Are you one of those who always want to be 1-2 inches taller because you’re sick of being short? If so, you might have heard about doing calf raises. Although doing calf raises can offer many benefits, not many people are aware of its height-increasing effect. To know more about the advantages of calf raises and how they might make you appear taller, let’s read this article below.
What are calf raises exercises?
Calf raises, commonly referred to as standing calf raises, are bodyweight exercises that focus on the lower leg muscles. To perform calf raises, you stand on your tiptoes, lift your body off the ground by pressing onto the fronts of your feet, and engage your calf muscles. It is best to practice this lower leg exercise with a full range of motion because it stretches and flexes the calf as well as strengthens the calves and muscles surrounding the ankle.
What are the benefits of calf raises?
This exercise plan, if regularly performed, can give you the following benefits.
Stabilize your feet and ankles
Your feet and calves can be stabilized by strengthened ankles due to performing calf raises. This ensures your balance, especially if you wear heels a lot.
In addition, calf raises are incredibly beneficial to sports that require jumping, like basketball. Jumping primarily engages the four largest muscle groups, including the core, quadriceps, gluteus maximus, gastrocnemius, and soleus. A weak link in this chain prevents you from making a high jump. Calf exercises assist in building the stronger soleus and gastrocnemius muscles required for a high jump.
Increase speed
If you are preparing for a running competition or just simply into running, you should frequently exercise calf raises. Running requires a variety of different skills, including how your feet land on the ground, how light you are on your feet, and how long your strides are. Having powerful calves is very beneficial to those runners.
Relieve pain
Running, jumping, kneeling, and even standing may cause gait problems and stability deficiencies if the ankles and calves are weak. Therefore, strengthening your calves by doing calf raises can help to reduce pain in daily activities.
Support your lower body performance
If your calves are weak, your lower body stability may suffer, which could cause muscle spasms after aerobics or a simple squat. Working on your calves is crucial if you want to support your entire lower body.
Do calf raises help increase your height?
Calf raises are a simple workout that can lengthen and tighten the calf as well as strengthen the calves and ankle-supporting muscles. So can calf-raise workouts help you grow taller?
The answer is it can if you are still growing, which means your growth plates are still open.
However, in case you are no longer in your growing years, calf raises workouts can still offer many great benefits to your posture.
How many calf raises should I do a day?
Many health professionals advise that you should perform 15-20 reps in a set and practice calf raises 2-3 times a week. In addition, since calf workouts only target a single joint, they should be combined with other exercises to strengthen the knees and ankles.
However, you should be careful not to overwork the calf muscle. It is important to rest for a day or two to allow the calves to repair and strengthen themselves.
How to perform calf raises for beginners?
Standing barbell calf raises
Barbell calf raises can help you develop significant amounts of hypertrophy in all of your muscle groups. While performing this regularly, you will feel an intense muscular burn.
Here is how you should do barbell calf raises:
- Support a barbell on your upper back while standing straight.
- Lift your heels off the ground while keeping your toes pointed forward.
- Tighten your calves.
- Return to the starting position gradually.
Single-dumbbell calf raises
Single-leg calf raises work the stabilizing muscles that hold the ankle as well as the entire lower leg. Single-leg calf raises improve the mind-muscle connection with the calves and can help avoid twisted ankles and knees when done frequently with stretching.
Here is how you should do single-dumbbell calf raises:
- Place a weight plate on the ground and rest your toes on it.
- Place a dumbbell on your knee and support it with your right hand while grasping the handle and top with your left.
- Extend your toes as far as you can.
- Repeat the process by lowering the weight again.
Seated calf raises
Seated calf raises may be the most efficient soleus isolation exercise. This exercise will enable you to isolate your soleus muscle without the need to maintain balance in your upper body, similar to the single-dumbbell calf raise.
Here is how you should do seated calf raises:
- Place your feet on a leg press so that only your toes are resting on the platform.
- While maintaining contact with the platform with your feet, push back as far as you can.
- Return to the starting position under control.
- Repeat the process.
Box jumps
Box jumps help to activate your calves when jumping and landing. This is also a terrific method to make calf raises as an aerobic exercise rather than just a strength exercise.
Here is how you should do box jumps:
- Place your feet shoulder-width apart and stand comfortably away from the box.
- Rapidly squat down to a quarter squat, swing your arms, and leap up onto the box.
- Land as gently as you can.
- Step off the box now while maintaining control.
Other ways to grow taller
Nutritional intake
Paying attention to your daily nutrient intake is essential because it deeply affects your functional energy and growth potential. For instance, when you consume foods heavy in salt, your body’s nutritional balance is out of whack, and you are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, heart problems, and bronchoceles.
Active lifestyle
You must work out regularly if you want to stay slim and healthy. Playing sports helps to burn calories, increase bone density, strengthen muscles, and promote metabolism. Your epiphyseal plates can also be stimulated by these procedures, which leads to healthier joints and more room for you to grow taller. Although it is not required, having a little food before working out is highly recommended. If you’d prefer to eat a full meal, make sure to wait at least 30 minutes before exercising.
Height-supporting supplements
Height-boosting supplements are quite effective since they give your body all the vitamins and minerals it needs for healthy growth. They also provide you with greater energy for daily tasks and improve your quality of sleep at night.
In conclusion,
Calf raises are quick, efficient workouts that you can perform anywhere. However, always keep in mind that simply doing calf raises will not make you taller. It might enable you to leap higher while engaging in other activities, which might promote height development. More important, you should make sure it is safe for you by speaking to your doctor first.
