Exercises for Calf Strength

Hi,

I've been doing a calf and shin routine for about two weeks (with fairly good results). A quick summary of what I do:

3 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on, 1 day off, etc.

AM Workout (do 1 leg, then the other, then repeat for a toal of three times per leg)

1a Single leg hop with body weight for 10 reps + 5 seconds rest

1b Single leg standing calf raise for 3 x 5 with 5 seconds rest between each rep

2a 1 x 50 Shin raises

PM Workout

1a Standing double-leg body weight calf raise to failure

1b 50 standing double-leg body weight shin raises

1c Calf stretch for 2 x 30 seconds with each leg

2a 1 x 50 Shin raises

I'm considering switching to the "50 reps a day" Chad W. style of 50 single leg calf raises + 50 shin raises a day, but that's a bit aside the point. The thing is, I was looking at my lower leg and noticed that my "gastrocnemius" and "Soleus" muscles (see below) are not growing half as much the rest of my calf.

Are there are any variations that any of you would suggest to further the development of my gastrocnemius and Soleus?

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=4877679

Gastroc and soleus are basically slow twitch. So you'll need to do A LOT OF reps. Volume.

Thanks, Blairbob. That is a good article.

Based off the article and what you say, I will try a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday routine (for convenience) of the following:

Round 1

1a 3x40 Single Leg Standing full ROM calf raises (left calf + right calf, no rest)

1b 3x40 Shin raises + 30 second rest

Round 2

1a 1xMax Single Leg Standing full ROM calf raises (left calf + right calf, no rest)

1b 1xMax Shin raises

It may seem extreme, but my calves don't grow easily. They need a lot of stimulation apparently. Thanks!

A small correction not to be pedantic. But Gastroc is fast twitch and soleus is slow twitch. How to remember? You

Stroll with your soleus but your Gas comes from your gastroc!

So they will respond different stumuli, Gastroc is for explosive stuff, think sprinting, jumping , punching and rebounding.

Soleus more your steady endurance stuff and obviously attatchments mean different exercises can isolate if you wish, as gastroc crosses the knee but soleus does not.

Thanks for the clarification, Demus. How do you suggest I stress each one according to its proper parameters?

The long, deeper calf muscle, the soleus, keeps you upright all day and is correspondingly close to 90% slow twitch, so don't bother with reps below 15. The gastrocnemius is often called the fast twitch dominant part of the calves, but that's only compared to the super slow soleus.

The lateral head is indeed fast-twitch dominant, but only by a few percent, and the medial head is actually slow-twitch dominant by a few percent, so use medium volume for the gastrocs. You can emphasize the medial head by pointing your toes out and the lateral head by pointing the toes in

From the above posted article.

Other articles, namely by Poliquin

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Blog/tabid/130/EntryId/209/Tip-24-Got-the-calf-development-of-a-parrot-Try-the-36-Special.aspx

http://www.getnarked.net/forum/showthread.php?s=247a7b88b50655a0b2ff2f8924be8d5a&t=1528&page=2

Originally Posted by Charles Poliquin

Speaking of Calves ...

Q: I have the calf development of a parrot. Got a new routine I can use?

A: Here's a quick and dirty solution:

1. Start at the standing calf-raise machine, eight reps with a two-second pause at the bottom of each rep.

2. Rest 10 seconds.

3. Load a barbell with about 25% of your body weight. Hold it in a squat position and, with minimal knee bend, jump up and down, bounding with the calves on each rep. Do this for 30 reps. The eccentric damage caused by the landing will favor hypertrophy.

4. Repeat the superset four more times.

If that doesn't make your calves grow, nothing will!

CP also says that out of 5 days, train calves 2 days alternating between a high volume day and a high intensity day. Volume is around 250 reps while Intensity would be 90.

A really simple solution by many of those doing sports.

For girls in gymnastics, they have tumbling and vaulting besides spending a lot of their time on beam on the ball of their foot. A lot of BB isn't powerful movements (though they tumble and flip) but merely moving around on the ball of their foot.

So to sum up the gymnastics way of calf training is simply do explosive movements and high rep toe/heel raises are very common in their S&C.

For a fitness enthusiast, working sprints or the olympic lifts coupled with a boatload of calf raises, either straight or done in donkey fashion.

Perfect. Thank you, BlairBob.