Thread: Calves

What you doing for them now?

Train them 2x a week looks like this:
standing calve raise smith machine 4 sets of
Normal 15 reps
Wide 15 reps
Narrow 15 reps
seated calf raise 3 sets of
Normal 15 reps
Wide 15 reps
Narrow 15 reps
If im really motivated I'll add calf raises on the power plate with 30# db in hand

Mine really started to grow when I started doing the DC style, based on the writings of Dante Trudel (Doggcrapp)

I do it a bit different then he recommends as I don't train true DC style, but it is his style.

Every four days I do one all out set (pick a different exercise every time) and do this, start and explode off your big toe to the top position, hold there for 5 seconds, lower slowly to the bottom and hold the stretch for 12 seconds. This hurts like a bitch, and I only do 12-15 reps of these before I am done. The second part is on cardio days, use the treadmill and set it at a good, steep incline and walk on your toes as much as you can, really push up on the toes. This will kick your ass if done right.

Added about 3/4 of an inch to my calves in 3 months and greatly improved the shape and cut in them.

I second the incline treadmill. Try walking on an incline with a backpack full of weight. Eat a lot.

Originally Posted by Built

I second the incline treadmill. Try walking on an incline with a backpack full of weight. Eat a lot.

Eat a lot is the key. Once I learned to eat, I learned how to grow.

What worked best for me was super setting calf raises after seated leg press after each set

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You guys are awesome, thank you all!

and girl

I like one legged calf raises on the smith machine a lot. And varied stance with both feet. Then I move to the seated calf raise and hit 3 sets at each stance and finish with 3 sets on the rotary calf machine.

i posted this on calves once before. a tip from an awsome coach..

Q & A
by George Turner


Question: How have you adjusted your training and diet as you’ve gotten older?

Answer: My training has changed a number of times over the years. Back in the 1940s I trained my entire body every time I worked out. When I got out of the service in 1946, I continued training that way and was lucky enough to get a lot of help in planning my workouts from Clancy Ross. In 1948 I got a job running the weight room at the YMCA where I trained, and around that time I began working out four days a week. To my three-hour, Monday, Wednesday and Friday workouts I added a Saturday session. I was still training my entire body each time and actually added a set to each of the dozen or so exercises I did. I was 30 years old, and I thrived on all the work.

In 1950 I opened my first gym and began training five days a week on a two-way bodypart split. One week I worked legs, chest and back on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday, and shoulders and arms on Monday and Thursday. The following week I simply reversed the bodyparts worked, with Wednesday and Saturday always my off days.

I moved to Santa Monica and the Muscle Beach scene in 1957, and managed the famous Dungeon for two years. For the next ten years I did variation on the five-day schedule. By now my workout included many sets and again lasted about three hours.

In 1967 I began separating upper- and lower-body training. I worked my entire upper body on one day, then on the next I ran two miles and trained legs and abs. I’d follow that schedule as many as 12 days in a row before taking a second day off. I continued training that way until late 1968, when I opened another large gym.

I was now 40 years old and had been training very hard for 26 years. I realized that I’d begun to need additional recovery time. I was quite strong but was beginning to experience wear-and-tear problems, tendinitis, muscle pulls and the like – not really injuries but clear warnings. To give my body the recovery time it required, I cut back to three days on/one off and started warming up thoroughly before each session. That way I was training each bodypart seven or eight times a month. I was still separating upper- and lower-body training. It’s a simple principle: You cannot work upper two days in a row, no matter how different you think the bodyparts might be. It just knocks the top off the recovery cycle.

I continued this method very successfully for a number of years, but by the early ‘80s even the three-on/one-off schedule began causing me to experience the overwork syndrome again. I knew quite well what the problem was – it’s called aging.

By 1984 I’d brought down my weight – which had been approximately 230 for 30 years – and settled in at a constant 208 to 210 pounds, even dropping to 185 to enter the Open division at the ’84 Mr. USA. I also started spreading my three workouts over five days, as follows:

Day 1 – chest and arms
Day 2 – cardio, legs, lower back and abs
Day 3 – rest
Day 4 – back and shoulders
Day 5 – rest
Day 6 – start again

I don’t sacrifice any heavy free-weight work with this schedule. I squat and deadlift religiously six times a month, heavy! I always warm up for 10 minutes on upper body days and ride a Lifecycle hard for 12 minutes to start my lower body workout.

