3 reasons why you need to incorporate soleus calf raises into your training

The soleus is one of the most underrated muscles in the human body. Here are 3 reasons why you need to add training them into your program! 

We all know the calves play a important role when it comes to walking, running, jumping, cycling and any sort of physical activity. 

An extremely underrated muscle called the soleus lays beneath our calf muscle. 

As it lays beneath the calf, it often gets missed in the training program of many! Hence the underrated tagline.

Infact, training your soleus, may be the very answer to reducing your risk of lower limb injury, reducing your pain and increasing your performance!  

Here are 3 reasons why you need to add this muscle group into your training program! 

1. It is a VERY STRONG muscle!

• The soleus covers a large cross section of the calf muscle, powering upto 80% of triceps surae force. That is a lot of force we are talking about! Think about all the additional power and strength you could generate, by adding them into your program. 

2. It provides STABILITY 

• The soleus contributes to 50% of your vertical support force during running 

• The soleus also  pulls against the force of gravity to keep your body upright and prevent you from falling forwards 
• Therefore, the stronger your soleus, the greater your stability! 

3. It assists with BLOOD FLOW to your heart 

• The soleus acts on venous return from the muscles to the heart. The more you train this muscle, the greater the blood flow that passes back to the heart. This system will increase oxygen and essential nutrients to the body, which will directly increase your body’s performance. So its a no-brainer to incorporate the soleus into your training! 

So how do I train my Soleus? 

– The soleus is best trained in a ‘knee-bent’ position whereby you push your toes off the ground as if you were doing a calf raise. The knee is kept bent to remove the tension placed on the calves, and directly place the tension on the soleus.

See the videos below for examples of Soleus exercises. 

Soleus Strengthening – YouTube

Stronger Soleus FTW #basketballbiology – YouTube

Soleus Calf Training for basketball athlete – YouTube

Seated Soleus Calf Raise – YouTube

Stay tuned for future blogs and videos that will go more in depth in regards to how many repetitions and sets you should be doing, as well as which exercises are the best for your soleus! 

If you found this helpful, we would love to hear from you. 

If you are ready to see us, do not hesitate to call our team on (03) 9711 7562 or make an appointment with me through Book Online | The Footcare Clinic on our website!