The soleus muscle underneath the calves is called the second heart...

@siimland
Siim Land@siimland
23 views Jun 08, 2025
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The soleus muscle underneath the calves is called the second heart because it helps with blood circulation back up to the heart

A 2022 study also found that stimulating the soleus can have significant benefits on your glucose metabolism⬇️⬇️

youtu.be/wSJClvkCznY
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Blood flow from the feet back up is difficult because it has to fight against gravity

The soleus muscle helps to return deoxygenated blood back to the heart and prevents it from pooling in the legs

That's one of the reasons why sitting or standing for too long can be harmful
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The soleus pushup is an amazing exercise for "pumping the second heart."

It's basically a seated calf raise that you can do while sitting
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A 2022 study found that people doing soleus pushups for several hours saw a 52% lower glucose response and 60% less hyperinsulinemia after an oral glucose challenge

They did the soleus pushups for 270 minutes (4.5 hours)

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC94…
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The soleus muscles are quite underrated and they ought to be activated frequently throughout the day to support circulation

Too much sitting is bad for many reasons, but you can counteract some of the metabolic harm by doing soleus pushups

Full video: youtu.be/wSJClvkCznY
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