Stretching Won’t Fix Your Tight Calves — Do This Instead

[00:00:00] I did something most runners never do. I strength trained so well that I injured myself. Most runners, they avoid strength training, but I went all in squats, Cal raises heavy light, et cetera. And it turns out strong muscles don’t mean bulletproof tendons. Two different things, muscles and tendons. In this episode, you’re gonna learn why strength training your calves can lead to injury.

[00:00:20] How to help and prevent shin splints that aren’t actually shin splints. More on that a bit later. A running physical therapist doctor secret to unlocking chronic. Calf and Achilles tightness. Plus that Run Doctor will give a free download that will fix your Achilles and calves for good and so much more.

[00:00:37] And to help me explain some of these points, I’ll be joined by Pro physiotherapist, Sam Shearman. Trent Kovich, Sydney Australia’s best sports podiatrist, and the owner of Biomechanic and Bowel Main, Sydney, Australia. And Dr. WittFitt online running physical therapist. I’m Darren Dle, runs running and nutrition coach, and since 1996 I’ve been helping self-coach runners get 1% better each day.

[00:01:00] Let’s get into it. The real problem. Most runners think strength training will solve everything. I used to think that, but here’s the thing. I fixed the problem. Runners usually ignore weak calves, weak glutes, weak hamstrings, and I still got injured. Why? You’ve also increased your ability to produce power, so your power output, your red, lining it like you are like, which is a beautiful thing for a sprinter.

[00:01:22] It’s kind of kinda what you want, but the Achilles hasn’t adapted. So I, I think you’ve got a beautiful, like a V eight if, dare I say, a V 12 engine with the backpack of your leg. You’re produc this amazing degree of force, but these haven’t changed with the, the muscle mass change. So then yes, then the Achilles kind of get, it gets overloaded and that combined with your training load, it’s not that strength training is bad, it’s that tendon adapt slower than muscles.

[00:01:46] Especially your Achilles tibialis anterior or anterior tibialis and plantar fascia, which I’m sure if you’re injured, you’ve Googled these things and saw these terms of talked to experts. I was stronger than I’ve ever been, but my tendons and connective tissue, they hadn’t caught up with my muscles.

[00:02:02] Strength training isn’t just for gym rats, so muscles respond fast, tendons don’t. That mismatch is where runners. Can get wrecked. So what kind of strength training actually works for runners and what’s just cardio in disguise? To answer that, here’s pro running physiotherapist and 10 weeks to strength running app founder Sam Shearman.

[00:02:21] I hate the term muscle endurance and I basically never prescribe it. It’s when you are doing, um, you know, less sets, maybe two sets and you’re doing higher up range. So anything above 12 starts to creep into that muscle endurance. Muscle endurance isn’t. Effective for endurance performance? Well, it’s basically doing something almost similar than what we do do, and we don’t want that.

[00:02:39] We actually wanna provide a heavier stimulus to get better adaptation in the muscles, A capacity to produce strength. So I actually can’t find one reason where I’ve in included muscle endurance sets and reps with any of my exercise prescription. Did you catch that? So runners who were still doing. 20 rep body weight squats, 30 reps, whatever, thinking it’s runner specific.

[00:03:01] You’re basically running in place and we, we don’t need that. It’s pointless. If you want to build real durability, you need heavy, slow strength, not more cardio that’s acting like it’s lifting ’cause it’s not. So at this point you’re probably thinking why are my calves still tight even when I stretch?

[00:03:18] Foam roll, massage and do everything right. Well, it turns out stretching as runners love to do might be the exact wrong approach for certain areas of your body. The stretching kind of gets the superficial fibers, but the, the release we did today, the, the deep like fiber stuff is like the greatest, the greatest.

[00:03:35] Affecting lengthening the muscle is through that, that deep releasing. So here’s Dr. Marie Witt certified running physical therapist with her take on that. But here’s something the internet doesn’t tell you. It’s not just enough to do mobility exercises. You then have to teach your body how to hold onto these changes, these corrections you’ve made.

