Improvements Week 1: Achilles Tendon & Soleus Stretching Exercises

          The Achilles tendon connects the calf muscle to the heel bone (calcaneus), it's both the thickest and strongest tendon in the body. However it lacks a protective covering leaving it very vulnerable to inflammation and injury. Therefore you must be very careful when doing stretching/strengthening exercises, it's commonly injured and often needs surgical treatment due to its lack of protective covering.
           Improving flexibility of the calf is just like improving any other muscle, it takes time and patience as you must gradually increase the degree to which you stretch the muscle. I have decided to stretch the tendon as well as the muscle because of the limited time for improvements, this will hopefully increase the rate at which my flexibility improves and aid how low my demi-plies get without lifting my heels off the floor.  


From research into stretching the Achilles tendon I have found Achilles tendonitis treatment exercises very useful, this is because the exercises stretch and strengthen the areas that I wish to improve. I watched this clip as a form of research into the possible exercises I could complete, I will then decide if they are suitable and likely to helping me achieve my targets.



From this and other research I have decided the calf/Achilles tendon wall stretch and a form of the soleus drop will be the most beneficial exercises for improving my demi-plie. Strength in general is very important in ballet as all moves must be performed with elegance and control.