Calves Refuse to Grow!

Training Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Hey guys, So I’ve been training for 4 years now, I’m 18 6’2 235 lbs at 12% BF and I’m pretty jacked, until you look at my calves…lol. Idk what I’m doing wrong but they just seem like they refuse to grow. I usually do 10 sets of 25 reps on various calf machines, be it standing or otherwise.

I work calves 3-4 times a week and the burn is always intense and I usually hobble out of the gym afterwards. However, they just seem to stay the same size, and don’t seem to respond. I’ve tried going lower reps too but I don’t notice too much from that either… any suggestions?

2

stretch em out a lot

3

[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Hey guys, So I’ve been training for 4 years now, I’m 18 6’2 235 lbs at 12% BF and I’m pretty jacked, until you look at my calves…lol. Idk what I’m doing wrong but they just seem like they refuse to grow. I usually do 10 sets of 25 reps on various calf machines, be it standing or otherwise.

I work calves 3-4 times a week and the burn is always intense and I usually hobble out of the gym afterwards. However, they just seem to stay the same size, and don’t seem to respond. I’ve tried going lower reps too but I don’t notice too much from that either… any suggestions?[/quote]

You may be training them too often. Have you tried reducing the frequency to maybe once every 5 days (say Monday, Friday, Wednesday, Monday, etc…)? Perhaps you aren’t giving them enough time to recover and grow.

Also, how much weight have you added to your calf raise exercises? How do you perform your calf exercises (i.e. as fast as possible, with or without using your quads to assist in the movement, with a hold at the bottom of each rep, etc…)?

One of the reasons why some (actually a lot) of people have a hard time building their calves is because they make too much use of the “stretch shortening cycle” (the elastic capabilities of the Achilles tendon) by bouncing out of the hole at the bottom of their reps. Another problem is that due to the high, high volume of work that the calves must do just in everyday activity, the fascia surrounding the calves can tend to become very tight (restricting growth).

Try first using a full range of motion (come all the way up as far as you can onto the balls of your feet), doing slow controlled negatives (I personally do 5 second negs), and holding at the bottom (I do 15 seconds, but as little as 5 will probably at least help) of every rep. Then just work on getting as strong as possible (with good form, no using your quads to help get the weight up, it’s supposed to be a calf exercise) on your calf exercises.

At least that’s the method that I’m currently using, and there are quite a few big guys who have proven it effective.

4

[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Hey guys, So I’ve been training for 4 years now, I’m 18 6’2 235 lbs at 12% BF and I’m pretty jacked, until you look at my calves…lol. Idk what I’m doing wrong but they just seem like they refuse to grow. I usually do 10 sets of 25 reps on various calf machines, be it standing or otherwise.

I work calves 3-4 times a week and the burn is always intense and I usually hobble out of the gym afterwards. However, they just seem to stay the same size, and don’t seem to respond. I’ve tried going lower reps too but I don’t notice too much from that either… any suggestions?[/quote]

It sounds like you haven’t tried super intense, low volume, lower frequency work which may give you some results, but I find it curious that what you describe has gotten you literally nothing. Especially if the rest of you growing which rules out nutrition.

5

I’m only 190, but have put on 1/2 inch on each calve in 3 weeks. I just started my deload week too so they should grow with the rest.

I’ve been doing Waterbury’s 8 week calf blitzkrieg. Phase 1 is all but done and it is not easy, need to be dedicated to train calves twice a day multiple times a week.

Tennis ball rolls and backward jogging are staples of the program. After I’m done I see me continuing to do the tennis ball rolls for foot health.

Are you sore after your calve training? What are you doing for recovery?

6

heres a good T-Nation article to read:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459479

and another forum post you might want to read:
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=1482873

7

Yah I think I tend to do the whole bounce thing to much, and I do them pretty fast. Maybe my form is just bad or something. If I do a weight that I can do full range with it just seems rly light and takes like 40 reps to burn them out, so i usually just go heavy and try to hit 25 reps. Tomorrow Il give your idea a shot though, toss in the negatives and slow down, isolate them some more. I used to do calves everyday, was following a workout program from bodybuilding.com, but didn’t notice much either.

Can’t ever seem to get them sore either, only hurts if I do hardcore tippy-toeing haha. My legs and calves have always been my problem areas for some reason so maybe my body is just gay about legs in general lol.

8

[quote]waylanderxx wrote:

Yah I think I tend to do the whole bounce thing to much, and I do them pretty fast. Maybe my form is just bad or something. If I do a weight that I can do full range with it just seems rly light and takes like 40 reps to burn them out, so i usually just go heavy and try to hit 25 reps. Tomorrow Il give your idea a shot though, toss in the negatives and slow down, isolate them some more. I used to do calves everyday, was following a workout program from bodybuilding.com, but didn’t notice much either. Can’t ever seem to get them sore either, only hurts if I do hardcore tippy-toeing haha. My legs and calves have always been my problem areas for some reason so maybe my body is just gay about legs in general lol.
[/quote]

Could be.

