Calf training is tough, no doubt about it. Compare it to training you utilize for body parts such as chest or biceps. When it comes to those areas, you can clearly see the muscle group being stimulated. Motivation is always there because people who take interest in your training or physique will often ask to see these body parts. And since they’re visible in just about any mirror you walk past or photograph you take, you are constantly reminded of them. Calves are a whole different story. First of all, they are usually concealed in your pants. Even when you’re completing, you have no clue when they look like. When a bodybuilding show arrives, you don’t know if you’re winning handily or being destroyed in the comparison poses on calves, because you can ...

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For some body parts, improvements come easy. You can train the neck for a month with simple hand exercises and add an inch to its girth. If you’ve never squatted before, doing so for six weeks will add 10 pounds to your frame, without blinking. Calves, on the other hand, are another story. You can push them as much as you want, as frequently as you wish, and they still might not grow. It takes a special combination of heavy weights and high repetitions to make the calves grow. For starters, you need to use heavy weights. This doesn’t mean you should use “single” repetitions like bodybuilders use for powerlifting. But it does mean you should use weight heavy enough to allow only 6 to 8 repetitions, for approximately one-half of your ...

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Calves are one of those body parts that just seem to refuse to grow for some bodybuilders. Perhaps genetics is the cause. Maybe the muscle group didn’t receive enough training attention during our formative growing years in the gym. Nothing is more effective for long-term muscle size than those first few years of beginners’ gains. Perhaps we possess a tendency to rush through our calf training and never give them the devotion (translation: number of sets) that they require for growth. Whatever the reason, that is in the past. It’s ancient history. From this point forward, we’re going to interject a new training method into our calf training which just may kick our growth into gear. This method, of course, is called high frequency calf training. First, let’s take a look at what ...

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Every bodybuilder worth his salt has a decently developed set of calves. Even those bodybuilder who began their careers with genetically poor calf development – such as IFBB Professionals Ronnie Coleman and Dexter Jackson – managed to rise to the top of their sport and win Mr. Olympia titles though years of heavy and intelligent calf training. The sad truth is that many of the bodybuilders you encounter in the gym won’t have underdeveloped calves because of their genetics. More times than not, it’s because they don’t dedicate the time required to actually grow them. They will opt for four quick sets of calf raises at the conclusion of their quadriceps/hamstrings workout, and then call it a day. It’s a habit shared by millions of bodybuilders around the country, and it hurts them in several ways. ...

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Let’s face it, the calves are some of the hardest body parts to develop. We try everything – bulking, leaning, cardio, heavy weights, light weights, stretching, and just about every other trick in the book. The result is that we are able to add a quarter inch to our lower legs each year, if we are lucky. Calves are a painful body part to train due to quick lactic acid buildup, and they never respond like other body parts. What are the calves so tough to grow? What is the trick? The truth is, the calves are the most used body part we have, and they are very resistant to growth. Think about it for a moment – you are on your feet for 3 to 12 hours each day, right? That’s a whole lotta ...

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Have you been cursed with genetically poor calves? Or, do you have the stomach to admit that you didn’t train them with the utmost intensity and attention during your earlier training days? Whatever the reason, today your calves are nothing to be proud of. You’ve developed a nice upper body, a set of washboard abdominals, and some thighs that really do chafe when you walk. However, after the hundreds or even thousands of times you have stepped foot in the gym, your calves still look untrained. You’ve just accomplished the tough part – you accepted this analysis of your shortcomings and you continued reading. This is good news. It means you’re ready to change – to improve them. It’s only after admitting you have a problem (in this case, poor calves) that you can solve ...

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The calves are loaded with both slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers. Slow-twitch fibers are stimulated through the use of high-repetition, low-weight training. Until you get past the 12th repetition, these fibers remain dormant, untrained, and therefore incapable of growth. Fast-twitch fibers (those most trained by bodybuilders and powerlifters) are used during very heavy sets (80% or above 1-rep maximum) are trained primarily during low-rep sets. If you train using under 10 repetitions, you are hitting the fast-twitch fibers. If you train using over 10 reps, you are hitting the slow-twitch fibers. Both types of training are required to simulate both types of muscle fibers, and create the most potential for growth in the muscle group. Light, medium, and heavy days allow trainers to target all of these muscle fiber types, thus instilling the most possible ...

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