Do you have poor calf endurance? Do you know how many single leg heel raises you can do before fatigue?
The calves are so often the forgotten component of gym or lower limb rehab programmes. Without great calf endurance, you lose the ability to push the ground away in walking and even more running leading to an overload of other muscle groups, leading to potential injury.
Research has shown us that an ideal rep count for single leg heel raises for anyone in a running sport is 35. To run a marathon you need to be able to do 60!! Can you do this number? If not, this could be a missing piece of your puzzle.
Once you cancomplete 35 single leg heel raises with great form, to increase the difficulty and work through your full available ankle range of motion, take your heel raise off a step.
So many exercises in our rehab programmes are performed slowly and with control. But in life, we function at speed. So it’s important that once you have good form and endurance you incorporate speed into your exercise. Rebound heel raises train the Achilles’ tendon to rapidly store and release energy. This exercise is an important precursor to running.
