The Tibialis Anterior muscle pulls your toes upward when walking or running, helping prevent ankle injuries while supporting normal foot and leg function. A strong Tibialis Anterior helps minimize risk and promote healthy feet and legs.
Strengthen this essential muscle by performing various tibialis anterior exercises. You can do these using equipment found at any gym or your own bodyweight alone.
Calf Raise on an Incline Bench
Calf raises on an inclined bench offer a low-impact, high-rep isolation strength exercise for your lower legs. Depending on your training goals and experience level, this movement can be performed either with or without added weight; beginners should begin with 2-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions as a starting point; as you become stronger and more familiar with this movement you can increase both reps and resistance resistance accordingly to increase challenge further.
Position your adjustable bench so your back is facing towards its high end and grasp any feet hooks or pads above your head for support. Bend at your knees until your torso reaches nearly perpendicular with your feet; hold this position briefly before slowly lowering legs until they’re parallel with ground again, exhaling throughout this upward motion to ensure that calves are stretched fully out.
Your calf muscles consist of two major parts: gastrocnemius and soleus. While gastrocnemius provides assistance during standing and sprinting activities, soleus provides additional endurance-focused support such as walking. Both muscles can be trained during seated calf raise exercises; however, variations such as this one place greater emphasis on soleus development.
Perform each calf raise using a slow and controlled motion without relying on momentum for completion of reps. Aim to fully stretch and contract the calf muscles during each contraction while keeping knees locked – this will prevent injuries while producing optimal results. As your workouts advance, try adding short pauses at the top of each contraction to further intensify them.
Crossover Calf Raise
The gastrocnemius and soleus calf muscles are responsible for moving your lower leg up and down, pointing your toes, and contributing to movement patterns like walking. While gastrocnemius tends to be more visible during explosive activities like sprinting and jumping, soleus contributes more towards endurance-focused activities like walking. Though both muscles should be trained equally, certain exercises tend to favor one over the other depending on where they’re placed in relation to your leg – standing calf raises will emphasize gastrocnemius while seated calf raises will highlight soleus muscles more.
Seated calf raises can be performed using both machines and dumbbells in your hands, making this an excellent beginner-friendly exercise that doesn’t require as much balance or coordination from you. Begin by sitting comfortably on a chair or platform with back straight, shoulders back, core engaged and feet flat on ground; keep ball of foot pressed against ground as heels slowly lift off floor while simultaneously squeezing calves at top; slowly return heels back to ground while continuing this pattern until finished squeezing calves all over again squeezing your heels will feel tight before returning them slowly back down again before slowly returning them again squeezing them again at bottom – then repeat!
When training calves, it’s essential that movements be performed at a slow and controlled tempo to prevent your lower body from taking over and using momentum to execute each repetition. A controlled pace also helps improve stretch-shortening cycles of muscles during each repetition – this principle will increase how long calves spend in eccentric phase leading to greater hypertrophy.
Toe Raise
Toe raise exercises can not only strengthen and develop your calf muscles, but they can also improve balance. Being able to keep feet flat on the ground is essential for everyday activities and good balance can reduce risks of falling which have resulted in head injuries and broken bones for many elderly individuals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Furthermore, toe raise exercises may increase awareness (known as joint proprioception) of ankle joint which further improves balance and decreases risks of falls.
Strengthen the gastrocnemius muscle, which runs along the front of your lower leg to your big toe, through performing seated or standing toe raises with resistance bands. Strengthen also peroneus longus and peroneus brevis muscles extending from knee down to big toe for enhanced foot stability when standing on tiptoe and work in collaboration with tibialis posterior to flex your foot flexors tibialis posterior.
Athleticians with weak or tight toes can benefit greatly from this exercise, as it will help prevent issues when moving at high speeds that place more strain on ankles and feet. Without sufficient toe strength, weight may shift onto either the insides or outsides of their feet which leads to poor form and overcompensation issues up the kinetic chain.
For the seated toe raise, sit comfortably with both feet flat on the floor in a chair. Raise only your toes (not heels) from the floor, slowly lifting only them off of it before gradually lowering them back down again – try 20 repetitions of this exercise. When performing standing toe raises, start off slowly (five to ten repetitions at first) before gradually increasing them until achieving 20 repetitions total.
Band Calf Raise
The gastrocnemius muscle, the large muscle that makes up your calves, is an integral component of any lower body strength training program. It provides explosive power required to engage in activities like running and jumping as well as basic functions such as walking or climbing stairs.
One of the best ways to strengthen calves is with resistance band calf raises. The bands provide constant tension that extends fatigue time in your muscles for greater muscle growth. Furthermore, resistance bands isolate calf muscles by adding difficulty into movement.
Start by tying one end of a band securely to an object like a pole or squat rack and anchoring its other end against your knees for stability. You can perform this exercise either with one leg at a time, or both legs simultaneously; resistance band calf raises are ideal as an individual workout while machine-based resistance band calf raises target the soleus muscle located on the front side.
Once your resistance band is in place, begin performing seated calf raises with slow but controlled movements. Lift your heels off of the ground by pushing up onto tiptoes using only your calf muscles – slowly lower back down using only your core and keep repeating this movement until your desired number of repetitions have been accomplished. Always focus on maintaining proper form and control during each rep!
Add challenge and progress with this exercise by using a heavier band or both legs simultaneously. Also add variations, complementary exercises or alternative exercises that work to strengthen calves even more effectively than the standard seated calf raise.
Band Foot Drop
The Tibialis Anterior muscle is often neglected at gym, yet it plays an integral part in relieving strain placed upon knees and ankles from lower leg muscles. Furthermore, its training contributes significantly to overall lower body strength and agility. You can train this muscle using simple bodyweight exercises or more advanced equipment designed to overload shin muscle.
The basic seated toe raise is a classic Tibialis anterior exercise. Sit on a bench with your knees bent and shins vertical, and lift the ball of your foot until it touches the floor – hold for several seconds, and repeat until your shins feel the burn! Aim for enough repetitions until a burn can be felt along the front of your shins.
Increase the difficulty of this exercise by holding your heels against a wall for support or using a seated leg press machine for additional resistance. Another variation involves sitting on a bench and wrapping a cuff weight around your foot like you might on your wrist – or purchase one with T-shape that makes handling from a sitting position simpler.
If you have the equipment, try doing a Tibialis Anterior Band Foot Drop. Secure a resistance band around your ankle and extend your foot backwards until it points in an upward position, stretching the Tibialis Anterior while holding for several seconds before dropping it back down into its original position. Repeat this until fatigued front leg muscles and strength in Tibialis Anterior have been strengthened sufficiently. Alternatively, an electrical muscle stimulation device may provide better stimulation of Tibialis Anterior. Remember, though – Tibialis training can be more intense than conventional strength-training methods!
