Calf muscles - Help contribute for bigger calves

[Athylus]

What's up guys. Like most of you here, I am struck by the absurdity of our calf muscles. I'll break it down as fast and as simple as I can, while providing some imagery.

First let's discuss calfs and the conventional way of training them. Most people think of "gastrocnemius" when we talk about calves, and some will think "but soleus is another muscle there!" which is true, and educated. And most bodybuilders will target these muscles, by doing seated or standing calf raises. Mostly with machines, and some do it with a barbell on their back. So what you are doing during these exercises, is that you are contracting the muscles on the back of your lower legs. And you guessed it right, mostly your gastrocnemius and soleus muscles.

floota.com/images/muscles%20of%20the%20calf.jpg (cannot link because post count 2)

This is an anatomical view of the back of our lower legs (calves). We can see many more muscles here for different functions. Now I am not an exercise therapist or anything like that, so I will not be able to name all of the movements. However if someone could put that down in this thread, we will appreciate that. Let's move on. We left out about 6-8 muscles according to the anatomical jpg I linked. So I wonder, why do we not target these muscles, along with the soleus and gastrocnemius?

Some say cycling is the answer, which might be a good answer. However I see plenty of cyclers, and some have huge calves while others have small calves. Small guys generally have bigger looking calves because they have less space at their legs. Fat men generally have big calves because they carry their weight around all day.

So is the answer endurance exercise with added weight? Is it targeting other calf muscles that we normally don't target, and if so, how would we do this without causing injury? Perhaps uphill and down sprinting are good exercises?

If any one of you managed to get big calves, please share your methods. Thanks.

[jwtiger69]

Simple answer is to train them... Second they grow like the rest of your body when you work out. Most of all if your stats are true then you should not expect big calves at your current weight.

[Bravoiswhiskey]

I switched to forefoot striking when I run. My calves became gigantic and I suddenly grew a tibialis anterior. Of course, making the transition from heel striking to forefoot took me almost a year and a half, but for me it was worth it.

Cycling? That's more of a quad/ham exercise. But a lot of that depends on how you sit your bike. I would rather do some HIIT with calf hops than cycle.

[VIsland]

Martial arts

[tastan]

train them. WHen training them don't do that stupid bouncy thing that people do when they train their calves. Lower the weight, pause, contract your calves, squeeze them hard at the top of the movement, repeat. Stretch them after the workout.

[Athylus]

I switched to forefoot striking when I run. My calves became gigantic and I suddenly grew a tibialis anterior. Of course, making the transition from heel striking to forefoot took me almost a year and a half, but for me it was worth it.

Cycling? That's more of a quad/ham exercise. But a lot of that depends on how you sit your bike. I would rather do some HIIT with calf hops than cycle.

Hello bravoiswhiskey, your description of your tibialis anterior is an understatement. I will take your word for the exercises.

I see, forefoot striking sounds interesting. You mentioned it took a long time to make the transition to that technique. For how long had you been running prior?

You also spoke about HIIT calf hops. Sounds like something I can work with. As a warmup exercise I do skipping rope. I will do that on my non-weightlifting days, and give it more of a HIIT style like you mentioned. Perhaps I will get results. Are the calf hops you mentioned executed like this? youtube.com/watch?v=EalmsYeGagc

train them. WHen training them don't do that stupid bouncy thing that people do when they train their calves. Lower the weight, pause, contract your calves, squeeze them hard at the top of the movement, repeat. Stretch them after the workout.

Hello tastan, your gains speak for themselves. A picture of your calves would be a good contribution.

To be fair with you, I actually neglected the advice that you have given me. Step by step execution will be much better for my calf raises. Lower, pauze, contract, squeeze at top. Got it. Stretching after workout. Despite haven't heard this advice and even spreading the word about it, I did not do it myself. Forgive me everyone.

[hossjob]

I truly believe that calves are the most genetically pre-disposed muscles in the body. Some people have giant calves and don't do dick for them. Mycollege roommate had the biggest calves and he purposely didn't train them. I'd train mine like crazy and they never grew.

The only time my calves grew was when I used Jump Soles. Honest. They got bigger adn looked great. This was before I was bodybuilding. I've often thought about using them to see if they caused some growth again.

Try training them like this:
Week 1 - 2 days
Week 2 - 3 days
Week 3 - 4 days
Week 4 - every day
Repeat

A good friend of mine who is a high level natural pro has never gotten his calves to train. Recently he began training them every single day and took measurements and has seen some serious growth. Mind you he is far from a newbie.

