Doing more calf raises per week (12 sets instead of 6) over six weeks leads to bigger lower leg muscles in women who don't usually exercise. This suggests that lifting more frequently or with more sets helps build leg muscle faster in the short term.

Doing 12 calf raises a week for six weeks builds more lower leg muscle than doing just 6 a week for women who haven't trained before. This shows that doing more sets directly leads to bigger muscle growth in that area.

For women who are new to weightlifting, doing 9 sets of calf exercises a week doesn't build bigger calves any better than doing 6 or 12 sets. This suggests that when you're just starting out, your calves don't keep growing bigger just because you do more sets.

If young women do calf raises three times a week for eight weeks, only moving their ankle partway up gives bigger calf muscles than going through the full motion — so how far you move might really matter for muscle growth.

Doing resistance exercises three times a week for six weeks will build up your calf muscles, even if you only do a small number of sets each week. This shows that beginners don't need to do a huge amount of exercise to see their lower leg muscles grow.

Doing more calf exercises per week (going from 6 to 12 sets) doesn't actually make your calf muscles grow bigger. In a short 6-week program, women who did fewer sets saw the same muscle growth as those who did more, meaning calves might not need as much training to grow.