My leg workout at the moment seems to be great for gaining strength and size in my quads, but seems to fall short for calves.
The following day or 2 i can feel the burn in my quads and hamstrings which is good. Makes me feel like i have really worked 'em. However i don't seem to have the same level of ache in my calves even tho they burn like hell when i am performing my routine.
leg day looks like this
4 sets of squats 80, 90, 100, 120 to failure
3 sets of deadlifts 70, 80, 90 to failure
superset leg extension and leg curl 3 sets
standing calve raise 3 sets to failure 160, 120, 80
seated calve raise 2 sets to failure 80
Doing this really hurts but i don't seem to be gaining much from this.
Calves are made up of fast and slow twitch muscle fibres mate. Approx 50/50 split. Try heavy weight, low reps and lighter weight, lots of reps in the same workout. That'll get the buggers moving. My calves are terrible along with my delts so have been doing research into them.
Based on your stats on your profile page, it's unlikely you'll get much growth from them as they're already in proportion, and for a natural guy, plenty big already. your body will only allow for a certain amount of asymetry, which is why we say, for example, if you want big arms, work your legs.
Now at your stage of development, most extra development will come in short spurts. You wont grow consistantly, you'll grow thanks to a few short bursts (10-14 days or so) of specialised training throughout the year, while spending the rest of the time maintaining.
At the moment you'd do best to cut down your sets so you can work harder. Calfs are a small muscle group, and if you're working them to failure (assuming your keeping your rest times down) after two sets, you wont be able to stand up properly, and wont be able to walk straight!
If you want to give them a growth spurt, you can try this (if you're busy focusing on another bodypart, finish that cycle first, then work your whole body for a month first before giving it a try) for two weeks:
1) Negative Eccentuated Calf Raise - Jump in the Calf Raise machine with about 2/3's of the weight you'd normally use. Set yourself up so your right leg is directly under your head, in between the shoulder pads.
Now, push up with both legs, taking about 2-3 seconds, then lift up your left leg, and slowly lower your right leg taking a full 10 seconds.
That was 1 rep. Repeat to failure for 6-8 reps, then immediately switch legs and repeat with your left leg.
2) When you reach failure, hobble as quick as you can to the Leg Curl. Before you start Leg Curling, point your toes as far down as you can, like you would if you were standing on tiptoes, and keep them like that throughout the set.
Make sure you take a full 5 seconds each way for each rep, and you're going for 6-8 reps again.
3) At this point, if you're working hard enough, you'll basically fall over when you jump out of the Leg Curl! But what I want you to do now is squat down, and hold onto the side of the Leg Curl for support, then rock up and down on your calfs. You can move quite fast here, and we're going for around 20 reps.
4) Give your calfs a bit of a massage while you're on the floor there, and when you can, walk around for a minute or two while drinking your water, then finish off your routine with around 4 other exercises for your upper body, and stick a multi-joint lower body exercise (I'd reccomend Leg Presses rather than Squats for safety reasons) as your last exercise.
Make sure you take 2-3 days of complete rest between weights sessions, so you'll get in 5 weights workouts over the next fortnight.
Then you can get back to your usual routine for a bit and if you want to add more muscle, genetics allowing, you can go again with something similar in about 4 months or so.
Weseastham wrote:
Calves are made up of fast and slow twitch muscle fibres mate. Approx 50/50 split.
This is a litlle misleading. Twitch fibre makeup is entirely individual, and yes you could fall into the 'mix' category making it absolutely right for you, but it's just as likely your calfs fall into the 'fast twitch dominant' or 'slow twitch dominant' category.
If you fall in the fast category, you'll do beter with 40-60 seconds TUT, or if you're calfs are slow twitch dominant, 60-80 seconds.
If you fall into the 'mix' category as Wes said, or you don't know what make up they are, you'll be best sticking to a TUT of 60-80 seconds (That's 8-10 reps at a 4/4 cadence for example).
Based on your stats on your profile page, it's unlikely you'll get much growth from them as they're already in proportion, and for a natural guy, plenty big already. your body will only allow for a certain amount of asymetry, which is why we say, for example, if you want big arms, work your legs.
When you say his calves are in proportion, what do you mean they are in proportion too? I once heard that they should be around the same size as your arms for symetry, is this true???
Pretty much as JT said. According to his profile, his arms are 15½ inches, and his calfs are 16 inches (He doesn't list his neck). So although his calfs are a little big, they're basically well proportioned.
According to his profile, his arms are 15½ inches, and his calfs are 16 inches. So although his calfs are a little big, they're basically well proportioned.
That is fine; 0.5 inch or even an inch, does not really make a difference.
