Do calves really need to be "shocked" each workout

[joe123456]

hi, ive heard around that you should change up your calve workout every time like 1 day high reps of low weight 1 day low reps of high weight. Couldnt i just do them every other day, increase 5 pounds each workout. I got a good routine, for each set you first do 10 reps then you do 20 more but for these 20,the negation part or downward part of the reps or watever you call them, you remove 1 leg, alternating legs. So you really feel the burn. You do 3 sets of that and it HURTS. Cant i just do this or do i have to "shock" them, with new things.

[joe123456]

bump

[VikingPower]

Do whatever you want, just beat them up well.

[JayKid]

Yea, calves (for me and most people I know) are a hard muscle to hit well enough to grow. You just gotta hit 'em as hard as possible, I personally find high reps to be better (like 15-20ish), and to failure for 4 or so sets. That's me though.

Also, calves are suppose to be the same size as your bicep for symmetry, right?

Mine are the same, but because my arm is shorter than my leg, they look smaller (I think it's probably the same for most people). Is that still considered symmetrical? Or should they look the same, regardless of symmetry measurement-wise...

[stealth_swimmer]

Yea, calves (for me and most people I know) are a hard muscle to hit well enough to grow. You just gotta hit 'em as hard as possible, I personally find high reps to be better (like 15-20ish), and to failure for 4 or so sets. That's me though.

Also, calves are suppose to be the same size as your bicep for symmetry, right?

Mine are the same, but because my arm is shorter than my leg, they look smaller (I think it's probably the same for most people). Is that still considered symmetrical? Or should they look the same, regardless of symmetry measurement-wise...

You mean they should be the same size as your arms, not just the biceps. And they should measure the same for symmetry. Both should be unflexed when you measure them. Most people flex their arms when they measure them but this is inaccurate since some ppl change more than others when flexed. Personally, when I flex it adds another 2 inches or sometimes a little more than when I don't flex. Calves don't change much, that's why you want to measure unflexed.

[MiketheSwede]

IMO, calves should be trained just like any other muscle.
I remember one guy I knew who had a hard time building his calves (actually, a hard time building pretty much anything, tall and skinny fella!) and I watched him try to the "more is better" on a standing calf raise, doing tones of sets with iddy-biddy reps, really just bouncing up and down on his toes. Never got him anywhere......

I do calves like anything else, slow on the way down, contract and feel the muscle on the way up.
No need, imo, to do 'em 3 times a week or whatever. Just slip 'em in somewhere in your rutine and train them PROPERLY.
Works for me anyway, and I got calves!

[JayKid]

You mean they should be the same size as your arms, not just the biceps. And they should measure the same for symmetry. Both should be unflexed when you measure them. Most people flex their arms when they measure them but this is inaccurate since some ppl change more than others when flexed. Personally, when I flex it adds another 2 inches or sometimes a little more than when I don't flex. Calves don't change much, that's why you want to measure unflexed.

Yea, I meant arms...

And so I should measure them both unflexed, but (for bodybuilding) wouldn't you need them to be symmetrical flexed? Maybe not, I really don't know what our proportions need to be.

So if my arms and calves flexed are the same size, and my arms grow more when flexed (which I think is true for myself) than my arms are too small? But my calves still look much smaller...

I guess that doesn't matter since even the pros' calves look smaller than there arms. Symmetry must be about measurement.

[Guardian]

hi, ive heard around that you should change up your calve workout every time like 1 day high reps of low weight 1 day low reps of high weight. Couldnt i just do them every other day, increase 5 pounds each workout. I got a good routine, for each set you first do 10 reps then you do 20 more but for these 20,the negation part or downward part of the reps or watever you call them, you remove 1 leg, alternating legs. So you really feel the burn. You do 3 sets of that and it HURTS. Cant i just do this or do i have to "shock" them, with new things.

I have had success using 4-5 sets of standing calf raises increase the weight each set and the last set using more wieght then the highest weight of the last workout. Ive added about 3 inches ot my calves over the past 9 months, but im still in the begginer stage of calf developement. Donkey calf raises work very well if you have someone that can "help" you do them! I train calves twice a week, I dont think any more then 3 times a week they should be trained.

[Donshe]

Ive had a hard time bringin up my calves and used to go crazy on reps by listening to the beat them up people. I still train them much more frequently, but at sensible reps (10-12) for 4 sets, 3x a week. Its getting me results, means I can use sensible poundages too rather then using extremely light (too many reps) or extremely heavy stuff (too less reps with ****ty ROM) which I personally feel is useless.

[Guardian]

Also you cna try one leged negative meaning use both legs to prop up the weight and just do the negative portion of thhe calf raise with one leg.