Calve Training
February 14, 2015 How To 3 comments mmartin15
When people walk into gyms they see big buff guys who are lifting 300+ pounds on bench. Most people look at them and are like, “Wow, I wish I looked like that guy.” That is when they look down on the person and realize that there legs look small. It’s because they don’t do calves. Calves are one of the most neglected muscles in the body. They are so important to have a masculine physique and a good set of calves can really boost confidence and make you look like you work out.
How does one train this important muscle group? There are two parts of the calf. The soleus muscle is the muscle that is on the outside of the calf. It is worked when the legs are bent at the knee. Then there is the gastrocnemius which is the biggest muscle in the calf and it is on the back of the calf. That is worked when the leg is straight. A good rep amount would be to do 15-20 reps of a comfortable weight. The high reps helps because people are on their feet all the time and the calves are always working so it makes them harder to train. A good set range would be from 6-8 sets. Between each set one should should take about a 30 seconds to a minute break in between. Also as a tip, stretch for about 10 seconds in between sets to help slow the buildup of lactic acid in the calf so more reps can be done.
Some good exercises for the calves would be the following:
- Seated Calf Raises
- Standing Calf Raises
- Leg Press Machine Calf Raises
- Donkey Calf Raises
3 Comments
you mentioned to do 15-20 reps but does this change depending on the exercise?
This post gave a lot of great information about the calves that I had not known before hand. Say I trained calves today, how many days would you say you should wait before training calves again?
Thanks for reading Heather and Danielle! Heather the reps stay for every exercise. You really have to overload the calves. Danielle you can train calves pretty much everyday If you want. I would recommend at least one day off but that’s up to you. The calf muscle gets worked everyday so its a strong muscle already and can recover quickly.