Thread: training calves

Try walking on a treadmill at 15% grade with a backpack full of plates on your back.

i'll give that a shot, thanks!

Seated calves aren't a bad exercise, I would reccomend hitting them 2-3 times a week for 4x12.

I probably shouldn't give advice because I'm overly obsessed with developing my calves, but still, I can't help it!

The calves are unique in that they're so god damn hard to develop. It seems that more than any muscle group they can take the beating of a lifetime day in and day out and recover incredibly fast.

The trick to calf training is to take shock principles to new heights. They're used to supporting your weight all day. Granted, they don't necessarily extend as far in walking as in calf raises, but they're still use to physical strain all day. You don't necessarily have to lift more than bodyweight, but you have to push them well beyond the comfort zone. My calf training is the most painful of my training, because I push them passed failure (the only part of my training where I ever do that, and they respond well).

Generally, it's wise to use slow, full contractions of the calf -- no bouncing. However, I think even speed, bouncing reps have their place occassionally. It's almost like a calf-specific advanced training technique.

Learn to think outside the box. You don't always have to use machines or dumbbells. Sometimes I grab one the calf raise wood blocks and just do bodyweight calf raises. I had one session where for one of my three calf exercises I did a combined over 400 reps of bodyweight calf raises.

My personal favourite exercise for the calves are extensions on a vertical leg press. The enormous pressure on the calves when you're at the bottom of the movement puts so much isometric tension on the calves -- similar to a romanian deadlift. It's also a good way it "isolate" them and make sure you're not using quad force or other muscle groups as is common in other calf exercises.

^^^ i agree those bastards half to be trained more than usual. i like donkey calf raises with alot of weight then go light to very light to get them engorged with blood. and having drumstick calfs isnt the best to start with. but alot of guys complain about there calf growth, just have to hit them alot more. good point.

i always had defined calves. when i was a runner, along with running our regular workouts, we would push cars. put them in n and push. you're up on the toes a bit to get the car rollling. did the a day or two a week for years.really burns the calves. when you get it going, start running/pushing it. you'll burn them big time..
but in my opinion, nobody has more defined calves than cyclists.not cause i'm a cyclist, but its the motion.. a pure 360 degree pedal stroke hits the calves, big time.
today i did a hard 80 miles, so thats 22,400 strokes. day in and day out.. months and years, you'll get some defined calves.
but if you have no bike with the correct cleats and pedals, push a car along with your seated calf work and donkey raises...

I love calve training. I agree with Phineas about shock principles. My calves will take everything I throw at them. Many will disagree, but I nearly always train my calves in the 30-50 rep range. I do the same with forearms. In my experience, I have made better gains that way. It just seems that forearms and calves were made for super high endurance, not power.

I use a lot of static squeezes during the contraction toward the end of a set. I often finish off holding the contraction for 10 to 15 seconds.

i do have large calves for the size of guy i am, i was just thinking if they are hurting this much after the other night, there can be something i can do to make them much larger

I train them twice a week. I like doing high rep elevated calf raises, using three different foot positions: toes pointing out, toes pointing straight, toes pointing in.

I do calf raises when I'm resting in between sets of calf raises.

Originally Posted by Phineas

I do calf raises when I'm resting in between sets of calf raises.

That's funny. I train calves a lot, too. Very stubborn muscle group, and very dependent on genetics. My wife has fantastic calves, and barely trains them at all. Long full muscle bellies. Unbelievable genetics.

cleans

I have seen the best results when I learned how to train them effectively, and after figuring out what fibers are getting hit when I work them. Generally, I will only do two exercises: Seated calf raise for 3x12-20 on one day, and about 2 days later, Standing calf raise or leg press calf press for 4x10-VERY heavy.
After I started doing it this way, I saw results practically overnight. Ok, maybe in a little over 3 months, but what a difference!
Lastly, I dont pile on a ton of weight. I get a full stretch at both the top and the bottom, with no momentum at all. I do go heavy on standing, but I've noticed for a great burn during seated, you really dont need to go to heavy. That set when seated will take over a minute to perform, and holy shit if I dont need a fire extinguisher after it's done.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

cleans

I never had the proper ankle extension down until recently. My numbers have gone up, and I feel my calves getting a good workout, too. Win-win.

Originally Posted by Phineas

I never had the proper ankle extension down until recently. My numbers have gone up, and I feel my calves getting a good workout, too. Win-win.

