photo credit: briser50

So you’ve decided you need to lose a few pounds. You’re getting a little bit soft around the edges and your heart starts racing when you climb the stairs to bed each night. But you’ve tried the gym before, you’ve tried going for jogs in the morning and none of it worked. Light bulb! I’ll get a personal trainer. That will solve my problems. But will it? Are personal trainers really necessary in order to achieve your weight loss and fitness goals? In this post I am going to look at that very question.

Not all personal trainers are created equal

Before we delve too much into the personal trainer debate I want to make something quite clear. Not all personal trainers are created equal. There are good ones and bad ones. In fact, there are some very bad ones. It is important to make the distinction between the two, however, because you don’t want to go around thinking all personal trainers are experts or phonies. Some of them are very good, some of them are not.

So how do you know whether a personal trainer is good or not? Well there are no hard and fast rules but here are some suggestions that you might want to take on board:

• How long have they been a personal trainer?
  If your personal trainer is very new it might mean that they don’t have the experience to guide you, especially if you consider yourself to be quite experienced. Of course, this is not always true.
• Are they qualified?
  In my opinion you shouldn’t have anything to do with a personal trainer unless they are qualified. There are many stories going around about people who trusted a trainer through a health issue and the trainer’s advice just made it worse for them.
• Is the qualification a good one?
  Not all qualifications are great. In fact, some of them are pretty shocking. Just do a two week course and you are able to tell people how to do dangerous exercises like the dead lift and make dietary programs for them even when they are diabetic. Not good enough. Make sure their qualifications are respected.
• How fit are they?
  This is a big point of contention between my brother and myself. He reckons that it doesn’t matter what a trainer looks like as long as they know their stuff. I reckon that is bullshit. If a personal trainer doesn’t have the body you want to get, the fitness levels you want to achieve, etc. then walk right on by. You would never go to a financial planner who drove a 1982 rickety VW Beetle. Trainers should live and breathe their trade.
• Are you making progress?
  If you have been with your trainer for more than three months and have not seen drastic progress then it is time to move on. Why? Because a personal trainer should be always thinking about you. Their goal is to give you the power and knowledge to look after yourself and go out on your own, not keep you down and unfit so you will keep paying them. The best trainers at my gym have big turn over rates. Not because their clients hate them but because they all get so fit so fast. And this is the best marketing exercise they can do for themselves as well.

Make sure you address these questions before you sign on to any trainer. If you are already using a personal trainer then sit down and take a look at these issues now before your next session. You should not take any chances when it comes to someone who is involved with your health.

The positive: why you SHOULD hire a personal trainer

photo credit: mark_donoher

I thought we would lead off on the positive. Let’s take a look at why I think you should hire a personal trainer. These points might not appeal to everyone but hopefully it will give you something to think about while you are making your decision.

1. Certainty
The first reason that you want to get a personal trainer is because they provide you with certainty. You get to stop worrying about whether you are doing the right or the wrong thing. They can point you in the right direction and help you through any questions. This is actually quite a big deal because I know a lot of women who really worry about whether they are using their small amount of exercise time efficiently.

2. Injury prevention
If you go to the gym by yourself it is fair to say that at some point you will get an injury. Sometimes you just get unlucky but more than likely the cause is improper technique or lack of warming up. A personal trainer can help you dodge these issues as they will usually make sure your technique is perfect before letting you do the exercise at full weight. This is a very big advantage. In fact, this is the best reason to hire someone.

3. Faster weight loss
Let’s be honest here. Unless you know what you are doing you are going to make a lot quicker progress having an expert help you out. The most important thing when losing weight is knowledge and hard work – a personal trainer can help you with both of those things.

The negative: why you SHOULDN’T hire a personal trainer

photo credit: B Rosen

Now we can take a look at some of the reasons why you should not bother with a personal trainer. If there are any PTs reading this article I am sorry if this section causes you offense. Leave and comment and let me know if you disagree and I’m sure we can get to the bottom of the matter.

1. Its expensive
Just like the title of the post suggests, personal trainers are expensive. Some of them are reasonably expensive and some of them are just plain out of control. If you live in up state New York or Hollywood chances are your personal trainer is going to charge more than I pay to rent a house. And that is fine if you like throwing money down the toilet but, to be honest, it is completely unnecessary. Most Hollywood celebrities use personal trainers that other celebrities use, not personal trainers that are good for them. The best personal trainers are not always the most expensive ones.

