The Secret of the Soleus

This may not be the most exciting topic, but it's a very important one for runners. The gastrocnemius and soleus are the two primary muscles that make up the calf. They both insert into the achilles tendon and act to plantarflex the foot (point the toe down), but they have some differences. The gastroc crosses the knee joint, while the soleus does not. This means that the soleus is the primary mover when the knee is in a flexed position, much like, you guessed it, running! 

Typically when people perform the heel raise exercise, they do so with a straight knee, which is going to primarily use the gastroc.  With the runners I work with, I have them complete this exercise both with the knee strength AND with the knee bent, which will target the two different muscles. This helps generate more strength, power and prevent injuries for runners. 

Aside from the standard heel raise, some other beneficial exercises for runners are pogo hops and jumping rope. Both of these exercises stimulate the Type II fast twitch muscle fibers which simulates running. Try doing them single leg to look for any imbalances from one side to the other! 

Moral of the story, we need to be thinking about the positions we are in during the activities that we do. And for runners, you are typically pushing off from the ground with your knee in a bent position, which we now know will come significantly from the soleus. Time to get strengthening!