If you want bigger, stronger calves, lifting weights is much faster than just stretching. You only need about 45 minutes a week with weights to get the same results that would take over seven hours of stretching.

If you want to build calf muscle and strength, doing standard weight training is much faster than just holding static stretches. You only need about 45 minutes of lifting per week to get similar results, whereas stretching would take up to seven hours every single day.

Doing one hour of calf stretches every day for six weeks can make your leg muscles significantly stronger, almost as much as if you were lifting weights. This shows that just stretching a lot can build muscle strength just like traditional exercise.

Does just holding a stretch for an hour a day actually build calf muscle like weightlifting does? This claim suggests that simply lengthening your muscles passively over six weeks can make them grow thicker, similar to how traditional strength training works.

Holding stretches for a few weeks in a row can actually make your muscles a little stronger and bigger, even if you don't do traditional weightlifting. This happens because keeping the muscle under tension for a long time signals it to adapt and grow.

To actually build muscle and get stronger from static stretching, you need to do it a lot—specifically, for at least 15 minutes per session, 5 times a week, for over 6 weeks. Doing it less than that won't give you noticeable results because your muscles aren't being stimulated enough.