You also have to look at whether you are getting value for money. Are you making progress? Would the money be better spent on buying fruit and vegetables? Could you put the money to better use by buying equipment? All of these questions are important to ask yourself.

2. Its lazy
A lot of the time people hire personal trainers because they can’t motivate themselves. Now I’m not saying that everyone does this but a lot of people do. If you are hiring a PT because you need education and advice then you are on the right path. But if you are hiring one because you want someone else to motivate you every time or because you can’t workout unless someone is pushing you then a PT is a bad idea. That issue is something you need to work on yourself. That is a mental block and not something that a PT will necessarily solve.

The verdict

My view is quite simple. Everyone should hire a personal trainer but only for a short period of time. Once you have learned the exercises properly, got a workout plan and made some progress it is important that you move out on your own. Personal trainers only have a limited use as far as I’m concerned. If you need one for longer than six months then perhaps you aren’t making the progress you think you are.

What do you think? Do you think personal trainers are a waste of time or something that everyone should be using? Leave a comment.

The latest video from our Free Women’s Fitness series is up on You Tube. This time we are talking about how to do a perfect lunge in order to get a toned butt and sexy tight legs. If you aren’t already subscribed, please head to our You Tube Channel and do so as we might not be posting all of the videos here. And if you have any suggestions please let us know.

Well here it is! Free Women’s Fitness has started filming our own instructional videos to help all of our fans and friends learn new exercises and better workouts. In this video Pilates expert Tamara will show you how to do a proper crunch. She also tells you how to engage your core muscles and pelvic floor so that you actually target the correct muscles.

This is a must see video for beginners and experts because it really highlights how tricky even just a basic crunch can be. But, if you master this you will be well on your way to a flat stomach and toned abs. Please subscribe to our Youtube Channel or email updates to make sure you don’t miss out on the next video.

If you have been doing abs work for a while now you will, undoubtedly, be looking for some new exercises to keep your abdominal workouts spicy. Today I am going to show you how to do a Swiss Ball Jackknife – a very powerful exercises for working your lower and upper abs as well as your back and arms.

Preparing for the Swiss Ball Jackknife

Before you do any abdominal exercise you need to make sure you have covered a few areas. These include:

• Ensuring you use the proper technique
  Make sure you always study the exercise well and learn how to do it with the perfect technique. If you perform any exercise incorrectly you run the risk of developing a long term injury that will haunt you for years.
• Ensuring you warm up
  Make sure you do a warm up before you do any resistance exercise. Again, this helps to prevent injuries.
• Ensuring you target the right muscles
  You would be surprised to know how many women do exercises that they think targets one muscle but, in fact, it targets something completely different. Before you do this exercise you need to know where your abdominal muscles are located and how they work.

Once you have these three things under control you will be ready to start the exercise. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to perform every exercise with the perfect technique. It will prevent injuries and help you get that sexy body a lot quicker.

How to do the Swiss Ball Jackknife for Toned Abs

Now we can move on to the exciting part! This exercise is an amazing way to target your upper and lower abs in one exercise. It also hits your arms and shoulders, your back and even your butt and legs. Many women find this is a great exercise to toned the whole body as it requires strength from a lot of different areas to complete properly.

Engage your pelvic floor muscles
It is very important when performing abdominal exercises that you engage your core muscles correctly. If you don’t you run the risk of completely missing out on the work that your lower abs should be doing. They simply won’t engage. To turn on your core you need to engage your pelvic floor muscles (the ones that you tense when you are busting for the toilet). You also need to tense your major abs muscles by pulling your belly button in as far as you can. Hold this throughout the exercise.

STEP ONE – Position Yourself on the Swiss Ball

The first part of the jackknife is done by positioning your body on the Swiss ball in the correct posture. Without the correct posture your whole exercise will feel unbalanced and weak. To do this you need to:

• Place your feet on the ball so they are balanced and stable. Close together is best but you can have a little space if you need it.
• Place your hands shoulder width a part and lock your elbows so you can support your body weight.
• Make sure that your shoulders are back by lengthening the distance between your ear and your shoulders
• Make sure your back is perfectly straight; not curved upwards or downwards. This is vital.
• Tense your abs and pelvic floor muscles.

Make sure you feel comfortable and secure. It will take some practice to get the balance correct but if you keep your posture as illustrated above you will find the stability comes quite naturally.

