FEEL: You should feel all the muscles in your calves working, you may also feel you quadricep thigh muscles working as well.
COMPENSATION: Do not let your heels drop! Also, do not let your knees bend. Think of staying up as tall as you can!
FEEL: You should feel the muscles on the front part of your shin bones working to keep you on your heels.
COMPENSATION: It’s normal to not feel balanced in this position, do the best you can!
FEEL: You should feel your calves getting a workout, but also your glutes and quads working as well to help keep your legs straight.
COMPENSATION: Do not let your knees bend as that is a different exercise. Do not shift your weight side to side. Make sure you go through your full range of motion at your ankle.
FEEL: You should feel your calves getting a workout, but also your glutes and quads working as well to help keep your legs straight.
COMPENSATION: Go slow! Control the lowering. Do not let your knees bend as that is a different exercise. Make sure you go through your full range of motion at your ankle.
FEEL: You should feel your calves working.
COMPENSATION: Keep your knees straight, don’t bend them as you shift from one side to the other. Don’t let your heels drop!
FEEL: You should feel the muscles in your lower leg working.
COMPENSATION: Don’t straighten your knees, keep them bent the entire time. Lift your whole body weight with the heel raise, don’t roll forward onto your toes.
FEEL: You should feel the muscles in your calf working.
COMPENSATION: Keep your knee straight as you perform the heel raise, don’t bend it. Keep your hand on the wall but don’t use the wall to help raise your heel.
FEEL: You should feel like your balance is being challenged. If you’re having difficulty maintaining your balance, use fingertips on the surface near you as needed or try to focus on an object in the distance or near you with your eyes.
COMPENSATION: Try not leaning too much side to side or forward/backward. Put your foot down or grab the wall or sturdy object to avoid a fall if you lose your balance.
FEEL: This should feel like a control exercise, specifically your calf and foot muscles working to control your center of gravity shifting forward. You should also feel your calves and feet muscles working to return your body to starting position.
COMPENSATION: Keep your body straight, don’t fold at your hips or arch your back with this exercise. Use your calves and feet muscles to do the work.
FEEL: You should focus on maintaining a rigid/stiff foot/ankle as well as your leg, think of this exercise like you’re bouncing on a pogo stick. You want to keep your leg and ankle stiff so that you ‘bounce’ like you’re bouncing on a stiff spring.
COMPENSATION: Do not let your knee excessively bend or your heel touch the ground, stay stiff and bounce on the balls of your feet.