Food & Fitness Friday: Calf Raises
It’s finally Friday, birdies! And today I’m talking about one of my favorite, but often forgotten, leg muscles! Calves! This week’s workout is centered around calf raises! Isolating your calf muscles builds stronger muscles and provides stability to your joints. Keep reading for a few tricks & tips to get the most out of this classic!
Slow down (way down)
Speed is your enemy on calf raises. The calf is made up of several muscles that work together each time you take a step—that's at least 5,000 reps per day for most of us. In order to improve size and strength in this area of your body, the mind-to-muscle connection is extremely important. I suggest using a 2-1-2-1 ratio: a two-second stretch, a one-second contraction up, a two-second isometric hold at the top of the range of motion, and then a two-second eccentric motion back down. Stacking five plates on a barbell and doing five max-out reps won't help you here!
More steps mean more reps
Since they are already acclimated to the endurance loads associated with walking and running, the calves are much more capable of responding to high-volume sets than other body parts might be. Varying the number of repetitions during training will help keep you on your toes. If you work your calves twice a week, do lighter sets of anywhere between 20 and 50 repetitions on one day, and on the other, try a few heavier sets closer to 10 reps.
Boxes rock
If traditional calf raises aren't doing anything for you, try a set of box jumps in which you use only your calves to jump and land. (You obviously won't need a very high box for this.) Focus throughout on staying on your toes, both when your feet are on the floor and also when they're on the box. This is, incidentally, also a great way to incorporate a cardio element into your weight training.
Another plus
Strong Calf Muscles Will Make You Faster. You likely know that improving your stride calls for targeting three major lower-body muscle groups—quads, glutes, and hamstrings. ... Despite their smaller size, your calf and ankle muscles are just as important for improving stride and pushing pace.
Injury Prevention
Weak ankles and calves can create gait issues and stability deficiencies during running, standing, jumping, and even squatting/pulling. By addressing ankle instability and strengthening the calves (such as with standing calf raises), you can have the ability to stabilize them in athletic, explosive, strength-based movements.
Sprinting and Running Performance
While both of these movements are highly dependent on the posterior chain (hamstrings and glutes), the calves also add some muscular output and explosiveness (in more short duration sprinting). When running, the muscles in our calves can eccentrically load to absorb some of the impact forces and also help to create ground reaction force via forceful plantar-flexion.
Bigger Calves…
Team No Calves is a real thing. Standing calf raises, as aesthetic as this may be, can increase the size of your calves (muscle hypertrophy). While some strength, power, and fitness athletes/coaches will say they don’t care about these sorts of things, there are just as many who wouldn’t mind having bigger calves. Simply put, a steady diet of standing calf raises and seated (bent knee) raises can develop the calves into some serious slabs of meat.
I hope everyone has had the best week & has fun working their calves this weekend!