The best calf exercise?

[Huckleberry]

Squats, lunges, and leg curls have all worked wonders for my upper legs. But now consequently, I notice my calves are lagging behind!

Can anyone recommend their top two or three calf exercises?

*My available equipment is a good bench, squat rack, olympic barbell, and dumbbells.

[BiologyBabe]

Seated plate loaded machine calf Press
Seated plate/db on knees calf raise

Standing two leg DB calf Raise
Standing one leg DB calf Raise

Standing two leg BB calf Raise
Standing one leg BB calf raise

Cybex Rotary Calf
Standing Calf Raise Machine

45-degree angle leg press calf Press

um... ok.

[Ben76]

i'd saying carrying one on your back for a 2 mile jog 4 times a week would do wonders for you.

[FarEastBeast]

The best calf exercise is the standing calf raise machine, which you don't have. Without it, you can put a barbell on your back like for squats, but then it's hard to balance and get a full range of motion, so your main exercise should probably be one-leg calf raises holding a dumbbell in one hand and something for support with the other. I usually do these without weight, last in my workout (thus on prefatigued calves) and do one leg, then the other, then finish with both. Like with biceps, it's pretty easy to feel the calves working, so make sure they are - form and then persistence are the most important things.

[de_barathrum]

ive enjoyed supersetting one legged donkey calf raises with standing barbell calf raises recently. definitely think its making my calves thicker.

[HG_IRON]

if you have a training partner donkeys are good

[Zensuji]

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=564119

[VikingPower]

I prefer calf raises in a leg press machine. Just try them all and see which ones you like.

[owenjudo2k5]

Donkey calve raises and standing calve raises.

[lc5315]

Yeah.. anything standing just works wonders for my calves. I can't seem to work them as heard seated. If you don't have a standing calf machine, try doing them in the smiht on an elevated platform. Both legs or 1 leg at a time.. it works just as well.

[AlexT]

other then just doing excercises you might want to give calves a preffernce to other trainings, instead of doing calves at the end fo your leg training do them at the beginning, maybe even twice a week.

[gecko2424]

I was blessed with large/strong calves, lucky me. Personally, I feel that since you use them so often, they can take a fairly intese workout. I do them at the end of leg day, after leg extensions (giving them a chance to rest) I do seated, then standing, then a different seated (feet in front) and will throw in another standing if I feel like it. It's fun limping out of the gym. I find it helps to get on an exercise bike for 5-10 min afterword to loosen up the tightness and remove some lactic acid.

I think the big key is stretching. There is so much tensionon these muscles most of the day, that they need to be stretched often for good development. I stretch before, between and after the lifts. Before bed, when I wake up and my favorite, when I walk up stairs, I only put my toes on each step and use my bodyweight to fully stretch my calves one at time. When I get to the top, they're nice and limber.

I don't know if it will work for you, but's it's been great for me.

[pounce]

Try doing calf-raises 6-8 sets of 40-50 reps with 100lbs (use the BB) every other day for a couple of weeks and report back.