The Study
Adaptation of Muscles With Different Physiological Properties to Resistance Training With and Without Bloodflow Restriction
This study compared two kinds of leg workouts and found that both made people stronger and their calf muscle (soleus) bigger, but only the heavy lifting made one part of the calf (lateral gastrocnemius) grow. It doesn't prove one is better overall — just that they work differently in small ways.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
This study tested if squeezing your thigh while doing light calf raises builds muscle like doing heavy calf raises.
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 554 / 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 — you can get just as strong with light weights and blood flow restriction, but if you want to grow the outer calf muscle, you still need heavy weights.
- 2Both methods made legs 20–30% stronger.
- 3Both made the soleus (deep calf) muscle 12–15% bigger.
- 4Only heavy weights made the outer calf (lateral gastrocnemius) bigger (12%).
- 5The inner calf didn't grow at all.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Sports Health
Year
2026
Authors
Margarida Cidrais, C. Teodósio, Joana M. Correia, C. Vila-Chã, P. Pezarat-Correia, P. Bruno, Goncalo V. Mendonca
Related Content
Claims (6)
Muscle growth occurs primarily due to mechanical tension during resistance training, while factors like metabolic stress, hormone changes, and muscle swelling do not play a major role.
In untrained young adults, four weeks of heavy weight training increases the size of the lateral gastrocnemius muscle by about 12%, while low-weight training with restricted blood flow increases it by only 4%.
In untrained young adults, four weeks of either high-load or low-load resistance training with restricted blood flow increases the size of the soleus muscle by 12–15%.
In untrained young adults, two different types of strength training—lifting heavy weights and lifting light weights with restricted blood flow—produce the same amount of increase in leg strength after four weeks of five weekly sessions.
After four weeks of resistance training with restricted blood flow, whether using heavy or light weights, the size of the medial gastrocnemius muscle in untrained young adults does not increase significantly.
In untrained young adults, muscles in the calf grow more with heavy lifting than with blood-flow-restricted training, but strength increases equally in both cases, showing that muscle growth is not the main reason for early strength gains.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.