Spending an hour a day stretching your calves can make your ankles more flexible, giving you the same mobility benefits as doing heavy leg workouts for six weeks.

Doing long static stretches or heavy weightlifting both help your ankles move more freely compared to doing nothing. In fact, lifting weights through a full range of motion can make your joints just as flexible as dedicated stretching, while also building muscle at the same time.

If experienced athletes add long static stretching to their regular weightlifting routine, they can significantly improve how far their ankles bend without losing the strength or muscle gains they've already built.

If you stretch your calves hard enough to feel a 6 or 7 out of 10 in discomfort three times a week for a month, you'll gain much more flexibility in your ankles than if you stretch lightly. Basically, how hard you push during stretching directly controls how much your muscles loosen up.

Stretching your calf muscles for an hour every day for six weeks can make your ankle bend up to 27% further. This happens because your brain gets used to the discomfort and your muscles actually grow new parts, not just because they get looser.

Doing one hour of calf stretches every day for six weeks can make your leg muscles significantly stronger, almost as much as if you were lifting weights. This shows that just stretching a lot can build muscle strength just like traditional exercise.