Calf Conditioning is perhaps second just to shin conditioning in terms of importance. And why? Because strong calves are your best lower shield during a fight. Furthermore, if you think your elbows and arms are good enough to feel protected and confident, they won’t help you if your lower legs are hit, and you end up on ground with them just out of order:
what will you rely on, then…?
Calf Conditioninng in BMC is a 100% muscle conditioning: no bones are involved here, and you may think “oh, well, at least it won’t be so painful like shin conditioning“. This is in part true: nothing hurts more than being hit on shins, but the same hit that made you just cry, targeted on the side of your calf, is a totally different, yet defeat-tasting like feeling.
Concentrating on "how many times" will make you focus on your clock rather than the exercise: set your stopwatch to a given time, and maintain your attention on the part being hit.
A good BMC session, focused on calves only, should not exceed 20 minutes.
This answer is highly affected by two big factors:
- Do you have regular sparring sessions during your training week?
- If so, does your sparring involve using protections or is it full contact?
In case you don't have any sparring session during your week, or you do but you use protections for your calves, then twice a week is our recommended advice.
If, on the other hand, you spar regularly and you don't use protections for your shins and calves, then once a week is more then enough.
Well, it means you are not conditioning your calves enough, then. Once a week is our best advice, because we are talking about an exercise that requires proper rest. If instead you want this BMC exercise to have the opposite effect, then it's up to you. Remember that a sore peroneus (one of the calf muscles involved) takes long to heal...
