The Study
Bigger Calves from Doing Higher Resistance Training Volume?
This study randomly split people into different workout groups to see if doing more exercises makes their calf muscles grow bigger. Because it was a controlled experiment, it gives us a good hint that more workouts might lead to bigger muscles, but we can't be 100% sure because we don't know if the people measuring the muscles knew which group was which.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Researchers tested whether doing more weekly calf exercises leads to bigger calf muscles in women who don't usually exercise. They split participants into three groups doing 6, 9, or 12 sets per week for six weeks.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 555 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes, doing more sets (up to 12 per week) can help untrained women build larger calf muscles faster, but doing 9 sets offers no extra benefit over 6 or 12 sets in the short term.
- 2Everyone's calves grew.
- 3The group doing 12 sets grew significantly more in two major calf muscles and overall calf size compared to the group doing 6 sets.
- 4The group doing 9 sets didn't grow any more than the other two groups.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
International Journal of Sports Medicine
Year
2023
Authors
Witalo Kassiano, Bruna Costa, Gabriel Kunevaliki, Felipe Lisboa, Ian Tricoli, Jarlisson Francsuel, Luis Lima, Natã Stavinski, Edilson S. Cyrino
Related Content
Claims (4)
Doing more sets of calf exercises each week generally builds bigger calf muscles, but after a certain point, adding even more sets gives you less and less extra muscle growth.
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 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.
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.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.