There are roughly seven hundred muscles in your body. Muscles that perform all different types of tasks in different manners. Luckily for us, we only need to stretch a handful of them to perform efficiently and properly.
Calves:
The calf is a very important muscle to stretch, and it is composed of three main parts: the Gastrocnemius, Soleus, and Achilles tendon. Each muscle must be stretched in a distinct way.
The Gastrocnemius, or outer calf, can be stretched in the orthodox manner: sitting down, extending a leg, and trying to touch your toes. A better version of this would be to bring an elastic rope or band of some sort, extend both of your legs while on the ground, rap the cord around your feet and pull back. Both ways stretch the outer calf, and you should feel a burn right beneath your knee at the upper calf.
Next, stretch your Soleus, or middle to lower calf. Resume from the Gastrocnemius stretch, however this time, pull your foot in towards your body while keeping your heal on the ground. Bring your heal up to right below where your other foot's knee is.
Lastly, stretch your achilles tendon by pulling your heal in even further to where you can feel a burn in your lower calf. If you do not feel anything, try a different form of the stretch: stand up facing a wall or curb, put your heal on the floor, and the bottom of your foot on the wall. Inch your heal closer and closer to the wall until you feel an adequate burn. If you are on a curb, it may help to put your opposite foot in front of you over the curb.
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