Thread: Wider Calves? Any ideas?

sadly, calves fall under the category of 'you either have them or you don't'. although by gaining a shit load of weight...they will follow suit.

as a side note: try holding the stretch at the bottom for a 5 count on each rep.

Originally Posted by The13ig13adWolf

sadly, calves fall under the category of 'you either have them or you don't'. although by gaining a shit load of weight...they will follow suit.

as a side note: try holding the stretch at the bottom for a 5 count on each rep.

Ill give that a go - thanks!

Have you seen Ronnie Coleman's vid? He does a lil bouncey motion at the top of this contraction....

Some of these seated calve raise machines have a tilted board to put your feet on, you can see that by doing those your calves will contract in a different way then with the rest of the exercises, also you can try to take a couple of different feet positions like a little more apart and close next to each other

your calves will grow however they are genetically predispositioned to grow. no specific exercise can cause any muscle to grow wider. all you can do is stimulate a muscle, genetics determines the rest

Originally Posted by The13ig13adWolf

as a side note: try holding the stretch at the bottom for a 5 count on each rep.

I've heard this as well. Apparently, calves are extremely stubborn when it comes to dissipating stored elastic energy.

You may also consider hitting your calves with a very high frequency. This is a very resilient muscle. You should also consider things like plyometrics and sprinting. Just try different stuff. That's all you can do.

The muscle fascia surround the muscles in the legs is thicker than in the rest of the body. Try stretching just after you have worked them, when they are full of blood, this helps to stretch the the muscle fascia and promote growth.

thanks everyone - you've given me some good tips!

I don't know if this will help you, it's something i do and tends to work when doing calves. i do standing calve raises with out shoes on (socks or barefoot, i typically put one of those foam pads people do crunches on, on the footplate so my feet don't hurt) Anyhow, i don't do the typical, pile all the weight like arnold suggests....i don't feel it in my calves hardly at all. I pick a weight....and do 4 sets or 15-20 slow controlled reps (stretching at the bottom like the wolf suggested earlier) holding the contraction at the top for a couple seconds....rest periods are 15 seconds....sure the weight is a little lighter....but my calves have grown well on this type of program....give it a shot if ya wanna change it up.

try pointing your toes in / out / straight for a set each. That hits the muscles slightly differently. Unfortunately like the othrt guys say - you either have them or don't....

Originally Posted by LoadedBats

I don't know if this will help you, it's something i do and tends to work when doing calves. i do standing calve raises with out shoes on (socks or barefoot,

Far be it from me to tell you how to do things, but you really shouldn't be doing calf raises with socks on. It just isn't safe. The socks can cause you to slide and you could end up doing the splits with a few hundred pounds on your back.

Originally Posted by Rykard Maximus

try pointing your toes in / out / straight for a set each. That hits the muscles slightly differently. Unfortunately like the othrt guys say - you either have them or don't....

Pointing your toes doesn't affect the usage of any of the calf muscles. Try distributing the weight to either in the inside or outside of the foot instead.

Standing calf raises....hit the gastrocnemius more than the soleus.....don't waste your time doing seated calfs...

Some of it is genetic but I have seen some people with crappy calfs really build them up..

Originally Posted by The13ig13adWolf

sadly, calves fall under the category of 'you either have them or you don't'. although by gaining a shit load of weight...they will follow suit.

as a side note: try holding the stretch at the bottom for a 5 count on each rep.

agree but I hold a 15 count