zinga79's Review Of Seated Calf Raise

Aug 19, 2010 7:42 PM: This is a great exercise for you Calves but a horrible one for your Gastrocnemius. Muscles have a point or origin (place where they start) and a point of insertion (place where they end). This are must be lengthened (but not stretched) for the muscle to contract properly. This muscles Origin is the...+See More This is a great exercise for you Calves but a horrible one for your Gastrocnemius. Muscles have a point or origin (place where they start) and a point of insertion (place where they end). This are must be lengthened (but not stretched) for the muscle to contract properly. This muscles Origin is the Femur and its Insertion is the Calcaneal Tendon (once called the Archilles Tendon). Cut a long story short... this muscle goes over the knee joint and this exercise has the knee joint bent at 90 degrees. This muscle cannot contract properly and so the weight transferrs to the little suppporting muscle underneith called the Soleus which does not cross the knee joint and that can contract more efficiently in this position. You can see the Soleus when you flex your calves and it may pop out the lateral side just beneith the bulk. To target the big bulky Gastrocnemius it is therefor advised that you do calves with the knee extended such as standing calve raises.

Zahin Singh
Australian Institute of Fitness and Facebook. -See Less