Home

Fitness Forums

Articles & Resources

Muscles & Exercises

Marketplace

Blog

<< Bodybuilding & Fitness Articles & Resources  << Bodybuilding, Fitness & Strength Training Articles

Milk The Growth Out Of Your Calves!

Lets be honest, nothing sets apart the 'I go to the gym to work out my chest and arms to impress the ladies in the office' sort of guys from the 'I go to the gym because I am a true bodybuilder who lives this sport' guy, then a thick bulging set of calves that look like rugby balls have been surgically implanted. Great lower leg development portrays a bodybuilder; freaky muscle mass and shape of even the smaller muscle groups that sometimes get some what neglected by the usual gym goers. Calves can sometimes be a difficult muscle group to target and get to respond from training, therefore this article tries to go about giving some advice on possible ways to shake up your calve training to get them growing. Come summer time, the shorts come out and your sweeping calves will set the men apart from the boys!

To understand how to best attack the calves we firstly need to understand the anatomy of the muscles involved:

Anatomy of the calves

The soleus is the flat muscle that runs beneath the gastrocnemius heads. This muscle has been shown to be best recruited during extension of the ankle, especially when there is a bend in the knee of about 90° as this leaves the gastrocnemius more or less inactive during the execution.
The soleus has also been shown to have a majority type i muscle fibre make up. Type i muscle fibres are basically best thought of as endurance fibres that do not fatigue easily, which would make perfect sense when you think that you use the calves countless times during the day when you walk around. The soleus is also recruited during straight leg ankle extension, but this is usually reserved for when the load is low. See more about the soleus muscle here.

The gastrocnemius heads are responsible for the distinctive shape of the calves, with the word 'gastrocnemius' being the Greek for 'belly of the calf'. Well developed calves will often appear as an up side down heart shape, as the both the lateral and medial head of the gastrocnemius bring about this classic shape. It is easy to conclude that the gastrocnemius is the muscle that we want to focus on to build impressive looking lower legs. Unlike the solues, the gastrocnemius has been shown to have a decent make up of type ii fibres, which luckily are generally much better in terms of hypertrophy. The gastrocnemius is recruited during extension of the ankle, where the body is upright and there is no significant bend in the knees. See more about the gastrocnemius muscle here- lateral head & medial head.

The tibialis anterior is a muscle that is located at the front of the lower leg, and is recruited during dorsal flexion of the ankle. Most people forget completely about training their anterior lower leg muscles, but a well developed tibialis anterior will create a great sweep to the front of the calves when viewed from the front, and also aid in the development of the posterior calves muscles to a degree as many muscles respond better when their antagonist are trained too. The tibialis anterior has been shown to have a majority of type i fibres.

The training

As we now know the basic anatomy of the lower leg, and which movements and rep ranges best target each muscle, we can begin to draw up a routine that is balanced and will successfully stimulate the calves for hypertrophy. The plan outlined below will, in my opinion, be an effective way to target the calves.

Exercise	Reps	Sets
Seated calve raise	25-30	4
Standing calve raise	12-15	4
Toe press	12-15	4
Dumbbell foot curl (dorsal flexion)	25-30	4

The exercises & form

The first exercise is the seated calve raise

See full exercise instruction & details.

This exercise is performed with long time under tension with a moderate weight in the hope of recruiting its majority type i fibres within the solues. It is important we perform the exercise through a full range of motion, and also have minimal rest periods as the slower twitch fibres have a greater tendency to recover quicker.

The second exercise is the standing calve raise

See full exercise instruction & details.

The standing calve raise is performed in a controlled manner, with full range of motion. I often believe it is sometimes beneficial to think of this exercise of having three phrases:
The first phrase being from when your calves are fully stretched with the heel of your foot being below the level of the platform in which the ball of the foot is. You then contract the posterior calve muscles to raise your heel upwards so it is level with the platform.
The second phrase is from when your feet are parallel to the ground to when your at full contraction, which should end with you being fully on your tip toes.
Lastly we finish with the eccentric phrase of the exercise where you return to the bottom of the movement so that your calves are full stretched.
I personally find thinking of the exercise in the above manner helps you have a better mind to muscle connection as you visualise the muscle working throughout its full range of motion during the exercise.

Never sacrifice form for weight with this exercise. This is one of the reasons I believe 12-15 reps is more beneficial compared to maybe going traditionally down to 8-10 reps for hypertrophy. Also of note is the fact the exercise has a very acute range of motion in comparison to other exercises, thus time under tension being less during a rep.

The next exercise is the toe press

See full exercise instruction & details.

I have included another straight leg calve raise variation in the plan, in the form of the toe press. The exercise is similar to the above standing calf raise, but is performed on a leg press machine. I have included this as it adds a bit of variety to the routine and increases the overall volume of the session for stimulation of the gastrocnemius. 8 sets for the gastrocnemius is ample in my opinion.

The final exercise is the dummbell foot curl

This is performed by being seated on the edge of a bench , with your lower legs resting on another bench or platform that is placed a few feet away from the bench you are sitting on. Your feet and ankles should be freely hanging off the edge of the other bench. Place a dumbbell in-between your feet so the plate is resting on the top of your feet, stopping it from falling, and the handle is positioned between your feet. Your feet should be in their normal position so they are inline with your body.
Start the movement so your feet are fully stretched downwards, or in other words, the same position they would be during peak contraction of a calf raise. From this position begin to flex the feet upwards, thus also lifting the dumbbell as resistance to the movement, and continue until peak contraction is reached. Slowly lower to starting position and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

This exercise will successfully stimulate the tibialis anterior, and a higher rep range with greater time under tension is chosen because of the majority of type i fibres that make up the tibialis anterior.

Final words

Remember to stretch after the session. When your muscles are full of blood it is important to take advantage of this situation and stretch out the muscle in the hope of causing some fascia stretching. The fascia is best though of as the bag that surrounds your muscles and hold everything in place. It can also be a limiting factor for muscle growth, so stretching in my opinion is an important aspect of this proposed workout. After you have completed all the exercises as outlined take ten minutes out to intensely stretch the calve muscles.

This workout can be completed once a week when you would normally train your calves. Twice a week can be done, but in all honestly I do not believe it is needed if you are intense with the workout and train correctly.

I believe the above routine could be your staple calve workout, but it is important to add variety to your sessions to add different stimulus to the muscle. I suggest every three or four weeks having a calve session that is higher in volume then the one outlined including drop sets and various bodybuilding techniques, and focus very much on the stretching afterwards.

Back to Bodybuilding, Fitness & Strength Training Articles