf is more of an endurance muscle
because you're walking out all the time.
It's a good point.
So that's something that you'll have to...
- You can wrestle with which way you're gonna go on that.
- Exactly.
I like that Bob, wrestle with it.
- All right.
- Kind of fit together nice.
Then the next one is simple.
You just use body weight.
You don't even need anything
except for maybe something to balance on.
I'm gonna use a cane.
You could use a chair.
Why don't you do some with the chair, Bob.
- Okay.
- So simply up on your toes
get up nice and high, good posture so you're up and tall.
You're not bent over like this.
We wanna have good posture.
Keep the rest of our body healthy as well.
- Be like plete.
- Plete oh yeah.
- I don't know.
I don't know the terms.
- So usually an average person,
that's healthy 20, 30, 40 years old
can do 25 of these and that's fine.
And then if you can't, you wanna build up to that.
But when it gets too easy go to one leg.
And that's where most people need something to balance on.
Which is nice because you're working
on your balance as well.
Which is a good thing for anybody to have.
- [Bob] Calf muscles do play a role in that.
- [Brad] Exactly.
- [Bob] Giving you balance.
Why I'm feeling that one.
- [Brad] Oh yeah Bob.
- At age 57 you start feeling this stuff a lot sooner.
- You're gonna have sore calf muscles
by the time you're done with this routine.
then the next thing I really like to use this.
We're talking about full range of motion.
When you're doing this on the floor
your ankle's going to neutral.
Well your ankle goes a lot farther.
You have all this other range of motion to do.
- The dorsi flexion there.
- Yep. So go on an incline board.
This is a really nice...
- Incline boards are nice for stretching too.
For stretching the calves.
So here you could use it as a double exercise
- This one happens to be a double wide one.
I can get both feet on at the same time
which is really nice for this.
And it's about a 25 degree angle.
You can make one if you're handy.
You can buy them on the internet for about $25-$30 or so.
Good posture.
up.
And now, instead of just going to neutral
we're going all the way down.
It's really gonna be complete.
- So you'll fatigued it a lot more rapidly.
- Yep
And again, you're gonna work two legs.
And then when it gets too easy, simply go to the one leg.
And this is when you really notice it Bob.
Give it a whirl.
- I'd like to try it actually.
- I want you to get sore tomorrow.
- I'll probably be sore by this afternoon.
Oh yeah.
- Now do it without letting your heel touch.
So if I put my finger down, don't squish it.
- That makes a big difference.
- Big difference.
- Yeah, it does.
There's no rest at all then.
- So good control, smooth motion without getting..
- Woo I do feel that.
- You're gonna get cramped Bob.
So if you're doing these
this is a muscle that does cramp easily.
Do not overdo it the first week
or the first day especially.
Take your time with it, be patient.
- Yeah work your way into it.
Now we're doing the seated bar, right?
- Right. Okay.
Now as you get stronger
and this is where the people in the weight room
got some weights.
- By the way I'm very impressed with this Brad.
Brad came up with this
because I never knew of one to do at home
with heavy weights.
Because they always have that machine in gyms for this.
- Yeah at the gyms.
Now this is my weight barbell
because this is about all I can really do.
- It's almost like air.
- The practice ones.
Anyways but you get the idea.
You put that across here
and you have to have the right seat height.
So that your thighs are parallel to the floor is ideal.
- So normally a machine comes up,
there's pads, you put your legs under it.
And in this case you can set this up at home,
if you have the the Olympic bar.
even not the Olympic bar.
- You could use dumbbells,
One in each hand.
This works a little easier, more stable.
- This works good, you put a lot more weight on too.
- Exactly.
And this is working primarily,
remember the knee is flexed.
We're not doing much of that gastroc muscle,
the big one on top.
We're doing more of that deep soleus muscle.
And that's just the way it is.
- So that's gonna help define it somewhat.
Because you're working the lower (indistinct)
Exactly. So you're gonna combine this, the gastroc.
This is soleus.
And then you're really gonna develop some good definition
And make them strong and the way it should be.
Now again with the floor there you're limited
to the ankle at neutral position
and we want to get full range of motion.
So if you go to a step
now you notice I went to a higher chair
because I wanna keep my femurs parallel.
Now normally if I'm on a floor my foot comes to neutral
but now I'm actually gonna drop down
and get full range of motion throughout,
so all the muscle fibers get strengthened.
This is the best way to do it.
- Yeah, you're gonna work on this one now.
- And you're gonna feel the difference.
- You could do this too with a two by four, right?
You might not get it all, but you'll get more range.
- Yeah, If you don't have a stool
or something of this nature,
just two by four or four by four
would probably give you plenty enough there.
So be a little creative if you're doing this at home.
- That's right.
And you are gonna do the standing toe ups with the bar.
- Yes.
Okay.
(Brad grunts)
Just kidding.
- I'm spotting you Brad don't worry.
- Okay, Then up here this way
you're getting more the balance involved again.
You're getting the gastroc
and some postural muscles as well.
So you're not just working those gastrocs
but this is a great way to do it.
And now here's where if you wanna get more range of motion,
get a more complete exercise,
get those all the muscle fibers involved.
Up.
- Make sure you're safe.
That you're not losing your balance.
We don't want anybody to fall.
- Right.
This where if you have a machine
that holds the weight in that guide,
that's the safest way to do this.
So if you've not done a lot of weight lifting
with the barbell, this probably is not a good idea.
- I remember when I was younger.
- We all remember that Bob.
- Well, some guys would actually
get on the back of another guy.
Have you ever seen that?
- I can imagine about.
- It's a strange thing but they did it.
- When it comes to young men and testost...
they'll do anything to get some attention
and make it hurt.
- All right, last exercise Brad?
- Oh, now this is more for the athlete.
Not real concerned about making the gastrocs
look and appear good and bulky.
But they want to be very athletic and built
like soccer or football, or basketball.
- Well, basketball,
if you're trying to increase your vertical.
- Right exactly.
- A lot of that comes from the calf muscle.
So this should be a good one for that.
You get into your plyos
and I'm just touching plyometrics.
You're gonna have to look more into plyos.
But it means that you're gonna actually jump
up and down and you never stop.
(Brad slips and the stool slides)
- Oh geez stop.
And you shouldn't have something like this.
- Yeah, should have real steps.
- We are showing the good way to hurt yourself.
- That would've been a good one if he would've went down.
Very impressive Brad actually.
- Do it again Bob.
- No, we're not gonna do it again.
- Hold it Bob.
- I'm not gonna have that on film that you fall down.
- Yeah. Well I could have did it, I know that.
- I think they got the idea.
So be careful out there.
And remember Brad and I can fix everything
except for a broken neck.
- He got excited about that.
- I did get excited about that.
All right thanks for watching.
- Take care.