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i am seriously lacking mass between my calfs and ankle's. When I wear 3 quarter pants, it looks like I have nothing!! i have large feet as well which doesn't help the problem. calf raises nor any other exercises are fixing the problem. what should i do ?
:mad:
between your calves and ankles or your knees and ankles (which would be your calves).
i would love it if i could get that look that black men (no offense for those of you) have in their calves. the sharp definition in those such as the sprinters, some football players, etc.
well, possible lower calf then? it has to be if thats the only muscle which is between the knee and ankle then?
i think u're referring to the soleus, the muscle directly below the calf and above the ankle. The main exercise to work the soleus is seated calf raises. In many calf workouts u'll see some type of bent-knee calf raise to concentrate the soleus and then a strait-leg calf raise to concentrate on the calf itself.
There referred to as cankles...(well according to John Madden that is). And you either have them or you don't. Some people are fortunate enough to be born with great calves while others must work their ass off to notice any development whatsoever. It sickens me to think that a buddy of mine has never stepped foot in a gym in his life and has softballs as calves while I bust ass doing every calve workout possible and they still look like two chop sticks. Go figure!
Usualsuspect
Let's hear from those who have successfully added size to their calves without any synthetic assistance. I'm telling ya fellaz I tried everything to build my calves and they continue to lag heavily behind every other bodypart. Let's hear some good calf workouts beyond the conventional standing raises and seated raises. I'm sure someone on this board has a success story.
Doing sprints will work your calfs real good.
i find myself flexing my calves whenever i'm walking around or climbing stairs.. my calves are like the only thing that's well defined on me :D
You know what's weird? As a kid, we always used to have these really cold floors (I don't remember what kind, linoleum?) Anyways, I usually am barefoot in the house, and because of this as a kid I always used to walk very slightly off my toes so my heel wasn't making ground contact. It was a weird habit- but because of it (I'm guessing) my calves are quite large naturally. If only I walked around on my hands everywhere :)
I hear ya on this one, I grew up with hardwood floors, and I always used to walk on my toes because they were so cold. IMO I think calves are the weirdest muscle to build because of it's density. what I have found, with my experience me being heavily involved in sports that require jumping (and me being a short guy, we try to get any advantage we can to get higher). Anyways back to the subject, I find that the best way to work calves and to actually see results is to do exercises that require you to put alot of long term work on your calves. Not short term, like calf raises, but long term exercises like basketball, running, walking, volleyball, anything that will require you to work the calf muscles for long periods of time. Jumping IMO is the best form of exercise for calves. Running in sand, will also pump your calves muscles up trememdously, I know I played volleyball for years and always had great looking calves. Since I have stopped playing volleyball, even with my normal gym routines, I have noticed my calves have not grown and actually have shrunken.Quote:
Originally posted by SneakerSeven
You know what's weird? As a kid, we always used to have these really cold floors (I don't remember what kind, linoleum?) Anyways, I usually am barefoot in the house, and because of this as a kid I always used to walk very slightly off my toes so my heel wasn't making ground contact. It was a weird habit- but because of it (I'm guessing) my calves are quite large naturally. If only I walked around on my hands everywhere :)
Just my two cents worth..
Just because I felt like being spontaneous, here's the result of my cold floor youth:
I agree a GREAT boost to calf development is sprinting. Two years ago I weighed about 300lbs and was a fat bastard. Over the course of dropping the fat, I ran sprints alot and now that I am at 230 (back up from 190) my calves are now COWS!
The muscle you're thinking of is the SOLEUS. It lies underneath the Gastrocnemius. It's function is plantar flexion and it mostly composed of type 1 fibers. The gastrocnemius is mostly type 2 fibers and it also crosses the knee joint.
Sorry to turn this around on you SneakerSeven but walking around on your tip toes give you the appearance of bigger calves cuz your muscle shortens creating a bulge higher up. Actual muscle mass would probably be about the same as other ppl. Here's another good example: Girls that always wear high heels seem to have nicer calves.
Downside to this is you probably have a shorter achilles tendon as well which can leave you more prone to injuries. And extra strain on the Anterior Tibialis muscle which will be noticeable when you run alot.
Hmm... I'm not sure that's true? The appearance thing may be true, but so many people have commented on my calves when wearing shorts that it must be something more to it. I wouldn't say I'm huge by any means, but I don't have chicken calves either- and considering how little work I actually do with them, it leads me to believe there's something to my claim... but maybe it would've happened anyways.
I don't know if I would say that it makes you more prone to injury either- I might say the opposite. I was a long distance runner for a few years and never had a problem with it. Wear sneakers everywhere- even when hiking a mountain, not the best idea I know but I've never had a problem. Never had a sprained ankle or anything like that... I dunno, maybe I'm just lucky :)
Long distance running is a linear sport. If you played basketball you would be very prone to injury. Inversion ankle sprains are often accompanied by plantar flexion as well.
I actually heard of an injury related to the shortening of the achilles tendon that brad was talking about. A while back when i was in calc 3 i used sit next to this girl who worked at i think olive garden. Anyways there was some waitress there that actually injured herself by simply just wearing flat shoes. She had worn high heel type shoes for a long time ( around 15 years) and like brad said, it shortened her tendon by wearing high heel type of shoes and when she wore some flat shoes it was just a matter of time be4 she got injured.