After having an Achilles niggles at the end of January, I started strengthening my calves.
Progressively.
I started with static holds and moved on to single-leg calf raises, seated and standing.
I started with 4×8 at 14kg for single-leg standing calf raises on 11 February and now (start of May) can do 32kg for the same sets and reps.
I’m making similar progress with the seated single-leg raise (now up to 28kg), although I started a bit later with this one and haven’t gone as far (apparently it should be stronger than standing).
I’ve also seen a big improvement in the Bulgarian or split squat over the same period.
I started doing 16kg 4×8 times and now can do 26kg 4×6 times.
But the weight is not the whole story with the Bulgarian squat. I had a real weakness on my left side. It felt like my adductor had rolled up my leg after each set the first couple of times.
I persevered, though, doing the exercise very slowly, and now I can do it no problem. Although my left side is still shakier than my right.
I’ve also been progressing my squats and hex deadlift, but this is more covering old ground. I’ve trained these exercises with intent before.
The real new ground has come with progressing calf and single-leg exercise strength exercises. I’ve made good gains, and hopefully am a more resilient running because of it.
And now I’ve reached the last stage of calf rehab and strengthening, having just added in skipping as a warm-up. I’ll soon plateau off with the raises. I think my calves are now close to strong enough for running and injury prevention.
In the coming weeks, I’ll also turn down the pure-strength exercises a notch as I get back into muscular endurance training and more running.
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