Tight Calves

[Catrin]

Ankling means pumping your toes up and down in sync with your pedal stroke. It was popular in the 70s. People understand now that it's inefficient and hard on your calves and Achilles. I pretty much have to do it when my crankarms are too long, also.

hmmm, I've no idea if I do this or not, I will try to be more aware of my feet the next time I ride...

Proprioception - yeah, the sense that tells each part of your body where the other parts are. One of the exercises I've been slacking off on is simply standing on one leg with my eyes closed on an unstable surface.

I've started taking a Bosu class at my gym, amazing what you can do with those things! At the end of class when we are cooling down the instructor has us do all kinds of mean and wicked things...standing on the Bosu with our arms outstretched and tracking with our eyes...standing on top of the Bosu with our eyes closed. I have huge problems with that - even with both feet on the ball. I will work on these things with more attention...

[Catrin]

Also, for some reason I posted this in the wrong forum...would one of those with the magic wand please move it to the health if you get the chance - thanks!

[bluebug32]

My calves are always tight too. I've noticed that stretching them gently every day for a couple of minutes has really helped. I also, at the suggestion of the lovely TE forum, I also keep my ankles from flexing during my pedal stroke. I realized that as I was scraping back through the pedal stroke, that my ankle was constantly flexing as well to add extra umph to that scraping motion. Now I think "quiet ankles" and that works to keep them happy (as well as my achilles and calf). As for heat, I would apply that only if it feels good. I doubt there's a whole lot of lactic acid hanging out there after a rest week, but apply ice or heat, whichever feels better. Massage is always good, too.

[Catrin]

I had wondered how long lactic acid sticks around - and they always get sore during rest weeks - calves and one hamstring One of my "corrective exercises" given me at my new gym is a "search and destroy" on my calves with the massage stick...I now have one at home. My trainer/coach seems to think that this is the second most important out of the 6 correctives they have given me. Part of their fitness assessment is to determine those areas in which we need strengthening or to pay extra attention...

If the wind allows I hope to go on an easy ride tomorrow and will try to remember to pay attention to what my feet are doing. I also need to get into the habit of applying the stick every exercise or ride day...

Thanks all!

[Catrin]

Found this link to a group of stretches for tight calves, I will try some of these out after intense activities.

[Catrin]

Thanks Murienn - I think I will work on putting together a thread that references all of the various discussions and links on stretching like you have for saddle information. This would be helpful to many of us I think.

[OakLeaf]

Just don't neglect your feet. If you have congenitally weird feet plus a history of injury (same as me, except I've had only soft tissue injuries), that's MORE reason to work on strength, mobilization and proprioception of all the dozens of muscles and joints in the feet. If the foundation is off, the whole chain will be off.