STEP TWO – The Actual Jackknife “Crunch” Movement

From the initial starting position you will now do the main jackknife or “crunch” part of the movement which is where the majority of the work is done. In order to do this correctly you need to:

• Very slowly bring your knees toward your chest by crunching your abs and rolling the fitness ball forward
• At the top of the motion you tense your abs again as you breathe out
• Very slowly return your legs to the original position making sure your abs stay tensed and firm

Repeat the above sets until your abs are too tired to continue. This is called “failure”. You should fail after about 15 to 20 repetitions if your technique is correct. Make sure you do not continue if your execution starts to get sloppy as you will not be targeting the correct muscles and you might do yourself an injury.

Conclusion

The Swiss Ball jackknife is an amazing exercise for toning your abs and getting a flat stomach. It is quite advanced so build up slowly by performing a regular pilates abs crunch. When you feel like you are ready get your fitness ball and go for it! You will see results in just a few sessions.

The jumping squat is my all time favorite exercise for toning the leg and butt muscles. It has been used by footballers, soccer players, martial artists and sprinters for generations in order to build strength in the lower body. The good news is that it is also amazing for burning fat and toning your legs and butt. In this post I am going to show you how to do the perfect jumping squat.

What muscles does the jumping squat target?

The jumping squat targets more muscles than just about any other exercise. It is what is known as a compound exercise because it works more than one muscle group at a time. In particular it will hit:

• the hamstrings
• the glutes (your butt!)
• the calf muscles
• the thighs
• the hip flexors

When you do a jumping squat you are essentially doing a cardio workout and a strength workout all in one handy exercise. Your heart rate will be elevated to a point where you will feel like you have just run a sprint race and your legs will burn like you have just been doing the most difficult squats of your life. If you want to tone your legs and butt and lose that problem fat then this is an exercise you need to make a regular in your fitness plan.

How to do the jumping squat

The photos above show the starting position and then the landing position. You must swap your lead foot in the air.

The jumping squat is easy to do but it will take a lot out of you. Many women cannot do more than five or six on their first go. That is okay. As long as you do more each time you will be making progress. Try to do at least four or five sets with about a minute break in between each set.

1. Starting position
   Crouch down in a squat position with your left foot in front of your right foot and your hands touching the floor for balance.
2. The movement
   Spring up in to the air as high as possible using your quadriceps and butt to make you jump. This is a very dynamic and powerful motion.
3. Whilst in the air
   Whilst in the air change feet position so that you land with your right foot in front.
4. Landing and repeating
   Crouch all the way back down to the ground and repeat as fast as possible with the other foot now in the lead. Don’t stop at the bottom but keep going as fast as you can.

And that’s it! As I said, the technique is easy but exercise is not. You will get a burn in your legs like you have never had before.

I do this exercise at the start of every workout. It takes a lot out of me but I truly believe it is one of the best ways to burn fat and tone your leg muscles.

Good luck!

photo credit: Claudia Castro

The morning walk is one of the most common forms of weight loss exercise. When I sit at my table in the morning and look out the window I see scores of women going for walks with their dogs, husbands or a group of friends. And while we have approached the question of “does walking burn fat” before, in this post I want to give you a few ways to super charge your morning walk so you can burn more fat in less time.

How to burn more fat on your morning walk

While I think walking has its merits (it is relaxing, low impact, etc.) I do think there are a lot better ways to burn fat. High intensity exercise like sprinting, skipping, hill climbs, kick boxing classes and weight training are all far superior in my opinion. But for some women these choices just aren’t options. And sometimes a walk is a nice start to the day – it is definitely a lot better than doing no exercise at all. Here are a few ways to super charge your morning walk.

1. Walk for at least 45 minutes
There have been several studies done on the topic of whether walking actually burns fat. In these studies it was found that you need to walk for at least 25 minutes before you actually start burning fat stores in your body. And while I am not so sure if this science still stands up, the principle remains the same. You need to walk for more than 25 to 30 minutes if you want to burn a good amount of fat.

Why is this so? Well the main theory is that when you walk before breakfast you have no available energy from food and as such you will tap into stored fat reserves. Apparently you need to walk for at least 25 minutes before this process begins to take place. This is not entirely true because glycogen energy remains ready for action for a long time. A more likely reason, in my mind, is that walking is not very likely to lift your heart rate and as such you need longer to get to a point where you are actually doing some damage to the energy stores in your body.

