Ultimate Guide to Building Big Calves
This guide is about making your calf muscles grow, and nothing else. There will be no mention of the anatomy or structure of your calves. No mention of how many “heads” your calves have and what types of fibers can be found on your lower legs.
The fact is, there isn’t much to be said about how to build bigger calves. It’s pretty simple, and painful.
The fact is, there isn’t much to be said about how to build bigger calves. It’s pretty simple, and painful.
Basic Rules For Training Your Calves
- If you are serious about making your calves grow, train them before you train any other body part. They require special attention.
- Calves are the most painful body part to train (if you are training them right), so often your mind will give up in the middle of the set because the pain, the intense burn, seems unbearable. If you can survive the pain until your muscles are exhausted to the point of not being able to do another rep, your calves will grow.
- Your calves will recover very quickly once they get used the idea that they get tortured and forced to grow on a regular basis. For best results, train your calves every third day. But do take a week's layoff every now and then.
- Form is one of the most important things when training calves. Lift the weight deliberately and always have complete control of it; never be in a rush when training your calves.
- Go all the way up and squeeze your calves for a second or two, and then go all the way down until you feel a stretch in your calves and pause for a second or two. When you can no longer do full reps, continue lifting and doing half reps until your calves are exhausted.
- Either wear a shoe with a flat sole or train with your bare feet.
- Keep your feet in their natural, straight position. Forget about the “toe-out” and “toe-in” techniques – they are dangerous and unnecessary.
The Proper Way to Build Bigger Calves
This is where I share what works, not what everyone does. We will be minimalistic and only use two exercises for the task at hand: Standing calf raise and seated calf raise.
The Workout
Start warming up your calves by spending no more than 5 minutes, at low intensity, on an up-hill treadmill or step-mill.
Exercise #1 - Standing Calf Raise:
[this is how you do a standing calf raise]
Start warming up your calves by spending no more than 5 minutes, at low intensity, on an up-hill treadmill or step-mill.
Exercise #1 - Standing Calf Raise:
[this is how you do a standing calf raise]
This is the key: during your 30 second break and immediately after finishing a set, stand up straight and raise your heels so that you are standing on the balls of your feet (as shown in the picture), and flex your calves as hard as you can. You may want to hold on to something so that you keep your balance. Thoroughly stretch your calves when you've finished the first exercise, before moving on to the second exercise. |
Photo credit: Terre Pruitt | terrepruitt.com
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Exercise #2 - Seated calf raise:
[this is how you do a seated calf raise]
- Pick the heaviest weight that you can lift for 20 repetitions with strict form.
- Lift this weight until you cannot do another repetition.
- Immediately, without taking a break, reduce the weight by about 20% and do another set until failure.
- Again, immediately reduce the weight by another 20% and perform as many repetitions as you can.
- Immediately reduce the weight by another 20% for the last time and lift until your calves scream for mercy.
- Upon reaching failure again, pause for 10-15 seconds, and continue lifting the same weight until you cannot. You're done.
Thoroughly stretch your calves when you've finished the second exercise. Then go home, rest and eat a lot of food.
Essentially, calf training is about going through a great deal of pain in a short workout - if you can handle the burn, your calves will grow.
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