best exercises for calves

[LeeJunFan]

i've always had trouble building up my calves and bruce lee said he thought they were a "high-rep" muscle but i cant seem to build mine, any of you have any tips on how to get that line down the middle so u can actually see the 2 muscles rather than just 1?

 

[Sub-Zero]

IMO you walk all day long so your getting high rep on your calves everytime you go someplace

i think working them more frequently like 2-3x per week helps.

iv also noticed that doing some super heavy reps that i cant completely lock out (but still light enough to control and move slowly) helped, immediately suppersetted with bodyweight, or light weight completely stretched, completely flexed reps after

 

[oso0960]

I've noticed a lot of runners have tremendous calves. I saw the most growth when I worked my calves with a fairly heavy weight and many sets of 15-20 reps every single day, upping the weight every now and then. They were pretty sore the first week but I got used to it after
.

 

[needtogetaas]

Do a search on nelsons calf work outs. He has some damn good ones. 3-4 times a week is best for most people.

 

[thebigoz]

Ride 40 miles a week

In all seriouness, I ride A LOT (not now that I'm bulking) and my calves get killer-defined from it.

 

[ExtraMile]

Rest paused calf raises are the best IMO. Hill sprints on your off days will get your calves pretty swole too

 

[binö]

combine your cardio with your calf training...buy a wieghted vest and either hike or
stairclimb (so much sicker with live stairs not a stairclimber).
guranteed to beef out your calves, mine are getting a nice diamond swole from that sorta training

 

[ExtraMile]

Btw, I know Korin also reccomends rest paused calf raises followed immediately by heavy leg curls.

Tomorrow Im gonna do rest pause calf raise, then leg curls then farmers then bike riding

 

[binö]

Btw, I know Korin also reccomends rest paused calf raises followed immediately by heavy leg curls.

Tomorrow Im gonna do rest pause calf raise, then leg curls then farmers then bike riding

my honest opinion on the calve machine exercises is that they are largely worthless, at least they were for me...my calves were stubborn, and the only way to stimulate them was sustained intense loading...unfeasible with machinery.
and i think a lotta peeps are like that

 

[ExtraMile]

my honest opinion on the calve machine exercises is that they are largely worthless, at least they were for me...my calves were stubborn, and the only way to stimulate them was sustained intense loading...unfeasible with machinery.
and i think a lotta peeps are like that

I do my calf raises in a smith machine standing on a block, no other way of doing them without a machine exept seated db calf raise...

 

[AEKDB]

I know it goes against the common knowledge but, I truly believe squats and oly lifts are the best lifts for the calf muscle. The calf development on oly lifters is amazing and I guarantee they are not super-setting calf machine and donkey raises.

 

[chazk]

nelsons routine brought my calves up from 17 to 18 inches to match my upper arm.
100 reps divided into as many sets as it takes you untill failure .
say 30 reps then 25 then 20 then 18 then 15 then so on untill the total reaches 100
with little rest between the sets

 

[SaiBoT]

Nelson's routine, DC calf routine, some Charles Poliquin routines what they all have in common it's that they are done with rest-pause and yes doing some heavy rest paused leg curls also pumps them up quite nicely, in fact i think that's the reason why the DC calf routine it's so effective, plus the painful stretching for expanding the fascia. Of course all of these will only work with a full range of motion.

 

[NOLOGY77]

I do my calve training on a leg press machine and you can see them actually working. I do 3x10-15 reps twice a week

 

[JDid23]

quick question about nelsons routine... when he says to use as much weight as you can with about 20 or 25 reps, how should one use this weight? Should i hold DBs in my hands, or use the machine or what?

thx

 

[ajaygill]

does anyone have the link to nelsons routine?

 

[JDid23]

does anyone have the link to nelsons routine?

well i don't have a link but i read about it somewhere briefly. I think that he says to do 75 reps total when you are starting out. Choose 1 calf exercise (standing calf raises, seated calf raises, etc.) and choose a weight that you can usually do 20-25 reps with. Then, do the 20-25 reps, and in 10 second intervals, work your way up to 75 within 4 minutes. When this becomes easy, bump it up to 100 reps. I think that it's pretty much a speed calf routine with as little rest between sets as possible. Your sets may even be of 5-10 after the 20 or 25, but as long as you reach 75 i think you're okay.

 

[ajaygill]

thanks bro ill defiently do this. One q's is this only once a week kinda thing? or 2-3 times a week

 

[JDid23]

thanks bro ill defiently do this. One q's is this only once a week kinda thing? or 2-3 times a week

np... i am not sure to be completely honest, but he says that if you can walk after you do these, you didn't do them hard enough. For me, i have soccer 2-3 days a week during the summer so i don't want to overdo it on these. However, if you have nothing going on and really want to add size to your calves, 2-3 times a week sounds great. It's only 4 minutes added to your normal routine and supposedly has killer results. good luck with it

 

[ExtraMile]

I do smith machine calf raises standing on a block, I use a 15 rep weight and rest pause it to 100 reps. Sometimes I put the bar in a front squat position if my shoulder hurts and I actually prefer that now, I think Im gonna do it all the time...

 

[JDid23]

I do smith machine calf raises standing on a block, I use a 15 rep weight and rest pause it to 100 reps. Sometimes I put the bar in a front squat position if my shoulder hurts and I actually prefer that now, I think Im gonna do it all the time...

what do you think about doing standing calf raises while holding DBs?