Yeah, I've been doing cleans for a while now and I still don't feel that my ankle flexibility is where it should be.

Wrist and tricep flexibility develop really fast just from doing cleans it seems, but I think ankles need special attention.

run on a treadmill barefoot

Originally Posted by 200+

run on a treadmill barefoot

It's like Kenya meets America.

I wonder if walking in sand, beach or something, would be a good calve workout ?

I find a great way to work them out is just to do them standing with no weight and do slow controlled reps for as many as you can do. as many as 50 reps or more. From what I understand about calves is that they're a muscle that is very good at managing large amounts of weight without stress but it's more sustained use that makes them work hard.

Originally Posted by stepaukas

i always had defined calves. when i was a runner, along with running our regular workouts, we would push cars. put them in n and push. you're up on the toes a bit to get the car rollling. did the a day or two a week for years.really burns the calves. when you get it going, start running/pushing it. you'll burn them big time..
but in my opinion, nobody has more defined calves than cyclists.not cause i'm a cyclist, but its the motion.. a pure 360 degree pedal stroke hits the calves, big time.
today i did a hard 80 miles, so thats 22,400 strokes. day in and day out.. months and years, you'll get some defined calves.
but if you have no bike with the correct cleats and pedals, push a car along with your seated calf work and donkey raises...

Been thinking about pushing cars lately after my battery went dead and I had to push my car a little bit in the yard. Wow. But I agree about cyclists. Bastards. A friend of mine at the gym is a cyclist and his calves are awesome. They don't have the shape I have, which isn't saying much. They are naturally smaller, high heads, but damn they are cut up. Tennis players always have great calves too.

Originally Posted by ROID

I wonder if walking in sand, beach or something, would be a good calve workout ?

for endurance yes, but you still need to hit the other fibers for strength.

I'm thinking about this. I'm thinking about training my calves 3 or 4 times a week and seeing how they react. I remember having a vein knot showing when I was in college/football days. But that was over a decade ago and that was a lot of running. Hmmm

remember, if you do decide to ride to get some defined ripped looking calves, you must have the correct shoes and cleats. this way you're pulling up from the 6 oclock position to 12 oclock,not just puching down from 12 to 6. the perfect pedal stroke is what gives you the perfect calf. a regular bike without correct pedals and cleats on the bottom of your show will do 0 for your calves.
shoes $2-3-4hundred... pedals and cleats $200

Originally Posted by Merkaba

I'm thinking about this. I'm thinking about training my calves 3 or 4 times a week and seeing how they react. I remember having a vein knot showing when I was in college/football days. But that was over a decade ago and that was a lot of running. Hmmm

Why so much volume?

Originally Posted by nova1970sb

so 2 nights ago, i took my mother up to her new property where she plans on building a house. it was a very steep windy paved road and only about 1/8th of a mile long. she is in a wheelchair from a recent hip replacement so i walked her backwards down the hill, and now my calves are on fire! super sore for 2 days running.

so my current calve routine is just on the seated calve raises i do 3 sets of 12 with enough weight to get to then last rep of the last set. i got up hold for 1 sec then all the way down hold for 2 seconds and so forth.

is there a better calve exercise i could do to get better results out of it? besides going back to the hill lol.

Start wearing Vibram Five Fingers, your calves will grow.

Originally Posted by stepaukas

remember, if you do decide to ride to get some defined ripped looking calves, you must have the correct shoes and cleats. this way you're pulling up from the 6 oclock position to 12 oclock,not just puching down from 12 to 6. the perfect pedal stroke is what gives you the perfect calf. a regular bike without correct pedals and cleats on the bottom of your show will do 0 for your calves.
shoes $2-3-4hundred... pedals and cleats $200

Forgive me if I lack knowledge, but I don't believe you "pull up" from the 6 o' clock position. I have always heard that it is best to simply de-weight the foot that is in the 6 o' clock position until it moves into the 12 o' clock position. Am I wrong here?

gtbmed

you need a 360 degree pedal stroke to be efficent. push down at the 12 oclock position, and from 6-12 you pull up. the pulling up is like scraping mud off the bottom of your shoes.
full 360..
i canget really specific, but this way is ez to understand.

You want to act like you are scraping mud off the bottom of your shoes when you get to the bottom of your pedal stroke, sure. But after you pass about 210 degrees I believe your foot should be de-weighted. Pulling up with that foot is just a waste of energy as the foot that is pushing down is going to be bringing it back to the top if you de-weight it.

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