Why We Started Paying More Attention to Lower Leg Strength
- Raul Sheen
- May 18
- 3 min read
One of the things we saw over and over while coaching collegiate track & field athletes was this:
The athlete would be fit. Strong. Fast. Training well.And then suddenly… shin splints. Tight Achilles. Calf strains. Angry ankles. Foot pain.
At first, it felt random.
Over time, we realized it usually wasn’t.
A lot of these issues came from the same place: the lower legs simply weren’t prepared for the amount of force and repetition being placed on them.
That changed the way we coached.
Instead of waiting for athletes to get hurt and then reacting, we started building more intentional “pre-care” into training. We spent more time strengthening the feet, ankles, calves, and connective tissues before problems started showing up.
And honestly? It worked.
The Lower Legs Are the Shock Absorbers
Your lower legs take a beating.
Every step, sprint, jump, cut, or change of direction creates force that travels through the feet and ankles first. If those tissues aren’t strong enough to handle it, something eventually starts complaining.
That might show up as:
Shin splints
Achilles tightness
Calf strains
Plantar fascia irritation
Chronic ankle stiffness
Even knee discomfort upstream
This isn’t just an athlete thing either.
We see the same issues in:
runners
tennis & pickleball players
HYROX athletes
people starting to train again after years away
adults who sit most of the day and then suddenly ask their bodies to perform
One Simple Thing We Added: “Shinnies”
One of our favorite additions to training became a series of ankle flexion movements we called “Shinnies.”
Nothing fancy. No magic exercise.
Just controlled movements focused on strengthening the front of the shin, ankle stabilizers, and lower leg connective tissue.
The goal wasn’t to crush athletes.The goal was durability.
We wanted athletes to build tolerance to training loads instead of constantly feeling like they were one hard session away from pain.
That proactive mindset made a huge difference.
A Few Things Most People Probably Need More Of
1. Calf Strength
Not just stretching your calves — actually strengthening them.
Both straight-leg and bent-knee calf raises matter because they target different tissues.
Slow reps > sloppy reps.
2. Strength in the Front of the Lower Leg
This is the area most people completely ignore.
The muscles along the front of the shin play a huge role in deceleration, ankle stability, and absorbing impact when you run, jump, or change direction.
Weakness here is something we saw constantly with runners and sprinters dealing with shin pain or recurring lower leg tightness.
That’s a big reason we started incorporating our “Shinnies” series into training — controlled ankle flexion movements designed to build strength and durability in the front of the lower leg and surrounding connective tissue.
It wasn’t glamorous training.But it kept athletes healthier and moving better.
3. Ankle Control
Single-leg balance work, barefoot movements, and ankle stability exercises can go a long way.
A strong ankle is usually a more resilient ankle.
4. Elasticity
Once strength is there, lower-level plyometrics can help:
jump rope
line hops
pogo jumps
low-level skipping
The lower legs are designed to store and release energy like springs.
They need exposure to that.
One Mistake We See Constantly
People only address the lower legs once something hurts.
Then the entire focus becomes stretching, ice, massage, or trying to calm symptoms down.
Sometimes the issue isn’t that the tissues are “tight.”
Sometimes they’re underprepared.
There’s a difference.
Final Thought
Lower leg training will probably never be the most exciting part of a workout program.
But it might be one of the most important.
A little bit of consistent work in the feet, ankles, calves, and shins can make a huge difference in:
movement quality
durability
athletic performance
and simply feeling better day-to-day
Sometimes the small things are the things keeping everything else moving well.
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