You’re Missing Out on THIS Easy Way to Improve Your Running Performance…
When most people think of running muscles, they immediately think of the quads, hammies, and glutes. Although those muscles as well as all muscles in the lower extremity are important for running, the soleus muscle is truly the powerhouse. Understanding why it’s important might convince you to spend a little more time on training your soleus. This could be the thing that just unlocks the potential you need for your running performance…
What is the soleus muscle?
The soleus is a muscle in your calf that’s responsible for pointing your toes down and driving your toes into the ground to propel you forwards when walking or running. Your calf is made up of the soleus and gastrocnemius (gastrocs). The gastrocs are the muscles that you see, so that’s what most people train. Whereas the soleus is the smaller flat muscle that often gets overlooked because it hides underneath the big bulky gastrocs. The soleus starts just below your knee and runs all the way down the back of your leg, inserting into the achilles tendon at the heel.
What does the soleus do?
This muscle is primarily comprised of slow twitch muscle fibers and is very resistant to fatigue; however, it can also used in conjunction with other muscles during explosive movements.. When you run you support anywhere from 3-8x your body weight on a single leg, which exerts a lot of force through the muscles of the lower leg, especially the soleus. The soleus absorbs a lot of this force and is a very important muscle in maintaining an upright posture, making sure your body doesn’t fall forward. The soleus bears a lot of force during running and absorbs more force than its gastrocnemius counterpart. Because the soleus is comprised of mostly slow twitch muscle fibres, it doesn’t have the same explosive power as the gastrocnemius but is very important in long distance running. The soleus also acts as a skeletal muscle pump because it pumps deoxygenated blood back from your legs to your heart with each step you take. If your soleus is not strong enough to handle the demands of running, the muscle will fatigue and potentially become strained leading to a sensation of muscle stiffness and soreness.
To summarize, during running the soleus…
Propels us forward
Bears most of the weight from running
Is very resistant to fatigue
With these points in mind, it becomes clear how important it is for runners to strengthen their soleus and make sure this tissue is prepared to handle the load of their specific running distance demands. A stronger soleus will be able to handle the tensile forces placed on it. Soleus injuries are common in runners with fatigue and overtraining being some of the most frequent contributing factors.
How do you strengthen your soleus muscle?
Progressive overload through resistance training is the key principle when it comes to strengthening any muscle. The best way to activate your soleus involves plantar flexion or pointing your toes downward, while your knees are in a bent (preferably at or around 90 degrees) position. The fact that your knees are bent is the most important aspect, and is why most people don’t traing their soleus muscle enough. Exercises such as bent knee heel raises in double leg, split stance, and single leg variations are great ways to strengthen your soleus.
(see PDF download below)
How do you know if your soleus is weak?
Having a physiotherapist assess your range of motion and strength around the ankle joint is a good way to determine if your soleus is tight and/or weak. At The Movement, we get asked by runners how to improve running performance and how to remain injury free during training and on race day. Our recommendation is to progressively strength train all the muscles involved in running and to NOT forget about TRAINING THE SOLEUS, as it’s a vitally important muscle used during running. If you or anyone you know has questions about how to progressively strength train to rehab a running injury or improve running performance, get them to reach out to our healthcare team! Contact our team here
If you’d like to start training your soleus muscle today, we’ve created a FREE download for you with 3 Exercises to Train Your Soleus Muscle.
About the author - Eric Ljubojevich
Eric loves to run. He was born and raised in Hamilton Ontario and you can often find him running the city roads training for his next big race. He has a passion to help others achieve their running goals and crush new personal bests, whether from a rehab or performance perspective. Eric treats as a physiotherapist, coaches group training, and does digital run programming for The Movement. Reach out to Eric with any questions.
Eric@themovementphysio.ca
