Am I doing calves wrong?

[Kamel407]

My Calves routine requires Standing Calf Raises and Seated Calf Raises

There is no standing calf machine at my gym, the only thing I could find was a 45 degree leg press with free weights. There is however a seated calf raise with free weights.

I'm new to working out and this was the first time I attempted a standing calf raise where you lower your ankles below the 0 degree line as far as possible and push above the 0 degree line as far as possible.

So I start with 90lbs, and I increase 90lbs each time while I'm trying to gauge my max calf for 10 reps. Well I get up to 450lbs which maxes out the leg press capacity and still no problems. Am I doing something wrong here? This just seems very weird considering everything else I do is very weak in comparison.

Seated calf raises are a little weird as well. Before I jumped on I watched a guy who was fairly built hit the seated raises at 100lbs. So I went ahead and went for 100lbs, no problem, so I bumped it up all the way to 180lbs without issue. The problem is that before you lift the weight to move the bar(stopper) the pads are not low enough for me. I could not find a cushion of any kind to eliminate this problem either. The only way I could do more weight was if I did not use the bar at all and let the weights go almost to the ground (which is now too low). So I went ahead and kept it at 180 since it was comfortable for me to use, and still be able to use the stopper functionally.

Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong? I'm going to talk to one of the staff to see if they can come up with some options.

Thanks in advance

[Kamel407]

Appreciate it, will check on this monday as its my next calves day.
Love this forum, everyone is so quick and helpful.

[alevok]

donkey raise is very effective, make sure your buddy weights heavy

[Juggernaut]

Is there a Smith Machine in your gym? If so you can do standing calf raises with this tool. I've a couple of 8"x8" blocks to stnd on but you can use whatever you can find to get your feet up off the floor.....I use an incline bench sometimes (I just lift the padding section up and stand on the bench feet)

Donkey raises, like Alevok suggested is a good one as well

How many reps and sets are you doing?

[Kamel407]

I'm following the beginner's MAX-OT program which calls for 2 sets 10 reps for the first 3 weeks.

Again, thanks to everyone for the quick response, this is wonderful.

[Juggernaut]

I'm not familiar with that program but if you are new to the game it could be a good start. I've found that calves are the hardest muscle to grow. For myself I have to load up the weight and increase the reps. I generally do four sets per exercise and my rep range is between 30-50. I start counting the reps when they calves start to burn.....very uncomfortable but it dpoes the trick.

[dangit]

This is what's worked for me this year. I put almost 2 inches on my calves in a year doing this. Mind you that my calves were extremelly lacking my legs, but I'm now comfortable with their development.

I train 5 days a week.... Now I used to take 2 days off. In the last year, I've been taking those two days to do calves and abs. Mostly calves though.

This lets me go into a calve workout fresh and full of energy.

I'll do 5-6 sets of setted calve raises. I don't go past 10-15 reps and keep on putting the weight on till I can't get past 8 reps by the end of it.

I then do calves on the leg press or standing calve raises. I don't mess around with lots of reps. I just still 10 plates a side on the leg press or put the whole rack on the standing machine and try and power out 10-15 reps. I keep doing this till my calves are ruined.

I usually switch were my toe is pointing (in, out or center). I get a better pump that way.

I also constantly flex my calves between sets and do standing calve raise with no weights to get maximum flex out of them.

Calves are very strong muscles and you should easilly be able to lift 3 times your weight with them.

There is nothing worse than watching a fellow do standing calve raises with oly 100lbs on the rack and not really getting anywere week after week.