Weekday Mobility: Calf Performance (Part 1)= How to Know Your Calf is Working at Full Capacity

This weeks weekday mobility tip is on Calf Performance. Thank you Grant Foreman, one of Fathom CrossFit’s owners and head coach for participating in this series of videos!

Below is a list of how to SCREEN yourself and or your athletes to see if they have full capacity in their calves.

1. Can you do a pistol? Can you do a pistol maintaining hip external rotation and an active foot?

2. Can you do 20 single calf raises all the way up onto your metatarsal heads (where you hinge at your toes when you push off during walking or running) keeping foot straight up and down?

3. Can you do 100 small jumps (jumping rope) without knees going in? This IS a great way to build up the arches of your feet.

4. Can you get into a ass to ankles squat maintaining external rotation in your hips with knees staying out as well as consistently get into a proper split jerk position with the back leg in proper internal rotation and extension? The hips play a crucial role on calf mobility and visa versa. If you have always walked like you just got off a horse, then you definitely have some work to do on the front of your hips that will directly effect your calves when walking.

This goes into the concept that, it is not just in the gym that matters, but how you walk (with proper hip extention), how long you have to sit during the day, and what kinds of shoes you use. If your used to sitting in cushy chairs and wearing cushy shoes, then the bottoms of your feet and calves are most likely weak from being kottled and you probably are missing some degres of hip extension since we really were not designed to sit and or wear such cushy shoes.