Always struggled growing calfs in the past... anyone struggled with this in the past and now got wicked calfs?
Mine are slowly improving through supersets high reps and Strecthing the fascia in between sets
Your experiences ?
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Always struggled growing calfs in the past... anyone struggled with this in the past and now got wicked calfs?
Mine are slowly improving through supersets high reps and Strecthing the fascia in between sets
Your experiences ?
Mine always grew best if I was playing basketball, nothing else really seemed to get my calves to pop like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dex88
I used to have family call me chicken legs when I was younger ,,now my calves are one of my best body parts.
Lots of seated and standing calf raises. I like going heavy but also do high reps so keep it varied.
Problem with calves is that most guys are always playing catch up with them. They've neglected them for years and now suddenly realize how far behind they are. It's probably "the norm" in bodybuilding. I've never been a fan of high reps for calves. I like heavy weight and moderate reps along with a little double bounce at the top to reinforce the peak.
Whatever works for you just stick with it. If they're a weak point then train them first in your workouts. Far to often guys train calves at the end of their workouts with the mindset to "get them over with." We've all been guilty of this on occasion but as soon as you (meaning anyone) learn to train them with the same intensity as chest and arms they will grow!
Destroy them every way possible. Heavy weight high volume Various ways of increasing intensity like u mentioned. I been doing weighted standing calf raises super set with body weight standing raises as manh as i can do. Then seated calf raises and do the same thing or ill donte seated after the standing as a 3rd super set. I been doing wach round with a different foot spacig to hit different areas. Feet close, medium spacing and then wide spacing. Ill keep my feet close but not touching then the mid range ill put a 25lb plate between. My feet as a spacer then for wide ill do beyond shoulder or put a 35lb plate as a spacer.
Thats when im doing a quick session. Maybe 4 sets like that with 30-45 seconds rest between each super sets.
Days that i dedicate to just calf and abs. Ill start off with independant foot standing raises or on a seated leg press machine and do multiple drop sets with one foot at a time. Sometimes ill go threw the hole stack lowering the weight 1 plate at a time to pre exhaust the calfs and build independant size and strength. Since my right calf is like 20% bigger it seems lol
After that ill do what i mentioned before and maybe add in leg press raises. I wish we had a donkey calf raise machine.
Or rest pause sets. And really get a stretch at the bottom of lift and squeeze at top
Ever try restrictive training?
Genetically, I'm not meant to have big calves, and most people in my family have basically sticks below the knees.
What I found worked the best for me and really put the mass on was:
A. High reps... in the 30 to 40 range , on a hack squat machine where my legs are extended. Controlled, not too fast, and flex at the top. To break up the monotony every so often I would do the seated calves but the straight leg type seemed to work better.
B. Straight leg kicks , as high as you can do in the air. You have to keep your leg completely straight and not bend it all at the knee, and keep your toes and foot pointed up towards your knee, to really stretch out the calf muscle when you do the kick. Those were somewhat painful for me, but when combined with the high rep calf raises , put the size on nicely.
Generally, I would work them out twice a week.
As with everything, I would document my progress each week in my notebook that I always have in the gym, so that I could try to beat what I had done at the last workout.
Bill
I have found that working calves just like other body parts (2 exercises, 2-4 sets ea exercise, 8-12 reps to failure) works best. I probably got the most definition from trail running for years but size was improved by treating them like any other muscle group.
believe it or not...
squats
Hop on a hardtail MTB. seat high, peddle on top toes
10 miles @ 14 mph 3x a week
I mix it up. You can do all of the routines mentioned above but you will not get results without the full range of motion. I very rarely see people train them correctly. Hold at the top for 1 second, also try drop sets to get a response from the muscle.
I'm a big believer in stretching too, ten secs after first set, twenty, etc up to thirty seconds between every set.