[00:03:53] Otherwise, it goes right back to being tight. So let’s hop in. First mobility exercise is called an inline lunge. I know this motion looks extremely small and insignificant. However, this is probably one of the best exercises for getting rid of ankle tightness, meaning right in the front of that joint.

[00:04:11] What I wanna show you here is, can you see how when I have my shoes on versus when I have my shoes off, I get more range, meaning I get more movement. So don’t shy away from trying this exercise. Both with and without shoes. You will be surprised at the results. Good news, she turned that into a free guide you can download right now, and it also comes with my base training and habits plan for free, and you’ll sign up for both our newsletters that will come every week from me.

[00:04:38] That is five minutes or less to read. That’s about all the stuff. The tools and tactics, VO two, max strides, sprints, uh, temple runs, et cetera. Plus mental fitness. ’cause you gotta get your mind right if you want to get 1% better each day. Download that at the QR code. Right here. Link below in the video, or if you’re listening to this, open your podcast player.

[00:04:57] Go to show notes and you’ll get that download right now. Let’s get back into it. So it turns out your brain protects you with tightness when something’s off downstream, downstream your body. But if stretching doesn’t solve it, what actually causes that imbalance in the first place? The mistake. Too much posterior, not enough anterior.

[00:05:16] So I overloaded my calves with concentric work, which is another classic runner strength training mistake, but because I didn’t balance it with tibialis anterior strength. So that’s the, basically the shin and ankle. Uh, I paid the price. Here’s Trent’s take on that. So what needs to happen is almost put you on a kind of an Achilles strengthening program.

[00:05:35] So like, you know, it’s like isometric holds. It is kind of, it’s a eccentric kind of load and try and create the length in the calf muscle, which would then take pressure off the Achilles if you continue down the path you’re doing. I know you’ve reduced your load, but there’s risk. That like when this is happening, it’s, it’s, it’s hard to reverse.

[00:05:51] You almost have to reduce load focus on Achilles specific strength. Um, as well as like maintaining kind of what you’ve already kind of, uh, laid your foundations to kinda higher up the leg. But then if you get these stronger and that you balance it out with the beautiful strength you’ve got in your legs, then, then there’s been preserved and protected.

[00:06:07] Otherwise, I think we’ll continue being this injury cycle. So something that I, I think it’s just, uh, it’s just the, the, the legs and the body are just telling you, Hey, the, the lo load’s been too much, too soon, the Achilles hasn’t been out. I gotta keep, keep up with it. Overloading the backside without balancing the front set me up for failure.

[00:06:24] So what happens when you throw sprinting into a system that’s already out of balance? Achilles overload and sprinting. The calf muscle. It’s always engaging, always engaging the, the anterior muscle group kind of, it also always engages, but I think there’s perhaps too much of a focus on the, the posterior chain and not much on the anterior chain.

[00:06:42] Yeah. And the anterior chain is fatigued, overloaded, and you’ve got the tendon injury, would you say, I’m not trying to say I’m a special snowflake. But would you say I’m in the side of like, I did too much and that’s why I was tight and most people Yeah. To, to too much and without the balancing of the anterior muscle group.

[00:06:58] So, so got it. The posture, your chain, the back of the leg was doing like, you know, you’re training superbly, but it wasn’t bouncing out with the anterior chain that the front part of the leg. And so the, ’cause they’re like yin and yang, that they work very closely together. And if one’s like doing has a lot more power than the other.

[00:07:13] The other has to compensate. If the power’s not there, the tendon will overload. That blew my mind. The damage shows up later. You’re loading a weak system that’s pretending it’s fine until it breaks. The fix eccentrics, load management and patience. Here’s Trent. So if everyone there was no eccentric is you are lengthening out the muscles as you’re strengthening it.

