Small Calves

[MindlessWork]

I got fatboy calves and those are hard to grow as well...soooo will try these tricks as well. A good debate incoming I am sure....

 

[Hightower]

View attachment 160142
Don’t forget to make the noise during your sets for extra gains!

Lol That's right, this is the most important thing when doing the exercise

 

[Plate Smacker]

Worked my Calves almost everyday, and did alot of stretching. Bodyweight single leg calf raise,, about 15 reps each side, every hour, for 8 hours.
Hold peak contraction for 2 seconds, 2 seconds down, hold stretch 2 seconds, 1 second up, hold for 2 seconds and on and on.. 3 on 1 off. Once tendinitis set in. Took a break for a week. Then started back up. No additional calve training, just bodyweight single leg. If your really light, hold a weight in your hand.
Not going to complete failure, due to high frequency.
I did this for about 3 rotations. Then took 2 weeks off Calves.
Also alot of toes lifts to work the front of lower leg.
Then switch to normal heavy calf training for about 12 weeks.
Then come back to bodyweight movement.
ALOT OF STRETCHING, DEEP STRETCHING. EVERYDAY.
That is the only thing that worked for me.
Now I just do normal calf training, and throw in higher frequency here and there.

 

[Canknucklehead]

@JC Grifter

Did you try anything in here?

 

[1tank1]

Calves can be difficult to target.

Depending on your genetics you will either need to hit them with heavy weights/low reps and lots of rest or you will need to train them daily with volume.

 

[JC Grifter]

@JC Grifter

Did you try anything in here?

Absolutely. I even bought a calf machine since I’ve been using my home gym only now. I hit them now everyday (sometimes skip a day).

Been holding the stretch on the bottom for 2-3 seconds. I rarely did that mostly because I’d always get a weird feeling in my ankle like bubbles popping, but the more I do the exercise the less that happens. Also holding at the top. Slowed down the reps a lot!

I think I’m actually seeing a small difference since I wrote this thread. I hope it’s not just inflammation from hitting them so often

 

[1tank1]

My genetics meant that the Tibialis Anterior was always dominant whenever I did standing calf raises so my outer/frontal calves looked well developed but the inner/lower looked weak.

It was only when I switched to doing seated toe raises that I fully engaged the gastrocnemius and my calves blew up like balloons and looked round/pumped.
The Gastro is what really gives size to the calves.

 

[JC Grifter]

My genetics meant that the Tibialis Anterior was always dominant whenever I did standing calf raises so my outer/frontal calves looked well developed but the inner/lower looked weak.

It was only when I switched to doing seated toe raises that I fully engaged the gastrocnemius and my calves blew up like balloons and looked round/pumped.
The Gastro is what really gives size to the calves.

Hopefully that will be the case here too!

 

[Canknucklehead]

Absolutely. I even bought a calf machine since I’ve been using my home gym only now. I hit them now everyday (sometimes skip a day).

Been holding the stretch on the bottom for 2-3 seconds. I rarely did that mostly because I’d always get a weird feeling in my ankle like bubbles popping, but the more I do the exercise the less that happens. Also holding at the top. Slowed down the reps a lot!

I think I’m actually seeing a small difference since I wrote this thread. I hope it’s not just inflammation from hitting them so often

Keep it up bro. Good to hear!

 

[Hightower]

The calf muscles are a very useful muscle, sometimes you need to try different exercises, repetitions, it is possible to work in a static mode. And then they explode.

 

[OmL]

Body weight and volume were what did it for me.

 

[ScottCurls]

Worked my Calves almost everyday, and did alot of stretching. Bodyweight single leg calf raise,, about 15 reps each side, every hour, for 8 hours.
Hold peak contraction for 2 seconds, 2 seconds down, hold stretch 2 seconds, 1 second up, hold for 2 seconds and on and on.. 3 on 1 off. Once tendinitis set in. Took a break for a week. Then started back up. No additional calve training, just bodyweight single leg. If your really light, hold a weight in your hand.
Not going to complete failure, due to high frequency.
I did this for about 3 rotations. Then took 2 weeks off Calves.
Also alot of toes lifts to work the front of lower leg.
Then switch to normal heavy calf training for about 12 weeks.
Then come back to bodyweight movement.
ALOT OF STRETCHING, DEEP STRETCHING. EVERYDAY.
That is the only thing that worked for me.
Now I just do normal calf training, and throw in higher frequency here and there.