Whatever the reason, make sure you are walking at a good pace for at least 45 minutes in the morning. If you can’t bare to be out for that long at least try to get half an hour.

2. Hit the hills
Walking, as we mentioned, is a very low impact form of exercise that doesn’t do much in the way of pushing your boundaries. For this reason it is a great idea to change the terrain a little bit so that your muscles are doing some work that they might otherwise miss out on. The hills is a great place to start.

Walking hills has been one of the best forms of exercise for a long time. It is an exercise that tones your butt and legs, gets your heart rate up a lot higher and is far more interesting and challenging than just walking on the flats. Now, you don’t have to find some gigantic mountain in order to get a good workout. Most of you don’t live near mountains. But almost all of you will have some form of hill near your house. It might be an actual hill in a park or reserve or it might just be a sloped street that you can walk up and down. Hit it.

At the end of the session you will feel more energetic and vibrant because you would have actually worked out a large part of your body. Hill walks are a really good way to super charge your morning walk and burn more fat.

3. Drink a black coffee before you leave
I can hear all of you breathing a sigh of relief. A fitness website telling us to actually drink coffee! What a great idea. In fact, if you want to burn more fat on your morning walk you should drink a cup of black coffee. Isn’t that great news? The bad news – you aren’t allowed to have any milk or sugar. Just coffee and water. Add anything else and you won’t get the benefit.

photo credit: e.asphyx

So why does coffee help you burn more fat? Well many people believe that it allows you to access fat stores instead of carbs. Others believe that the stimulant aspect of coffee assists in its fat burning. To be honest, however, neither of these things makes much scientific sense. In fact, talking to nutritionists and doctors who have looked at studies around this issue and not many of them agree with the above assertions. So why am I recommending it? Because I have seen results in myself and my workout buddies. A bit of caffeine before a morning workout seems to have a positive effect on our weight loss progress. Bodybuilders have been saying the same thing for years.

One last reason; a morning coffee can help to wake you up and get your head in the right place for a workout. I can’t tell you the number of times I got up for a workout and then went straight back to bed because I couldn’t wake myself up. A coffee can help to prevent that. Give it a go and see how it works for you. If you don’t see any results after a couple of weeks chuck it in.

4. Take some weights
Another great technique to super charge your morning walk to to take along some hand weights to give your arms something to do. While your legs do all the walking it is great to do some work for your upper body. This effectively means you will get a full body workout which will, of course, burn more calories.

So what do you do with the weights? Well, if you are a little self conscious you could just hold them by your sides to provide some resistance for your arms. This is good enough and will give you a little mini bicep workout. But if you want to spice up the walk a bit more and perhaps even do some arm toning then why no do some full on bicep curls or slow punches or overhead presses? That way you can workout your shoulder, biceps and triceps – all on your morning walk!

Give it a try and see how you go. If you feel stupid, embrace it!

5. Wear a backpack with some weight in it
You have to be a little bit careful with this one because it can produce some back and shoulder injuries. This tip is only for super hard women who are not afraid of a little bit of pain. Be warned though, if you don’t take it easy and do this one carefully you are probably going to wind up with some sort of injury.

This idea actually comes from the army. One of the main things you do in the army is walk. In fact, you walk a lot. And I’m not just talking about walking around in the park. No sir. These guys carry massive guns that weigh as much as your upper body, ammunition that would squash your dog and, you guessed it, backpacks full of supplies. And they burn a lot of fat. You will never see a fat person in the army on active duty.

Fill up your backpack with some light weights and go for a walk. If you have any pain you should stop but over time you will find that your legs and butt get a good workout and you have to push yourself extremely hard just to finish the walk. It is an army style workout that also helps you become very tough mentally.

Any more ideas?

We loving hearing your ideas and experiences. Talking on the blog is a great way to meet new people and learn new things. If you know of any other ways to super charge your morning walk please leave a comment and let us know.

photo credit: Carly & Art

In case you haven’t noticed there is a global financial crisis going on. And when money gets tight one of the first things to go is the gym membership. Because we at Free Women’s Fitness understand that not all of us can afford to go to some fancy yoga or pilates class we have decided to start a series on using household items to get a cheap workout at home. This is part one in that series.

Working out at home

Working out at home has many advantages. Firstly, you save a lot of money by not going to the gym. And I am not just talking about gym membership fees. When you go to the gym you usually end up buying a water or a protein shake and you spend money on parking and petrol. Over time these things add up, especially if you go everyday.

