An exercise progression for the calf muscle

Most calf injuries from triathlon training are the result of muscle tears, tendon issues or weakness. All of these tend to respond when you increase the load that those tissues can handle (enter strength training).

Here is how I would rebuild the calf muscle after an injury:

When you injure your calf your capacity to do work is usually altered with these types of injuries.

We can improve your capacity by increasing your strength and tolerance to stress.

There are 4 large buckets of training for the calf (and most muscle groups)

• Strength

• Endurance

• Power

• Plyometrics

For the calf, I have 5 progressions of movements for you to try and work through:

1. ISOs

2. Flat ground raises

3. Full range

4. Heavy loaded

5. Plyos

Rehabing and strengthening the calf complex comes down to loading the calf in a variety of different ways.

Progressing what you can handle AND progressing your endurance training alongside it.

Exercise choice should be individualized, and this is just an idea of what you could try.

ISOs and Holds

These are your holding exercises. Often you're either pushing into something or holding a static position.

They can be a good starting point if the calf is painful.

Here are some to try:

• ISO wall push

• ISO step hold

• ISO lunge with calf hold

If you can handle this then you are likely ready for:

Flat ground raises

Starting to work through some range with weight.

2 options for you to try:

• Double leg calf raises

• Single leg calf raises

At this stage, you can also introduce metronome loading for the calf.

Running and walking requires a rhythmic contraction of the calf muscle. Meaning every step happens on a consistent beat. So loading with a metronome can start to train that ability.

Try using a metronome to pace your calf raises. Start at 90 BPM and progress up until 110 BPM.

From there you can progress to:

Full ROM raises

In running we need to be able to work in the calf muscles full range.

2 options here:

• toe elevated single-leg calf raises

• step calf raises

A running-specific range would be toe-elevated calf raises (credit to Chris Johnson for teaching me this).

The calf in this instance is loaded from 10 deg of dorsiflexion to full plantarflexion with the body in a run-like stance.

The other major progression is eccentrics where the focus is placed on the slow controlled lowering of the heel.

This is best done off a step and can be done with knees bent or straight.

Heavy loaded raises

If you want to increase strength we need to load the calf with more than body weight.

You can use any of the other exercises and add a DB or KB to your hands

2 other options to try:

• Bent knee loading with Smith Machine.

• Leg press calf raise

The goal is to increase the total strength of your calf.

Finally, you can add:

Plyos + jumps

The final progression is to introduce some plyos and jumps for the calf.

Here's a basic progression:

• drop jumps

• counter movement jump

• double leg hops

• single leg hops

• tandem hop switch

This will prepare the calf to load quickly and repeatedly.

How does this work as a program?

An exercise progression that might work for you

1. Isometric plantarflexion into wall + lunge isometric holds

2. Johnson Raises (toe lifted, single leg) + Metronome guided raises (seated and standing)

3. Seated calf raises weighted + drop jump + horizontal jump

4. Step calf raises weighted + DL bunny hops + SL Bunny hops

This covers all your bases, progressing from relatively easy to more complex.