Two biggest calf mistakes...

[The Shadow]

drop into a full squat position and do calf raises from that position, making sure to really get up high on the toes - severe cramping

 

[louden_swain]

drop into a full squat position and do calf raises from that position, making sure to really get up high on the toes - severe cramping

Those are killer. . . the forgotten exercise!!

 

[b fold the truth]

Anyone ever do full squats with an elevated toes? Just remember reading that they helped with calf development...

B True

 

[gymtime]

Anyone ever do full squats with an elevated toes? Just remember reading that they helped with calf development...

B True

Was that in Mad Magazine? Sounds like a great excercise if you're wanting to totally blow your knees out.

 

[strong island]

Good points

I brought up my calves over 3' and they are 17.5inches cold now.


Some other Calf tips

-Calf training is NOT adding 3 sets 10 reps at the end of a tough quad/ham workout.

-Lagging calves MUST be given priority. Train them 1st in the workout if they need serious growth.

-Train beyond the pain and accept calf pain. Calves will burn like nothing else you ever felt but you must get crazy with them and bust your ass to do grow them.

-20 hard sets of calves a week is NOT overtraining. Calves recover fast as hell and can take more sets than anything else. Calves support your whole weight all day so dot think anything less than busting your ass will grow them.

-Like was mentioned do your reps clean dont just bounce through them.

-Arnold started cutting the bottoms off his pants to expose his weak calves so he was forced to train them hard and grow them. I did this too and I got calves much faster than I think otherwise.

-A great routine is by Charles Poliquin in www.testosterone.net issue 1 from 1998. Follow it hard for a month and I swear it works.

And dont tell me your calves are geneticlly doomed or make some excuses! Like I said if you are doing 8 sets a week and still have pipecleaner calves, you need to blast them with more and more sets and Train beyond the pain and death is your only release!!

I have been mostly maintaining calf size lately since I got into powerlifting they arent top priority like they once were and are now within 1' of my arm size. I and my training partner were doing 50 SETS a WEEK of calves all had sets INCLUDING Round and round of drop sets and natural too and getting great results. My friend got about 2inches n his calves from late Sept to Decemeber 2000 months and we were both natural with minimal supplements.

I hope this helps everyone and if you have to make calves your #1 priority. Just walking around in shorts-calves are almost everything in visable leg development.

Great points....

I have been doing that Poliquin Calve routine for a few weeks. It is great.

My soleus has blown up and the separation between the two heads of my gastroc has become a lot clearer.

 

[gymtime]

No matter how loud my walkman is, I can always tell when someone is doing calf raises. They do them like they're bouncing a little kid on their knees.

I agree with you on the form. But, I'm part of the few that believe heavy weight is important with calves.

Did that dude ever do that 100 sets of calves?

I think a challenging weight is important as well. However, like any other excercise, good form = less weight. Really pointing your toes at the top of a calf raise will mean using less weight for a lot of people. But since the difficulty has increased, the weight would still be considered heavy.

BTW, you in AZ yet bro?

 

[gettinlarger]

excellent post, as well as the replies. from everyone.

 

[nikkita]

What's that "Poliquin Calve routine" about??

 

[vinylgroover]

If you want calves, forget about the gym. Go to the beach and run in dry sand, mixing it up between sprints and jogging and also running backwards. You'll soon turn those calves into cows.

 

[Thaibox]

I think a challenging weight is important as well. However, like any other excercise, good form = less weight. Really pointing your toes at the top of a calf raise will mean using less weight for a lot of people. But since the difficulty has increased, the weight would still be considered heavy.

BTW, you in AZ yet bro?

I wasn't suggesting sacrificing form for weight. My calves respond best to exactly what you said, just with 6-8 reps. I'll take my shoes off sometimes(unless there's girls around to smell my stinky-ass feet) so I can get full stretch, then get up onto my toes as much as possible and squeeze the shit out of them. I think we're saying the same thing, I just created confusion when pointing out weight.

I made my first trip out to your oven. I came back to Cali, and will make my final trip in a couple weeks. I'm waiting to sell two cars. All I have to say bro, is its fucking hot there. But, I was stationed in TX for a while in the summer, and prefer your dry heat anyday. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Lots of beautiful women. I'll be out there for 3 months before my girl gets there. I hope I can be good