Engaging Your Calf Muscles

Good work. Okay. So we did that with our legs straight. So there's two parts to your muscles here. There's the top part of your calf and there's a small part here. We're going to work this small part here now and that works best with your knees bent. So all I need you to do is pull your toes up, down and lift your heels. So you're going to alternate forwards and back. Good. Remember when you lift your toes, lift through the big toe, lead through Do the big toe. And rest. Well done. Okay, we'll have a short break and then we'll come on to both feet together. Okay, so we've done the mid-bentley, roll the ankles around. Clockwise, anti-clockwise. Good. And when you're ready, lock your legs, pull your toes in and out. Good. Focusing on your ankles and your feet. So those of you who are comfortable standing up, we'll come onto our feet, onto our balancing exercise. So, two things. If you need support, use your chair, you'll be in this position, or you can use the wall or the counter, whatever surface is next to you, holding this position. If you have good balance, and you can hold your body on one leg, then you don't need any support. Any leg? Any leg, yeah, we're going to be doing both. So, in time starts soon. If you're doing this sitting down, then you just lift one foot off the floor. In 3, 2, 1, go. And you may even feel your standing of your foot doing all of this inside your trainer, inside your foot, wobbling about. That's good because it's trying to find that balance and engagement with your whole foot. If you feel absolutely still with your foot, that means your body and your foot are already able to engage efficiently enough to hold you there. And then the next challenge comes into holding this knee that is elevated at 90 degrees of the hip. Because then we can start focusing on our hip flexor muscle, core muscles. How well can they hold this leg up in this position? Because it isn't the leg alone that's carrying you, it's all the muscles deep inside your torso and your spine that are helping you to hold this position. Good, that's been 60 seconds so far, well done, and rest. Let's switch sides, change legs, and time starts in 3, same again, switch legs in 2, 1, off we go. We all have a good side and a challenging side. Now some of you, left footed or right footed, might find, oh, I am right footed, I'm standing on my right foot, but I'm wobbling more. Is anyone experiencing that? Yeah? One person? Two people? Okay. So here's the complication of the body. The body doesn't work in straight lines. It works in zigzags. So when you stand on your right leg, in my case I'm standing on my left leg, when you stand on your right leg, the muscles deep in your spine on the opposite side have to work hard to balance you. That's the zigzag you're working. And if that connection is in need of developing, then you feel, ooh, my strong leg isn't getting the support it knows it can produce naturally when you're walking. So, as you continue now for the next three seconds, that's 60 seconds, and rest. Shake it off. And take a seat. you