Help with Calves

[growstrong]

I have fairly defined calves but need help gaining some mass is the damn things. Any suggestions? What are you guys/girls doin for your calve workouts? Are you going to mass or definition?

[transXisomer]

Originally Posted by growstrong

I have fairly defined calves but need help gaining some mass is the damn things. Any suggestions? What are you guys/girls doin for your calve workouts? Are you going to mass or definition?

What has helped me is doing heavy ass calve raises with the sitdown calve raise, standing calve raise, keeping reps 6-8 with a very heavy weight. I will do 4 sets of these usually, sometimes a burnout at the end as their is a linear relationship I believe to lactic acid buildup and GH release, burnouts help really build this up, so you get a better GH response.

[CaptainPlanet]

Originally Posted by growstrong

I have fairly defined calves but need help gaining some mass is the damn things. Any suggestions? What are you guys/girls doin for your calve workouts? Are you going to mass or definition?

Great Lower body workout could be cycling - Low gear pedal REAL FAST.. Not going to gain as fast as weights but great thing to do if you want to "Secretly" workout with your family.

[lionelxxl]

a.k.a bodyfx2, inventor of the P/RR/S system. Here's a quote from him i posted on another site.

Originally Posted by bodyfx2

From my recent calves/forearms article printed in Iron Man magazine...

Similar to forearms, the calves can also be quite resistant to growth. Every time you take a step the calves are activated, and are burdened with carrying around your bodyweight all day long. This means that you must attack the calves if they are to have any reason to increase in size and strength. Conventional training simply will not do when it comes to calves, so I have listed below some unique methods for sending a wake-up call to those stubborn calf muscle fibers!

1. For a period of 2-4 weeks train your calves on a daily basis before returning to your normal program. Use about 4-6 sets per workout, using a different exercise each day.

2. Every night before you go to bed do a set of 100 slow, hard-squeezing standing calf raises with just your bodyweight, on top of your normal program. Go for maximum burn!

3. Wherever it is possible, walk around on your tiptoes rather than your flat feet. Ballet dancers often have awesome calves.

4. Every time you encounter a staircase do a calf raise up each step. On the way down, step onto the ball of your foot, as this will act almost like a plyometric movement for your calves.

5. Try 2 calf workouts per week, one with very heavy weights for sets of 4-6 reps and one with very light weights for sets of 25-50 reps. This will attack fibers that you probably have not been hitting with conventional workouts.

6. Do like Arnold did and train calves in your bare feet (if your feet can handle it). This will increase the range of motion for any calf movement, and will force a very intense contraction.

Do not use all of these methods at once, or your calves could end up over trained, which will of course not contribute to growth. Pick 2 or 3 items from the above list and change things up every few weeks.

[jbodybuilder]

As Ronnie would say, Heavy Ass Weights(I had to use that emoticon) IMO, standing calf raises are the backbone of the calf workout so that is where you want to go heavy. I have found the magic number for reps to be 8 for me and I currently use 375lbs. Start out using a weight that is comfortable and do 2-3 sets and keep adding 5-10 lbs per workout as you are able to prevent injury. In the last year, my calves have grown almost 1-1/2" using this method

[B-natural]

nice post or repost lionel, may haveta try that

[lionelxxl]

Originally Posted by B-natural

nice post or repost lionel, may haveta try that

I guess this little tips (in addition to the in gym calf work) may serve to 'wake up' the muscles and improve MMC which is VERY important.

[B-natural]

MMC? and this is?

[lionelxxl]

Originally Posted by B-natural

MMC? and this is?

MMC = Mind Muscle Connection

[LLLLern]

So your calves haven't been responding to your training as well as
you were expecting. There are many reasons for poor calf development.
Are you familiar with these reasons?

You're bending your knees during straight-leg exercises, like donkey
calf raises or calf raises on leg press machine. When you bend your
knees you're transferring your work load to the quads and glutes.

You're not stretching enough because you're using short and bouncy
movements.

You're not using enough weight.

You're not using different exercises for calves.

You give up too soon. Let your calves burn and enjoy it!

How can you make your calves to grow?

Reduce your lifting speed. What's the hurry? Try taking 10 seconds to
complete your rep and I think you'll notice the difference!

Pause in the bottom position. If you're doing higher reps, the shorter
the pause should be. Let's say you're doing six to eight reps, you may
pause approx. four seconds at the bottom. And then you're doing 30 - 50

reps, you may pause approx. one second at the bottom.

Your calves respond differently to different exercises. If you're doing

seated calf raises you're using slow-twitch muscle fibers. That means
you should do higher reps. And when you're doing donkey calf raises
you're using fast-twitch muscle fibers. That means you should do lower
reps.

Take off your training shoes! If you train with your bare feet you'll
get a greater range of motion.

Try using single-leg calf raises.

Use enough weight to ensure good stretch. The standing calf machine is
great for ensuring that your calves stretch.

Use different exercises to train all the muscles in your lower legs.