My diet is very simple. I take a shitload of vitamins and supplements every day and have for the past 50 years, and because my metabolism has slowed, I eat just three moderate-size meals a day. I also take a meal replacement drink in the afternoon after my workouts. And, by the way, I eat two dozen eggs – including the yolks, of course – a week and about three pounds of meat. My cholesterol is 168 and my blood pressure is normal, as it’s been all my life.

I hope this long-winded answer to your question helps in your training.


Question: I like bodybuilding, but I also like powerlifting. Can I do both and be reasonably successful, or should I just concentrate on one?

Answer: I don’t think you can do both, I know you can! After all, powerlifting is a compilation of weight lifted in the three most fundamental bodybuilding exercises: the squat, bench press and deadlift. The list of champion bodybuilders who were also great powerlifters is endless. How about Bill Seno from Chicago? Bill was a world champion in the ‘70s who also placed in the top five or six at several Mr. America contests. Ten years earlier Chuck Collras was winning one big physique show after another in addition to being one of the three or four best 148 lb. class powerlifters in the world. Bill “Peanuts” West, my close friend for many years, has been credited with creating the modern sport of powerlifting around 1960, but before that he won any number of West Coast physique contests. Six or seven years later Bill won the national powerlifting title at 198 lbs.


Question: Who’s the greatest bodybuilder you’ve ever seen, Arnold, Reeves or Yates?

Answer: John Grimek.




Question: How do I get my calves to grow?

Answer: Your problem is one that has baffled bodybuilders for as long as we’ve been around. The easy way, of course, is to have parents who have large, well-developed calves; however, if, as with most of us, that isn’t the case, there are a number of things you can do to make them grow. Remember – it won’t happen overnight.

If you’re like most lifters, you’re likely doing too many exercises and, I suspect doing far too many sets and reps. There’s no point in analyzing your mistakes, though. Just switch to a routine that will get the job done right. This one has done the trick for many top people I’ve worked with and there’s no reason it won’t work for you as well. Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Train calves three times a week.
2) Do only one exercise. Never worry about your so-called lack of proper equipment. I owned several gyms between 1950 and 1992, but I can tell you that the most exciting, fun times I ever had while training took place in my basement and, later, in a handball court at the local Y that had been converted to a weight room.
3) Make that one exercise the first one you do on those three days.

The best calf exercises around, in my opinion, are donkey calf raises done with a partner – not on a machine! – and the standing calf machine. Since it’s not always easy to find someone who’s the right weight for donkeys, I’d stick with the standing calf machine.

Do only 8 sets total – and no more than 12 reps per set. It’s not how many reps you do but how you perform them. The reps are 12, 12, 10, 10, 8, 8, 8, 8.

Start with a weight that you can handle for 12 strict, slow reps. Hold each rep at the top, fully contracted position for a count of three. Without bending your knees at all, lower the weight slowly and deliberately to a full-stretch, heels-depressed position. Hold it for a three count, then, with the same smooth, deliberate action, raise your heels back to a complete contraction. Hold for a three count at the top and bottom of every rep.

Increase the weight by one plate on each successive set. When you get to the fifth set, stay with that weight for the 4 sets of 8.

Don’t kid yourself. If you do this exactly as I’ve outlined two things will happen. Your calves will get sore as hell, and they’ll start growing. This workout will test your powers of concentration, but it’ll give back what you put in.

I dont have this issue with calves but I like to use the leg press machine for my calves. The calves are hard to grow because they are used all day long and you really need to fuck them up for them to grow.

I personally think that "calf genetics" is a cop-out. any one who i have trained with has had great calf development.

the way to grow your calves is to realise 3 things about you calves' daily routine;
1. weight used-body weight
2. reps performed-high reps
3. range of motion performed-short brief range of motion with little to none peak contraction.

