The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (48 page)

Try to keep the legs straight during the exercise with your knees slightly bent.

TECHNIQUE AND FORM

Maintaining your form, raise up onto the tips of your toes as high as you can and hold.

Focus on contracting the calf muscles at this point. It is one thing to just do the movement, it is another to intensely participate in it!

Slowly lower yourself, bringing the heels towards you for a deep stretch. Do not go too deep.

FAQ:

When I perform the calf press should I keep my knees locked?

ANSWER:

Locking out your knees can not only damage your knees, but actually takes away from stimulating your calf muscles. You may think that locking out your knees helps you to fully contract the calves, but you will actually be able to get a better range of motion by keeping a slight bend in both knees.

VARIATION

Tibia Raise

This exercise works the front of your calves, and depends on your body weight as resistance. If you’re interested in making it more difficult and need to add resistance, you can hold a dumbbell between your feet (squeezing your feet together to grip the dumbbell securely).

PROPER ALIGNMENT

Pull a calf block or other type of raised platform up to a fixed object that can support your weight (like a squat rack].

Step up onto the calf block, placing your heels on the forward edge. Your feet should be facing straight ahead, with toes pointing down and your legs slightly less than shoulder-width apart.

Reach out with one arm to hold onto the fixed object to keep your torso in balance. You should not be using the object to take away from the resistance of the exercise.