Calfs??......calves??.....mooo

DAVE_K

on a more serious note - finding it hard to bulk them up.

I want to add size but just seem to get more knotted defined little bags of muscle rather than any bulk. I seem to remember reading that they respond better to higher reps (15 or so). I've been going at them with standing and seated calf raises for 3 - 5 sets of 15 for years with nothing more to show than a couple of scrawny looking drumsticks.
Anyone any ideas

BTW I work out at home so have no more than dumbells and barbells.

Hanley

2 options...

-gain weight
-treat them like you would any other muscle (ie train em hard and heavy, arnie doesn't have the answer to ALL the questions like)

BossArky

My moo bags went from peanut to football overnight once I started squatting. One day I was like "are these my legs?"

OFF Topic: btw Hanley, looking at your vids in your sign you are a lot skinner than I thought. What kind of height & weight are you now / where you then? What is with slamming the bar off your chest in the squat link?

Hanley

BossArky wrote:

"

OFF Topic: btw Hanley, looking at your vids in your sign you are a lot skinner than I thought. What kind of height & weight are you now / where you then? What is with slamming the bar off your chest in the squat link?

Ehhhh... ok?
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y143/Jameshanley/Photo449.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y143/Jameshanley/Photo415.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y143/Jameshanley/Photo426.jpg
the above are me at about 93-94kg a 2 or 3 weeks ago.

I was 87.8kg at weigh ins for that squat vid. Probably about 90kg when I'm actually under the bar tho, I tend to drop weight for comps. I'm 5'10. Size doesn't transfer at all well to video really.

The slamming my chest off the bar's a mental thing. Like I'm attacking the bar.

BossArky

Ok must be the video but you look a lot skinner than in the photos.

Another question - what exactly is the guy behind you in the squat supposed to do? Catch the bar - and break his back in the process? Hold up your elbows if you fall? Stop you swaying side to side? Isn't he kind of redundant when there are two other guys standing at the ends of the bar?

Hanley

His arms go around the front of you if ya miss the lift. Like a big bear hug from behind. See the 3rd squat in this vid... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX5rXo8JExk

A spotter on either side is grand when yo're squatting 150kg but once you start to move up in weight then things go wrong (and things WILL go wrong). You don't expect 2 people to catch 34 stone (220kg) and stop it from crushing you.

Safety you see. Hell on lifts in the 260+ range it's the norm to have 2 spotters on either side AND one behind. 5 total.

amazingemmet

If your not genetically gifted in the calf department you need to get smart about calf training. There's two muscles in the calf gastroneticnomicus (Sp?) and the Soleus, these muscles are mainly of different fibre type so need to be trained differently. For calf raises with bent legs these mainly focus on the soleus you need to do sets lasting 70-90secs so thats 20ish reps at a proper tempo where as standing varieties need sets lasting 30ish seconds.

Another thing to note is the achilles tendon stores alot of energy and can reduce the amount the muscle works. To counter this you need to hold the bottom postion for a couple of seconds. Also when you're in the top postion work on holding it then squeezing a little more out of it before going down.

Also as hanley has said you need to gain size all round to gain on your extremities.

Sangre

Any opinions on doing barbell standing calf raises on a smith machine vs standing alone? I've been doing them on the machine so I don't have to be concerned about balance but I'm reducing the effectiveness of the lift?

Degsy

I used to work in a warehouse and i tended to walk up and down the stairs all day on the balls of my feet with the result that my calves ballooned after about a year,they were not far off 20 inches at one stage and i'd never done a leg excersise in my life.

amazingemmet

Degsy just reminded me of a good one

Farmers walk on the balls of your feet. Nice one for the brave

Emmet (continues his quest to turn his calves to cows)

rubadub

Degsy wrote:

I used to work in a warehouse and i tended to walk up and down the stairs all day on the balls of my feet with the result that my calves ballooned after about a year,they were not far off 20 inches at one stage and i'd never done a leg excersise in my life.

Yeah the OP was saying high reps too. I know a few guys into cycling who do no weights, and only do "spinning" on the bikes (i.e. low gear high leg speed). They have crazy calves, on one guy it looks like a brick under his skin and he can move it up and down his leg, freaks people out when they see it, he is not particularly thin either, probably 15% BF