I propose that you try training calves three times a week, with three different routines.

routine 1-super heavy weights low reps(working in an unfamiliar rep range with relatively very high weights)
bent leg toe presses 4x8
standing calf raises 3x8

routine 2-heavy weight extremely high reps and drop sets(unfamiliar combiantion of weight and high reps with extended periods of work)
bent leg toe press -2x reverse pyramid working to max weight. e.g. one plate each side x10, 2x20, 3x30 and so on,perform with minimal rest. on final set perform a 5 part drop doubling reps on each sub-set i.e start 5 plates each side 50 reps, drop 1 4x100, drop 2 3x200, drop 3 2x400, drop 4 1x800, drop 5 sledge only x1600. ROM is not important but rather keeping time under tension.

routine 3-stretch and contraction-unfamilair due to excessive stretches and contractile periods
bent leg toe press 4x12 done with a 3 second positive, 5 second contraction, 3 second negative and 5 second stretch on each rep
seated raises 4x15 -same tempo as before
reverse toe press 3 x12 same tempo as before
alternate stretching calves unilaterally for one minute with contracting for one minute x2 each legs

this routine has added close to 4 inches on my calves in just over 6 months, they are now fringing on 20"

Am I reading that correctly? You are recommending that one does 100, 200, 400 and 800 rep sets?

Originally Posted by Marat

Am I reading that correctly? You are recommending that one does 100, 200, 400 and 800 rep sets?

Yes. I am not suggesting as a constant method due to overtraining and time constaints but certainly for a period yes.

My logic is thus: the calves are used to relatively high rep, low weight "sets" in daily modern life, and so in order to stimualte growth an extremist approach must be taken in all extremes of motion as explained, ROM, weight, rep range. And the incredibly high reps ensure this, and will cause an incredibly large amount of blood flow to the area.

also if one takes guidance from the sporting world for developed bodyparts one will see a similar theme Speed skaters and cyclists have huge thighs why? hours and hours of training, how do we recereate those hours in a realisic time frame? incredibly high rep sets. gymnasts are an upper body example of this trait and certain manual labourers exhibit a similar trait such as mechanics with forearms.

it is just a theme i noticed, acted upon and recevied incredible results from.

I agree with the principle of training calves. I think high rep/high frequency is a good idea for that particular muscle group.

On a related note, my highest reps come in for some ab wheeling at about 25 reps per set, but I tend to go higher if I'm feeling good. I usually lose track after about 20 reps or so. Sometimes I get lucky and count out to about 50.

I couldn't imagine counting much higher than that while training hard.

i get your point on the counting ability but i get around that by simply breaking the sets down into 50 reps segments or even less if i'm in particular pain. That being said my hard training mode if you like is almost meditative and so it is never really an issue for me.

I'm feeling dumb because I'd probably lose track of how many 50 rep segments that I've done lol.

Either way, interesting strategy. I personally wouldn't recommend it because I'd unscientifically imagine there are very diminishing returns after a few dozen reps. Glad it works for you, though.

You can get away with traing calves everyday. Spend a lit time at the end of each workout training them and you will be reward for your efforts.

Originally Posted by Pitbull44

I know calves are mostly genetic, however, everyone in my family has huge calves besides me. I would think that even being half Samoan would aid them to be bigger. I have tried numerous training techniques for peroids of time and can only get them more cut not bigger. My quads are not a problem just my damn calves! If anyone suffers from this "disease" or has any good tips to cure my "disease" feel free to comment. Thanks i'm open to anything.

Do standing leg raises,they are really effective...check out the videos here Calves Raises | Fitnessanddefense.com i hope this helps

What kind of shoes do you wear while training them? Since buying a pair of vibram barefoot shoes last year I have had improvements. All the video footage I've seen from Arnold training his barefoot to Porter Cottrell changing from boots to flats for calf work suddenly made better sense to me.

If you don't want to pay as much for Vibram Five Fingers there are now copies made by Fila and other brands for around $50.

Originally Posted by jasjotbains

Do standing leg raises,they are really effective...check out the videos here Calves Raises | Fitnessanddefense.com i hope this helps

thank you for the add with the link.

I do these, but was told that it makes impact with your back and spine and to reconsider and use of doing calves this way. The other machine, this being either the leg press, as well this other machine suggested. I don't have the name off hand, but will come back in a day or so with which machine as well the instructions.

The owner of the gym, as well another man that is 61,who looks like a mint condition body builder, said it is not a good way to do calves, for your back and shoulders and body over all are hit too.

Hmmm...well they might be correct then Then the best thing you could do is play basketball,as players of basketball have good calves maybe the amount of jumping involved has something to do with it.

Is jumping rope a good workout by any chance? Instead of working them out 3 days a week is jumping rope one day and hitting them two other days a good idea? I always feel the burn when I jump rope