The importance of your calf muscle group for runners

In clinic we regularly hear this kind of statement: ‘I don’t need to strength train this, I’m training them whilst I run and they’re getting stronger whilst I’m running.’ Now on the front of it, this kind of statement does make sense. You will indeed be working particular muscle groups whilst running and as long as you're not injured you would be right in thinking that your body is coping with the demands of running.

But the issue we see all too often is too many runners with calf strains, niggling achilles pain or most commonly ‘tight’ calves. So on the balance, maybe running just isn’t enough to keep in particular your calf’s strong?

Injury is very much multifactorial and can be very complex. So if you’re coming up short with some kind of calf pain, are the calf’s coping as well as they should be? Are they weak, tight, strained, niggling or fatigued? That’s all for us as sports therapists to find out.

We would often start talking about your training load. Has your training changed recently? More running, more challenging runs, more elevation, more trail, more distance, changing this or changing that? Has there been a too much, too soon, or for too long component to your training? We would also have a conversation around your strength training, or maybe lack of? Or maybe you’re purely just not recovering and recovering well enough?

In this instance lets delve further in to the strengthening aspect for runners...

Whilst running the calf muscle group, in particular the soleous muscle must deal with forces up to 1.5x your body weight. Yes, you would be right in thinking that is indeed a lot of force. Think, your body weight, at speed, including forces like gravity.

But what do we mean by 1.5x body weight? Let’s use an example. You weigh 65kg (10st 2lbs), half of your body weight would be 32.5kg. So 1.5x your body weight would be 97.5kg. So your little calf group has to deal with nearly 100kg on EVERY step (in the instance you weight 65kg)!!

So how can we help the calf muscle group get used to dealing with 100kg of weight on every step whilst running? Well we can strength train it. ‘How do I do that?’ I hear you ask.

Well you're going to need some heavy things, like weights. My best recommendations are often found in a gym, unless you have built an awesome home gym over lockdown. Some gyms have a specific calf raise machine, most gyms have a leg press machine or a smith machine. Every gym has heavy kettlebells and dumbbells. So whatever your body weight is, depending on what machine you are using you need to find the heaviest weight you can do for about 6 reps! The next important factor is to then you need to assure you are progressively loading this same exercise to be able to achieve more and more weight for the same 6 reps (this occurs over years). So start off maybe just with your body weight, completed 6 reps easily? Then it’s time to start to add some weight. From there on in, keep a track and continually keep increasing the weight.

My final thought. If you find you’re constantly struggling with tight calf’s or you’ve had niggling achilles or calf strains. Let me ask you, are your calf’s strong enough to cope with the demands of running, are they weak or fatigued? Are a few calf raises whilst you brush your teeth or whilst waiting for the kettle to boil enough to cope with the demands you are placing on them in your training?

If this is relatable to you, or you want to ask more questions drop Nic an email at contact@clinicsportstherapy.co.uk.

References:

O’Neill, S., Barry, S. and Watson, P. (2019). Plantarflexor strength and endurance deficits associated with mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy: The role of soleus. Physical Therapy in Sport, 37, pp.69–76. doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2019.03.002.

Green, B., McClelland, J.A., Semciw, A.I., Schache, A.G., McCall, A. and Pizzari, T. (2022). The Assessment, Management and Prevention of Calf Muscle Strain Injuries: A Qualitative Study of the Practices and Perspectives of 20 Expert Sports Clinicians. Sports Medicine - Open, 8(1). doi:10.1186/s40798-021-00364-0.

Guglielmo, L., Greco, C. and Denadai, B. (2008). Effects of Strength Training on Running Economy. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 30(01), pp.27–32. doi:10.1055/s-2008-1038792.

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