exercises to slim down calf muscles?

mariebeth

Apologies if this has been posted before. I'm 27 and female & have always had what I think of as big calf muscles. Have started going to the gym in the last few weeks & I was wondering if there are any good exercises out there that can slim down my calf muscles? Thanks for any tips.

The Guvnor

Hi Marie,

How big are your calfs?

It's unfortunate but apart from overall weight loss I don't think there is a lot you can do.

Also I think genetics can play a large part in the look of your calfs.

If you can, just focus on your gym work for now and see what happens over the next few weeks or months.

Best of luck.

chris139ryan

cross trainer would be a good work out and wouldnt increase the size your size just tone you more

Hanley

chris139ryan wrote: »

cross trainer would be a good work out and wouldnt increase the size your size just tone you more

gymfreak

Unfortunately, I am no help to you at all.

But, my calves are actually pretty muscley aswell..had never noticed it until I started training and people started pointing it out.

I'm not bothered by it at all, sure they're behind you, not really in your eyeline all day so I wouldn't be worried about it.

As they say, You only get one body..so make the most of what ya have..:)

mariebeth

Thanks guys. I asked one of the instructors in the gym & she showed me an exercise that might help, basically I stand on a step and then raise myself up on my toes, and then go back down for about 20 reps. It might or might not help because I know it's all part of genetics, but it's worth a shot. She also told me to make sure I really stretch out my calf muscles after doing it because if I don't they could end up contracting & becoming bigger.

I know the calf muscles aren't that big a deal, I just find it a little frustrating at times because I can never get knee high boots that fit, so it's worth a shot to try something while I'm exercising the rest of my body!

huskerdu

mariebeth wrote: »

Thanks guys. I asked one of the instructors in the gym & she showed me an exercise that might help, basically I stand on a step and then raise myself up on my toes, and then go back down for about 20 reps. It might or might not help because I know it's all part of genetics, but it's worth a shot. She also told me to make sure I really stretch out my calf muscles after doing it because if I don't they could end up contracting & becoming bigger.

I know the calf muscles aren't that big a deal, I just find it a little frustrating at times because I can never get knee high boots that fit, so it's worth a shot to try something while I'm exercising the rest of my body!

I sympathise but don't have a solution.

I too have large calves. I am so jealous of people who can buy knee high boots. I have small feet, so this makes it even worse.

Despite losing 16kg is weight and training for a half marathon, I still have large calves. If anything, my calves have got slightly larger in the last year.

The exercise you describe is good to strengthen your calves, but I don't know if it will make them any slimmer.

will56

OP: The exercise the instructor showed you is basically a calf raise, used to exercise the calfs themselves. If you are looking to slim them down targetting them specifically is akin to doing bicep curls to make them biceps smaller.
The Guvnor is right in that an overall weightloss may be the only way.
I would avoid exercising the calf where possible if I was you.

Elohim

mariebeth wrote: »

Thanks guys. I asked one of the instructors in the gym & she showed me an exercise that might help, basically I stand on a step and then raise myself up on my toes, and then go back down for about 20 reps. It might or might not help because I know it's all part of genetics, but it's worth a shot. She also told me to make sure I really stretch out my calf muscles after doing it because if I don't they could end up contracting & becoming bigger.

I know the calf muscles aren't that big a deal, I just find it a little frustrating at times because I can never get knee high boots that fit, so it's worth a shot to try something while I'm exercising the rest of my body!

Like Will56 above has said, you're now doing an exercise specifically targeting your calves. I'm gonna presume this will make your calf muscles bigger and stronger.

There a few solutions though. You could go into space for a long time until your muscles waste away. You could surgically cut the calf muscles which would be very gross and extremely bad for you (yes they actually do this in S. Korea by the way). Other than that I'm out of ideas.

Girls wear high heels to make their calves look bigger or something, I saw some program about it before. Men are supposed to be attracted to stronger calf muscles (whether they realise it or not) for some evolutionary purpose.

Sangre

mariebeth wrote: »

Thanks guys. I asked one of the instructors in the gym & she showed me an exercise that might help, basically I stand on a step and then raise myself up on my toes, and then go back down for about 20 reps. It might or might not help because I know it's all part of genetics, but it's worth a shot. She also told me to make sure I really stretch out my calf muscles after doing it because if I don't they could end up contracting & becoming bigger.

So that's why I'm not big, I stretch too much!

How does someone like that get a job in a gym?

Mellor

Elohim wrote: »

Girls wear high heels to make their calves look bigger or something, I saw some program about it before. Men are supposed to be attracted to stronger calf muscles (whether they realise it or not) for some evolutionary purpose.

Wearing them stress the calfs and can make them stronger/bigger. But that's not the reason they were them. Simply to look taller is.
Men are attracted to them because they nice strong legs look good

The Guvnor

huskerdu wrote: »

I sympathise but don't have a solution.

I too have large calves. I am so jealous of people who can buy knee high boots. I have small feet, so this makes it even worse.

Despite losing 16kg is weight and training for a half marathon, I still have large calves. If anything, my calves have got slightly larger in the last year.

The exercise you describe is good to strengthen your calves, but I don't know if it will make them any slimmer.

DUO Boots are designed to fit a variety of calf sizes - believe you can select the calf width.:)

rainbow kirby

huskerdu wrote: »

I sympathise but don't have a solution.

I too have large calves. I am so jealous of people who can buy knee high boots. I have small feet, so this makes it even worse.

Despite losing 16kg is weight and training for a half marathon, I still have large calves. If anything, my calves have got slightly larger in the last year.

The exercise you describe is good to strengthen your calves, but I don't know if it will make them any slimmer.

Could have said almost the exact same thing myself. Even with size 7 feet it's still hard to find knee-high boots that fit, and skinny jeans? Not a hope. At least flared jeans seem to be making a bit of a comeback this year...

gymfreak

Between this thread and the muscular legs thread I think I'm gonna end up getting a complex about my legs:(

dartstothesea

I just checked out that S. Korea calf-reduction fad. I also read about people getting their jaws and stuff reduced too but the calf thing is probably a million times more retarded.
I don't think there's a single thing more attractive than copious, nay epic amounts of calf muscle. It's seriously top of the whole list.
But this is the ****ed world we live in. Other guys can prefer a wretched femailing physique all they want, but nothing annoys me more than the brainwashing of young people to dislike what's naturally awesome about themselves.

Okay, I'm done for now.
OP, from what I understand, tonnes of stretching will actually encourage the muscle to grow, so I don't think that's the ...answer.

Hanley

gymfreak wrote: »

Between this thread and the muscular legs thread I think I'm gonna end up getting a complex about my legs:(

You have beautiful legs

G86

Hanley wrote: »

You have beautiful legs

+1, legs that can push 100kg on the prowler! So whisht!:)

gymfreak

G86 wrote: »

+1, legs that can push 100kg on the prowler! So whisht!:)

Ahem...110kg:D.

I was actually pushing the prowler on Saturday after reading the two threads thinking this would probably horrify most chicks...but then again the thoughts of it horrifies me aswell for pain related reasons of course:P