[Athylus]

I truly believe that calves are the most genetically pre-disposed muscles in the body. Some people have giant calves and don't do dick for them. Mycollege roommate had the biggest calves and he purposely didn't train them. I'd train mine like crazy and they never grew.

The only time my calves grew was when I used Jump Soles. Honest. They got bigger adn looked great. This was before I was bodybuilding. I've often thought about using them to see if they caused some growth again.

Try training them like this:
Week 1 - 2 days
Week 2 - 3 days
Week 3 - 4 days
Week 4 - every day
Repeat

A good friend of mine who is a high level natural pro has never gotten his calves to train. Recently he began training them every single day and took measurements and has seen some serious growth. Mind you he is far from a newbie.

I'm somewhere near an intermediate now. I don't train every day yet, only 3 times weightlifting a week. Adjusting will be hard.. I can start training every other day, so I can work calves out 4 times a week. Mind you I only do bodyweight exercises and I am limited to dumbells of 15kg each.

I think many things can work for different people. Some will get great calves from jump soles, and some from cycling. Calves are probably the most tricky muscles to train well.

[SimerGrewal]

try one leg calf raises like as u said u dont have heavy dumbells .. try doing as many reps as u can ... n try doing left ryt left ryt left ryt .. like all three sets without rest .. coz one calf is resting when doing other..

[Bravoiswhiskey]

Hello bravoiswhiskey, your description of your tibialis anterior is an understatement. I will take your word for the exercises.

I see, forefoot striking sounds interesting. You mentioned it took a long time to make the transition to that technique. For how long had you been running prior?

You also spoke about HIIT calf hops. Sounds like something I can work with. As a warmup exercise I do skipping rope. I will do that on my non-weightlifting days, and give it more of a HIIT style like you mentioned. Perhaps I will get results. Are the calf hops you mentioned executed like this? youtube.com/watch?v=EalmsYeGagc.

No, I get as much air as I possibly can by driving the balls of my feet downward explosively, keeping my legs straight. No quads. It's not a squat jump or a tuck jump.

Just don't have your legs locked out when you land, I keep a soft bend to protect my joints but stay straight enough that I'm isolating my calves to land instead of my quads. Landing with locked knees is a self correcting problem, it hurts.

I work this in as an 8 round tabata when I'm trying to cut. Usually on calf day, no more than twice a week.

I wouldn't recommend doing it all year round, plyos are pretty damn hard on your knees.

When I'm lifting calves I do what everyone else does. Slow lift on a riser so I can get my heels below my toes. Squeeze at the top. If I'm feeling like a douchebag I'll load up 500 pounds of plates on the Smith machine, but in all honesty 180 is usually enough.

When I switched from heel to toe striking, I was a beginner runner. I really don't run unless I have to for testing. I'm a 7:00/mi pace, but only for short distances - so I'm not like, master running champion or anything.

[kayot1k]

No, I get as much air as I possibly can by driving the balls of my feet downward explosively, keeping my legs straight. No quads. It's not a squat jump or a tuck jump.

Just don't have your legs locked out when you land, I keep a soft bend to protect my joints but stay straight enough that I'm isolating my calves to land instead of my quads. Landing with locked knees is a self correcting problem, it hurts.

I work this in as an 8 round tabata when I'm trying to cut. Usually on calf day, no more than twice a week.

I wouldn't recommend doing it all year round, plyos are pretty damn hard on your knees.

When I'm lifting calves I do what everyone else does. Slow lift on a riser so I can get my heels below my toes. Squeeze at the top. If I'm feeling like a douchebag I'll load up 500 pounds of plates on the Smith machine, but in all honesty 180 is usually enough.

When I switched from heel to toe striking, I was a beginner runner. I really don't run unless I have to for testing. I'm a 7:00/mi pace, but only for short distances - so I'm not like, master running champion or anything.

forget running, not good at all for your knees in the long run.
you only need one exercise , seated calf raises, load them up and take your time doing them squeeze hard.

[EjnarKolinkar]

I'm somewhere near an intermediate now. I don't train every day yet, only 3 times weightlifting a week. Adjusting will be hard.. I can start training every other day, so I can work calves out 4 times a week. Mind you I only do bodyweight exercises and I am limited to dumbells of 15kg each.

I think many things can work for different people. Some will get great calves from jump soles, and some from cycling. Calves are probably the most tricky muscles to train well.

So are you training one calf at a time with both the 15kg in your hands yet? Do you own a backpack?