How to stretch your calves after exercise

I believe everyone knows that after exercising, you need to do some stretching exercises, especially for the calf area, you need to stretch it well. After exercise, lactic acid is easily accumulated in the legs. If you do not perform stretching exercises, it is likely that the athlete will experience calf soreness and swelling the next day. So, how do you stretch your calves after exercise? This will be introduced below!

1. Stretch your calves for 5 minutes after running

We have seen in various weight loss forums that stretching well after running can effectively slim down your calves. This is indeed correct in theory.

Stretching exercises after running are indeed essential, as they can relax congested and tense muscles and fascia. This is like if you use a lot of force to stretch a spring and keep it stretched. The spring will easily lose its elasticity. The same goes for muscles. Proper stretching after exercise can help the muscles return to normal state, avoid muscle stiffness, help recover from fatigue, and effectively maintain perfect leg shape.

Soleus stretch:

Action Description:

a. Stand alternately with your front and back feet, with the front sole of your stretched foot resting on the dumbbell and the back half of your foot resting on the ground. Place your hands on your waist or hold onto a wall to maintain balance.

b. Relax the entire sole of the foot and press the heel downward. The body can help lean forward to apply force and feel the stretch and soreness on the back of the calf.

c. Hold the stretch for 30-60 seconds, switch to the other side, and repeat.

Action points:

As you stretch, focus on feeling the muscles underneath and deep in your calf stretching.

2. Soak your legs in hot water for 20 minutes after stretching

Don’t think that you’re done just by doing calf stretching exercises. There is still one step left in the plan for beautiful legs, which is to keep soaking your calves in hot water after running. You can buy a wooden barrel, soak your legs, listen to music and read a book to fully promote blood circulation in your calves.

Tips: Wait 20 minutes before soaking your feet. You cannot soak your feet immediately after running, because the blood flow to the lower limbs increases during running, the skeletal muscle blood vessels dilate, and a large amount of blood is stored in the veins (veins, as capacity vessels, hold a lot of blood). If you soak your feet right after running, the capillaries in the lower limbs will further dilate, which may lead to edema of the lower limbs. It may also cause low blood pressure.

3. Massage your calves after soaking your feet

After soaking your feet, it is best to massage your calves with lotion. The choice of cream is not very demanding. Apply it on the calves and massage from bottom to top, and massage in circles until it is completely absorbed. After applying, gently pat your calves to relax your muscles completely.