Fit and Fine by Kamal Singh CSCS: Have you tried the Soleus push up?

The Soleus Push Up is the latest hot button trend in the exercise research world these days

The Soleus Push Up is the latest hot button trend in the exercise research world these days. Before I go in to the details of what exactly is a Soleus Push Up, let me very briefly describe the results of the research study. Marc Hamilton, Professor of Human Performance at the University of Houston, Texas, USA has discovered that the Soleus Push Up (SPU) can elevate burning of blood glucose and fats for hours. All this while sitting! His research showed that there was a 52 per cent improvement in blood glucose and a 60 per cent less insulin requirement over the three hours after drinking a glucose drink. Performing the Soleus Push Up reduced very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL – a type of cholesterol) and triglycerides while increasing fat and sugar burning. This discovery is remarkable as it would help in decreasing all types of metabolic diseases like Diabetes, Heart disease and Dementia.

The Soleus Muscle – Anatomy and Function

The Soleus is part of the three muscles which make up the calf. The Soleus lies deep underneath the Gastrocnemius muscle and its contraction helps in lifting the heel off the ground aka plantar flexion. Unlike the more superficial Gastrocnemius which crosses the knee as well as the ankle, the Soleus inserts into the ankle and hence plantar flexes the foot. The Gastrocnemius takes over if the knee is straight. The only to direct train the Soleus is by keeping the knees bent. The Soleus is also an anti-gravity muscle and helps in keeping an upright posture while walking and standing. The Soleus mostly consists of type 1 or slow twitch muscle fibres.

Enter the Soleus Push Up

The Soleus Push Up is simple to do. Sit in a chair where your knees are bent at 90 degrees angle. Keep your feet flat on the floor. Now do a seated calf raise at an easy pace i.e. lift your heels to their maximum range and return passively to the floor. The Soleus Push Up is not meant to be done at a fast pace or even a deliberate slow pace. You are not meant to be tired or fatigued from doing this “exercise”. It is almost like a learned “fidget”.

But why not just get up from a chair and walk for a few minutes! But while walking, the knee is straight and focus shifts to the Gastrocnemius. That is why we do seated Calf Raises in the gym to specifically target the Soleus.

There is a caveat to the study by Prof Hamilton. The volunteers performed the SPU for as long as 4 hours at a stretch. So do not think that the benefits of the SPU happen by doing it for a 5 minutes. But the good-point is that SPU can be done anywhere and at any time – in office, in a meeting, while watching TV etc.

To Summarize

Latest research shows the following:

By doing the Soleus Push Up, we can raise the metabolism by as much as 52% over several hours. This helps in burning glucose and fats in the blood.

The SPU is simple to do but needs to be done for long stretches of time.

The is not fatiguing per se and thus can be done while sitting in meeting, working at a desk or ever watching TV.

I shall keep the readers updated on this research but for now it looks very promising. So get going and do the Soleus Push Ups….

Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004222011415

Kamal Singh is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist who has been coaching for 15 years

From HT Brunch, December 10, 2022

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