How to shrink a girl’s calves? 3 exercises and trainer’s tips

The warm season makes you put away some of your closet on the far shelves to make room for shorts and skirts. Indeed, hiding your legs under clothes in the heat is a questionable idea.

What to do if you are not quite ready to show your calves on a walk and consider them too voluminous? First, understand the reasons for this condition. Secondly, prepare for training, because you can change something only with hard and regular work.

trainer with 19 years of experience, mentor of Evotren fitness school.

“Slim taut legs are the dream of almost every girl. But often we are dissatisfied with some features of the figure and want to change it. We tell you how to do it with the help of sports”.

• Why do calves look big?

• What can help to reduce the volume of calves?

Why do calves look big?

Many people like graceful, thin shins, and it is for them that they often come to the gym. But it should be noted that the initial data play a big role in this case: the length of the legs and shins in particular, the length of the shin muscles and their initial volume. If you have large calves with a low percentage of fat, you will not be able to reduce them significantly.

In addition to physiology, there are other reasons: calves can look large because of a natural tendency to accumulate fat or excessive overtraining of the muscles in this area. And if with how the volumes appear due to excess weight, everything is quite clear, then about what exercises contribute to increasing the size of the calves, it is worth talking separately.

To such can be attributed:

• running and other aerobic exercises, especially jumping and pushing off;
• toe lifts with weights, such as barbells;
• calf-centered exercises, where the calf muscles are worked in isolation.

What can help to reduce the volume of the calves?

A very simple action can improve the situation – use heeled shoes less often. They put a lot of strain on the calves because of the unnatural position of the foot. Give preference to comfort. It is also worth adding at least minimal training and a small complex of massage. This will promote better tissue nutrition, eliminate swelling, and the calf muscles will stop growing. Let’s move on to training tips.

Change up your cardio

If you have overworked calf muscles, reduce intense cardio exercises such as jumping, pushing off, running with accelerations. Replace with more relaxed jogging, elliptical machines, bicycling. If you want to lose weight, it is also better to give preference to prolonged cardio of medium and low intensity. This will reduce the percentage of fat and not overwork your muscles, as well as reduce the shock load on your joints.

Don’t skip stretching

If it seems that stretching only helps when you want to sit on twine, you are gravely mistaken. Exercises aimed at stretching the muscles, promote better recovery, get rid of spasms, toning the calves and reducing their volume.

Toe raises

Technique

• Stand on the edge of a step platform, step or other flat elevation. Keep your back straight.
• Lower your heels down until you feel a stretch in the muscle.
• Then lift yourself up, and afterward repeat the stretch again.

Lunge stretch

Technique

• Stand up straight with your feet firmly planted on the floor. Take a wide step with your left foot forward.
• Shift your weight forward. Keep the heel of the right foot on the floor, feel the traction.
• For more effect, you can put a barbell pancake under the right foot so that the heel is on the floor and the toe is on the equipment.
• You can perform small rocking movements. Change sides and repeat the exercise.

MFR

MFR of the calf muscles on a roll or ball is necessary to improve blood flow. This will remove swelling, improve mobility and work trigger points, relieve pain and fatigue.

Rolling on a roll

Technique

• Sit on the mat, stretch your legs forward.
• Place a roll under one leg in the middle of the calf muscle.
• The other leg can be placed next to or on top of the working leg.
• Rest your hands behind your back and lift your pelvis off the floor.
• Start rolling the roll over the calf, perform a back and forth motion. Do not go to the area below the knee.
• As you roll, tilt your leg to the right and left to fully work the muscle.
• Perform for at least one minute and then repeat on the other side.

Gym workouts

Of course, if your muscles are overpumped, then isolated exercises will not work, they should be performed in the presence of excess weight and poor tone of the calves. To visually correct this area, you should pay more attention to the hypertrophy of the muscles of the thighs: quadriceps, thigh biceps and gluteal muscles.

Include in your workout:

• hip extension;
• hip flexion;
• gluteal bridge;
• Romanian pull;
• classic squats;
• sumo squats.

It is important to remember that the beauty of your legs is first and foremost their health. Get moving, do self-massage, drink more water and wear comfortable shoes. Take care of your body and it will take care of you.