Calf Muscles: The ‘Heart’ of Our Legs
The gastrocnemius, soleus and tibialis posterior are muscles which lie at the back of the lower leg and are collectively known as the calf muscles.
The calf muscles can be thought of as the ‘heart’ of the leg because of their crucial role in our circulatory system. Blood is easily pumped to our lower legs from the heart via large arteries but returning the blood back to the heart is not so easy. Our venous system not only often works against gravity but does not have the same degree of help from smooth muscle contraction in its lining as arteries do to help keep blood moving. Compression of our lower leg veins through contraction and relaxation of our calf muscles helps to pump blood back up our legs against gravity.
In traditional asana practices there tends to be a lot of focus on stretching the calf muscles rather than strengthening them. Calf raises are a great exercise to add to your movement practice. These can be done standing (double calf raises and single calf raises), sitting, in a squat position, in Goddess Pose or even in Warrior 1.
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