## 3 Results
### Lateral Gastrocnemius Muscular Activity During Unilateral and Bilateral Heel Raise Exercises  
During HREs, the LG exhibits a distinct activation pattern from the MG, with the former influenced by exercise type (unilateral vs. bilateral) and limb dominance and the latter primarily modulated by ROM. In this regard, the LG showed a significant increase in maximum EMG activation when the unilateral HRE was performed with the FROM compared to the NROM. However, this difference was significant only in the dominant leg (F = 8.35, \(p\) = 0.011, \(\eta^{2}\) = 0.34) (Figure 4).  
Significant differences in the maximum EMG activation of the LG were obtained in the unilateral and bilateral HREs for the dominant (F = 17.47, \(p<0.001\), \(\eta^{2}\) = 0.52) and non-dominant legs (F = 5.44, \(p\) = 0.033, \(\eta^{2}\) = 0.25). Post hoc comparisons showed that mean maximum EMG activation of the LG was significantly higher in the unilateral compared to the bilateral HRE. Mean differences of 10 and 9% LG EMG activity were found between the NROM and the FROM for unilateral and bilateral HREs, respectively (Figure 5).  
Figure 3: Percentage peak EMG activity of medial gastrocnemius during bilateral full- and neutral-range-of-motion exercises performed with dominant and non-dominant legs. Data represent comparisons across dominant and non-dominant limbs under full range of motion (FROM) and neutral range of motion (NROM) conditions during bilateral heel raise exercises. Values are presented as percentages of peak EMG activity relative to maximal sprinting activation. Statistically significant differences (\(p<0.05\)) are indicated by asterisks.  
Figure 4: Percentage peak EMG activity of lateral gastrocnemius during unilateral full- and neutral-range-of-motion exercises performed with the dominant and non-dominant legs. Data reflect comparisons of lateral gastrocnemius activation across FROM and NROM conditions during unilateral heel raise exercises. Values are expressed as percentages of peak EMG activity relative to maximal sprinting activation. Statistically significant differences (\(p<0.05\)) are marked with asterisks.  
Figure 5: Percentage peak EMG activity of lateral gastrocnemius during bilateral full- and neutral-range-of-motion exercises performed with the dominant and non-dominant legs. FROM: full range of motion; NROM: neutral range of motion. Statistically significant differences (\(p<0.05\)) are indicated by asterisks.  
Activation Ratio of Medial and Lateral Gastrocnemius During Unilateral and Bilateral Heel Raise Exercises  
The activation ratio of the MG and LG was significantly different between the dominant and non-dominant legs when performed unilaterally and with an FROM (M = 0.19, SE = 0.10, t (18) = 2.04, \(p\) = 0.03, \(g\) = 0.42) or NROM (M = 0.13, SE = 0.09, t (18) = 1.40, \(p\) = 0.09, \(g\) = 0.32).  
On the other hand, no statistically significant differences were found during bilateral HREs with an FROM (\(p\) = 0.32) or bilateral HREs with an NROM (\(p\) = 0.48) (Table 1). Thus, the second hypothesis--predicting general MG:LG ratio variation by ROM and exercise type--was not broadly supported, although a distinct effect was observed under unilateral HREs with an FROM.