Shadowing Practice: Calf Raise (Late Supination) Progression - Learn English Speaking with Video

This is the late stance supination calf raise progression series.

For this first variation, we're going to unweigh some of our body weight, making it quite easy to get into the position.

So we have a barbell set up around the height of our waist, and we're going to start with our feet directly underneath our hips more or less.

And we're going to keep our eyes straight ahead.

And all we're going to do is we're going to bring the leg back that we're going to work on.

So I'm going to shift over to my left.

I'm going to work my right side, but I'm just going to bring my leg back into relatively full hip extension.

Meaning that if I went any further back than this, I'd start to arch my back.

So for me, I'm bringing it back right about here.

This is like a comfortable in range.

I might be able to push it a little bit more than this, but I just want to feel like I'm in a comfortable in range of hip extension.

I can still keep my rib cage relatively down while staying tall.

As for the foot contacts, now on this back extended leg, I'm going to feel my first and fifth metatarsal head relatively evenly spread between these,

maybe with a very slight bias on my big toe.

So it's like 60-40, but ultimately, as long as you're keeping both down, things are generally going to be pretty good.

So keeping my back leg straight and in that hip extended position, I'm going to get on those first and fifth metatarsal heads on my right side,

and I'm going to lift my left leg up to a comfortable position where it's off of the ground, maybe about 60 to 70, whatever degrees of hip flexion feels comfortable for you.

As long as it's decently off of the ground.

Now, starting with my heel, just hovering off of the ground on the back, right?

Keeping my legs straight on the right without hyper extending it.

You just wanna keep it straight with that hip extended position.

You're going to then go up, pushing through those metatarsal heads at that end range right there.

If I went any higher than this, I'd start to lose my first metatarsal head.

So I'm gonna stop there and I'm gonna go back down, controlling that to the bottom position until my heels just hovering off of the ground slightly,

going back up again, focusing on getting that nice full calf raise, trying to get the inversion of the calcaneus,

and then coming back down again, nice and relaxed.

Optional modification that you can have

if you're struggling to keep down your first metatarsal head

or your fifth metatarsal head is to put a wedge coming in medially, meaning from the inside, supporting that first metatarsal head.

And you can elevate a little bit of your second too, if you want, but I recommend doing mostly just your first right there and making sure that you're nice and comfortable.

So I wouldn't use too big of a wedge.

Just a little bit is oftentimes enough.

And you're just going to be in that same position of hip extension and then bring that other hip up into flexion.

And then you're going to push just naturally.

And this should allow you to get a little bit more of that nice, even contact if you're struggling to keep one of those points down.

Now, the other thing you could do, and this just depends on the individual and their foot shape,

you could do it by flipping it around and you could place it underneath the fifth metatarsal head, like your pinky toe and the base of it right there.

This could be a nice alternative for some people.

And this might help them keep their fifth metatarsal head down or even potentially their first depending on their situation.

So I'm going to go up pressing through and it's really the same thing coming back down.

By far the most common mistake is that people are going to lose their back leg hip or knee extension.

So what you're going to see is

that as people sort of get tired they start to bend the knee a little bit.

We don't want to see that.

That's going to have us lose our supinated foot shape to some extent.

The other thing you're going to see is they're going to start to maybe lean back

and push their hips back like this, or they're going to overextend and come forward.

So if you ever feel like you're going to lose

that nice stack from your head down through your rib cage and your back foot, stop there, reset, take a break, and then finish out the rest of your reps.

So a good rep would look like this,

whereas a bad rep would look something like that or like that.

The next progression would be wall support.

So get your hands up against a wall about shoulder height, whatever is comfortable for you.

And then same thing.

You want to just keep your rib cage down, eyes straight ahead, bringing yourself back into a comfortable end range of hip extension, right about there for me.

And then get heavy on that side, lift up a little bit and then you can go through that nice full calf raise,

focusing on those points of contact, keeping your foot pretty relaxed as you go through it.

The next progression would be to do a elevation of this back leg right here.

And the purpose of this is to get a deeper stretch on the calf tissues and muscles.

And we're really also going to allow

that calcaneus to move into a relatively more everted position at

the bottom to force us to go through a larger transition into inversion and through a fuller range of motion.

So everything else is the same, but you want to make sure you're setting up the height of these books or box, whatever you're doing, a couple of inches off the ground is all you really need.

And you're going to be in that end range of hip extended position.

So you're not really going to move into it from the

start you're just going to know where you need to be and then go from there like we are right here.

So now just start in this bottom position like this to where you have a little stretch in your calf

and your heels sitting below the surface of that elevation.

And then you're just going to do the same thing.

Keep that knee and hip extension, go up to the point where if you went any higher, you would start to lose one of those points of contact at your first or fifth metatarsal head.

And you're going to come back down like so, feeling that nice little stretch, going back up again making sure you're not losing contact of either of those areas.

The last progression would be to hold a weight down at the opposite side of the side that's working

so a contralateral load here.

This is going to help us turn naturally a little bit more towards this side

and more mimic the idea and mechanics of late stance and late supination.

We can do this with or without the elevation just whatever works for you.

I'll do it with but again the choice is yours

and you're just going to hold this weight down by your side

and you're going to start your arm on the wall right here in the hip

and knee extended position pull that leg up a little bit

and then you're going to go up maintaining everything stopping the point where

if you want any higher again you would lose that first

or fifth metatarsal head so for me that's probably right about there

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: Calf Raise (Late Supination) Progression - Learn English Speaking with Video

Context & Background

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

Step-by-step Shadowing Guide

What is the Shadowing Technique?