Calf strength and ankle mobility are crucial for all athletes but particularly runners. When your foot strikes the ground, the functional stability of the whole kinetic chain relies on a strong and agile base. Yet calf muscle exercises are often missing from training routines.
“The whole complex needs to work together all the way up the totem pole,” says Nicole Haas, a board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist with a doctorate in physical therapy. If you have stiff ankles or calves, or significant lower-leg asymmetries, that could reverberate up the limb and cause pain in the knees, hips, and back, as well as limit your performance.
Along with the quads, the calves absorb the most impact when your feet land, whether you’re dropping a cliff on skis or pounding pavement. The calf muscle group is mainly comprised of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, which both connect to the Achilles tendon, on the back side of the lower leg. Your calves help bend your knees and are responsible for lifting the heel, a movement called plantar flexion (think of toeing when rock climbing). They also control…
