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v1
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causal
Analysis v1
Supported

If you keep doing partial calf raises after you can't do any more full ones, you might grow your calf muscles more.

60
Pro
54
Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (2)

60

Community contributions welcome

60

Resistance training beyond momentary failure: the effects of past-failure partials on muscle hypertrophy in the gastrocnemius

Randomized Controlled Trial
Human
2025

The study found that doing extra partial reps after you can’t do any more full reps helps your calf muscles grow more.

60

Resistance training beyond momentary failure: the effects of past-failure partials on muscle hypertrophy in the gastrocnemius

Randomized Controlled Trial
Human
2025

The study found that doing extra partial reps at the bottom of a calf raise after you can’t do any more full reps helps your calf muscle grow more.

Contradicting (1)

54

Community contributions welcome

54

Does Performing Partial Repetitions Beyond Momentary Failure Enhance Muscle Hypertrophy in Volume-Load-Equated Calf-Raise Resistance Training?

Randomized Controlled Trial
Human
2026

The study found that doing extra partial reps after full reps didn’t lead to more muscle growth than stopping at full fatigue, as long as the total work was the same.

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Similar Assertions

If you keep doing partial calf raises after you can't do full ones anymore, you might boost muscle growth in your calf because you're doing way more work—about 87% more—than stopping completely.

60
0
85%

If you keep doing extra calf exercises at the top of the movement after your regular sets are done, it still helps your calf muscles grow — and pretty well, too, over two months.

51
0
82%

If you're into lifting and want bigger calves, doing either full reps or starting with partial reps (and finishing with extra partials after failure) twice a week for eight weeks can give you noticeably bigger calf muscles.

51
0
82%

If you're someone who lifts weights and does calf raises, doing partial reps that stretch the muscle might make your calf grow just a bit more than doing full reps and then finishing with partials after you're too tired to do full ones.

41
51
82%

If untrained guys keep doing partial calf raises after they can't do full ones anymore, their calf muscles get slightly thicker — about 0.6 mm more on average — compared to stopping completely.

60
0
80%

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