Something I have noticed is that a lot of people who play Touch Football (where you spend a lot of time sprinting backwards) have disproportionately big calves.
Might be worth throwing in some backwards sprints with your HIIT sessions.
lol im still here, just reading around
[quote]DragnCarry wrote:
Something I have noticed is that a lot of people who play Touch Football (where you spend a lot of time sprinting backwards) have disproportionately big calves.
Might be worth throwing in some backwards sprints with your HIIT sessions.
[/quote]
why backwards? i do HIIT but my calves still suck
today i did calves for the second time with 4x20 on leg press machine, the other time was 4x15 on donkey calf raises. i’ve been doing about 2sec. down, a 2-3 second stretch, up fast and hold for 1 second. it burns but i dont know if its working well its so disappointing
Try it and see. If you sprint backwards you will feel it in your calves more than if you sprint forward.
I think Poliquin or Thib included backwards sprints in one of their calf programs in the archives?
Or did you want to know why we spend a lot of time running backwards? That’s because we have to get back 5m from the ruck to get onside. If you run forwards you miss the play.
[quote]DragnCarry wrote:
Try it and see. If you sprint backwards you will feel it in your calves more than if you sprint forward.
I think Poliquin or Thib included backwards sprints in one of their calf programs in the archives?
Or did you want to know why we spend a lot of time running backwards? That’s because we have to get back 5m from the ruck to get onside. If you run forwards you miss the play.[/quote]
Oh common now; we are talkin’ bb’ing here!
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
lol im still here, just reading around
DragnCarry wrote:
Something I have noticed is that a lot of people who play Touch Football (where you spend a lot of time sprinting backwards) have disproportionately big calves.
Might be worth throwing in some backwards sprints with your HIIT sessions.
why backwards? i do HIIT but my calves still suck
today i did calves for the second time with 4x20 on leg press machine, the other time was 4x15 on donkey calf raises. i’ve been doing about 2sec. down, a 2-3 second stretch, up fast and hold for 1 second. it burns but i dont know if its working well its so disappointing [/quote]
So that’s not you in the picture? 
I tried what someone was talking about holding at the bottom. i did a tempo of 3 in the stretch, 1 up, 1 hold, 2 down…holy shit it was on tuesday and im not walking right at all today haha. it was only 4x20 though on the leg press, what do you think. Im quite sore so do you think i should do it calves tomorrow during my leg workout or wait until sunday?
Does interval training or other forms of cardio effect calves? Like i said i did the calf work on tuesday and did intervals wednesday and today
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
Unfortunately at around 6ft. my calves are about 15in.
they look really small when im wearing shorts and compared to my upper body they look awkward. I’ve been training them with about 3-5 sets, 5-15 reps twice a week for the last 6 weeks but i wonder if they need more. nothings grown much in the last 6 weeks so i don’t know if i can blame the routine but do you have any tips for bringing up the calves faster than normal?[/quote]
My calf growth has always been fairly minimal from training them directly. I started doing my hack squats with my feet directly below me (in line with upper body, as opposed to being out in from under knees). You can’t go as heavy this way.
The reason I started doing them like this was to try and target my VM (tear drop).
After only 3 workouts I noticed considerable growth on my calves. The reason is, once you go into a full squat, you have to go up on the balls of your feet. My quads and calves have grown from dong them this way.
[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:
pumped340 wrote:
Unfortunately at around 6ft. my calves are about 15in.
they look really small when im wearing shorts and compared to my upper body they look awkward. I’ve been training them with about 3-5 sets, 5-15 reps twice a week for the last 6 weeks but i wonder if they need more. nothings grown much in the last 6 weeks so i don’t know if i can blame the routine but do you have any tips for bringing up the calves faster than normal?
My calf growth has always been fairly minimal from training them directly. I started doing my hack squats with my feet directly below me (in line with upper body, as opposed to being out in from under knees). You can’t go as heavy this way.
The reason I started doing them like this was to try and target my VM (tear drop).
After only 3 workouts I noticed considerable growth on my calves. The reason is, once you go into a full squat, you have to go up on the balls of your feet. My quads and calves have grown from dong them this way.[/quote]
thats basically doing a reverse calf raise right? where you go on the ball of your feet for it instead of the toes?
I had already been training about 10 years, and yet my calves still sucked. What did I change? I realized that so many people either just threw a few sets of calf work in at the end of their workout, or, they put so much weight on a machine that they just bounced and achieved no muscle stimulation at all.
