Site update

I'm really pleased to announce that after a three month wait my application to register Gym Pal as a trademark in the United Kingdom has finally gone through! As you may now notice, I've updated the main site logo to incorporate the ® symbol.

The key reason for protecting the name "Gym Pal" is to provide piece of mind that my brand is now protected within the applied for areas in the UK, allowing me to be more proactive with it without fear of somebody hijacking the name for their own enterprise.

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Standing front thigh stretch

The standing front thigh stretch, also known as the standing quadriceps stretch, is one of the most common stretches that you will see all sorts of people doing. It helps keep the muscles at the front of your thigh flexible especially after leg intensive exercises such as squats and running.

Due to modern living and our habit of spending large amounts of time sitting down with feet on the floor or feet tucked up near our butts, most peoples quadriceps are already pretty flexible from all this passive stretching. This is probably for the worse as unless it is counter-balanced it causes an altered relationship with its opposite muscle group, the hamstrings, which end up tighter and shorter as a result.

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Bent knee calf stretch

The bent knee calf stretch, or standing soleus stretch, is a simple variation of the straight leg calf stretch that targets the smaller but equally important soleus muscles that make up the calves along with the larger gastrocnemius.

Maintaining and improving soleus flexibility is vitally important in helping us maintain and improve our posture and movement especially when running and when performing major exercises such as the deadlift or squats, which require full ankle dorsiflexion (shin moves towards foot) to perform correctly.

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Straight leg calf stretch

The straight leg calf stretch, or standing calf stretch, is the most common stretch used for maintaining and improving the flexibility of your calf muscles especially the largest one, the gastrocnemius.

To target the smaller calf soleus muscles more perform the bent knee calf stretch variation.

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Calf Raises

The calf raise. A staple of those who seek to enlarge the back of their lower legs. It is also probably one of the simplest and easiest exercises than can be performed, however has variations that can make it incredibly hard.

This exercise is rarely at the forefront of most people's routines, with quite a few not doing them at all. Indeed calf raises are not the only way to target your calves. Any balance, stability and plyometric training targets them good and more functionally. Squats and deadlifts both recruit the calves in their movements.

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