Tight Calves with Running? Try This

Calf pain that hits one mile into a run feels like betrayal, but it’s often your body giving you useful data. We dig into what running really demands from your lower leg, why the soleus and gastrocnemius take such a beating, and how a sudden spike in volume, frequency, or intensity can push tissue past its current capacity. If you have ever blamed “tight calves” or “bad knees,” we offer a clearer lens: build the foundation first, then earn the mileage. 

We start with a simple, trainer-friendly screening process that works in the real world. You’ll learn the quick ankle dorsiflexion wall test (think 15 degrees minimum, 20 plus as a strong target), why the joint-by-joint approach matters, and how limited ankle range can ripple up to the knee, hip, and low back. We also talk soft tissue work you can apply within scope, then retest immediately so you know if you actually changed anything before the next run. 

From there we move into strength and performance. Running is unilateral and repetitive, so we want single-leg stability drills, lateral hip control, and a clear benchmark: can you hit 25 to 30 single-leg calf raises through full range? If not, we lay out a practical calf training plan with progressive overload, smart rep targets, and weekly prehab that includes frontal plane work and core strength. We also cover when a competent coach should refer out and why every trainer benefits from a team that includes a DPT and registered dietitian. 

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Transcript

Welcome And Trainer Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry one qualified trainer at a time with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showufffitness.com. Also make sure to check out my book, How to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review. Have a great day and keep showing up.

The Runner With Calf Discomfort

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Add it, y'all. Welcome back to the Show Up Fitness podcast. Today we're gonna talk about these beautiful calf monsters back there. We were at Miami this last week in a seminar. There was a trainer from Lifetime who's experiencing some low calf discomfort while she runs. One mile in, she has to stop. What could that be? It depends. So many things going on. Let's take a look at this chart from Dorn 2014. Muscle forces during running. Your glute max, 1.5 to 2.8 body weight force, glute mead, which is the lateral hip stabilizer, frontal plane stabilizer, 2.6 to 3.5 body weight force, the soleus, 6.5 to 8 body weight force, gastroc 2.5 to 3, and quads 4 to 6 times body weight.

Running Load And Injury Risk

SPEAKER_00 1:15

You need to be strong. I'm gonna give you a little football example. Orange playing Texas State. What's gonna happen if I start practicing one week before the game? I'm gonna be toast, exhausted, thrown up on the sideline. Does that mean that football practice is hard? No, I wasn't prepared for it. There's spring football, there's summer football where they're practicing conditioning with the coaches. They're building their foundation so they're ready to play and perform. What do we do with running? I want to start running. So we go out there and you run five miles. The next day you run five. You listen to David Goggins, so then you listen, then you go and run 15. You don't have the capacity to foundation. And studies have shown that you are more prone to future injuries when you increase your volume. I laugh because it's funny. 10 to 20% per week. VFI, volume, frequency, intensity, those are the three most important things. So if you're deconditioned and you start running two miles per week, next week three would be appropriate, and then four, and then six and eight, and gradually ramp up. We don't do that. You watch an influencer, you're a high rockser, and all of a sudden you start running 20 miles per week. And then you dial up that volume, you do 30, 40. So your body can't handle it. Your tissue begins to break down and you experience discomfort. One of the things that we discuss at the seminar is taking a look at the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to identifying knee discomfort, ankle discomfort, hip discomfort, whatever is going

Calf Anatomy That Guides Fixes

SPEAKER_00 2:53

on. We need to know our anatomy. That beautiful sucker right there, the gastrocnemus, is the superficial muscle. The deeper one, the soleus gets more banged up, it's underneath. But together, just like two roads diverging into one, they go into the Achilles and then the calcaneus, which is your heel bone. You can see that on Skelly over there. So the gastroc works at the knee with knee flexion, but also plantar flexion. The soleus is strictly a plantar flexor. So here are two simple tests that I like to do. If you're at Equinox or Lifetime or at a gym, this could be some type of event that you have. You have a whiteboard. Do you like to run? What's your mile time? Knee pain, question mark, ankle pain, question mark. That's going to hook people to come and talk to you. The world record was just set the other day. Three minutes and 42 seconds and 66, 0.66. That's freaking fine, like an average speed of 18. That's insane. You better believe his strength and conditioning program. He's looking at the needs analysis. His coaches are bioenergetics, more aerobic, fat-based. But you gotta look at the injuries, the muscles that are used, planes of motion, and the actions. Running is in the sagittal plane, yes, but you're focusing on one leg at a time. Thousands of repetitions. One mile, 1200 repetitions for the average sized folk. If you're a little fellow or girl, more than that, 1500. I just watched Odyssey, great movie. They had those giant seven-foot monsters coming out there beating the hell out of all the soldiers. Those guys are gonna take maybe 200 steps if they're gonna run a mile. It depends on the body. But just for the average person, 1200 repetitions, one mile. What do you think is gonna happen if you go from zero push-ups to start doing 1200 per day? Rhabdomyelysis, welcome to the party. We don't want that. So you want to make sure to give the tissue a foundation, full range of motion, concentric, eccentric, hold isometrically. What do we do when it comes to running?

