In 1992, there was a young legend who entered the NBA and distilled fear into everyone.
He was big, strong, and explosive, and wasn’t scared of his elders. He posted everyone up and dunked on everybody, and did it emphatically.
He shocked commentators often.
He was so strong, as a matter of fact, that he even shattered the backboard in a game.
This triggered the NBA to develop new hoops that were strong enough to prevent him from breaking them in the middle of games.
He was respected by his peers and the vets in the league and was voted to be an NBA All-Star starter -a rare occurrence- in 1993 –his first year in the league.
During this event, he continued to impress the old-timers by scoring a total of 14 points and grabbing 7 rebounds.
They praised him and gave him the confidence he needed to succeed and to become one of the most dominant centers to ever play the game.
The name of this legend is Shaquille O’Neal.
How Calf Raises Helped Shaq
However, he wasn’t always a dominant player. He wasn’t even explosive when he was a teen.
In his autobiography, Shaq Uncut: My Story, he explained that he had trouble jumping in high school and believed that he had a knee condition.
He didn’t realize he was wrong about his bum knee until one of his coaches revealed to him that he had weak legs.
During practice, one day, one of his coaches asked him why he didn’t dunk the ball. Shaq just said he couldn’t jump.
Later on that day, his coach caught up with him and told him that it wasn’t a knee condition that was causing him pain when he jumped.
He just had weak legs.
His coach suggested that he do calf raises because he had muscle imbalances in his legs and needed to get them stronger.
After learning the exercise, Shaq set out to do them consistently so that he can jump with more force.
“He showed me how to do calf raises and told me to do them every day. I did those damn things till my legs felt like they were going to fall off. From the end of my freshman year to the end of my sophomore year in high school, my vertical leap went from 18 inches to 42 inches!”
Calf raises remained a staple exercise for Shaq when he went to college.
Some say that he did 1000 of them every night before he went to bed. But I’m pretty sure that’s a myth.
He most likely did a few hundred.
How Calf Raises Improve Explosiveness
Calf raises are a pretty simple exercise that works on your lower leg.
It improves your jumping by strengthening a part of your leg that is often neglected.
By strengthening this part of your leg –the part that is used at the end of the jump– you’ll be able to maximize your jump and be more explosive because, well, your entire leg is just stronger and balanced.
How To Do Calf Raises Like Shaquille O’Neal
As I mentioned earlier, there are claims that Shaq did 1000 calf raises before bed.
This may or may not be true.
But, since you’re most likely just an average Joe or Jane, you probably shouldn’t do that many in one day (every day) anyway.
So, here’s what I recommend:
Do 3 sets of 10 reps (or more) every single day. And stretch that muscle, too.
Do this for about a month. And then just do them every other day to maintain the strength you gained (or to gradually gain strength).
This should be enough to strengthen your calves and increase your vertical.
But if you want to max out your jump (increase your vertical to its full potential) and have a balanced lower body, I suggest you add in other leg exercises as well.
You should also do:
- Squats (Learn how to do here)
- Kettlebell Swings (Learn how to do here)
- Box Jumps (Learn how to do here)
- Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch (Learn how to do here)
You don’t have to do these exercises every day with your daily dose of calf raises.
Just do them twice a week (3 sets of 10) and you will get stronger and be more explosive like Shaq (maybe).
Final Thoughts
Shaquille O’Neal is scary explosive.
During his college days and in his early days in the NBA, he constantly dunked on defenders and frequently jumped over opponents to grab rebounds or block shots.
A lot of players (teammates and opponents) feared him and the things he was able to do with his explosiveness.
So, if you want to be explosive like Shaq (or just want to improve your vertical), start doing calf raises (and the other exercises I suggested).