[Music]

okay welcome everyone to a new episode

of technique Tuesday this week we're

gonna be looking at how to train the

Cavs with perfect technique but before

we jump into the technique itself let's

have a quick look at the muscles and

biomechanics involved first so with any

calf raise we're gonna be performing

ankle plantar flexion so basically

pointing your toes down she's gonna

target both the 2-headed gastrocnemius

muscle and the underlying but actually

larger soleus muscle now one important

point to note is that the gastroc is a

bi articular muscle meaning it crosses

both the ankle joint and the knee joint

so it can also flex the knee which is

why it'll be active on leg curl

movements and because there is some

degree of ankle plantar flexion on

squats and deadlifts

the calves will be somewhat active there

as well but the plantar flexion range of

motion is actually pretty small so I

think it's necessary to train the calves

it directly to maximize their growth

potential also because the soleus only

crosses that ankle joint and not the

knee joint it's probably better targeted

with a bent leg calf raise while the

gastroc is better targeted with a

straight leg however both muscles will

be active anytime you plantar flex

regardless of knee position so I think

using both a straight leg and a bent leg

option in your training makes the most

sense now there are also a bunch of

creative variations on the basic

standing calf raise that I like

including the donkey calf raise which

you can easily set up on a smith machine

and it's been shown in some independent

EMG data to have the highest muscle

activation out of the six variations

tested and I also really like the single

leg calf raise for avoiding asymmetries

from having one calf take over but for

our purposes here we're going to be

focusing on fundamental technique

principles that can apply across all

straight leg variations and I'm going to

be using a standing calf raise machine

no but I think what really matters is

that you have a straight leg not that

you're actually standing so you can

easily do these on the leg press or

Smith machine if you don't have a

standing calf machine available so for

the calf raise I think there is merit

and training across a variety of rep

ranges so anything from 6 to 20 or more

reps the most recent evidence on this

suggests that both the gastroc and

soleus are type 1 dominant

they may benefit from the use of higher

reps but because we're also taking the

ankle through a full range of motion

with the calf Anna biomechanically

strong position I think could be

negligent to exclude any low rep

strength work so I think splitting this

up where you have at least one heavy day

where you work more in the 6 to 12 rep

range and then at least one light day

where you work more in the 12 to 20 zone

makes the most sense now with that said

because it is extremely easy to cheat on

the calf raise I think you really want

to make sure you put proper technique

above heavy loading or anything else

when it comes to the calves before

anything you want to do one or two

priming sets where you get used to

taking the calves through a full range

of motion with bodyweight only to

establish a mind muscle connection and

get the ankle joint loosened up first at

this point you'll want to make sure that

you're able to fully stretch your calves

at the bottom so if you're on a smith

machine make sure you're standing on top

of some plates or a riser so you want to

set up with your feet pointing straight

ahead one 2011 study found that

externally rotating or pointing the toes

out may lead to more medial or inner

gastroc activation however later studies

found no significant difference in

activation between various foot

positions so I'd suggest going with

whatever feels it most comfortable to

you which should be either straight

ahead or using a slight flare now you

want to make sure that you're setting up

with the balls of your feet on the edge

of the foot stand so you can get a true

full range of motion and you can do

these barefoot if you feel a better

stretch or contraction that way but

wearing shoes is fine as long as they

don't impede your ankle mobility so

high-top chucks may not be your best

option here now before actually

initiating the raise you want to start

by actively flexing your quads I'm just

gonna accomplish two things first it'll

completely extend your knees keeping the

focus more on the gastroc and second

it's gonna prevent you from cheating by

getting your quads involved in the lift

to help you sort of squat the weight up

so once your calves are in the fully

stretched position they should feel like

they're being pulled apart similar to

how your hamstrings feel in the bottom

of a Romanian deadlift and from this

stretched position you want to think

about pressing your toes down into the

ground as your shoulders rise up against

the pads without shrugging throughout

the positive your knees and hips should

remain perfectly straight and locked and

at the top you want to pause for a full

1 to 2 second count

forcefully squeezing your calves and the

negative phase should last for another

two seconds as you keep tension in your

calves still resisting the weight on the

way down now the most important pause

comes once you've reach the bottom

springing out of the stretched position

is gonna cause the highly elastic

Achilles tendon to take over carrying

momentum out of the bottom and limiting

the actual calf muscles contributing

power so you want to pause for one to

two seconds in the bottom and actually

count this as one Mississippi two

Mississippi in your head so that you

don't get lazy and ignore this crucial

aspect of the movement after the pause

initiate the next rep by flexing your

quads pressing your toes down your

shoulders rise up against the pads

actively squeezing at the top and then

lowering again under control to the

fully stretched position and when it

comes to the seated calf raise most of

the same principles apply however you

may want to use slightly higher reps

since the soleus muscle has even more

type 1 or slow to its dominant and

you'll just want to be careful not to

use your grip to help boost the weight

up or create momentum at the hips by

leaning back on the way up I personally

find that leaning slightly back and

gripping the sides of the seat and

really help me resist that temptation to

cheat now before we get into the common

errors I just want to mention calf jumps

as an additional exercise here where you

explode out of the stretch position when

the calves are at their strongest and

this is going to take advantage of the

natural strength curve of the calves and

really target those less abundant fast

twitch fibres however there is much more

room for form inconsistency here so if

you are gonna give it a shot I'd make

sure you still keep the proper slow and

controlled calf raises your main

bread-and-butter movement so I think the

most common error with the calves is

just not using a full range of motion

most people seem to just bounce between

the concentric and the eccentric

allowing the Achilles tendon reflex to

take the ankle about half the way up and

then letting the calves fall back down

without active resistance this is

actually the worst way that you can

train your calves because even though it

may look like you're hitting them hard

it's really just your tendons not the

actual calf muscle that's doing the

brunt of the work so slow the movement

down get comfortable pausing in that

fully stretched position and make

yourself accountable to that 1 to 2

second count

on every phase of the movement they

they're counting out loud or in your

head on every rep going to heavy is

another error that we see on many

movements but I think it's especially

problematic here because of just how

technique sensitive calf training can be

if you're not doing the things we've

been discussing here I'd actually

recommend starting with bodyweight only

and really getting in a good groove with

a proper controlled lifting tempo for at

least a few weeks before you even start

loading with any weight at all and then

as usual once you do start loading

should never come at the expense of

proper lifting tempo and technique so

guys before we go I want to shout out my

calf science explained video I actually

just re-watched that before recording

here and I think it adds a lot of depth

to this video as over there I go into

more detail on the scientific literature

and there's at least 15 studies cited in

that video and it's on its way 20

million views so I'll have that link

down below I don't forget to hit the

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guys all here next Tuesday