Yep I’m trying this starting today, sounds excellent and I believe calves need extremely frequent exercise.

 

[Hightower]

It seems to me that caviar is more like volumes.

 

[klokke23]

HIIIGH volume. Look at those in sports in junior high school. Big calves almost all of them. They don't train and wait 3 days to train them again. Their calves are conta tly being hammered, every day. They're designed this way. 3x12 doesn't work.
I work calves first thing on almost every session and after. 20-30 rep ranges only. This is a huge game changer. But don't tell your friends.

 

[Hightower]

HIIIGH volume. Look at those in sports in junior high school. Big calves almost all of them. They don't train and wait 3 days to train them again. Their calves are conta tly being hammered, every day. They're designed this way. 3x12 doesn't work.
I work calves first thing on almost every session and after. 20-30 rep ranges only. This is a huge game changer. But don't tell your friends.

And how long have you been working in this mode, how is the progress and effectiveness of this approach, in your opinion?

 

[Deleted member 123722]

Dorian Yates made a good point: Train your calves just like you'd train the rest of you muscles; you don't train other muscles with super-high reps, so why would you train your calves that way? He also said our calves are used to the super-high reps since we walk on them all day. Mind you Dorian had so much beef on his calves, they'd go no matter what lol, but he is right about his logic.

My calves are only 16 inches (no pump); they are the high-insert type, so I have no chance of them getting huge, but they were once smaller, and what I did to grow them was simply rape them every time I trained them, doing them twice week. They can take a lot of abuse, so load them up, and do some drop sets on the final heavy set, that way you cover both approaches, while not missing out on the necessary heavy loading.

 

[Deezznutzz]

Bicycle. People always ask about my calves and quads. Never trained them besides squats after age 40 Lol.Been riding bikes since age 4. Stand up and pump up hills. No clip in pedals. Bmx platform pedals and a mountain bike. Thank me later.

 

[klokke23]

Dorian Yates made a good point: Train your calves just like you'd train the rest of you muscles; you don't train other muscles with super-high reps, so why would you train your calves that way? He also said our calves are used to the super-high reps since we walk on them all day. Mind you Dorian had so much beef on his calves, they'd go no matter what lol, but he is right about his logic.

My calves are only 16 inches (no pump); they are the high-insert type, so I have no chance of them getting huge, but they were once smaller, and what I did to grow them was simply rape them every time I trained them, doing them twice week. They can take a lot of abuse, so load them up, and do some drop sets on the final heavy set, that way you cover both approaches, while not missing out on the necessary heavy loading.

Care to elaborate why you know he is right?

 

[klokke23]

And how long have you been working in this mode, how is the progress and effectiveness of this approach, in your opinion?

Since January. First time in my life I can see progress. I was at some older lifting vids and went damn my calves were small. Which is something I have never noticed under any circumstance

 

[Deleted member 123722]

Care to elaborate why you know he is right?

Calves are made to endure thousands and thousands of "reps" with your body weight; it makes no sense to hit them with super-high reps, which they are already used to. People will do super-high reps and feel a burn, but that burn isn't muscle growth—its lactic acid. Do you grow any other body part with 50-100 reps?

And since calves are made to endure thousands of "reps" walking around all day, it is safe to assume they are mostly composed of slow twitch fibers. Moreover, slower twitch fibers are the smallest, whereas fast twitch fibers are much bigger; the fast twitch fibers are not being hit at ANY point during your day, unless you hit them in the gym. So if you want bigger calves, load up the weight and hit those fast twitch fibers.

So when I mean by "raping" calves: warm up to a heavy load...do that load to total failure, then do some drop sets to get the high-rep metabolic action, AFTER you have stimulated your type 2 fibers.

I think that logic is quite sound.