Help w/Calf's...

[mwell]

My calves are small and high. What's a good workout to get
them to grow. I usually train them 3x wk.

[cutup]

What type of excersice variation are you doing? Rep range?

What has helped my calves the most is the following:

Seated Calf Raise 2 x 15 - 20 Reps Light To Moderate Weight

Standing Calf Raise 2 x 6 - 8 reps Heavy Weight

Donkey Calf Raise 2 x 6 - 8 reps Heavy Weight

I do this every 4th day. Every 4th week I change my excesice selection to

Calf Raise on LEg Press Machine
Standing 1 Leg
Seated One Leg

or something similar. However, this may not work for you, give it a try for about 6 - 8 weeks and keep journal of your results. This gives me a great calf workout.

Good Luck Bro.

[Joffa]

Originally Posted by mwell

My calves are small and high. What's a good workout to get
them to grow. I usually train them 3x wk.

I have trouble with calves also. Some bros on here suggested training them 3 days in a row even if they're sore, then rest. This is working for me...

~Joffa

[quads101]

Every One will respond slightly diff to any routine, depending on body macanics and intesity. Also had high calfs, and big quads. Not a good look, bit like a frogs leg. Down trained quads from 31" to a more comfortable 27". calfs then looked slightly more in proportion. As far as calf training a few things that have helped me bring my calfs up are :-

Double bounce at the bottom of every rep.

Seated calf raises hit the soleus more which has a higher % of Slow twitch fibres which respond better to high reps with lots of static contractions.

Standing calf raises tend to hit the Gastrocnemius more. Higher % of fast twitch fibres. Heavy sets with less reps.

Hope this is of some kind of help.

[esco]

i do calfs- seated 100 reps heavy weight as long as it takes me to get to 100 reps
then i will do standing calf raises heavy 100 reps as long as it takes me to get them.
when i say however long it takes me i also mean very little rest ... dont forget to stretch them out after each set.
switch up exercise everytime you do them, i hit them eod ... also dont forget to hit the front calf or whatever you call them exercises ...toe raises or something.

[mwell]

Originally Posted by esco

i do calfs- seated 100 reps heavy weight as long as it takes me to get to 100 reps
then i will do standing calf raises heavy 100 reps as long as it takes me to get them.
when i say however long it takes me i also mean very little rest ... dont forget to stretch them out after each set.
switch up exercise everytime you do them, i hit them eod ... also dont forget to hit the front calf or whatever you call them exercises ...toe raises or something.

Thanks Fellas!!!

[Freakbb7243]

Vary your toe positions! Do one set inward/one set outward/one set toes straightforward. Trust me the will have to grow because they will be shocked into growth. Always very your sets-reps so your calves are constantly guessing and are forced to adapt and grow! Good luck

[rjx]

Increase the fucking intensity! Bottom line.

I like to do quadruple drop sets with no more than 7-10 seconds of rest.
Leg press (toe presses) are a sweet over-all calf developer that is under-rated imo. I like to do drop sets of that exercise followed by drop sets or seated or standing calf raises.

[dzl66]

this sounds f'up but.... before i was into the iron game i did alot of cycling on/off road and my calfs were bigger and better than 90% of the guys i see in the gym. I don't have naturally big calfs either. At the time I think i was probably riding between 125-175 miles a week with clipless pedals and it seems like this alot of reps in a way. So i would say do many reps several times a week. Have you ever seen guys calfs who work on ladders alot? Big and defined...so there you go same principle--a lot of time under tension.

[cutup]

Originally Posted by Frosty

Why such low reps for calves? They're mostly slow twitch fibers, so they respond better to higher reps. I'm talking like 10x30 standing calf raises and 3x50 donkey calf raises.

The two muscles that make up the calves are the gastrocnemius and soleus. The gastronemius is the upper muscle of the calf region and is targeted by straight leg calf raises. These muscles are primarily fast twitch muscle fibers and need to be targeted using heavy weight. However, these muscle also have slow twitch muscle fibers so some repitious excercises (sp?) is also recommended. The soleus is the lower region of the calf muscle, it attaches to the achilles tendon and is underneath the gastrocnemius. THis muscle is primarily targeted using bent knee calf raises and is predominately slow twitch muscle fibers which need to be trained using a lot of reps.

I always use a variation similar to the one i mentioned. But what works for me might not work for everyone else. Good Luck!

[Homer simpson]

All the bros have givin you great advice. I just worry that the reason why your calves arent growing might be you are working them to much. IMHO, I think 3 times a week is overkill. Also you might want to think about not training your calfs on leg day, try to add calfs to your chest or back day, this way you can really burn those little burgers up.

Homer