What do you do for calves?

[Get_Swole]

How big are your calves and what do you do to train them. Im lucky that i have pretty decent calves mine are just over 17 1/4. I usually just do seated raises and call it good i may start hitting them harder though. Any tricks you guys use to help them grow? I know i read a while back that bending your knees at the top of the lift on a standing calf raise hits them harder. Not sure though what do you do for them?

 

[benana24]

you can try running up a flight of stairs with heavy load.
I use it with a bagpack filled with 25kgs of wt, to improve my speed.
calves have grew bigger and leaner after few sessions....

 

[Crazymank]

standing, sitting, singles on the leg press. I just started training them every 3rd day. They are serioulsy lacking. about 4 inches smaller than my arms.

 

[nuknuk]

didnt I just go over this issue like a month ago?

 

[nuknuk]

Ok let me school yall on how to train calves. First off you have to train them heavy, no less than double your body weight. Second train them aleast twice a week, I train them three times a week, M,W,F. Third is to do them first before any other body part so you get maxium bloodflow to them. here is what i am currently doing now. When I first stated working out my calves were 14" now they are almost 19".

Monday and Friday;
Standing calve raises: 3 sets to failure, 4th set is a drop set, dropping a 100 pounds twice. going to failure.
Donkey raises: same sets as standing
Seated calve raises: same sets as before, just on the 4th set and pull of a plate twice in my drop set.
Also you can try one legged seated calve raises.

Wednesday:

Leg press toe raises: Use no less than 4 plates on each side.

I do 2 sets of 100reps turning my toes straight, out , in for 33 reps each. You will not be able to do them straight through. But rest no longer than 30 seconds. Yes, this shit hurts and burns but you will feel great once you complete them.

On the second set add a plate to each side, and repeat.

happy growing!
<!-- / message -->

 

[Get_Swole]

didnt I just go over this issue like a month ago?

I remember you posted that they are not all about genetics and people just dont train them right. Then i dont remember you elaborating at all? i could have missed it though. thanks for the post gonna try this for sure.

 

[Pharm_Fed]

Do you get someone to sit on your back for the donkey raises or use a weight belt?

 

[saudades]

Nuknuk, you have to remember that you are a genetic freak when it comes to muscle growth, lol.

I have 17" calves right now, but I can standing calf raise about 500 lbs, sitting calf raise 260 lbs (for reps on both). My calves are growing, just very slowly. I took Arnold's comments about calf training to heart when I read his book. He described how he trained with Reg Park, and when they did calves, Reg put Arnold to shame, running the weight up to 1000 lbs while Arnold was only using 150-200 lbs. He got the point that you have to go heavy on calves, and once he started doing that, his calves came up.

 

[optimalbalance]

not sure how much mass this gains but we have a treadmill that goes to 50% incline, I'll set that up to 4mph and really concentrate to push off my toes hard, after about 5 min. I almost have to fall off the machine and am in extreme pain for about another 5 minutes, pump is insane. Hard to find a mill that goes 50% but try it if you have access.

 

[teedubgee]

Ya know, I have decent sized calves (16 3/4" right now) and only trained them once per week. I've changed the type of my workout, but never tried multiple times a week. I think I'll take nuknuk's protocol and start here on Weds. I hope to report back with good results.