THE BODII CALF RAISE/HAMSTRINGS STRETCH.

This week we will look at the Calf Raise/Hamstrings Stretch. A multi-faceted exercise, which once you have studied the Bodii system, you will come to understand as a complex movement, where it’s vital inclusions and progressions are quite possibly the most important in the entire Bodii range, especially in terms of its applications to modern sporting adaptations, and their resultant benefits.
There are various ways to mount the forward ball, and many ball size variations and combinations. In the demonstrated video I have chosen to jump onto the 25cm medicine-ball. Once settled into this position, which has two points of specific instability (and here I remind readers/viewers that ALL Bodii exercises have at least one point of instability) the basic Calf Raise action is completed. However, and this is critical to the exercise and its dominant purpose, it is the eccentric contraction which has greatest importance. Why is this the case? Because in the traditional approach to strength movements, it is the concentric contraction which gains most attention. In Bodii, the principle objective is not to gain mass per se, but to gain functional strength, through elongated range, with total inclusion of the participant’s core strength/stability centres, and also with full regard for individual ability to maintain sound postural considerations. In this exercise, and consequently all it’s variations and progressions, it is entirely about the posterior chain, from Achilles to Cervical curve, and the very important effect this unified system has on the potential of exercise and sport specific strength training adaptations to alleviate and manage many on-going sporting injury dilemmas.