Thread: gastrocnemius

You can call it the calf muscle for simplicity reasons. Seated/standing calf raises for starters.

I like to do calf raises on a platform.

Originally Posted by DOMS

I like to do calf raises on a platform.

+1

standing calf raises use more gastroc than seated, when seated your soleus comes more into play.

Anything with the knee straight will hit more gastroc than soleus. In either event, the Achilles tendon is designed to return energy with each step - so pause at the bottom of each rep for at least 3 seconds to dissipate that energy and prevent the elastic return. Gastrocs are predominantly fast twitch and respond to heavy, lower-rep work. Soleus are predominantly slow twitch and may respond a bit better to higher rep work.

My strong feeling is that calves respond well to volume: I was a fat jogger, and my calves are 16".

the gastroc is biarticular, so it also crosses the knee and helps to flex it.