Accelerate your calf gains

Are you someone who loves to flex your arms every time you encounter a mirror? Are you someone who would rip a shirt off with a post workout pump. But are you someone who is built like a spongebob with tiny calves?

Just kidding. We got you the best 3 exercises to build better calves (but you need patience ). Yes you read it right! These are the only workouts you will ever need for big juicy and athletic calves.

A quick anatomy of calves.

• Anatomy can tell us many things about how to train a muscle – how large the muscle is, where its origin and insertion are, what joints it crosses, and even the pennation angle of its muscle fibers.

Gastrocnemius: The gastrocnemius is the bulkier portion that is most noticeable when looking at the calves. The medial head originates on the medial condyle of the femur (the inside of the back part of the thigh bone) and the lateral head originates on the lateral condyle of the femur (the outside of the back part of the thigh bone). It inserts at the posterior calcaneus (back of the heel) via the Achilles tendon. The gastrocnemius helps with plantar flexion and knee flexion.

Soleus: The soleus is a flat, long muscle that originates from the posterior-superior tibia and fibula (bones in the lower leg), and it merges with the gastrocnemius to insert at the posterior calcaneus (back of the heel) via the Achilles tendon. The soleus is also responsible for plantar flexion and for stabilizing the foot/ankle complex.

EXERCISES FOR CALVES.

EXERCISE 1: STANDING CALF RAISE

• Stand on the balls of your feet on a raised floor or a step platform in a balanced environment if you have access to a smith machine it's great. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart and your toes pointing straight ahead. Perform the exercise by squeezing your calves and standing on your toes. Hold for 1-2 seconds. Lower your heels to get a good stretch on your calves and hold for 1-2 seconds. Slowed and controlled eccentric and concentric motion has been shown to increase the anabolic stimulus required for optimal muscle growth.

• Perform 6-12+ reps, for 4-5 sets for hypertrophy.

EXERCISE 2: SEATED CALF RAISE

• Sit on a bench (or using a seated calf raise machine) with good posture and knees bent at 90 degrees. The feet should be hip-width apart with the toes facing straight ahead.

• Raise the heels until you’re up on your toes. Squeeze the calves at the top of the movement and hold for 1-2 seconds before slowly lowering down.

• If you’re on a machine that allows for it, or you’ve placed your toes on a raised surface like a stack of plates, lower your heels below the surface of the step for a more extensive range of motion.

• Perform 6-12+ reps, for 4-5 sets for hypertrophy.

EXERCISE 3: JUMP ROPE

• Since the calves are mostly slow-twitch, we know that slow-twitch muscle fibers are very resistant to fatigue. Hence Jump rope for the rescue!

• Use small, controlled jumps, and keep the knees slightly bent. Stay on the balls of your feet as you jump rope. Start with 10-30-second intervals for 3 sets and build from there. You can even try jumping on one foot at a time or perform different foot patterns as you become more advanced.

• Don’t forget to stretch your calves after finishing jump rope ;)

Since the calves aren’t damaged much from training and recover pretty quickly, you can probably train the calves relatively often. (2-3 times a week would be optimal).

Thank you for taking time to check out my blog. Have an awesome day ;)

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By IYEAL T.I

NASM CPT

References:

• https://blog.nasm.org/calf-workouts

• Calf Training 101/The Muscle PHD.