Ankle Dorsiflexion Wall Test

SPEAKER_00 4:53

You lace up your shoes and you go out there and start running. There's no warm-up. So where I like to begin is let's take a look at your ankle mobility. When I had this conversation with a trainer, I didn't say, how's your ankle mobility? I said, come over here. Here's a simple test to check your ankle mobility. You need to have a minimum of 15 degrees of dorsiflexion. So if you take your hand, I got a small hand, four inches, put it to the wall, your toe goes up against your pinky. Your knee should be able to glide and touch the wall without your heel coming off. And you may see some people have a little bit, you will know when you don't have that requisite range of motion. We should be 20 degrees plus, and if you can't own that via the joint-by-joint approach, you're gonna start stealing range of motion. The knee should be stable, but now it's moving a little too much. The hips should be mobile, but now maybe it has to tighten up because the ankle doesn't have that range of motion. Low back pain starts creeping in. You start doing the McGill three, it doesn't work. It's because you got to look up and down the chain. There's more that goes into pain, hence the biopsychosocial model. You gotta look at the biology, and that's what we're looking at right here. Start with the ankle. If you can't get to the wall, soft tissue. You can foam roll and have fun gliding back and forth. I prefer getting involved with my thumb. That's what we teach with the SUF STM. In 50 hours, you will learn more than any corrective exercise course out there, guarantee it. But you're gonna learn how to implement these soft tissues on the lateral gastroc, which is gonna have a lot greater impact if your client was doing it by themselves. So I'm big into getting involved. We're not massaging, we're not manipulating joints. It is within our scope to apply these techniques and then retest. So if my client cannot get to the wall and I do some soft tissue on the calf, do it for a good 30 seconds to a minute, go retest. And now, if they have that range of motion, great, you found your new recipe. Let's incorporate some soft tissue and then go for your run. But we also need to look at the rest of the

Warm-Ups For Hip Stability

SPEAKER_00 6:47

body. And like I was saying, unilateral base. So why not do some single leg touchdowns? You're really gonna stabilize the hip. How about some airplanes? This is a great one because you're really just challenging the lateral hip. As we know because we're qualified trainers and we know everything about anatomy, at least from a trainer's scope. The sartorius, the longest muscle in the human body, sartorius, come here! Such a great name for a dog. Starts on the lateral side of the hip, comes immediately into the tibia. We have the TFL on the lateral side to the lateral side of the knee, and then the gracillus, medial side of the medial side of the knee. So when you bend the knee, you're just challenging the glute mead and upper fibers of the glute max. That airplane exercise is a great warm-up to get out there and start running because you're just stabilizing in the frontal plane. So let's do some exercises that are going to overload that tissue and get it stronger.

The 25-Rep Calf Raise Standard

SPEAKER_00 7:37

If they pass that test, then we want to get into the single leg calf rays. 25 to 30 reps. Studies have looked at runners. And for those that cannot hit 25 reps, they're more prone to injury. And how that would look is you have your client, we're not humping the wall over here, you're just holding on lightly and you're going as high as you can for one rep. You're gonna put a pull or your hand, hit that for 25 consecutive reps. And you will see, as I did with her, right around 15, she's like, oh wow. And it looks like she's grabbing on the wall, trying to get up there because she couldn't own the full range of motion for 25 reps. So, what do you think is gonna happen as you go for mile two, three, four, and five and so forth? The body is sending out a signal. Pain is beautiful, but saying, hey, you're not strong enough. Let's get that gastroc and soleus stronger. So if you can't hit 25 reps, I'd prefer to aim for 30. Why not get a little cushion in there to help you get to where you want to be?

