Training Calf Muscles

[average_joe]

I'm trying to get bigger calves. Any tips? Right now, I'm doing

1) raises on the balls of my feet on flat ground with a weighted barbell on my shoulders (squat postion)

2) the machine in which you sit down and do calf raises

3) one legged calf raises on flat ground holding a dumbell

I'm doing about 10 reps.

[aramini]

quick interval sprints with the jump rope on your toes, don't let the heel touch and do it as quickly as you can for thirty seconds or a minute, rest, do it again, until you can "sprint" with it for about two minutes and do five or so reps.

Standing calf raises in the smith rack, of course, are the best. The smith rack spots you. I used to do about 450 lbs for sets of 10 reps in it, but I forget to set the safety once, dropped it on myself, and now have a healthy respect for always making sure the safety is employed. There aren't very many ways to flex a calf, so a few exercises must be done at high intensity.

[younghypnotiq]

ur overtraining ur calves. dont do 3 fucking excercises for calves. unless u do 1 set of each.

[average_joe]

Originally Posted by aramini

quick interval sprints with the jump rope on your toes, don't let the heel touch and do it as quickly as you can for thirty seconds or a minute, rest, do it again, until you can "sprint" with it for about two minutes and do five or so reps.

Standing calf raises in the smith rack, of course, are the best. The smith rack spots you. I used to do about 450 lbs for sets of 10 reps in it, but I forget to set the safety once, dropped it on myself, and now have a healthy respect for always making sure the safety is employed. There aren't very many ways to flex a calf, so a few exercises must be done at high intensity.

You do the calf raises on level ground though right? The problem with that though is I can't get enough of a stretch on it, so I'm just moving maybe 4 inches. The machine where you sit down and do calf raises, has the front of the feet higher than the back, meaning more of a stretch.

As for the jump rope, I do a little of that for conditioning, and I do feel it in the calves. But that would be more of an endurance training, not for bulking right?

[average_joe]

Originally Posted by younghypnotiq

ur overtraining ur calves. dont do 3 fucking excercises for calves. unless u do 1 set of each.

I do around 2 sets of each. No I don't think it's overtraining. I do 3 exercises of everything. For example, if I'm training biceps, I do pullups, hammer curls, and preacher curls.

[younghypnotiq]

^^^^ well then u r overtraining ur biceps aswell. if u want a good bodybuilidng routine ask me and i will post it up. also do them with free weights but put your toes on something a little higher. thats what i do. i do straiing calf raises on as tep.

[Sagefrancis]

he's not overtraining his calves.
the calves, like the abs, neck and forearms are hard to overtrain.
and im talking about real overtraining, long term overtraining, not just feeling sore the next day.
this is because they are used so much in our everyday lives.
the exercises suggested are fine. but remember youve got two different muscles there. the soleus and gastrocnemes (sp?) and im pretty sure one of them you need to work with your knees bent and the other with it standing.
im not sure anyway
goodluck

[average_joe]

Originally Posted by younghypnotiq

^^^^ well then u r overtraining ur biceps aswell. if u want a good bodybuilidng routine ask me and i will post it up. also do them with free weights but put your toes on something a little higher. thats what i do. i do straiing calf raises on as tep.

No, I'm not. This is one of the workouts I do. I take enough rest in between, usually two days. And I'm not really new to this. I've been lifting for about 5 years now. If I were a beginner, it would be overtraining, but after this long, I need about that much to get sore. And in case you are going to say that being sore isn't necessary, I don't believe that either. Muscle soreness the day after is a good thing.

I'll try the step though, thanks for that.

[average_joe]

Originally Posted by Sagefrancis

he's not overtraining his calves.
the calves, like the abs, neck and forearms are hard to overtrain.
and im talking about real overtraining, long term overtraining, not just feeling sore the next day.
this is because they are used so much in our everyday lives.
the exercises suggested are fine. but remember youve got two different muscles there. the soleus and gastrocnemes (sp?) and im pretty sure one of them you need to work with your knees bent and the other with it standing.
im not sure anyway
goodluck

Good to know. What rep range do you suggest? I heard that calves are a little different, and that you should go with higher reps even for hypertrophy.

[Sagefrancis]

Originally Posted by average_joe

Good to know. What rep range do you suggest? I heard that calves are a little different, and that you should go with higher reps even for hypertrophy.

hypertrophy for the calves is very hard to achieve. i dont realy know enough to tell you what to do but id imagine higher reps would do it (like with the traps and forearms)

[Jennifer Love Hewitt]

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[MrSmall]

One legged ankle jumps.

[aramini]

If it is the inside and the top of the muscle you want to improve, you really don't need to go down much below the ground. There are machines that allow you to lower your heels below the level of the ball of your foot, and they are worth doing every once in a while but all I did for years was the jump rope and heavy weight/ high rep standing calf raises.

I really can't let a post like this pass without a picture of my calves, you know.

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[Pugsley]

Excellent looking Tumor

[Rakim]

Originally Posted by Pugsley

Excellent looking Tumor