# Calves refuse to grow



## Fortunatus (Apr 12, 2013)

this little useless sticks I possess below my knees are driving me mad, I'm 204 lbs and I got calves like a child. I train them and legs all the time, quads have improved massively but now my legs look even worse. can't wear shorts due to looks so uneven. will training them every day help on the back of each work out? I'm lost with ideas now currently on test tren dbol cycle put 20lbs on and about 1lbs on calves its almost laughable


----------



## ah24 (Jun 25, 2006)

John Meadows said that for him the two things that got them to grow was:

1) Training them EVERY time he was in the gym

2) Also training the anterior tibialis

Ben Pakulski said he added something like 5" to his by training them every day for 2 years. High reps, low reps, explosive stuff, TUT etc. Changed it daily.

Good luck.


----------



## bobbydrake (Nov 19, 2012)

Have a look on T Nation for their article on calves - as ah24 says above training every single day varying reps and weight (even doing them at home with body weight) is supposed to work. I don't know any gym that has the tibialis machine but supposedly you can do it with the smith machine and a step (although I've tried and couldnt get it quite right).


----------



## Big ape (May 5, 2011)

been hitting mine minimum 3x a week ... also do them first on leg day as my quads and hams are miles ahead ...

do high reps / low reps

super sets

and there growing so quick


----------



## Fortunatus (Apr 12, 2013)

Cheers guys, this is what I thought throw them in on every workout, I think my lack of knowledge on exercisers doesn't help. I use smith machine on the edge of a "board" raises, leg press same thing really and we have a specific machine you sit on and the weight is rested on your knees and you raise them. but are these all not exactly the same movements just different machines?

leg day tonight so I'll perhaps throw low reps high weight first thing then end high reps. cheers for the advice guys.


----------



## Big ape (May 5, 2011)

Fortunatus said:


> Cheers guys, this is what I thought throw them in on every workout, I think my lack of knowledge on exercisers doesn't help. I use smith machine on the edge of a "board" raises, leg press same thing really and we have a specific machine you sit on and the weight is rested on your knees and you raise them. but are these all not exactly the same movements just different machines?
> 
> leg day tonight so I'll perhaps throw low reps high weight first thing then end high reps. cheers for the advice guys.


I was doing my standing calve raises wrong ... pushing of my toes rather then the ball of my big toe this helped see it on a ben pakulski video


----------



## zyphy (Jun 23, 2014)

Having 'good' looking calves has a lot to do with genetics (insertions) from what I've seen.


----------



## Verno (Apr 18, 2008)

Fortunatus said:


> this little useless sticks I possess below my knees are driving me mad, I'm 204 lbs and I got calves like a child. I train them and legs all the time, quads have improved massively but now my legs look even worse. can't wear shorts due to looks so uneven. will training them every day help on the back of each work out? I'm lost with ideas now currently on test tren dbol cycle put 20lbs on and about 1lbs on calves its almost laughable


Road running mate is the only way I saw any decent gains but they came on pretty quick.


----------



## 7878 (Jan 15, 2013)

ah24 said:


> John Meadows said that for him the two things that got them to grow was:
> 
> 1) Training them EVERY time he was in the gym
> 
> ...


Yes i heard johns radio show also, 2 great tips.....The thing you need to understand is you use them all day

walking around so with that in mind you have to do things to force them to respond....

1. Train them every other day at least

2. Start movement in the deep stretched position and speeze at the top 3-4 sets (heavy) (FULL RANGE OF MOTION) TUT!!!!!

3. Drop weight down and do 3-4 drop sets till their on fire....

You have to beat them up to make them grow....literally


----------



## nWo (Mar 25, 2014)

People with autism or unusual bone structure in their ankles, all have huge calves because they're walking on tip-toes all the time. Michael McIntyre for example has *huge* calves where he walks funny due to dodgy ankles and is also overweight, so his calves are under a lot of strain every day:










So really, very high rep "endurance" work as often as you can is probably the answer. Even walking around the house on tip-toes whenever you get a spare few minutes.


----------



## jake87 (May 7, 2010)

On the flip side of the coin I trained calves 4/5 days a week and if anything they lost size. Definition improved slightly, some people do not have the ability to have decent calves without synthol


----------



## theBEAST2002 (Oct 16, 2011)

Alternate a heavy and light day everyday. Deep stretch and big squeeze at the top. When your at home, do rest pause calf raises on the stairs. 100 reps, 30 second rest then again until 500 total reps are done.


----------



## diesel09 (May 27, 2009)

mine have always grown at a slow rate but don't look to bad, but the last couple of weeks in work ive been working up a a rural steep uneven footpath with gates either side, so have to carry 25kg bags of cement from the bottom to the top, I must do this about 10-15 times with 2 bags at a time and my calves have starting growing like crazy,

one of the lads who is labouring on us was off last week due to not being able to walk properly because of sever doms in his calves,

so try carrying a rucksack full of weights up some hills haha


----------



## ellisrimmer (Sep 9, 2012)

I've give up on them. I can lift loads but they never seem to change. F em! would be a pain if I was a bodybuilder I guess


----------



## biggestdog2007 (Apr 7, 2010)

Straight leg and bent leg (seated ones) place strain on the 2 different heads, so make sure you do both.


----------



## Arnold999 (Sep 8, 2014)

Do this for 8 weeks u will see changes of cource

5x25 standing calf rise

5x25 seated calf rise

5x25 leg press machine but use it for ur calves

Choose weight to reach failure at 25reps


----------



## gaz90 (Jun 19, 2014)

theBEAST2002 said:


> Alternate a heavy and light day everyday. Deep stretch and big squeeze at the top. When your at home, do rest pause calf raises on the stairs. 100 reps, 30 second rest then again until 500 total reps are done.


did something similar at the end of a workout last tuesday. I really dont need to train calves but i had a few minutes to kill.

single leg calf raises on a step, 25 reps each leg -twice. swapping back and forth like rest pause really, for a total of 50 reps. I did 3 sets of that and my calves only felt ok again yesterday. way better than anything ive done for them before.


----------



## gb666 (Mar 14, 2006)

Eccentric calve lowers on your stairs.

Raise on both legs then lower on one.

3 sets of 20 each leg everyday.

Add weight to a rucksack every few days and stretch the whole calve region after each workout.


----------



## Fortunatus (Apr 12, 2013)

@DaveCW already sorting calves


----------



## DaveCW (Dec 9, 2013)

Fortunatus said:


> @DaveCW already sorting calves


Cant go wrong with Synthol....


----------



## elliot438 (Mar 9, 2013)

You can try a lot of things like high and low reps, pause reps, high and low volume, dropsets etc etc. and doing them multiple times a week but personally I find just training them like any other muscle (6-10 reps for me) and ensuring you are doing full ROM and not bouncing they grow just fine.

I find a lot of people say they've tried everything and train them hard blah blah but they actually don't. They skip training them, bounce the weight around, don't actually train them hard or do too many reps. I find high reps a bit stupid as you just get a massive build up of lactic acid which makes you stop at say 15 reps when you could probably of done at least 5 or 10 more if it wasn't for burn.


----------



## Stephen9069 (Dec 11, 2013)

my calves are sh1t compared to the rest of my legs i have long calves which dont help matters i dont train them as regularly but they do get hit hard on things like yoke runs and farmers walk there just stubborn lol


----------



## 31205 (Jan 16, 2013)

They carry you around all day. You've gotta absolutely annihilate them ****ers.


----------

