Another calf thread

[frawnz]

I know there have been a few "my calves won't grow!" posts, and I guess this qualifies as another one. I have very strange calf muscles. They have practically no definition, are very long, and even when I flex them there is no apparent outline.

On my leg day, I do 3x15 heavy machine calf presses and 3x10 heavy seated calf raises where I explode up, hold for 2 seconds and slowly go back down. I'm nearly 190 but my lower legs look like I'm 130. I workout with a pretty big dude, and he has a hard time keeping up with me on leg days, so it's not a strength thing, it's really just a hypertrophy thing. My wheels aren't huge, but I also don't have chicken legs up top. I'm definitely self concious about wearing shorts, thus why my legs are so pale as I almost always wear jeans.

Not sure if this is related, but as a kid I had really tight (and still do) achilles tendons, and used to walk on my toes. I did some physical therapy from home per Dr.'s orders around 1st grade and it stretched them out at least to the point where I walk with my heel impacting the ground.

I also remember from back in grade school we had a "Jump Rope for Heart" day where we jumped rope for the American Heart Assoc. all day and the next 2 days I had to stay home from school because I literally could not stand with my heels on the ground without intense pain. And to this day, I can give myself a charlie horse by flexing my calf muscles hard for about 10 seconds.

Am I just genetically screwed when it comes to my calves? Or is there a different training regiment I can do to help with calf muscle hypertrophy?

[tbody66]

I was you, what I did worked for me. I shaved my legs and wore shorts to the gym and boy did that motivate me to do something serious about the size and shape of my calves(absolutely true story). I used to refer to my lower leg as the "Dowel Rod" section, since the thickness was the same from the ankle to the knee.

Genetics have a lot to do with calves for look when they do gain size, where they attach and how the shape pops when flexed, but your problem is fixable. The calf muscle for most people is slow twitch muscle fiber which needs to be trained differently and can be trained more frequently than the larger thigh muscles. Hit calves on a non leg day as well as your leg day, do calf extensions with a hip sled or using a board and a smith machine, do your raises in 21's with toes-in/heels-out, toes-out/heels-in, straight ahead with increasing poundages until you can no longer perform the exercise properly, then end with a drop-set to failure, total sets should be 5 or more and your knees should be close to lockout to include all the muscles in the calf. Calf exercises should be performed during rest periods of other exercises on non-leg day and I usually save them for last on leg day if I don't include them in a leg circuit. You also want to perform "jump-ups" to a bench from standing position on the ground facing the bench, or any ledge with a 1 - 1 1/2 foot height after your workout is completely finished, yes this is in addition to all other calf exercises on calf exercise days. You will definitely want to perform a planeing massage of your calves for five minutes per calf immediately following your "jump-ups" or as soon as you get home, and again that evening. You want to perform two calf stretches after each calf exercise is performed (all sets done, not between calf sets) the calf stretches are a little harder to explain, but I'll try. Place the toes of your foot against something straight up, like bottom of a plate rack or bottom of a smith machine brace with your heel on the ground in front of whatever your toes are against, pull your body into the bar/wall/plate rack with your knee locked until your calf is tight then hold for 20 seconds, switch legs and perform again. The second is the same except you bend your knee and put your knee into the bar/wall/plate rack until your calf is tight then hold for 20 seconds, repeat with other leg. Measure your calves before you begin this program, give it 90 days and if there is not over an inch difference I will give you a full refund of your advice purchase price.

[frawnz]

Thanks man, I appreciate the detailed response. Definitely gonna go all out and work my calves into the ground.

[tbody66]

Please keep me posted.