In need of desperate help, with calves

[it stars sAddam]

I seem to have a problem on my hands. Like many members of the bodybuilding community, my calves are lagging, badly.

More than likely, this is largely due to the fact that when I first got into lifting (around my freshman year) I neglected legs because I was naive and solely concerned with upper body. Now over the past few months Ive really been trying to get into leg training, and I am quite satisifed with the way my quads and hams are turning out. But the calves are just such a weak point for me.

Does anyone have advice as to how I could bring calves up effectively? Ive done the Nelson Montana thing for a few weeks, and lately Ive been doing calve raises 4 sets of 15 after Im done with squatting and SLDLs. Havent made a lot of noticable progress. As always feedback is appreicated.

 

[he-man]

heavy weight for several sets to failure works for me - that and patience.

 

[it stars sAddam]

heavy weight for several sets to failure works for me - that and patience.

is this with the same exercise? or do you do several sets with several different movements?

 

[he-man]

i switch between either seated or standing - i prefer seated though less likely to use momentum IMO

 

[Synpax]

Patience, young pad-wan.

Also, I do my calves 5x5 heavy on leg day. Unlike most guys, my calves are outragously well developed. I get comments on them at the gym all the time. Unfortunatly the rest of my body lags seriously.

Good luck.

 

[halfaclue]

I seem to have a problem on my hands. Like many members of the bodybuilding community, my calves are lagging, badly.

More than likely, this is largely due to the fact that when I first got into lifting (around my freshman year) I neglected legs because I was naive and solely concerned with upper body. Now over the past few months Ive really been trying to get into leg training, and I am quite satisifed with the way my quads and hams are turning out. But the calves are just such a weak point for me.

Does anyone have advice as to how I could bring calves up effectively? Ive done the Nelson Montana thing for a few weeks, and lately Ive been doing calve raises 4 sets of 15 after Im done with squatting and SLDLs. Havent made a lot of noticable progress. As always feedback is appreicated.

If the nelson montana thing si the "100 reps" then alternate between that and stairs with weights hanging from a belt. start at the bottom step..10 reps with full rnage of motion. Next step up and do the same..repeat until failure. Go back to the bottom, stretch and rest a minute and then start again..3 sets. Between the 100 reps on the seated calve raise and staris I added over inch to my calves in 6 months.

 

[d3track]

i know one thing for me that seems to help is jumping rope and stairs, staing on your toes

 

[eat big]

mine have trouble growing too, so what i do is 3 exercises, standing, donkey and seated for 3 sets of at LEAST 12 reps, running helps too

 

[Deathbydefault]

alot of cyclists have some killer calves

 

[Dave949]

Utilizing rest pause worked really well for my calfs. I hardly ever do straight sets for calfs anymore. I do my first set to failure (12 - 15 reps) and rest 10 seconds and using the same weight repeat the set and do as many reps as I can (usually around 6 reps and the reps go down about 1 rep after each mini set to about 3/4 reps), I usually do my one main set followed by 3 or 4 rest pause sets and I`m done with my calf workout and walk (limp) away. My calfs are totally torched, pumped and in extreme pain but this is what I found has worked for me.

Also, I recently incorporated doing 21`s for my calfs immediately followed by 3 or 4 rest pause sets in the same manner as described above. The 21`s followed by rest pause is not for the weak of heart. It is very painful but man do your calfs get torched and scorched.

Pump on .....

 

[it stars sAddam]

Utilizing rest pause worked really well for my calfs. I hardly ever do straight sets for calfs anymore. I do my first set to failure (12 - 15 reps) and rest 10 seconds and using the same weight repeat the set and do as many reps as I can (usually around 6 reps and the reps go down about 1 rep after each mini set to about 3/4 reps), I usually do my one main set followed by 3 or 4 rest pause sets and I`m done and walk (limp) away. My calfs are totally torched, pumped and in extreme pain but this is what I found has worked for me.

Also, I recently incorporated doing 21`s for my calfs immediately followed by 3 or 4 rest pause sets in the same manner as described above. The 21`s followed by rest pause is not for the weak of heart. It is very painful but man do your calfs get torched and scorched.

Pump on .....

that sounds brutal man

 

[Dave949]

that sounds brutal man

But it hurts sooooooo good .........

 

[it stars sAddam]

But it hurts sooooooo good .........

amidst all the pain, have you noticed a lot of growth doing these kind of routines for your calves?

 

[Dave949]

amidst all the pain, have you noticed a lot of growth doing these kind of routines for your calves?

Well Bro....I had lousy calfs to begin with and I have been at the iron naturally for 22 years now and started doing the rest pause for calfs consistently about 3 years ago. I am not stating my years at lifting to come across as Mr. experienced but rather to put in perspective how difficult and arduous it is to improve and gain any size after manys of lifting. My calfs did improve and started to become fuller in size with improved shape within a few months of using the rest pause technique. How much size ? I never measured. Honest ballpark figure.....1/2 of an inch in size within a years time and they now have a very chiseled look when I flex them. Now granted 1/2 of an inch doesn`t sound like much and it isn`t but after training for so many years and then being able to add 1/2 of an inch naturally to me was a huge gain. Its all relative I guess.

Now if I could only add a half an inch to my arms I would be so thrilled I would shit my pants !!!

Pump on .....

 

[Buddy_Christ]

my calves seem to be keeping steady growth. i hit them 2x a week, once seated, once standing. i picked a good weight to start with and did 5x15 for both exercises. increase the weight every week by 5lbs. i hit a point where i couldn't do all 15, so i dropped to 12 reps, kept going up for a few weeks.

but then i had a short break from lifting, so i got back into it at 5x15 again with a pretty heavy weight. i'm now dropping to 5x12, and i think once i can't do that, i'll either go back down in some weight and do 5x15 again, or go higher still and do 5x10. i must be doing something right, cause my calves keep growing. hell, they're growing faster than my bis/tris (and are now 1/2" bigger than my bis/tris).

oh, i don't take much of a break between sets, usually long enough to catch my breath real quick, walk to the water fountain, and back in for another set. hurts like hell, but my legs have been recovering fast. yeah, i limp to the shower, but after that, i'm ok.