[00:07:35] So lengthen a muscle, super important concentric. Uh, say if you’re just gonna kind of, uh, you’re just raising up onto the balls of your feet, that kind of tends to shorten the muscle complex and it puts ’em all load through a tendon potentially. So, yeah, eccentric is, uh, super important for tendon pathology ’cause it creates, lengthen a muscle whilst it strengthens the tendon and the muscle.

[00:07:56] Shin splints, the catchall diagnosis. At one point I thought I had shin splints, but turns out I actually had tibialis anterior tendinopathy, and that’s the problem. Runners love catchall diagnosises, myself included. But what’s happening is way more specific. I. Shin splints are, it’s an umbrella term to describe discomfort around the shin, both on the inside part of the shin and the outside part of the shin.

[00:08:19] So it’s not really a, uh, like a diagnostic kind of words or for phrase, like it’s more of a, oh, you’re getting pain in this part of the leg, so there’s. There’s like six different, uh, like six different types of shin splints. So kind of, there’s, there’s bone, there’s tendon, uh, there’s on the inside, there’s on the outside.

[00:08:38] It’s a very, it’s a very general term to describe pain in the shin. I. Okay. Uh, but yeah, what, what you have is specifically more your TBS anterior uh, tendinopathy. Fixing left slash right front slash back balance isn’t just about injury prevention. It’s how you run better and longer. So how do you train in a way that keeps you strong without breaking yourself down the bigger lesson?

[00:09:01] Balance and symmetry through all of this. I found out that my calf, my left calf had more muscle volume than my right. So years of overcorrecting imbalances, I end up having issues on my right side. So I was doing more on my left and now my left side is causing more injuries ’cause it’s bigger than my right.

[00:09:16] Small asymmetries, they just add up. Yeah. And something I think for you to achieve your goal or reckon you do wanna try and create as much symmetry as possible with your, with your muscles. So I need to be doing more on the right side. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. The body changes from day to day almost based on its load output.

[00:09:32] ’cause I think if there’s this kind of asymmetry developing now, it’s only gonna compound, just do more training, I think. Um, but I think the strength training, the quantifiable feedback is so valuable. And for you, someone that’s kind of professional, same professional every month to just get it done and see what changes you can create, I mean, a really nice experiment for you, I reckon.

[00:09:50] Yeah. Yeah. So I think it’s more about the symmetry. ’cause when this side isn’t functioning that well, more load goes through this side. Uh, and it just, it just continues to feed itself. It’s like a com negative compounds. I don’t have to run finish line thoughts. So, yeah, I strength trained my way into an injury, but that mistake taught me the most important lesson.

[00:10:10] Tendon health is a longer game. It’s not about avoiding strength, it’s about balancing it, managing load, respecting the pace at which tendons adapt. And honestly, most runners won’t get hurt doing too little strength. But when you do too much too fast, like me, you’ll learn the hard way. And again, if you want to fix your Achilles and calf muscles, make sure you get that free download from Dr.

[00:10:32] WittFitt and it’s a huge bundle. You’ll also get a free six month increase your cadence training plan, and you’ll sign up for the newsletter five minutes every week right in your inbox. It’s got tools and tactics around VO two max. Make sure you get that from the QR code. And if you wanna learn more about general strength training for runners, I got the best episodes that I did with running physio, Sam Shearman, that was on here.

[00:10:54] Go check that out. The episode is right below or in the video description or in the show notes of your podcast player. If you’re listening, you can also get that free download bundle. And here’s Trent to take it out. I’m trying to strip and lengthen the muscle fibers of the calf muscle uhhuh, um, to help take pressure off kind of the, the, the Achilles and down through here.

[00:11:12] He said it’s gonna be painful. Let’s, the up painful is gonna be, yeah, I call it a shredding. So Darren might be able to feel like this point through here. This is the junction between the gastro and the SOIs, and this is often a key area where pressure develops. And I think when this is, this tight again is kind of it.

[00:11:29] It shows down the bottom of the Achilles through here.