Researched
and Composed by
Jacob Wilson, BSc. (Hons), MSc. CSCS
Introduction
Ahh shorts
season... Can't you just smell the fresh
sea air. This is the time where
all of your hard work throughout the
winter is finally going to pay
off. But you just can't help but
ask yourself, " if only I had
improved my calves more? "
Their diamond
shape is quite fitting as a set of calves
seems to be worth every bit as much as
their shinny counterparts. Why do
I say this? Because it seems to me
that they are a rarely developed
muscle. In fact, they are somewhat
of a mystery because all of us have
asked the question, " how can I get
these stubborn things to grow?!"
Even Arnold himself was befuddled by its
complexity. And when he mastered
it he became...well in no uncertain
terms, unstoppable! Today I
would like to, in sections of
course, break down this muscles weaknesses
and strengths. This is because the
first key to victory against any
opponent is to find out exactly what
these are. Only then can you truly
defeat him (your calves)! So
without further ado...
Strengths
Recovery
Time
This
muscles recuperative powers are
legendary! They can haul our bodies
over stretches that last miles and
not flinch! You can work them till
failure and they will recover almost
instantly! They seem to know this
and thrive on it! Almost as if your calves are
saying, you can't do enough to make
me have to grow!
Our
counter attack number one!
Have
you ever heard the saying, " don't
kick a dog when he's down " ?
Pretend that failure is when your calves
are down. Now is the time to kick
them! See most people stop
training calves at failure. Big
mistake! This
is basically when your set should just
begin. In order to go past you
need to use several shocking techniques.
Techniques we will discuss further into
the article.
The
Pain Factor
Your calves are located at the bottom of
your body. Because of this, blood
easily flows in. We all know how painful
an extreme pump can be!
Not only this but your calf muscles
house an abundance of nerves! Ever
been kicked in your calves or
shins? It hurts, bad! My
point is that if you really want your
calves to grow you are going to have to
break new pain barriers for every inch
you gain!
Counter
Attack
Learn
to shut pain off, go into a zone.
Also use it a a gage. Tell
yourself before you go into the workout
that every time you feel pain in your
calves that you are now in the "
Growth Zone " When
competing in martial
arts I would always look for signals of weakness
in my opponent . Signs such as
heavy breathing or perhaps even an open
jaw which is a sign of exhaustion.
It was then that I would strike him with
all my furry! And his exhaustion
would leave him helpless! See I've
always prided myself on superior
conditioning. Normally when the
opponent I was facing was sleeping I was
training. So I knew was in
better shape then he was. Think of your calves as your
opponent. When you feel them
burning don't think of the pain think of
the fact that
your calves are week. They are
tired and now is the time to strike them
with all of your furry!
You
can't see me!
Unlike
your biceps, you cannot see your calves
while working them. You can only
feel them. However, like the biceps,
you need to get a huge peak contraction
on each rep if you really want them to
grow.
So what if you
can't see them!
Your feet should
be positioned with your heels a little
wider than your toes. It is very
important that the pressure of the
movement is directly on your big toe. You
only get a full contraction of the calf
muscle if your roll forward, putting
your weight right onto your big
toe---which feels as if you're turning
the movement inward rather than going
straight forward. The natural tendency
doing calf raises is to roll outward
onto the other four toes, turning your
ankle as you do the movement. But
when you do calf raises like this you
can't totally peak the calf muscle,
which means you end up losing training
intensity."
You can
compare peaking the calf muscle to
getting a full peak contraction of the
biceps. You can crunch your arm as hard
as you want, but unless you supinate
(twist your wrist, bringing your little
finger around toward the centerline of
your body) you won't see a full peak on
the biceps.
Calves are
really a neglected muscle
Ok, I'd like to ask
you a question. Can you honestly
say that over the past year that you
gave your calves
as much attention as you gave your arms
and chest? When my calves were not
up to par with my arms I asked myself
the same question and my answer was an
easy no. I would just throw in a
couple sets of calf raises after I
worked my legs. Now I know
genetics have a key in all muscle
groups, but how many of us have overcome
poor chest or arm genetics with a lot of
hard work and dedication? What I
am trying to say is that
I feel that several poorly developed calves are
more related to a lack of concentration
and intensity then they are to genetics. And by consistently
plugging away at these muscles you are
going wake up one morning, look down and be in shock at how
consistency can effect the growth of a muscle group.
There was something
that was said in the forums that really
motivated me. Adam said, " I
don't care what it takes to build huge
calves, in fact I set aside an entire
workout just for them! "
Weakness
Small muscle
Common now.
The calf muscle is so unbelievably small! Anything that
size can be
beat, I don't care how
tuff it is! Tell
yourself that you refuse to submit to a
muscle as small as your calves.
Anatomy
Now if we study
this muscles anatomy, you will notice
how extremely complex it is.
Gastrocnemius:
This is the meat of the calf
muscles. If you notice it is split
into two heads. Much like the
bicep muscles. The main exercises
for this are standing calf raises,
donkey calf raises and calf raises on
the leg presses. As I
mentioned before it is extremely vital
to get a peak contraction in each
rep! This
is the only way you are going to create
that peaked and fully conditioned look
in your calves.
Soleus: This
is the lower part of the calf.
