Can we talk about calves?

[cwc73]

First off, most of us know that calves are mainly genetic. However, with training we can produce hypertrophy and get them bigger.

The Calves are made up of two main muscles:
1. The Gastrocnemius--which is mainly worked when the knee is not bent
2. The Soleus--which is mainly worked when the knee is bent (seated)

The Gastrocnemius has two heads: a lateral and a medial and I believe the Soleus only has one head.


Question: Can the two heads of the Gastrocnemius be worked differently due to toe angle? My medial head is growing and responding very rapidly, but my lateral head is lagging. It makes the calf muscle look smaller without the lateral head being shapely.

 

[Creepusmaximus]

I don't know but I do know a guy on here gave me this idea for building calves and it worked for me. Run on soft sand. It seems to work the whole calf. I live by a beach so it was no problem for me to find soft sand.

 

[musclemuscle]

no we can't

 

[blut wump]

I've read that two heads are better than one.

There are two variables you can play with: toe angle and foot spacing. Vary them over a few workouts and see what aches.

 

[KillahBee]

This is not a direct answer to your questions (yes, I am useless...) but I just wanted to note that I recently started to jump rope and WOW - calf killer right there.

 

[blut wump]

Rope-jumping (skipping as we call it over here) makes my head hurt. I think my brain flops around with all that bouncing. You could also try hopping. It might sound silly but doing bunny-hops over a hundred yards is probably more than most people would be capable of.

 

[HunterUk]

I'm the same, medial head is growing but lateral appears to be doing nothing!

 

[cwc73]

Which toe angle would seam to work out the lateral head?

 

[Dial_tone]

I do not believe toe angle is the crucial factor, unlike most. I believe weight on the inside of the forefoot works the inner; weight on the outside works the outer.

 

[cwc73]

D.T. how do you produce such unbalanced weight?

 

[blut wump]

Foot spacing can help. Wider spacing will put more weight on the inside.

 

[casualbb]

exrx.net:

Although the involvement of the lateral and medial heads would not seem to be altered by medial or lateral rotation of the hip, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research by Dr. Per Tesch (Sweden) suggests toes in activate both heads and toes out activate the medial head to a higher degree. See dorsiflexion inflexibility.

 

[Dial_tone]

D.T. how do you produce such unbalanced weight?

just pronate/supinate the ankle.

 

[cwc73]

So what do all of your calf routines look like?
I have been doing 2-3 sets of Donkey calves a week.
I am about to start doing the following:
Standing calf raise machine
- 2X10
Seated Calf Machine
- 2X10
How does this look? I might do the standings on 1 day and the seated on the other because I am doing 5X5. Does this sound ok?

 

[KillzwithPillz]

after I do calf rasies same as most, I go right to cardio, set treadmill on 5.0 or so incline and what ever pace you decide, realy over emphasis on lauching off each foot, calves are pumped like crazy

 

[thelion2005]

So what do all of your calf routines look like?
I have been doing 2-3 sets of Donkey calves a week.
I am about to start doing the following:
Standing calf raise machine
- 2X10
Seated Calf Machine
- 2X10
How does this look? I might do the standings on 1 day and the seated on the other because I am doing 5X5. Does this sound ok?

My calves grow if my body weight goes up ... and the reverse of course.
Exercise seems to promote this trend.

I get the best pump and gain with single leg standing with a db. 5 X 10, left a set, right a set ... ball of foot on 2 X 4 .... 3 times a week. Foot straight ahead...up...hold and squeeze... down slowly and stop at bottom.

Everyone is different.

Good luck.

 

[cwc73]

Yea, I emphasize the up ans squeeze and the down and pause. This really burns my calves.

 

[Jim Ouini]

I thought I read from Poliquin to try strip sets so that one can get the requisite number of (high) reps to stimulate the soleus, and still be able to work the muscle in the full range of motion i.e, most people do OK for the first, say, 10-15 reps but then turn them into the short choppy reps by the time they get to 50 or so.

So his solution (I'm pretty sure it was Poliquin) was to strip off 10-20-40 lbs when form starts to break and keep pushing on through a complete ROM.

For gastroc I heard heavy eccentrics - like find a weight you can do 7-8 reps with two feet, and then for reps go two feet up, one foot down - and sprinting downhill were good.

Never tried the toe angle thing myself, though.

 

[Whiskey]

I do not believe toe angle is the crucial factor, unlike most. I believe weight on the inside of the forefoot works the inner; weight on the outside works the outer.

I agree wholeheartedly with DT. Jenetically I have small calves, but if I work them at least twice or three times a week, I can keep decent calves.

About the weight on either side of your foot, you can raise yourself with your inner foot, with the outside of your foot slightly raised. "tihnk raising yourself up with your big toe portion."

And the same with the outside of your foot and the inner part raised. "THink raising up on the pinkie toe portion."


Works great for ME. But i'm not you so I can't say it wiilll work for shure for you or not.

Whiskey

 

[bignate73]

i'm more of a foot spacing advocate as well. i'm not into trying to twist my foot/hips under heavy loads. I definitely notice a difference when i space wider putting more stress on the instep vs a closer stance where the pressure is more uniform towards my pinky's. by no means a scientific explanation, more of an observation of muscle activity that I NOTICE.

as for my routine, pretty simple. i generally keep everything around the 15 range and may occasionally work a 12, 10 in there. I find my calves are very strong and anything less than the occasional 10 gets my ankle joints hurting.

some ways to mix it up:
push a car
drag a sled
farmers walks
jump rope
run in the sand
run uphill

all fun alternatives to standard standing, seated and donkey varieties of calf work.

have fun building those calves into COWS!

 

[cwc73]

Well, I don't know if "cows" are in my future, but Im really going to try and improve them. Besides, I have made a complete turn around with my quads, so the calves are next!