How come some people have calf muscles that are rock hard, contorted bits of grissly muscle stuck to the back of their legs, when others ( myself included ) have long calf muscles that can be slapped around they are that loose. Does this make a difference to how well we can run? What causes them to become so tight and rock hard on some people?
Ha ha ha ha, the things that occupy the thoughts of runners! Great question.
Calf's what
Or do you mean calves?
Lets get it rite!
Or calf's calves? Or calfs' calves?
Tao begets one. One begets two. Two begets all things.
Calves don't have calves. Cows (and also fell runners) have calves.Originally Posted by Grouse
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
I want to know this too. I think I have something wrong with my slap around CALVES!
There seems to be a bit of confusion on the internet around the spelling of calves/calfs.
Jamie Oliver has a recipe for 'Calves Liver'. The BBC has a recipe for 'Calves' Liver', and on UKTV you can find a recipe for 'Calf's Liver'!
Not sure how much this helps with The Reverand's original question, though.
Won't it depend on whether they're being loaded? If you're sitting on the ground with knees at right angles, the calves should hang loose, but if you're running or climbing a 45 degree fell, that's when they'd be rock hard.
Muscle appearance will change with tension/relaxation and also with length – but surely we are used to this, particularly when staring at the backs of the legs in front of us on a long climb. The main variables are, I feel, the amount of overlying adipose tissue, and the actual size of the underlying muscle. Some lucky people have tiny calf muscles, many top African runners amongst them, and this contributes to their efficiency as they do not have to repeatedly accellerate a large mass of muscle every stride, only for it to then virtually stop a stride later. I suspect there is little we can do to reduce calf size whilst retaining strength. I was taught decades ago that repeatedly lifting a light weight many times creates big but not particularly strong muscles, whereas using a heavier weight – one that you can only manage to lift a few times, had the opposite affects. Have those who do large numbers of heel drops noticed any change in the appearance of their calves?
the cross sectional area of muscle is usually proportional to it's strength....lots of high intensity work will produce lean muscle tiisue with less fat so it's more dense aswell
having siad that, I've much bigger gastrocnemius than many people, including many elite cyclists and runners, who will leave me for dead....so genetics, biomechanics and a array of other factors come into play too...
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