Another great thing about working out at home is the level of comfort. You don’t have to worry about other people watching you and you definitely don’t need to worry about being fashionable. At home you can just be yourself and get on with the important stuff.

Household item for cheap fitness: the water bucket

photo credit: jekert gwapo

Water buckets are extremely useful dumbbell replacements. All you need to do is fill them with some water and use them as you would a pair of dumbbells. As you get stronger you can add more water. Some exercises you can do with a pail include:

• Dumbbell curls
• Shoulder presses
• Lateral side raises
• Weighted squats
• Front shoulder raises
• Deadlifts

Another great exercise to do with the water pail is farmers walks. This is basically where you take two buckets or cans, fill them up with water, and carry them for as long as you can. It really works your shoulders, biceps and forearms. You will also find that your heart rate gets elevated extremely quickly and as such it will give you a great cardio workout.

Stay tuned…

Make sure you subscribe to our feed or email subscription service. We will be adding a new household item every day. By the end of the series you will have a full gym of cheap home items! It might seem silly but the next time you can’t get to the gym these items will save your workout.

photo credit: sirmightymac

Every woman wants to look great in a mini skirt. Most of the time we get a little pang of jealousy when we see another girl walking past in one that we wish we could fit in to. But those toned and tight legs and butt are achievable. In this post I am going to give you a few cardio, diet and exercise tips to make it happen.

How to look great in a mini skirt

Looking great in a mini skirt does not just happen over night. It takes weeks and months of hard work and discipline. The reason most women don’t achieve this is because they give up too early. If you can work hard for about two months you will start to see dramatic results.

We need a three pronged approach to get that great body:

• the right cardio;
• the perfect diet; and
• the best resistance exercises

I have divided this post up into those three sections so you can digest the information easily. Remember, it takes hard work and mental discipline. It is not a quick fix. There is no such thing.

The right cardio for toned legs and a round butt

photo credit: C1ssou

So what sort of cardio should we be doing if we want to look good in a mini skirt? The answer is simple: high intensity. High intensity cardio will get you results faster.

Why high intensity?
If you have been reading Free Women’s Fitness for a while now you will know that high intensity cardio burns more calories than low pace running and walking because it continues to burn calories after the session is finished. Your heart rate gets boosted so high you speed up your metabolism for a long time.

What exercises are good?
We want to target the butt, hamstrings, thighs and calf muscles especially and as such we should be doing exercises like sprinting, hill runs, kickboxing and other forms of exercise that target the lower body.

How often?
You should be doing cardio at least four times a week for at least two months. After that you can scale back or move into something less stressful on the body. However, hitting your body with a good dose of high intensity work will do you wonders.

The right diet for that mini skirt goal

photo credit: quinn.anya

The next (and most important) element is the diet. If your diet is lacking in any way you simply will not lose the weight or tone the legs. Why? It is simple: it takes an hour to burn 200 calories on the treadmill but it takes 30 seconds to eat that many calories. So, if your diet is out your exercise will be fighting an uphill battle.

What to eat?
The most important thing you need to know is that an all natural diet is the best. You should try to avoid any food or drink that is man-made or processed. This means avoiding bread, refined sugars, pasta, etc. You want to stick to foods that are natural, organic and good for you. Here are some foods for weight loss.

How often?
As you all know, timing is almost as important as the stuff you eat. If you eat three big meals a day your body is going to get weighed down and your metabolism will slow. However, if you eat a small meal every three hours your digestion will be cranking and helping you to burn energy. Did you know that the very act of digesting food burns calories? Why not keep it digesting small amounts instead of letting it all get converted into fat.

The best exercises for that mini skirt figure

photo credit: Jessa9

There are actually a few things that women seem to ignore when training for that mini skirt figure. One of those things is that heavy weights are actually good for you. They won’t make you bulky but they will burn calories and help you to tone those muscles.

Types of resistance exercises
The best types of exercises you can do if you want to tone your legs and butt are ones that involve many muscles at once. These are called compound exercises and include the jumping squat, the squat, lunges, hill sprints, etc.

How to do them?
All exercises should be done slowly and with perfect technique. Why? Because this way you rely on your muscles to do the work and not your momentum. Momentum is easy. Pushing is hard work. This burns calories. Make sure you learn how to do the exercises really well before you hit the heavy stuff. Injuries last a long time.

