Help my calves are small

[FitnessFrk]

Originally posted by Godly1
oh, by the way, it is safe to work them whenever the hell you feel like it, they're kind of like your abs, you can't overtrain them.

that is just plain old BAD ADVICE !!...

 

[acuraman]

I work my calves twice a week. Onece with back the other with legs. 3 exercises with a little variation. Standing calf raises, seated calf raises, and donkey raises. Not really huge yet but sure looking better then they did

 

[Glootz]

Much of calves is genetics
However the key is to really feel the burn when doing any type of calf raise. Good Luck!

Listen to him, he knows what he is talking about.....also, the calves can take ALOT of weight-go heavy, or go home

 

[THE BOUNCER]

I went the heavy-once a week routine for a year and had very little results. I switched over to doing them twice a week with low weight and high reps. Since switching over I have had great results. That's just me though.

 

[DaCypher]

I agree with the slightly higher volume (2-3 times a week) for training calves. However, I still get my best results with very heavy weights. Also, another thing people may be overlooking is the speed at which you do the reps. Because most calf exercises have such a small range of motion, its relatively easy to do them too quickly (in my opinion). I still try to keep a 2 second positive, 4 second negative tempo with my calf exercises (as I do for most of my other lifts). Might be something to try for those with lagging calves (if you haven't tried it already).

 

[The Dude]

Mine sucked until I found the joy and necessity of heavy sets and drop sets resulting in lots of delicious pain! They're not too shabby any more.

My calf workouts (once per 6 day cycle [4 day split]):

Standing CR x 5 sets: target reps (meet that rep for that set and I go up in weight for THAT set next time): 15,12,9,9,15

Seated CR x 3 sets: target 15 on first set; all are drop sets, the last being a triple or quadruple drop

Next week, reverse order and do Seated CR heavy and Standing CR w/ drops. Good range of motion and feel those calves, especially at the "top" of the rep. Move as much weight as you can. Calves are a lot stronger than most people think. Most of the regulars in my gym outweigh me by 20-50lbs, yet I move more weight (and move it correctly) than they do on Standing CR's.

 

[needsize]

The calves are comprised of two separate muscles (can't remember names right now) one gets hit when the knee is at a 90 degree angle, ie, seated raises, and the other gets hit when the leg is straight. I find after training one area, I don't have enough strength/energy to efficiently hit the other so I split them up, I do standing on chest day, seated on leg day, rep range 12-15 reps.
This has brought my calves from pathetic to merely outclassed, so it works for me

 

[The Dude]

For me, I find the soleus still pretty strong after standing cr's, but my gastroc is a bit weaker after seated cr's. One thing else that has helped me is I don't do calves on leg day. That day is just thighs. I do calves after chest. I have a lot more energy then than I would after thighs. I can really hammer them then.

 

[cure]

Re: BIGGGG CALVES

Dude,

Calves are probably the bitchiest of bitches!!!! They never seem to grow... I would however recommend you don't do them like 2-3 times a week... Once a week max... Never more than that... Also, do standing calf raises, donkey calf raises and seated calf raises... As heavy as possible... You may wanna begin your leg day with calves rather than quads or even do calves on another day to give them the attention they deserve!!!

A tip... Change the way you walk... Walk on your tip-toes around the house... On your way to the workout... In the gym... In fact, one calf exercise that people don't ever do and find funny, is walking around the gym on tip-toes with a heavy barbell across your back... I've done this, at the cost of people laughing at me, and seen fantastic results!!!

Contradictory statement my friend. You tell him to work them out once a week only but to walk around on your tip-toes which adds added stress to the calves. Work them once a week like every other bodypart. Like the others say, train them heavy and pyramid down. Heavy first to lightest last.

 

[walkthewalk]

calfs are not something thats going to change over night. they are a muscle that is constantly being used and is adapted to the "way you walk". walking on your toes will increase calf size but to do so you'll have to learn to walk all over again. thats why many choose site injections for calf growth, usually supension test, to speed up the process. They sell some gay ass shit to promote calf growth but don't waste your money, big calves are like a fat dick either you have it or you don't.