i would have given everything for great calves like roger stewart . in the old days calves were more important than thighs for the greeat legs look . arnold developed great calves with average thighs . but onlu in 1980 were his thighs really bad.
i squaated hard for years but i didnt get calves from squat . tri set giant set a la Ian King . negative work may work for calves . . but hey even mr olympia lee haney and ron coleman were nothing to gasp about and they won both 8 olympias each . calves is not that important . this hamstrings craze also downplayed the importance of calves now
great article this thing about mountain runners is great. again both lee haney and ron coleman have 16 olympias between them and neither of them had great calves . coleman were overshadowed by gigantic thighs.
Calves are simply genetic = You dont know how to train Calves.
Slow eccentric motion + Pausing at the bottom + FULL contraction at the top + Double popping (essentially performing the movement, then pinching it a little further at the top and holding a moment) + heavy weight + High reps = Calves.
Sorry to tell you this man but calves are purely genetic. If you start out with pathetic 13 inch calves and expect them to grow to 20’s forget about it. Maybe 16’s at best with heavy work stick to heavy training on calves I suggest 5x 10 reps then do about 200 raises with only your bodyweight.
My calves are 17 inches and I have never trained them in my life and I never will until my arms reach 17. You know the old saying:
[quote]Bunny Bench wrote:
Sorry to tell you this man but calves are purely genetic. If you start out with pathetic 13 inch calves and expect them to grow to 20’s forget about it. Maybe 16’s at best with heavy work stick to heavy training on calves I suggest 5x 10 reps then do about 200 raises with only your bodyweight.
My calves are 17 inches and I have never trained them in my life and I never will until my arms reach 17. You know the old saying:
If you can’t build calves breed em’[/quote]
Crap after crap. If you listen to advice like this, mineswell go ahead and stop lifting all together.
I had weak calves. What did i do? I busted my balls, lifting heavy as hell for 15-20rep sets. I now have 20inch calves. You can go ahead and listn to Mr. Fluffy up above, or you can choose to put forth the necessary work to grow. Your call.
[quote]Bunny Bench wrote:
Sorry to tell you this man but calves are purely genetic. If you start out with pathetic 13 inch calves and expect them to grow to 20’s forget about it. Maybe 16’s at best with heavy work stick to heavy training on calves I suggest 5x 10 reps then do about 200 raises with only your bodyweight.
My calves are 17 inches and I have never trained them in my life and I never will until my arms reach 17. You know the old saying:
If you can’t build calves breed em’[/quote]
Can someone be banned for consistent and senseless stupidity?
[quote]Bunny Bench wrote:
Sorry to tell you this man but calves are purely genetic. If you start out with pathetic 13 inch calves and expect them to grow to 20’s forget about it. Maybe 16’s at best with heavy work stick to heavy training on calves I suggest 5x 10 reps then do about 200 raises with only your bodyweight.
My calves are 17 inches and I have never trained them in my life and I never will until my arms reach 17. You know the old saying:
If you can’t build calves breed em’[/quote]
Crap after crap. If you listen to advice like this, mineswell go ahead and stop lifting all together.[/quote]
[quote]Quest4Glory wrote:
“The eccentric breakin load on the calves far exceeds the concentric load required to push the body forward.”
-Michael Colgan
If you train them with higher reps, the calves tire and ache (you feel the lactic acid build up), so you believe you are getting a workout. However, this concentric load is no where near the amount of stress you need to build strength.
"The bodybuilder who can lift what seems an incredible 1000 lbs for 10 reps to exhaustion on the shoulder calf machine, hardly stresses his calves at all because the eccentric load is too small. If you are one of the thousands who has worked calves to distraction, and they still look like chicken legs, you know exactly what I mean. Mountain runners on the other hand are constantly whacking their calves with big eccentric downhill breaking stresses. Every mountain runner we have worked with over the last 25 years has monster calves.
Now you know exactly how to fix the problem. Providing you don’t have dicky knees, you will get more calf growth from short, steep, downhill sprints that you will ever get with conventional training in the gym. If you can’t get out there to do sprints, then try this. On the seated calf machine, load up for a 6-8 rep max set. On each rep, at the top of the concentric contraction, take away one leg and do the eccentric with the other. Do three progressively heavier sets with each leg. Then do the same on the standing calf or, preferebly, the donkey calf machine. These extrememly heavy negatives grow your calf strength like crazy."
[quote]Quest4Glory wrote:
“The eccentric breakin load on the calves far exceeds the concentric load required to push the body forward.”
-Michael Colgan
If you train them with higher reps, the calves tire and ache (you feel the lactic acid build up), so you believe you are getting a workout. However, this concentric load is no where near the amount of stress you need to build strength.
"The bodybuilder who can lift what seems an incredible 1000 lbs for 10 reps to exhaustion on the shoulder calf machine, hardly stresses his calves at all because the eccentric load is too small. If you are one of the thousands who has worked calves to distraction, and they still look like chicken legs, you know exactly what I mean. Mountain runners on the other hand are constantly whacking their calves with big eccentric downhill breaking stresses. Every mountain runner we have worked with over the last 25 years has monster calves.
Now you know exactly how to fix the problem. Providing you don’t have dicky knees, you will get more calf growth from short, steep, downhill sprints that you will ever get with conventional training in the gym. If you can’t get out there to do sprints, then try this. On the seated calf machine, load up for a 6-8 rep max set. On each rep, at the top of the concentric contraction, take away one leg and do the eccentric with the other. Do three progressively heavier sets with each leg. Then do the same on the standing calf or, preferebly, the donkey calf machine. These extrememly heavy negatives grow your calf strength like crazy."
[quote]Quest4Glory wrote:
“The eccentric breakin load on the calves far exceeds the concentric load required to push the body forward.”
-Michael Colgan
If you train them with higher reps, the calves tire and ache (you feel the lactic acid build up), so you believe you are getting a workout. However, this concentric load is no where near the amount of stress you need to build strength.
"The bodybuilder who can lift what seems an incredible 1000 lbs for 10 reps to exhaustion on the shoulder calf machine, hardly stresses his calves at all because the eccentric load is too small. If you are one of the thousands who has worked calves to distraction, and they still look like chicken legs, you know exactly what I mean. Mountain runners on the other hand are constantly whacking their calves with big eccentric downhill breaking stresses. Every mountain runner we have worked with over the last 25 years has monster calves.
Now you know exactly how to fix the problem. Providing you don’t have dicky knees, you will get more calf growth from short, steep, downhill sprints that you will ever get with conventional training in the gym. If you can’t get out there to do sprints, then try this. On the seated calf machine, load up for a 6-8 rep max set. On each rep, at the top of the concentric contraction, take away one leg and do the eccentric with the other. Do three progressively heavier sets with each leg. Then do the same on the standing calf or, preferebly, the donkey calf machine. These extrememly heavy negatives grow your calf strength like crazy."
Train calves every session. Switch up the amount of reps/sets, but train them first every training session. For example, one day you could do 10x10 with short rest, another could be 6x8 with a dropset, etc. Just train them whenever you go to the gym. I guarantee your calves will grow.
