The Study
Muscle Swelling of the Triceps Surae in Response to Straight-Leg and Bent-Leg Calf Raise Exercises in Young Women
This study is like a carefully planned comparison where the same people did two different leg exercises. Because the researchers randomly decided who did which exercise first, we can be more confident that the differences they found were actually caused by the exercises, not by chance. But since only 17 young women were studied, we can't be totally sure the same results would happen with everyone.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Researchers had 17 young women do two types of calf raises and measured which muscles grew more. Straight-leg raises made the upper calf muscles bigger, while bent-leg raises made the lower calf muscle bigger.
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 542 / 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 - the differences are statistically significant and meaningful for training purposes
- 2Straight-leg: +8.8% gastrocnemius medial, +14.5% gastrocnemius lateral.
- 3Bent-leg: +15.4% soleus
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
Year
2023
Authors
Witalo Kassiano, Bruna Costa, Gabriel Kunevaliki, Danrlei Soares, Natã Stavinski, Jarlisson Francsuel, Marcelo A. S. Carneiro, Ian Tricoli, J. Nunes, A. Ribeiro, E. Cyrino
Related Content
Videos (2)
Claims (6)
When young women do calf raises until they can't do any more, doing them with straight legs makes the outer calf muscle grow about twice as much as doing them with bent knees.
When young women do calf raise exercises until they can't do any more, doing them with bent legs makes the calf muscle grow about twice as much as doing them with straight legs.
When young women want to strengthen their soleus muscle (the lower calf muscle), doing calf raises with bent knees works better than doing them with straight legs.
When young women do calf raises until they can't do any more, doing them with straight legs makes the upper calf muscle grow way more than doing them with bent knees (+8.8% vs -0.9%).
For young women who want to work all three muscles in their calf (the two parts of the gastrocnemius and the soleus), doing calf raises with straight legs works better than doing them with bent knees.
Doing calf raises with your knees bent builds more of the deep calf muscle than doing them with straight legs. This happens because bending your knees changes how the calf muscles stretch and push, making the exercise more effective for that specific muscle.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.