Build Calves With Real Programming

SPEAKER_00 8:36

What does your calf program look like? You always know someone has tiny legs when they like to blame it on their genetics. My calves are small because of my mom and dad. Take me through an arm workout. Oh, bro, dude, I do easy bar curl, I do straight bar curl, I do 21s, I do single arm reverse curls, I do Zopmans. Awesome. I mean, you got some big ass arms there, bro. Take me through your calf program. Oh well, um, you know, one day a week I'll do two sets of 25. Oh, it's your genetics. But yeah, you crush your arms, why don't you train your calves like that? Standing five sets of 10, overload those suckers, seated five sets of 15. Let's do some farmer's toe carries for 45 seconds. Let's do single-legged raises every single day. How did Herschel Walker become the best running back of all time? 2,000 push-ups and a thousand crunches per day. No, his genetics played into that, right? And his hard work, his software is amazing, but that's what he did. Why not incorporate a calf routine? 30 days of calf raises. Regularly incorporate that. Obviously, if you're so sore you can't run, we don't want to do that. You gotta prescribe the right doses for the individual. If you haven't ran at all and you haven't done any type of resistance every single day, five sets of a hundred, no, that's overboard. What have you been doing? And I asked this individual, I said, How many days a week do you train your calves? I train my calves a lot because they're big. I said, No, how many days do you train them with load? Maybe calf raises once a week. Not enough. At the end of your program, if we're hitting glutes or have a leg day, when we're doing the isometric stuff, or if you're programming with the CCA to show up, the accessory, three sets of 20. The next time you come in, three sets of 10, load it up. The next time you come in, three sets of 40. Vary the load, and that is daily undulating periodization. Incorporate a ton of single leg calf raises throughout the day. Wake up in the morning, do a calf routine. Sounds kind of weird and corny, but just crank out three sets of AMRAP. And the next day, sit down and do it. Put a little weight on there. If you got a toddler or a dog, put them on your lap. You can get weird if you want to be like Arnold and do a donkey calf raise, you get a couple bros that sit on your back and you're coming up. That is going to overload that tissue and give you a nice foundation so you don't experience calf pain, whether if it's posteriorly and even anteriorly or medially with shin splits. Medial tibial stress syndrome is just too much work, not enough strengthening. We're not simplifying pain by saying you just need to strengthen all tissue in the world. But my challenge would be if you are not strength training, let's see how you perform. Let's see how you do. Let's start off by doing some soft tissue work, do some mobility drills, some calf raises, maybe three to four minutes, then see how your run goes. And then when you're done with your run, rinse and repeat. Progressive overload, you keep on doing

Prehab, Core, And Smarter Running

SPEAKER_00 11:28

more. We like to pick on runners. Oh, it's tough on your body, it's hard on your knees. Where's your warm-up? Where's your plant of attack to make sure it doesn't happen? 99 out of 100 times when I have a conversation with someone who's not competent or have a background in this stuff, and you talk about their program for running, they just go out there and run. It's all sagittal based. What about getting into the frontal plane? How about we do some lateral hops and stabilize and jump back and stabilize? You have one day per week where you just focus on prehab and rehab when it comes to the lower body. You're planking, you're doing some butt planks, my favorite. Plank, squeeze as hard as you can, blow out a candle for a million dollars, force exhalation, lift your butt up, pure extension, get your glutes fired up, hold that for a minute, and do the other side, and then do an A-Bduction and hold for a minute. Get the core nice and strong because proximal stability equals distal mobility. Maybe your calf is getting all tight in the ankle, that is, because you lack that core strength. You need to take a better approach from a global standpoint when it comes to injuries, and we can't just simplify it by saying, Oh, you just need to check your mobility. There's a lot that goes into it. But the low-hanging fruit, as a competent coach, which you are because you're listening to this, make sure to throw it into your story, let trainers know that's where you go to become successful. You have a better systemized approach. Worst case scenario, your clients getting worse, you refer out to your team DPT. Every trainer should have a team: physical therapists, registered dietitians, because if the knee and the ankle don't get better, get them involved. Hey Rosh, prehab guys, I think they know what they're doing. USC DPTs run their online business, one of the best exercise libraries for practitioners, which we are, we're not prescribing medicine, but we are in the trenches helping our clients. You use their exercise library, send it out to your clients. Now they have homework. And guess what's gonna happen? You're gonna see immediate reprieve. The range of motion is gonna improve as they get stronger, week one, day one to week four, workout 12, 14, 15, and they can get up to 30 plus reps and be like, my pain's gone. You are awesome. Next time something comes up, I'm going to you because you know how to help me. It's not just for the ankle or knee, it's for low back, thoracic mobility, shoulder. Competent coaches can assess clients appropriately, know when to refer out, and know when to address mobility issues, stability issues, strengthen the weak points. So when you fine-tune and you get that kink in the system and you get it out, movement becomes possible and it becomes fluid. And there's nothing more frustrating for that athlete who's doing high rocks and they're just pushing through it. When they come to you and you give them an answer, now they want to train with you. That's how you retain business by knowing the trade of our industry.

Coaching Standards And Closing

SPEAKER_00 14:30

Do you think the average trainer who reads a textbook, ISSA in awesome, understands this stuff? No. 90% of trainers quit within the first year because you're not taught this stuff in a textbook. You got to go to weekend seminars. We're going to be in Nashville, then we're going to be in Tampa, San Diego, we'll be in New York with our partnership with Lifetime. They recognize that we produce the best trainers in the industry. So they want us teaching their trainers. And when you go to a seminar and you apply this stuff, but then you do it on your clients, and then you're able to ask questions to instructors, your confidence increases, your business increases, and you're able to serve your clients more efficiently. And that's what we do at Show Up. If you enjoyed today's video and podcasts, throw into your story, let trainers know there is hope. Stop being the victim and pointing it to everyone else. Take accountability, level up your knowledge, and remember big calves are better than small ones and keep showing up.