Yeah, just try doing 1 working set (10-12 reps)the way I described:

  1. use a full ROM

  2. do 5 second negatives (use a clock with a second hand, or have someone count out the seconds for you to make sure)

  3. hold the bottom position for 15 seconds (once again use a second hand, or have someone time you, otherwise you’ll cheat)

  4. come back and curse me for ever telling you to do sets of calf raises like this

  5. thank me for telling you do do sets of calf raises like this. :wink:

Also, do some warm up sets with lighter weights (as you go up in weights decrease reps, you know, standard warm up procedure).

Oh, yeah and finally don’t be a pussy. If you do this right (with an appropriate load) it’ll fucking hurt. Your calves will burn like you’ve never felt them burn before. But do not stop until you cannot possibly press back up onto your toes (if that means going over 12 reps, then so be it).

This method is also something that you can adopt into your long term training program. I’m sure that workouts like CW’s calf blast work too, but they’re meant to be short term specialization programs. This method will continue to work for years to come.

Good luck.

9

I think calves is one of the muscles some people have a horrible time building. While some people can get massive calves doing nothing but squats and never working them directly.

10

Im roughly the the same size as you man at 6’2" 224lbs.

Do you vary your leg exercises? Different types of squats, lunges, etc could all help. Id isolate them twice a week at the most if i were you.

And like other people have stated…use Full range of motion.

:slight_smile:

11

Yah Sentoguy… my calves are actually sore for the first time since I ran a 5k race at age 13 haha, that workout sucks! haha in a good way. That hold and stretch at the bottom kills me, even made my feet hurt haha. Il prly be sticking with that for a while, thx for the advice man

12

you realize your total volume on calves each day is 250 reps… and on top of that you’re hitting it 3-4 times a week…

anything you can do 25 reps of is not heavy…

getting sore is not a good thing… if you think DOMS needs to occur for you to grow, read some articles and educate yourself

13

getting sore is not a good thing? Well thats one thing I can for sure say I’ve never heard before. If i get sore then that means I hit the bodypart really hard, and I’m on track with my program. Ive never seen a big guy who has told me hes never been sore…

14

Most people in my gym that do calves use way to much weight and hardly any range of motion. On a seated calf machine they are pulling back with their hands like a back exercise . I only do my bodyweight and do sets of 20 with a slow full range of motion. I also point my toes in, out, and straight. If they get to easy do only 1 leg at a time. I also think calves are somewhat genetic and some people can build them easier.

15

Might want to try a technique arnold mentions in his book, which basically involves doing a set of calf raises in between all sets in a workout.
For example:
Chest Day:
Bench Press:Set 1
Calf Raises:Set 1
Bench Press:Set 2,
etc,etc,…

16

[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Yah Sentoguy… my calves are actually sore for the first time since I ran a 5k race at age 13 haha, that workout sucks! haha in a good way. That hold and stretch at the bottom kills me, even made my feet hurt haha. Il prly be sticking with that for a while, thx for the advice man[/quote]

Great. I’m glad you liked it. It really is the best method that I’ve found to work calves (got it from Dante Trudell’s system). There are also quite a bit of big guys who say that their calves have significantly improved since starting to use this method.

As far as soreness goes, like you stated, lots of big guys say that soreness is an indicator that you stressed a muscle enough to cause growth. Also, you’ve been training for 4 years and are 6’2" and 235 lbs, I think (I hope anyhow) that by this point you know your body and how it responds. If soreness has always let you know that you worked something hard enough to make it grow in the past, then chances are it’s still a good indicator.

Good luck.

17

[quote]tonyc wrote:
you realize your total volume on calves each day is 250 reps… and on top of that you’re hitting it 3-4 times a week…

anything you can do 25 reps of is not heavy…

getting sore is not a good thing… if you think DOMS needs to occur for you to grow, read some articles and educate yourself[/quote]

I prefer the bulk my education under the weights as ridiculous as that may sound. As Sentoguy quite rightly said, if this guy has seen doms as an indicator of how well he’s doing no white paper makes any difference. My progress has always been in direct proportion to how sore my muscles were after a training.

18

yah same here tribulus. And plus, I like being sore haha. Thx for the help guys

19

I like hitting calfs 3 days a week.

If the method you use starts giving you less DOMS, I came across another method by accident that seemed to work pretty well.

I think it’s occlusion, basically you cut off blood supply to the muscle then work it. I heard about it before but just threw it away with the rest of the gain 25lbs in a month programs. Anyway, I pulled a hamstring muscle so I had to keep it wrapped. After wrapping it fairly tight, I did calf raises, the doms the next day in that leg was pretty intense, specially considering I felt nothing in the other leg.

20

Thanks, Sentoguy. I’m in the same boat as the OP regarding calves.