Stiff Ankles, The Ultimate Calves And Thighs Workout

Achieving the ultimate calves and thighs workout requires proper use of your feet, ankles and knees. Many of you, struggling with weight loss, have poorly aligned, stiff and weak ankles and knees causing ankle pain and knee problems. The way you use your feet, ankles and knees affects your entire posture in how you walk, run and jump. In this Hub we correct the alignment of your ankles and knees with the ultimate thigh workout helps to balance your entire body structure and make you more secure and less prone to injury. A few simple daily moves (watch the exercise videos), as regularly performed as brushing your teeth, can make a huge difference in the way you carry yourself. Once a supple and strong base is established in the lower, most weight bearing parts of the body, improvement in the rest of the body becomes much easier to accomplish.

The Feet

We have already discussed foot and toe placement in a previous hub, The Feet You Walk On. Please go and read that one first if you have not done so already. At this point I want to give you some useful tips and tricks to continue building you up from the ground up with some exercise videos and moves on how to best use your ankles and knees to perform the ultimate calves and thighs workout.

1. Sit with your back straight against a wall and legs straight out in front of you.

2. Flex and point your ankles 8 to 16 times.

3. Rotate outwards for the same number of counts.

4 Rotate inwards ditto.

Make sure you go slowly and explore the furthest range of movement your ankle joints can achieve. You will find the circles become looser as you progress. Any little clicking noises are welcome and nothing to worry about. Slowly keep circling until all the noises stop. It's just like a rusty hinge door, by moving the joints, you are "oiling" them with a fresh blood supply and soon they'll stop squeaking or cracking altogether.

1. Stand with your heels, bum, upper back and head touching a wall, feet shoulder width apart, toes pointing straight forward.

2. Bend the knees as far as possible but without lifting the heels off the floor (demi plié / half bend).

3. Straighten the knees.

4. Rise up on your toes (relevé / re-rise).

5. Bring the heels down again.

Repeat a eight to 16 times, depending on your level of endurance, until you can really feel the calf muscles working.

As a counter move, you can elongate the calf by doing a "lunge" before relaxing and massaging the calves to avoid muscle pain tomorrow.

Don't forget to keep your heels, bum, spine and back of the head (chin down) in contact with the wall throughout the sequence.

Now you can step away from the wall, hold onto something, and extend the calves workout (demi plié) by going deeper into what is called in ballet, a grand plié. A "grand plié" (big bend) is effectively a "sitting on the heels" squat and the spine held upright. Slowly coming back up to standing from a grand plié, while holding the spine absolutely vertical, constitutes the ultimate thigh workout. Do as many repetitions as you can muster before the burn in your thigh muscles prevents further action. Relax and massage the affected areas.

In addition to the classical "grand plié" I recommend you also work on achieving the "Heart Squat" (keeping the heels on the floor) as shown in the next video. Again, hold onto something in front of you if you are a beginner.

No Pain, Just Gain

Don´t go too far at first and use your slow yoga breathing (in through the nose, out through the mouth) while you practice. Remember that you are responsible for your own body.

Watch the next video for an awareness of the full movement range in your legs.

from. http://juliettekando.com
In this movie I wanted to explore all possible movements that could be made with the toes, ankles and knees, without the restriction of a leg being attached to a body as it were... Sound strange? Watch and see what I mean.

Now that you are more aware of how to use your ankles and knees, we can move on to the next level of your body, the pelvis, and find out how to instantly get rid of a hang belly just by the way you carry yourself. You will also discover what exactly happens when you are sitting on a chair.

So come back frequently to the EasyFitness Series and follow the progression all the way up to the neck and head with a Natural Facelift for topping.

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