What he is trying to say in the video is that when you sit closer to the Pedals, your ankle joints have to be bent upright in order to play, thus automatically keeping the shin muscles in constant contraction. This limits the range of motion that the ankle joint has which will limit power and control as well as fatigues the muscles much more quickly due to the constant contraction of the shin muscles and the greater effort of the calf muscles to make everything work. Sitting a little further away from the pedals allows the calf muscles to still do their job, but allowing the shin muscles greater range of motion and a chance to relax due to the shared load between the two muscle groups rather than dumpling all the load on just the calf muscles. Sitting in the right position basically frees up your range of motion allowing the ankle joint and muscles to work properly

I'd like to see a debate between you and Marthyn Jovanovic about this topic. You seem to disagree completely

You have a lot of great information in all your videos, thanks for sharing. One suggestion, or a polite ask …could you wear lighter color shoes (other than black) in your upcoming videos? I’d love to see how your legs/ankles/feet are moving a little better than I can now. I find I learn a lot by just watching these motions. Thanks!

James what approach do you use? Just asking cuz this is how I've played double bass for years. This approach feels natural for me and I've had success with this but over the past few months have been dealing with on and off again calf strains and think I need to change something up cuz I've had to cut back alot on my playing cuz of this. BTW your an amazing drummer and great teacher. Love how you go in depth with explaining different things and techniques in your videos

If I'm getting this right, the two approaches on ankle motion are to press the pedal down with your toes (involvement of shin muscles) and the second is the calf contraction. I feel like you've said in this video, with the calf approach I can play really relaxed but I don't gain control and I'm not happy with the dynamics. With the other movement, where my shin muscles are involved, my whole leg starts to cramp and I need a lot of effort to hold my leg in the right position. So I'm losing my good sitting position and it doesn't really bring me forward. Do you have any tips on how to prevent that cramping? Maybe just train the hip flexors... Is it enough for this approach to strengthen your shin muscles (like in your exercise) or do you have any recommendations on how to get stronger in the toes-pressing-pedal down movement? Sorry for that long question but I still need to understand the basics. Thanks for your videos!!

Is the calf approach the one that marthyn jovanovic use?

Thats why i use swiwel. I have no triggers xD

Great video! How would you suggest to transition from this "bad technique" to the one that allows you to play single strokes in a more efficient and controlled way?

the only real way to 'build the calves', owning a double pedal and a drumset \m/