Those I know who run a lot do calf raises to prevent running injuries.
Is it important to isolate the calf muscle to prevent running injuries?
Or is it enough with general leg training like squats, lunges, deadlifts, etc.
We also advocate for direct training of the calves (and other muscles of the lower limb) for most people, but especially for runners. That said, it’s often one of the first exercises that gets cut when training load has to decrease. They seem to decrease injury risk a little bit, but I wouldn’t oversell the effect: it’s modest.
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So if you train the following movements:
Squat (e.g. Back Squat)
Hinge (e.g. Deadlift)
Unilateral squat (e.g. Pistol)
Unilateral hinge (e.g. Single Leg RDL)
Calves (e.g. Single-Leg Calf Raise)
Are you covered when it comes to preventing running injuries? Or have I overlooked a movement?
Not wishing to hijack the thread entirely, but can I ask a related question about the inverse i.e. calf raises affecting running please?
I have always run with an under-body mid/forefoot strike and prefer barefoot shoes. At my volume peak (pre-lifting to be fair) I could happily do 90-100 minutes a session at moderate pace.
These days, I have to be much more careful of running effort or I get significant calf DOMS which can hamper my lifting, and even affect just walking about. Now it could be that I’m 15 years older and my tendons are stiffer and tolerate my historic running style less well now that I’m getting back into it. I was fine with the calf raises in the PB1v2 template (seated with foot blocks, I was doing 105kg/1.6xBW for 15 @ 5-6) but it made days after even short runs pretty bad. It was part of what made me settle back into LFS, but I intend to try the PB variant next.
I am making decent progress with previously impossible hamstring isolation work e.g I can concentric Nordics, and direct adductor work has made a huge difference to my recent squat difficulties, so I don’t wish to avoid calf raises entirely if there is a direct benefit to be had. FWIW, I don’t need bigger calves but stronger is always welcome. Am I just building up the load wrong or doing the wrong variation say?
Thanks, and apologies for the slight off-topic.
I would reframe this to try and get you to think about injury risk reduction a bit differently. Progressively loading the tissues involved in the activity, in this case running, is helpful for building their capacity and performance. Using a wide variety of movements is likely a good idea too.
Still, load management is the primary factor in injury prevention, which includes running, lifting, sport, and life. Most of the effort should be spent on load management IMO.
To your specific list, I think those patterns should be a part of most programs, save for the unilateral hinge and single leg calf raise. They’re fine movements, but I usually don’t program them unless there’s a specific need. I prefer the bilateral ones for loading. For runners/running sport athletes, I like some adductor work, e.g. copenhagens, adductor machine, etc.