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Bodybuilding and Fitness
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Topic starter
15/04/2025 5:24 am
Specifically, I need to "beef-up" the outer heads. It really doesn't seem to matter if I do seated (soleus-primary) or any variety of standing, leg press, donkey, etc (gastroc-primary) - I always get sore and feel the muscle working the inner head, but little or nothing for the outer. I have been led to believe in the last few yesrs that foot position (i.e. toes pointed in, straight, or out) really doesn't affect the exercise results that much so I pretty much use a straight-on approach. Can someone (other than those damnedly blessed genetic calf freaks) give me some tips on how to "target" that outer head? Lately, I have been doing five sets of one-leg standing calf raises (8-10 reps) holding a 40lb dumbell in the hand on the "working" side) followed by three sets of one-leg seated calf raises (10-12 reps per set) The one-leg thing was an attempt to force each calf to work independent of the other and reduce/eliminate any muscular imbalances. Thanks for any input!
15/04/2025 5:49 am
i think the main thing is genetic's.i have pretty good calve's and i hardly train them.maybe a couple of time's a fortnight.yet a friend of mine can not get his calve's to grow no matter how hard or often he tries.unfortunately i can't reccomend any paticular excersise to you.i only do standing up raises on a machine.my friend trie's all type's of ways.
15/04/2025 6:10 am
What I do for the outer calf area is take a stance that is less than shoulder width apart, and at the same time you rise up on your toes, you roll your feet outward so the weight is on your little toes. For your inner calf, you roll on to your big toe with a little wider than shoulder width. Hope this helps. 😀
15/04/2025 7:05 am
FU is right on the mark. He beat me to the punch. I think the foot position thing came to be to help try and put stress on the different parts of the balls of your feet. IE: When you turn your feet in, it is a bit easier to roll up on the balls of your feet to the little toe side and this will in turn hit your outer head harder. I will add a couple things that have helped me and that I have done for years but don't know if they are founded in scientific data (they continue to work very well for me): I train gastroc and soleus on different days. You can train soleus when your gastroc is sore but not the other way around. I have had the same dilemma years ago with my outer head needing to come up to par with my inner. I have found that doing toe presses while seated upright with my legs out in front of me work well on the outer head if I leave a little more than a slight bend at the knees. An example would be a seated horizontal leg press or hammer strength seated toe press (the one with your feet out in front of you). Usually, when guys ask me in the gym how to get their calves to grow, they are using way too much weight and not getting a full ROM. You need to drive the heels down at the bottom and I hesitate at the top. When you don't think you can go up on your toes any higher, try anyway. I don't count reps but rather burn the phuk out of them. I also don't try for high reps as I am not convinced that calves grow exclusively with high reps only. I have and continue to have success by training them with reps in the 8 - 12 rep range. It might just be me, but it has worked well. I train calves bare foot and always have (socks but no shoes). 2 reasons: With no shoes, my foot NEVER slips on the block and I never have to stop after a handful of reps and adjust my feet. The other reason is if you are looking to stretch in the bottom position, you will get a better stretch without the shoes, as the shoes won't 'gather' in the front of the ankle - getting in the way of your deep stretch. ADD: For those of you who will argue (there is always someone) that not wearing shoes breaks down your arches, don't go there. ANY calf work breaks down your arches because the shoes provide NO support of the arch when you are on the balls of your feet. The shoe will only provide support when both the heel and ball of your foot is on the ground. I am getting long winded but I hope this helps.
15/04/2025 7:32 am
FU BLOWN is right on the money. the only other thing you might try is training them barefoot or just in your socks. shoes tend to give too much arch support and take away from the intensity. check out pictures of Arnold back in the day doing donkeys with a couple of guys on his back and always barefoot. gymnest(sp) and ballerinas always have great calves because of their training with no shoes.
15/04/2025 7:51 am
you beat me Skip. LOL!
15/04/2025 8:07 am
You gotta be quicker, bro! Hey, atleast we agree, huh? :p
15/04/2025 8:36 am
Originally posted by Skip LaCour: You gotta be quicker, bro! Hey, atleast we agree, huh? :p Let me chime in as well----> Skip offers good advice here. ALSO---> I found great success alternating calf workouts from high reps to RIDICULOUSLY heavy weights and moderate reps-- every other w/o. The squeeze at the top insure blood will pump to all stimulated areas (all heads !!!) Don't feel bad--- I had to work for mine too (misery LOVES company) 'zilla
Topic starter
15/04/2025 3:53 pm
Thanks to everyone - it seems that FU and Skip hit the mark as far as the general concensus goes......I will start shedding the shoes and give the recommendations a try. The one thing that I have learned in the years I've been lifting is that if you like the way you look then keep doing what you're doing - if you are NOT satisfied you better make some changes or remain forever stagnant! What makes my "problem" even worse is that my quads and hams are VERY developed and my calves are only 18.5" - NOT in porportion! Again, thanks for the well thought out replies..........