Apparently, my calf muscle could be more developed – that was today’s feedback during physio.
I thought I was training a lot. Looks like I was wrong – or at least not enough.
For my current issue (not being able to stand on one leg), there’s no magic fix. Just one solution: practice, practice, practice.
Since I’m not a physio and never really thought about how my central nervous system works with muscles, tendons and ligaments, the engineer in me got curious.
So I ran a small experiment: I stood on one leg with my healthy foot and tried to observe how I balance. Normally that all happens subconsciously – you don’t even understand what’s going on.
What I noticed: It’s mainly the ankle that balances the stance with small left-right movements.
With that insight, I asked myself a few questions:
- How much range of motion do I even have inside the shoe?
- How flexible is my ankle?
- Who’s the culprit that’s blocking the balance?
The answer: it’s the brain – or more specifically, my central nervous system.
(By the way: Isn’t the brain part of that too?)
My injured foot felt blocked – in and out of the shoe.
So I started with some basic left-right ankle shifts while standing still, just to get the joint moving again.
It was hard at first, but got better over time.
Then I practiced standing longer on one leg: first 5 seconds, then 25 (my goal was 30), and after about 20–30 minutes I finally managed to hit the 60-second mark.
To help, I walked around the apartment and raised one knee at a time.
One-leg stand: More effort than expected – but: CHECK.
To build more muscle, I can now slowly begin with calf raises and calf holds.
I stand on the balls of my feet and gradually shift more weight to the left leg.
Thankfully, that worked pretty well for me.
One thing I still struggle with: tensing the calf in both stretched and bent leg positions.
My physio pointed out that I tend to use my toes too much for help – instead, I should pull my toes up.
That relaxes the foot muscles and lets the calf do the work – kind of a self-hack.
If only it were that easy 😅
So – back to engineer mode: Is my brain getting in the way?
Turns out, I wasn’t reaching the full range of motion.
The first step was lifting just the toes (important: don’t neglect the pointed-foot posture – only the toes should rise).
That worked fairly quickly – and once I had that, I could finally tense the calf without relying on my toes.
It feels good to see the calf working again.
Conclusion: I wanted too much.
Instead of focusing on form and clean technique, I just increased the training volume. Not smart.
My Current Training Plan
5 sets
- Biking with midfoot/rearfoot on pedals (10 minutes)
- Squats with heel elevated (12 reps)
- Single-leg stand with heel elevated (30 seconds)
- Good Mornings (12 reps)
- Tiptoe hold (45 seconds)
- Leg press (heels must stay down) (10 reps)