I’ve never worked my calves really hard and just recently started trying to focus on them a little. This morning I did one of Charles Poliquin’s calf workouts consisting of seated, donkey and standing calf raises.
This is sort of a strange question, but stay with me. When you are working calves, do you “feel” the contraction in the actual calf muscle (soleus, gastrocnemius)? I rarely feel that hard contraction (like I do with, for instance, a bicep curl) but instead feel fatigued in the sides of the lower half of my leg toward my ankles…almost feels like it’s in my tendons.
Sorry, I know this is a mess of a post, but I feel like I have trouble really “hitting” my calves and want to get some feedback on where I should be feeling the stress.
I used to have that problem a little, but not anymore… although I’m not too sure why it stopped… maybe because I’ve brought up the stabilizer muscles around the ankle to support my legs which then allow me to focus on calves? Also, it may be because you are slightly cheating… it’s hard not too, especially with standing calf raises.
Something else you might like to check out… I’m starting this routine tonight:
Never had that problem. When I do standing or seated calf raises I make sure I get a wide range of movement. Deep slow stretch down and as high up on my toes as I can go with a 1-2 second pause at the top.
Last night I was doing standing calf raises and one of the trainers at my gym asked if he could work in with me. I was moving 220 and he was doing 280 but he did it in quick motions with a knee bounce at the top. I suggested he try it like I was doing it and he had a really hard time completing all the reps he was used to doing.