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healthy_blogging
When most people think about strength training, bench press is the first thing that comes to mind. But the truth of the matter is this: you're at your strongest when you train all of the major muscle groups. You need to work on your upper body, abs, back, glutes and legs. This is how you develop good body symmetry, posture, strength, etc. So today, I'm going to show you how to develop your lower leg muscles - more specifically your calves - with the seated calf raise exercise.
How To Do Seated Calf Raises
You'll need access to a seated calf raise machine and weight plates. For a warm up set grab a light weight plate (35 or 45 pounds) and place it on the machine. The seated calf raise is just what it sounds like, so sit down. Now, adjust the seat so that your knees can fit firmly under the pads but not so firm that it prevents you from flexing. The next thing that you must do is place the balls of your feet on the platform. Now, flex your calf muscles so that you're pushing off from the balls of your feet. By doing this your knees press against the pads raising the weights up. Now lower your heels to the floor. That's one rep. (The calf raise involves plantar flexion, so you must flex your ankles in order to do the exercise correctly.) Do ten reps for your warm up set then grab more weight. You want to be able to complete at least six reps of this exercise, if you can't do that many you need to lessen the weight (if you can do more than ten reps, the weight is too light). After doing five sets of seated calf raises, you can move on to another exercise.
The seated calf raise is different than the standing calf raise machine or the standing dumbbell calf raise. The seated calf raise places all of the emphasis on your knees and legs. The standing calf raise machine or standing dumbbell calf raise exercise train the upper body as well as the legs. So, what's it good for? The biggest benefit of the seated calf raise would be for people who can't stand stand for long periods of time but still want to exercise their calf muscles. If your leg muscles are weak the seated calf raise is a good starter exercise, after you've become stronger you can progress to other exercises.
Summer is now less than one month away. How are you going to spend it? Making your body stronger, and more powerful or sitting at home reading fitness blogs all day? Get out there and train. You'll be glad that you did.
"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do the Seated Calf Raise Exercise" copyright 2011 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.
