Exercise

[AcidRock23]

Sit on the floor, left leg out in front of you and lift your right leg up, away from your leg supporting the right side of your right calf with your right hand so your right ankle is clear of your left leg. Then grab your toes and rotate your ankle around in each direction to stretch your ankles out and put them through their fullest range of motion. For jogging or walking fast, I'd do about 20 times each way. Then do the other side.

I have been treadmilling a bunch lately and this seems to have helped gotten rid of shin splints that used to get in the way of my motivation quite a bit. I hope that you can figure out what I'm talking about from my directions? Another thing that may explain how rotating your ankle will help is to do these gingerly while you have a case of shin splints and you should be able to feel how the ankle bone (and muscle and other connective tissues...) is connected to the shin bone. Good luck!!

[sliders51]

anyone else realize this thread is really about exercise when he obviously asked about excerise?

LOL...I was thinking the same thing but didn't want to say anything

[AEMRICH]

Typo my bad, i was typing faster than i was thinking
Thanks for all of the suggestions though

[Boyakasha]

Hey guys couple exercise questions.I've been running on the treadmill lately and every time i run the front of my lcalf eft always feels really tight any tips on how to prevent this? Also What are some good exercises to build stronger calves and pecs, without machines and just some free weights at home?

A "tightness"...well...I'm no expert, but make sure you are running heel/toe heel/toe, because I think running on the balls of your feet could cause tightness in the front calf area...otherwise, if it's muscle tightness (not sure what other kind it could be ) I would try to isolate the tight area in a stretch after you get warmed up a bit...also stretch it after you are finished running. Sounds like a difficult muscle to isolate with a stretch, but if you put your toe in the ground and put resistance at a certain angle, you should be able to get it.

I'm not a sports doctor but I did stay at a Holliday Inn last night...

I've suffered from shin splints over the years as well, and actually, usually it's caused by landing on your heel too hard when you run. Proper long distance form is supposed to be a flat footstrike, although I don't do that either. Sprinting is supposed to be on the balls of your feet.

Make sure you stretch it out beforehand, I sit on the ground with my legs in front of me, point my toes as far forward as I can and then reach for them. You should feel the stretch in your shins.

You can try to change your form to land as flat-footed as possible by keeping your weight over your legs and not taking long strides.

An easy way to help is to get good running shoes. If you run a lot, it's worth getting some Asics Gel 1130s or whatever that are going to give you good support and heel cushion when you run. You can also get certain insoles that'll help alleviate some of the stress on your shins. I went to a New Balance store and they did a computer analysis of my arches and weight distribution, as well as my running stride, and recommended some shoes. I think it was kind of BS, but my shins haven't hurt since, so maybe not.

[RynMan]

Definitely is shin splints. Just google it to find a workaround....millions of people have it. Basically inflammation in the Tibialis anterior muscle....generally from overuse/repetition (i.e. running).

Calves and Pecs. For calves, anything involving plantar flexion (pushing off with your foot).....single leg lifts - stand on one leg and push up onto your toes. If thats to easy and you want to overload it, hold some dumb bells. If that's too easy, hold something heavier.

Pecs, pushups are the simplest. Work a variety of angles by elevating your feet - the higher your feet, the higher in your chest the muscle fibers being activated are. If you have a gym/physio/swiss ball, one of the best exercises for pecs/chest/core strength, is to do dumb bell presses while lying on the ball, supported at your neck, while bridging the rest of your body. I like to do single arm presses (i.e. both arms extended, then lower one and push back up, alternate) as it also makes you work the opposite side of your body to stabilize from falling off the ball.

You can work any part of your body with dumb bells and a gym ball.

[Omaha Red Sox]

I had shin splints all through my track and CC days. Sucks. But I only really felt them when I was jogging or not running full out. When I was sprinting or running hard I didn't feel it. I think it was because of the way my feet were hitting the ground at the different speeds, as some have mentioned. What I would suggest, since you're not racing, try different speeds and see if some hurt more than others and go with a speed that doesn't seem to hurt much, if at all. You'll still get your workout, but without the pain.