Tag Archives: calves

Rolling Hip Raise

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It’s Home Exercise of the Week time and this week I would like you to try the Rolling Hip Raise.

The Rolling Hip Raise is a great exercise that targets your hamstrings, calves, and glutes.  Since you will be using a ball for this exercise your core, along with the other stabilizing muscles of the legs, will be working to stabilize you through the movement as well.

A ball is ideal for this exercise to really maximize the stability work but if you don’t have one then that’s ok.  You can just place your feet flat on the floor (this is a great start for a beginner) or on a chair to get even more range of motion.

Let’s take a look at how to do the Rolling Hip Raise properly.

  • lay face up and flat on the floor with your feet up on a stability ball
  • your feet, ankles, and a bit of your calf muscles should be resting on the ball (you don’t want the ball too high up on your leg or you won’t be able to get the proper range of motion)
  • lift your hips off the floor and contract your abdominals and glutes to stabilize yourself
  • roll the ball in towards you while driving your hips up as high as you can at the same time
  • once your legs reach a 90 degree angle, roll the ball back out and return to the starting position making sure that you don’t let your butt touch the floor throughout the entire set
  • if you find yourself rolling all over the place, try placing your arms out to your side on the floor and this will help stabilize you

So there you have the Rolling Hip Raise.  Add 1 to 3 sets of 15 to 20 repetitions to your leg or full body workout and feel the hamstrings burn!

Wall Sit Shoulder Press

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It’s time for another Home Exercise of the Week!  Get your legs and shoulders fired up with the Wall Sit Shoulder Press.

From the video, it may look simple enough but don’t let that fool you…this will burn!  Grown men have almost cried because of the wall sit, curses have been vocalized through clenched teeth, and sweat has poured down grimaced faces.  I know it sounds horrible and you might be thinking “Craig, why would I ever want to put myself through that?”.

Well the answer to your question is you will gain more strength and endurance in your legs, you will increase strength and mobility in your shoulders, and you will strengthen the deep core muscles of your trunk and your spinal muscles.  All that plus if you’re weird like me, you might even think it’s fun! (Ok I’ll be honest…it’s more fun making people do it than actually doing it!)

The wall sit portion of this exercise is isometric which means you are working your muscles without any movement at the joint.  This is great for building strength and endurance.

Some key points to remember when doing the Wall Sit Shoulder Press:

  • make sure your knees are directly over your ankles
  • slide down the wall until your thighs are parallel to the floor
  • keep your back pressed firmly against the wall
  • press your arms back against the wall as much as you can throughout the movement (you may not be able to maintain contact with the wall throughout the exercise at first but over time your mobility will increase)
  • exhale as your press up and inhale as you lower your arms

So there you have the Wall Sit Shoulder Press.  Start with a couple sets of 12 repetitions or a couple of timed sets of 30 seconds at the end your leg or shoulder workout and feel the burn!

Reverse Lunge Leg Kick

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The Home Exercise of the Week this week is the Reverse Lunge Leg Kick.  If you ever have one of those personal trainers that are always pushing you to do more when you don’t want to, then this exercise could come in handy! 😉

Like a regular reverse lunge, the Reverse Lunge Leg Kick works your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.  Adding the leg kick however, will increase the difficulty and will greatly improve balance, coordination, and core strength.

Some key points to remember when doing the Reverse Lunge Leg Kick:

  • Step backwards with one leg and lunge down until both legs are at 90 degree angles
  • Keep your back upright and straight throughout the movement
  • When stepping out of the lunge, push up through your front heel
  • When raising your knee up to do the kick, make sure to really squeeze your ab muscles (make sure your trainer is close enough in front of you as well if he/she is annoying you!)
  • give a nice forceful kick and bring the same leg back in to the lunge and repeat
  • do 10 to 12 reps for one leg then repeat on the other leg

So there you have the Reverse Lunge Leg Kick!  This is a great variation to the regular lunge and also good practice if you ever want to be a kung fu master!

Cross Body Mountain Climber

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This week’s featured exercise is the Cross Body Mountain Climber.  This is a fantastic exercise that will build strength and tone your abs including your obliques.  Not only will it bring you one step closer to that highly sought after “six pack”, it will also strengthen and tone your entire body!  Shoulders, triceps, chest, back, quadriceps, glutes, and calves are also working in this movement.

Some key points to remember when doing the Cross Body Mountain Climber is to keep your body straight from head to toe.  So no butts in the air on this one!  If your butt is up high you won’t be engaging your abs and too much strain will be put on your shoulders.  Another point to remember is to keep your abdominals flexed throughout the movement.  An easy way to engage your abs is to pull your belly button in towards your spine.  If you aren’t flexing your stomach then the abs aren’t being worked as effectively as they could be.

The difference between this exercise and the regular Mountain Climber is the degree to which your oblique muscles are being used.  Driving your knee to your opposite elbow will really get them working.

The Cross Body Mountain Climber can be done anywhere so by adding this great core exercise to your routine you’ll be on your way to a strong and flat stomach!

One Sided Body Weight Squat

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This weeks Home Exercise of the Week is the One Sided Body Weight Squat.  This is a great exercise to isolate one leg more than the other and is a nice change from doing just regular squats.  The muscles being worked are your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.  The key to doing this exercise properly is to keep your body weight on that one leg the whole time while using the other leg for balance support.  Make sure to push up through the heel of the working leg and keep your back upright and straight.  To make this a little more challenging try holding on to some dumbbells or a kettle bell!