How often?
For the first two months you should hit the gym (or living room!) every day that you aren’t doing cardio. This is a perfect routine as it should give you enough recovery time whilst still doing the amount of work that you need to do.

Bonus tip: Work the shoulders
Did you know that the perfect hour glass figure is actually an illusion created by the shape of your upper body as compared to your lower body? If you build up your shoulders more it will make your waist appear thinner and as such your mini skirt much sexier. If you want to look amazing in that short skirt you should work your shoulders with military presses, push ups and so on.

Conclusion

In just two short months you will feel more comfortable in that mini skirt. All you have to do is the right cardio, resistance exercises and food. Please don’t give up before the results start to happen. Push through the mental pain barrier and achieve the body you have always wanted.

photo credit: adifansnet

The squat is the queen of all exercises. It will help you tone your legs and butt and it will help you lose weight extremely fast. Every single woman should be doing squats on a very regular basis. In this post I am going to talk a little bit about squatting and show you how to get the most out of it.

Why are squats so good?

The main reason squats are so good is because they target a large number of muscles all at one time. This is called a compound exercise and it is very effective at burning fat and toning muscles. When you do a squat you will be working your:

• glutes (butt)
• hamstrings
• thighs
• calf muscles
• abs
• back

Imagine all the calories that get burned doing this kind of exercise as opposed to an exercise that only works one or two muscles at a time. It is for this reason that all women should be doing squats on a regular basis.

How to tone your butt and legs with the squat

The squat is fantastic because there are so many variations of it that you can do. And when you change your exercise style you shock your muscles and prevent them from reaching a plateau. This is a very good thing. Here are a few ways you can use the squat to lose weight and tone your legs and butt.

1. Slow them down
Super slow squats are extremely hard to do. When you slow an exercise down you force your muscles to do all the work as you take gravity out of the equation. When you do exercises super fast you rely too much on the momentum. Slowing down is a great way to up the intensity.

The best way to do this is to take a weight and place it on your shoulders or hold it in your hands. Slowly squat down to a count of five and then slowly rise up to a count of three. Make sure you feel all the muscles working and really focus on tensing them. This will bring you excellent results.

2. Use jumping squats
It seems as though I write about jumping squats every five minutes on this blog. But there is a reason for that – they work. I love them. Jumping squats are one of the best exercises you can do if you want to change the shape of your body.

Basically, start with your left foot flat on the ground and your right knee touching the ground next to it. Then use your left leg to spring into the air as high as you can. Mid air, swap your legs so that you land in the opposite position and then repeat without taking a break.

Check out this post on jumping squats for more details and benefits. I really encourage everyone to try them out as regularly as you can.

3. Add weight
If you were to lift a pencil up and down 100 times do you think it would do anything? Nope. But what if you lifted a 5kg dumbbell 20 times. Would that do something? Of course. If you want to make progress with your figure you need to add weight.

The best way to add weight to squats is by using a squat rack and adding a barbell to your shoulders. I see women at the gym doing this all the time – the real dedicated ones have amazing legs. Each week you should try to add a few pounds so that your legs and butt do not get used to the work. Try to keep them progressing as often as possible.

When doing weighted squats your technique is vital. If you do not squat properly you can hurt your back, legs or hips. The knees are particularly vulnerable. I suggest you read as much as possible about the squat before trying it. Never go below parallel and always get a personal trainer to watch you do it at least once.

Conclusion

Squats really are the best thing you can do if you want to change the way your legs and butt look. Start out slowly with a few sets and reps and gradually increase to higher levels by adding more weight and intensity. I guarantee you will see results faster than you expect.

photo credit: © sunflour

Calf muscles are very important to a gal. They are often on display when wearing shorts or a skirt and look fantastic when they are toned, tight and well shaped. Well one of the best ways to tone your calf muscles is with the calf raise. This time and tested exercise is easy to do and super effective.

How to do the calf raise

Here is a simple instructional video that we made to show you how to do the calf raise. All you need is an elevated platform (that is very stable!) and something to hold on to. Check it out.

You should start of doing around 20 repetitions and then have a break and perform another set. Once you become stronger and more adept at the exercise you can start to add weight to your body by wearing a heavy backpack or holding some dumbbells. This really kicks the muscles into overdrive!

Make sure you warm and and warm down before doing this exercise as the deep stretch you feel at the bottom of the motion can sometimes be too much for your muscles if they are not properly prepared. Enjoy.