Just reading the Glute ham raise thread. doing GHRs I always got very sore gastronemius and less sore sore hamstrings.
I find however that the OL second pull , gives me sore tight hamstrings (in a good way as opposed to injured).
CV deadlifts have not give me any hamstring soreness in a long time. I thought I had strong hamstring due to this. Doing OL pulls I am finding my hamstrings may be the weak link.
maintaining a flat back is so hard and energy sapping when the weight gets heavy.
Well I would check your foot position. If the position of the ankle support is too high or low you might tend to dorsi/plantar flex during the exercise. Although the calves do aid in knee flexion, they shouldn’t get sore like that.
Try and make sure you have proper ankle position and attempt to focus more on engaging your hammies and glutes and relax the ankle. Just one of those neural to muscular issues you have to work on. Hammies are much better at knee flexion than your calves.
Do it like this:
Look at his heels lift up.