I split my calves into two workouts, one for the gastroc (which I do after my chest workout), and one of the soleus (which I do after upper legs). I don’t count sets, or keeps track of weight. I set aside 15 minutes, pick an exercise and go. The only thing I consider, is rep range and contraction. For the gastroc (any exercise where you knee is straightened), I keep the reps below 10, and go nice and slow (no bouncing B.S. to get extra weight). For the Soleus (knees bent), I try to average around 12-15 reps, and again, lower slow, squeeze hard, and no bouncing. Considering I had already had some progress with other bodyparts, the fact that my calves only caught up the last 5 years says to me that I found what works FOR ME.
S
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
MytchBucanan wrote:
pumped340 wrote:
Unfortunately at around 6ft. my calves are about 15in.
they look really small when im wearing shorts and compared to my upper body they look awkward. I’ve been training them with about 3-5 sets, 5-15 reps twice a week for the last 6 weeks but i wonder if they need more. nothings grown much in the last 6 weeks so i don’t know if i can blame the routine but do you have any tips for bringing up the calves faster than normal?
My calf growth has always been fairly minimal from training them directly. I started doing my hack squats with my feet directly below me (in line with upper body, as opposed to being out in from under knees). You can’t go as heavy this way.
The reason I started doing them like this was to try and target my VM (tear drop).
After only 3 workouts I noticed considerable growth on my calves. The reason is, once you go into a full squat, you have to go up on the balls of your feet. My quads and calves have grown from dong them this way.
thats basically doing a reverse calf raise right? where you go on the ball of your feet for it instead of the toes?
[/quote]
Sorry if I made it sound confusing. When I say the balls of my feet, I do mean my toes, not the heels. It would be similar to doing a squat where you had to keep your torso perfectly upright. In other words your feet would be right underneath your hips and your knees go way out in front.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I had already been training about 10 years, and yet my calves still sucked. What did I change? I realized that so many people either just threw a few sets of calf work in at the end of their workout, or, they put so much weight on a machine that they just bounced and achieved no muscle stimulation at all.
I split my calves into two workouts, one for the gastroc (which I do after my chest workout), and one of the soleus (which I do after upper legs). I don’t count sets, or keeps track of weight. I set aside 15 minutes, pick an exercise and go. The only thing I consider, is rep range and contraction. For the gastroc (any exercise where you knee is straightened), I keep the reps below 10, and go nice and slow (no bouncing B.S. to get extra weight). For the Soleus (knees bent), I try to average around 12-15 reps, and again, lower slow, squeeze hard, and no bouncing. Considering I had already had some progress with other bodyparts, the fact that my calves only caught up the last 5 years says to me that I found what works FOR ME.
S
[/quote]
Yup, everybody bounces and everybodys calfs stink. People need to stop pretending that they are strong.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I realized that so many people either just threw a few sets of calf work in at the end of their workout . . .
[/quote]
I’m guilty of this, however it’s worked for me. I’ve never really put that much empahsis on them, but they are decent.
leg press calve raises seem to work for me pretty well
seem to be able to press a fair bit more weight that way
I decided to work my calves every lifting session, so 3x a week. I have been going high on the reps but will do more weighted, lower rep sets.
I’m hoping frequent stimulation will bring them up.
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
Unfortunately at around 6ft. my calves are about 15in.
they look really small when im wearing shorts and compared to my upper body they look awkward. I’ve been training them with about 3-5 sets, 5-15 reps twice a week for the last 6 weeks but i wonder if they need more. nothings grown much in the last 6 weeks so i don’t know if i can blame the routine but do you have any tips for bringing up the calves faster than normal?[/quote]
Have you looked at the The Small Calf Solution by Tim Henriques on this site. I have been using it for the last couple of weeks and have noted some positive change. I have the small calf syndrom also. I am 5’9" 188 with a 15 1/2 in calf, and have tried many different rep ranges/workouts with light and heavy weight; but this routine seems to be working pretty well.
Could just be the change in routine. My wife said she could see a difference so I’ll stick with it for awhile. Hope this helps.
To be honest Ive never seen significant gains from calf raises or lifts of any kind.
A large majority of my calve development is from good old sports and jumping.
Get out there and play something, having to support, move, balance, and fling 200+ pounds in the air is about as good a workout as anything.
run up steep hills on your toes. and down on your toes…
one routine that I have found really gets a pump in your calves so much so that i couldnt get to college the following day as was unable to walk lol.
Basically on your set of stairs at home (mine have 12 steps) do 10 raises with full ROM and continue up the stairs to the top stair…after a minutes rest of however long you take in your recovery…alternate reps between the stairs, so for the 1st step 8 reps, the second step 10 reps and the third step 12 reps, then repeat the process till you reach the top…
for the last set after your recovery do as many reps as you can per step until you feel the burn start to come as soon as you feel that move to the next step wait for 10 seconds and go again…
Try that routine and see what you think
Glad I’m one of the lucky guys who has calves come naturally. woo!