Working this will help to widen your
calves and create separation
up the middle, almost splitting the
gastocnemius into its diamond
shape. The main exercise which
emphasizes this is the all powerful
seated calf raise.
Tibialis
anterior: Its funny because you
rarely see people working this
muscle. Yet it is half way
responsible
for making your calves look absolutely
massive from the front! The main
exercise for this is reverse calf
raises. Believe me when you see
the gains you get from this exercise you
will learn to love them.
However
their is a special and unorthodox method
I will explain that is essential to this
exercise!
Our
Weapons
of Warfare!
Lets Look at the weapons
we have at our disposal!
Standing calf raise machines, seated
calf raise machines and a list of shocking methods that is long
enough to sink a muscle as great as the quadriceps! Don't get intimidated
by your calves, because when it comes
down to it, its really simple. If
you shock a muscle enough
it will have no choice but to
grow! I don't care how bad your
calf genetics are! Lets go
into further detail
shall we...
The Element of Surprise
This my
friends is our main advantage. Surprise!
No muscle, no matter how stubborn
can stop growing if it never has a
chance to adapt to a certain
stimulus! I believe that you
should change your routine not every
three weeks but every workout for your
calves! See if they don't grow
after that! Examples of this would
be
to just stick with standing calf raises
and reverse calf raises for a week and
then to switch to the seated calf raise machine for a week. Or say I use
volume training one week and strip sets
the next. Anything that will
keep your calves from going stagnant on
you.
A great way to measure if your calves have adapted is if you stop
experiencing soreness the next
day. Either you need to change
your routine or up your intensity during your
workouts! But if you haven't
shocked them to the point of soreness
they are not going to respond well
on the growth scale.
Rest Time is
Vital!
This is an
intensity method that is extremely
overlooked. For example your chest
and legs need more rest
in between sets. But if you slip
and give your calves too much time to
recover you will have lost the battle
against them! This is extremely
vital! I only rest a minute in
between sets. Basically just
enough time to
mentally prepare yourself for another
set. This is because if you let
too many muscle fibers recover from the
previous set all you will end out doing
is to use them over again instead of
taping into new ones. Calves
along with forearms are the quickest
recovering muscles in our bodies.
Blood Pump
As mentioned
earlier this is a gage of growth.
See calves will not be forced into
growth unless you work well
beyond the burn. Think of it this
way, rack out reps but when you feel a
deep burning sensation in your calves
you know you have entered the growth
zone! The deeper you journey into
this zone the farther your gains will
be! Otherwise use the sensation of
pain as a gauge. If you stop right
when the pain begins don't look for
any gains in your calves! If you
push yourself as deep as you can into
this zone then you will be sure to
see major growth! I have pushed
myself so far into this zone that I
believe I popped blood vessels in my
tibia.
This is because I could see a small part
of my tibia actually pulsating after I
was done with my workout! But
guess what I got major growth from that
workout! If you can walk 100
percent straight after a calf workout then you
simply didn't work them hard
enough.
Partial Repetitions
As I just stated
the farther you journey into the pain
zone the further your gains will be with
your calves! Partial
repetitions are by far my favorite
method of continuing this journey.
So after you reach failure on your set
and you can not manage another full rep
you can continue the set with several
partial reps, lifting the weight only
half way up and perhaps only a fourth of
the way up, the burn in your calves will
be tremendous and you will shock them
into sure growth!
Strip Sets
Can you think of a
better method for shocking the calves
into growth? Remember when I said
that you need
to kick a dog when he's down? Well
using the strip set method you will take
this concept to another level!
The following 8 week program will
feature this method of training, so get
ready to break your pain barrier cause
this is going to do the trick! Personally nothing has produced
better growth in my calves or people
I've trained then this.
Intense
Stretching
As
mentioned before intense stretching
actually increases muscular hypertrophy
over time. To me the absolute best
time to stretch is actually after you
have finished your set and your calves
are on fire!
So lets say that I just finished a
triple drop set on the standing calf
raise machine. I will leave my
calves
in the stretched position on the machine
for about 30 seconds. This is
extremely painful as it will
actually intensify the already existing
blood pump! But it will stretch
the muscle fibers to new levels giving
them more room to grow! Also the
benefits of keeping your muscles flushed
with blood are absolutely
incredible! Trust me you will
have to grit your teethe on with this
shocking method!
Conclusion
My goal here was
to cover the fundamentals of calf
training. Let's recap shall we.
1. It is
important that you understand the calves
strengths and weaknesses.
2. Your Feet should
be positioned with your heels a little
wider than your toes and you should roll
onto your
big toe for every rep for a complete
contraction.
3. Only rest
a minute in between sets
4. Remember
your calves do not start growing until
you feel them burning.
5. In order
to intensify the burn, use shock methods
such as partial reps and strip sets.
6. Change
your workout routine every week for
maximum results.
7. Use
intense stretching to increase
hypertrophy, flexibility and intensity
of a set.
8. As Adam
said, make sure that you give your
calves the proper amount of attention if
you really want them to grow.
And that my
friends are the fundamentals of calf
training. Our next article will
cover your first 8 week program to
attack these muscles. You can
access the workout by clicking here.
Jacob Wilson
jwilson@abcbodybuilding.com
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