The Criterion of Calves
This blog will mainly focus on the calf muscle, what it is, and some exercises you can do to target it. Calves often cramp due to their common usage in daily activities such as walking. Frequent use makes the calves more prone to fatigue than practically any other muscle. Prioritizing calf strengthening exercises, stretching, and hydration can positively impact your overall performance and reduce risk of injury in daily activities.
What exactly is the calf muscle?
The calves, also known as the triceps surae muscle, are composed of two very distinct muscles: the gastrocnemius and the soleus. The gastrocnemius is the most visible and largest of the two. It is the “showy” feature of one’s calf, and often what people think most of. On the other hand, the soleus is the longer muscle beneath the gastrocnemius. This helps to flex the foot downward and keep us upright when we stand, whereas the other is largely affiliated with pushing off the ground. Calves often cramp due to their common usage in daily activities such as walking. Frequent use makes the calves more prone to fatigue than practically any other muscle. In fact, they do not receive as much blood flow and maintain enough size to avoid cramps caused by dehydration. Prioritizing calf strengthening exercises, stretching, and hydration can positively impact your overall performance and reduce risk of injury in daily activities.
Single Leg Calf Raises - Requirement: Body weight or Dumbbells
The single leg calf raise is a variation of the calf raise that emphasizes more tension to each leg than before. This exercise further challenges ankle stability and balance, involving movement targeted on developing and maintaining growth for the gastrocnemius muscle.
To perform a single calf leg raise, you’ll want to begin with:
Hold a dumbbell in your right hand by your side and place the ball of your right foot on a raised surface.
Cross your left ankle behind your right, hold onto the bench with your left hand for balance, and lower your right heel toward the floor.
Rise up on the toes of your right foot as high as you can.
Pause, and then lower yourself back to the starting position. Do equal reps with both legs for the desired amount.
The single leg calf raise is a great way to promote explosiveness while running. Many athletes, especially those who run short distance track, develop stronger gastrocnemius muscles for quicker acceleration. This is one of the many benefits of exercises such as the single leg calf raise.
Bent Knee Calf Raise - Requirement: Body weight or Dumbbells
While the gastrocnemius muscle is largely affiliated with straight knee calf activation, the soleus responds most to bent knee activities. We can best target the soleus when the knee is bent to 90°. Hence, this exercise will be able to isolate the soleus to further accentuate hypertrophy and muscle growth.
To perform a Standing bent knee calf raise - follow these steps:
Stand on a step with your heels hanging off the edge.
Hold onto something for stability
Stand on the leg you want to work out, and bend your knee to as close to 90 degrees as possible.
Next raise up onto your toes and then slowly lower back down until you get a stretch in the calf and repeat.
When you are ready add a weight in your hand and up the weight over time. - Repeat for desired reps and sets.
The bent knee calf raise, as said above, facilitates growth in the deeper of the two calf muscles. Targeting this muscle will establish efficiency and speed in your day to day running life. Not only will you be quicker, but you will also enjoy a more injury resistant muscle. However, this exercise is not perfect. It’s most important to avoid performing a bent knee calf raise if you have an achilles tendon injury. This motion pulls the tendon tighter to the bone where the heel bone inserts, increasing the compression at injury and establishing strain.
Calf Press - Requirement: Leg Press Machine
Similar to calf raises, this movement initiates straight leg motion. Machine calf presses are considered effective because it allows for weight training and overload to an often barebone body weight exercise. There are also many variations one can perform on the leg press machine. This includes exercises such as the pause machine calf press, tempo machine calf press, and the standing machine calf press.
A Calf Press is done through these following steps:
Sit down on a Leg Press Machine and press the plate up as if you were performing a leg press.
Slide your feet down so that the balls of your feet are pressing against the rack with your heels hanging off.
Keeping the handles locked, press up and flex your toes and then slowly bring your toes back towards your body.
Perform these movements slowly and for the desired amount of reps.
This exercise may be considered dangerous if one ego lifts and puts too much weight than they can lift properly. It is important to both keep the repetitions slowed and controlled, while pausing at the top for proper contraction. In my experience, despite being almost the same motion as normal calf raises, the calf press will make your muscles burn more than any other workout you can perform.
Takeaway
The triceps surae muscle is one of the smallest but equally important muscles in our body. Due to calf muscles being directly involved in plantar flexion at the ankle joint, improving calf strength associates greatly with running stability and ankle load.. Development of these muscles is essential for walking and running. Strong calf muscles also contribute to power such as vertical jumping and pace/stride length.The work that the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles accomplish is important not only for athletic performance but also for resilience and damage resistance. Strong calves coincide with healthier ankles and knees, important parts in both athletics and daily life (most prominent with aging).
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Written By: Brooks