Running is 90% calves

So why do most runners have small calves?

Because they have slow twitch muscle fibers , which are smaller

At sub maximal paces, yeah. It’s basically a series of calve raises.

Once you get to sprinting, quads and glutes kick in.

That’s why sprinters have impressive glutes and those of distance runners are flat and uninspiring.

Quads, hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors are also significant muscles used while running.

Yes. No brain, bones, blood, lungs, or heart required. Just calves and 10% balls.

Sprinters don't have massive calves.[

I come here to troll mostly and even I know this is a dumb take (or bad troll job). Running is mostly glutes/hip flexors/hamstrings

When I use all calves, which is too often, I'm quickly sidelined. Running if far from all calves, and if you're using all calves then you know tight calves, shin splints, etc. 1/10 bad troll

I don't think this could be further from the truth for distance running. I came to distance running from taekwondo, soccer, and sprinting. My calves are huge compared to guys who are way faster than me. Most successful distance runners I see have lean, thin calves rather than the big chicken drumsticks that I'm walking around with.

You are doing it wrong.

TKD is super demanding on calves. I actually played the best soccer of my life after taking about six months off just to focus on TKD (at the age of 19). My ball skills declined, but my quickness and agility more than made up for it. It was almost confusing. I was like, "why is everyone so low and why can't they take the ball from me?"

When I became a distance runner, the calves atrophied.

OP is wrong, but my calf development increased noticeably when i got into later life distance running.

You’ve revealed your ignorance, and I’m calling bulls**t, baby.

Calve size is largely genetic. Big calves don’t help in distance running because it’s mostly about being quick, not powerful..

Sprinters have powerful quads and glutes and skinny calves, giving them a combination of power and quickness.

Deion Sanders had the worst calves I’ve ever seen yet was incredibly fast.

This has been studied. Don't remember the numbers off the top of my head, but you are wrong. Calves contribute only a small amount of the locomotive effort. Much more of it is produced by the quads and hams. Makes sense given those muscles are much larger. Other muscles involved too of course.. Calves were something like 10%.

No I’m right . Look at my chart 📈

Wrong.

We know from Dr. Rich Willy (2019) that the calf complex is extremely important, attributing up to 50-60% of force production when running.

EMG studies have shown the soleus in particular is the powerhouse for runners, finding it produces up to 6.5-8 times body weight of force during running. Studies have also found soleus force production remains largely consistent throughout low, moderate and high running speeds. This is unlike the hamstring muscle which is required more as running speed increases (Dorn et al., 2012).

Rich is the physical therapist and scientist behind Montana Running Lab. An internationally known researcher and speaker on clinically effective treatments of common running-related injuries, he has more than 20 years’ experience as a clinician and 10 years as a professor of physical therapy.

You are right.

You don’t even need to look at studies. Just watch runners run at slow paces. You can see it’s mostly calves.

Kenyans prove your theory is wrong. They don't have any.