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Sup brosephs. I have a question about my calves specifically and p-chain more generally. It may just be Raptor getting to me, but I think that calf and hamstring strength are limiting my jumps. (And to a lesser extent, glutes...I'm quad dominant but that's a story for another day.) Hamstrings I can address with reverse hypers, RDLs/good mornings, etc. But calves are a tougher deal for me because of my toe issues.

Basically, my arthritis prevents me from fully supporting my weight across the ball of my foot with my foot plantar flexed. I have to either shift weight to the outside of the foot (which, when it doesn't work and I have to correct balance by shifting weight to one or the other big toe, hurts like crazy and limits me for the rest of the workout) or stand on a board or something so that I can plantar flex without extending my toes. Either way, balance is an issue. That makes calf raises pretty challenging even just at BW, but especially with any kind of loading.

Any thoughts about how to address that?

It's weird because from what I can remember, you're a pretty fast jumper off two feet. You'd expect a guy who has disfunctional calves to have a longer amortization phase... but obviously it's also a matter of structure.

You need to ask yourself "how good am I at rhytmic jumps vs paused jumps"?

For example, how good are you at consecutive two-leg bounds vs. broad jumps with a pause in between reps? How good at consecutive hurdle jumps vs. hurdle jumps with a pause? Usually the best you perform at rebound jumps (including depth jumps) - the more your calves are being utilized properly.

Sup brosephs. I have a question about my calves specifically and p-chain more generally. It may just be Raptor getting to me, but I think that calf and hamstring strength are limiting my jumps. (And to a lesser extent, glutes...I'm quad dominant but that's a story for another day.) Hamstrings I can address with reverse hypers, RDLs/good mornings, etc. But calves are a tougher deal for me because of my toe issues.

Basically, my arthritis prevents me from fully supporting my weight across the ball of my foot with my foot plantar flexed. I have to either shift weight to the outside of the foot (which, when it doesn't work and I have to correct balance by shifting weight to one or the other big toe, hurts like crazy and limits me for the rest of the workout) or stand on a board or something so that I can plantar flex without extending my toes. Either way, balance is an issue. That makes calf raises pretty challenging even just at BW, but especially with any kind of loading.

Any thoughts about how to address that?

 A couple of things you can do, one is to move the foot plate further towards the rear of your foot, where its not so uncomfortable.  You will have a shorter lever arm that way, though you can still work the calves from that position.

 The other thing is isos in the stretch position.  be careful here and dont go lower than youre comfort level allows, but lowering to the end r.o.m. and holding a load in that position is pretty effective in improving lower leg strength.  You can actively pull down using the tibialis anterior for more tension, and let up when close to failure.  This is something I have used with athletes who had spurs or turf toe, and works well since the low end range of motion is not nearly as painful as the top end.

 Once you address the strength issue of the lower leg, you want to train it explosively with things like jump rope, low hurdles, ankle hops, etc. Really focus on dorsi to plantar flexion here, its very possible to do lots of these without much lower leg contribution, which defeats your purpose in doing them.  Get a good volume of these type drills, then progress into more intensive work. 

 I mean instead of putting the load on the ball of the foot, place your feet so that its focused more towards the mid foot. 

I mean instead of putting the load on the ball of the foot, place your feet so that its focused more towards the mid foot.

oh so basically less ROM at the top (plantar flexed) end. thanks.