Are you dissatisfied with your lower body strength? Are you looking for a step up in your workout routine or simply looking to reduce the risk of injury? Eccentric calf raises might be the answer you've been looking for.

Eccentric calf focuses on the downward portion of the calf raise resulting in increased ankle mobility and stability, reduced tendon pain, and more enhanced explosiveness.

Calves are often overlooked in strength training but play a massive role in lower body strength and injury prevention. Eccentric calf raises are the ultimate exercise that develops your muscles to their full potential, with plenty of scientific studies and results to prove it.

What Are Eccentric Calf Raises?

An eccentric contraction is a contraction where the muscle lengthens under tension. When performing a calf raise, the calf muscles will contract eccentrically or lengthen in the downward phase of the movement.

Eccentric exercises target this lengthening contraction since we are stronger eccentrically than concentrically. Therefore, eccentric calf raises focus on the lowering portion of the calf raise.

Benefits Of Eccentric Calf Raises

Increase Ankle Stiffness

●  Eccentric calf raises help build ankle strength, stability, and mobility.

●  Muscles are put under a lot of stress when you perform a movement, so improving the strength of your ankle allows you to withstand greater force loads without the chance of injury. This prevents chronic conditions like Achilles tendonitis and shin splints in the long run.

●  With eccentric calf raises, you can increase your ankle stiffness, quickly turning the eccentric movement into a concentric action, taking advantage of the passive elastic structures around your muscles and tendon. A lack of stiffness means you will leak elastic energy and force during explosive tasks. Therefore having a stiff ankle developed through eccentric exercise can increase the stretch-shortening cycle performance and halve the cost of energy with each foot movement.

Reduce Achilles Tendon Pain

People who suffer from pain in the Achilles tendon have benefited from eccentric loading. Since then, eccentric calf raises have been established as an effective treatment for patients in rehabilitation from Achilles tendinitis.

Eccentric calf raises help to improve the tendon's load capacity, helping your ability to perform functional movements without increasing the risk of causing tissue injury

Increases Explosive Calf Strength

Most people don't understand the importance of keeping calves strong, so they are one of the most under-trained muscles in the body and are often ignored in a strength program.

Eccentric calf raises improve eccentric calf strength, which in turn reduces the risk of:

●  Calf tears and strains

●  Sprained ankles

●  Plantar fasciitis

●  Patellofemoral Pain

●  Tendinopathies of the knee

●  Stress Fractures

Improves Deceleration

●  Deceleration can be seen as the eccentric lengthening phase of a movement or the actual slowing of motion. In both situations, the inability to slow down efficiently where excess joint stress can occur may eventually lead to a higher risk of injury.

●  Eccentric strength has a significant impact on your ability to decelerate. It has been revealed that a considerable segment of injuries in athletes is caused by insufficient eccentric strength in the body during the deceleration phase.

●  The importance of deceleration is exemplified in the anatomy of our body. Where the fibers of the gluteus maximus run away from the iliac crest and sacrum as it connects to the femur and IT band. This structure serves as the braking system as it works with the rest of the glute complex to decelerate the body when the leg hits the ground. Having control in these motions is crucial for hip, knee, and ankle integrity when performing any movement.

How To Do The Eccentric Calf Raise (2 up, 1 down)

The simplest method for eccentric calf raises is the 2 legs up and 1 leg down approach. Start with your bodyweight as the muscle soreness you will experience the next day is another level. Here's how:

●  Stand on the edge of a step or power rack.

●  Hold onto a sturdy object for balance.

●  Perform a calf raise with both legs by raising yourself onto your toes.

●  Hold the top and take one leg off the step.

●  Slowly lower yourself into a stretched position with one leg.

Advanced Eccentric Calf Exercises

2 legs up, 1 leg down is a tremendous eccentric calf exercise, especially for rehab purposes. But using the Exerfly, we can boost the intensity using Flywheel training.

●  Using the Exerfly Platform, attach the footblock close to the rope. You can do this without the footblock, but the block allows you to put the calves under stretch with a greater range of motion.

●  Place your toes on the top of the block and fully extend. Set the rope length from this position.

●  Hold something sturdy for balance and start moving the Flywheel. As you extend onto your toes, you will be quickly pulled down.

●  Ride it down and apply the most force near the bottom to rapidly turn the eccentric to a concentric action.

Final Thoughts

Even though calves aren't the biggest muscle in your lower body, keeping them strong is vital for your lower body strength to maintain and improve the vigor of all movements that involve foot-ground contact.

Eccentric calf raises assist with developing explosive calves that can withstand force loads pertaining to all movements that involve foot-ground contact.

With Exerfly, users can enjoy tracking, quantifying, and sharing their progress on their strength training and even further these results with the option of progressive eccentric overload training on their calves with Exerfly's motorized technology.

If you are looking to fortify your lower body strength, eccentric calf raise might be the missing piece to your puzzle.