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napsgear
genezapharmateuticals
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puritysourcelabs
RESEARCHSARMSUGFREAKeudomestic
napsgeargenezapharmateuticals domestic-supplypuritysourcelabsRESEARCHSARMSUGFREAKeudomestic

Need stronger legs/calves without 5x5

mayhems

New member
im guessing if i just did a 5x5 squat type routine with some ham curls or extensions?

as for calves they are strong but small any suggestions for size and over lower body strength
 
For lower body strength, full olympic backsquats, front squats, straight-leg deadlifts, good mornings, deadlifts. Bam.

For size on the calves, you really need to focus on a strech component into an exercise for them. They're a stubborn muscle group that's used daily. In order to really see growth you should be following something like HST. I don't mean to promote the program a lot, but for calves, it's something I've seen work wonders on. You make larger jumps in weight from session to session (20-30 lbs.) while training thrice a week.

If you choose to do it your own way, just make sure you start at a comfortable level, lower than your max easily, start with about 15-20 reps, and do 2 sets three times a week at least. Up the weight every session, by about 20-30 lbs., and when you can't reach 15-20 reps anymore, drop to 10-15 reps or so. After that, repeat until you have to drop to about 5-10 reps. At that point, go as long as you can, while clustering.

Clustering means to do this - If you take the weight, only get 3 reps, then take a few breaths and polish off the other 2. The body doesn't know anything about sets and reps. It just knows the load it is exposed to. Therefore, you can be using 3 RM weights for "Sets" of 5. This is also known as rest-pausing, and it can work quite well. Honestly, you can use 5 RM weights for 10 reps doing this technique. The body will register the following: The Load (amount of weight on the bar) and The Microtrauma (the damage you're causing the muscle through each rep).

Nothing else will really matter, besides for organizational and psychological purposes.
 
guinness i simply meant i dont want to do the full 5x5 program becuz id be simply to dead for football.. but i proposed using a 5x5 type squat workout since u dont get much better gains then u do when on the 5x5
 
mayhems said:
guinness i simply meant i dont want to do the full 5x5 program becuz id be simply to dead for football.. but i proposed using a 5x5 type squat workout since u dont get much better gains then u do when on the 5x5
gotcha. So i take it you're in season? If that's the case it's probably a losing battle to try to get stronger. You'll just want to maintain what you have and work on improving your strength in the off season. The movements AI listed are what I'd focus on also.
 
I find the calves grow a great deal when you never do the same weight per set, especially in the squat, deadlift, and overhead press (assuming you clean it from the floor each press, of course). If you want to stack meat on, you have 2 options: Do 5 sets of 5 in the squat/deadlift/overhead press and never do the same weight twice, peaking in set 3 and tapering off sets 4 and 5. Something like:

70% x 5
75% x 5
80% x 5
65% x 5
60% x 5 Always finish fresh, and add 2.5% to each set until you hit week 4, where you can either cut the reps down to 3 each set, or do 2,3,2,3,2, and add 10 lbs to your %s week 5 and start again. Or, you could do the russian bear program, which is even simpler:

One heavy set of five, then another set of 5 but 10% lighter, then take 10% off the bar again and keep doing sets of 5 until you can't anymore. Can't being when you can't perform a set of 5 with good form.

For some people, this will only last 5 sets, for some it will go on for 25, it all depends. Keep going until you can't, and rinse and repeat for 3 weeks. Keep track of how many sets you are doing at 20% lighter than your money set, and week 4 do half as many sets.

Example: If Week 1 you went for 7 sets, week 2 you went for 10, and week 3 you called it quits at 8, week 4 do 4 sets and wrap it up feeling fresh as a daisy, then go back week 5 and continue with as many sets as you can. Eventually, when you go heavy enough, you will have to take more than a week at half as many sets to recover, but the point is to always stay fresh.

One more thing: Eat, eat, and eat again. Wake up in the middle of the night, eat, then have a snack, sleep, and eat again. Let us know how it goes.
 
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