BONEZ217: Calf Training

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

While searching for a solution to calf growth stalling, (I THINK)I came across a few of BONEZ rules:

Train Calves 4 times per week

12-20 reps and Heavy Heavy Weight(Of Course).

Train Gastroc and Soleus on different Days?

Could you explain exactly what your routine is(reps, sets, frequency, soleus/ gastroc split)?

I’m sure many others as well as myself could really benefit from some good solid proof-in-the-putting info from someone who IS ACTUALLY BIG and has had actual results.

Thanks in advance.

2

I’m pretty sure the idea behind the Gastroc/Soleus is that Standing Raises hit one of those muscle primarily, while seated raises hit the other. That way you do a couple days for each muscle. I’m interested in what some people have to say on this though too.

3

I’m sure there’s pure 100% unadulterated logic behind that.

But to be honest, I did that poliquin calf routine TO THE T, and it nothing but give my calves a cardio workout. Same thing with most of the articles about calves. My calves at their biggest were a little over 16 inches, but I weighed 252 at the time and a lot of that was fat.

I just want to hear what Bonez he has to say because he says noting grew his calves like 4x per week and whatever routine he used(Hopefully will share all the details).

4

I didnt do anything other that what you’d think 4x training is.

Gastroc day was something like 5 sets of standing calf raises ramped weight

3-4 sets of donkey calf raises.

Id stretch a lot between sets.

Soleus day I just did seated calf raises. I dont know if I counted the sets. Ramped weight

so each section of the muscle was hit twice per week. I tried not to do them on the day I trained legs. If it was 3 days in a row, whatever, I did it anyway

One of the sessions was lower reps more weight than the other.

In gernal I trained the soleus with higher reps and a strong emphasis on full ROM 10+ reps. Gastrocs used a lower rep range 6+.

I could get the workout done in about 15 minutes or less. Usually Id superset some ab training in there to maximize efficiency.

I dont claim to have huge calves. But they went from pretty bad, to very normal looking. Proportional to the rest of me, which is all Im looking for with any bodypart. Not the Grecian ideal but I think my calves around 16.5 when my arms were 17 at 180lbs. For some reason those numbers stick out in my head. Now theyre about the same size but my arms are bigger and I weigh more, I dont train them that hard anymore. I dont have that sort of time (actually I simply dont feel like spending an extra hour per week in the gym traning fucking calves, I have better things to do).

5

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
Now theyre about the same size but my arms are bigger and I weigh more, I dont train them that hard anymore. I dont have that sort of time (actually I simply dont feel like spending an extra hour per week in the gym traning fucking calves, I have better things to do).
[/quote]

In your opinion is there a use to train calves if the goals were not for bodybuilding? i.e. spending the same time on other body parts instead? Sorry Sarev0k don’t mean to derail the thread. Thank you.

6

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
I didnt do anything other that what you’d think 4x training is.

Gastroc day was something like 5 sets of standing calf raises ramped weight

3-4 sets of donkey calf raises.

Id stretch a lot between sets.

Soleus day I just did seated calf raises. I dont know if I counted the sets. Ramped weight

so each section of the muscle was hit twice per week. I tried not to do them on the day I trained legs. If it was 3 days in a row, whatever, I did it anyway

One of the sessions was lower reps more weight than the other.

In gernal I trained the soleus with higher reps and a strong emphasis on full ROM 10+ reps. Gastrocs used a lower rep range 6+.

I could get the workout done in about 15 minutes or less. Usually Id superset some ab training in there to maximize efficiency.

I dont claim to have huge calves. But they went from pretty bad, to very normal looking. Proportional to the rest of me, which is all Im looking for with any bodypart. Not the Grecian ideal but I think my calves around 16.5 when my arms were 17 at 180lbs. For some reason those numbers stick out in my head. Now theyre about the same size but my arms are bigger and I weigh more, I dont train them that hard anymore. I dont have that sort of time (actually I simply dont feel like spending an extra hour per week in the gym traning fucking calves, I have better things to do).

[/quote]

Thanks a lot. Even though you may not think so, 16.5in calves and relatively lean is pretty impressive, especially since you say they were “bad” before.

Like i said in my earlier post, when i was at 252lbs, i had 16.5 inch calves, which IMHO is “Normal”, but after i cut down, my calves lost an inch of fat. they looked great, lean as hell, dry even, but def not “Normal”

7

I cant think of a situation where completely neglecting a bodypart is a good thing.

8

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
I cant think of a situation where completely neglecting a bodypart is a good thing. [/quote]

Fair enough. Thank you.

9

Something that worked well for me recently: perform seated raises (hold the bottom etc), tiring the soleus, then superset with standing raises, so gasteoc works hard. I do the standing as 1-leg raise, holding a DB (so actual work weight is bodyweight+DB). doing that was the first time I ever noticed my calves respond noticeably.

10

I train mine the same as BONEZ…just do a set in between every set of whatever you are doing that day.

Set of chest, calves…set of chest, calves ect.

You can get a lot of calf work done that way.

11

it seems like you would make faster progress with calves if you trained the antagonisttic shin muscle too with one of those rarely seen shin muscle devolpers you sometimes see in some of the bb mags.imho.

12

[quote]mikey1955 wrote:
it seems like you would make faster progress with calves if you trained the antagonisttic shin muscle too with one of those rarely seen shin muscle devolpers you sometimes see in some of the bb mags.imho.[/quote]

We have one in my gym. But you can generally work both sides of the lower leg on any calf machine. Provided there is room on both sides of the foot platform.