Calves are made in the kitchen! Wait, wrong article. But calves are made in the womb!

This article is written by Rob Maxwell, M.A. Exercise Physiology, CSCS and ACSM CPT from www.fittothemax.net. Follow him on Twitter.

Everybody wants big calve muscles

Who wants big calves? You know that nice diamond cut calve that tapers down the lower leg? I do. I think that many guys do.

What about gals? They do to an extent as well. I think that calves with women are often synonymous with cankles. They shouldn't be. I think that a nice pair of calves on a woman is beautiful. Maybe that’s just me.

I know this though: Most men want bigger calves. It’s almost like guys just want pecs, abs, biceps, and calves.

They don't want big thighs! That’s way too much work. Speaking of work, calves are easy to work as far as effort goes - but they are not easy to grow. I’ll explain!

You don't need bigger calves to do better at sports or athletics

Calves are overrated in the sports world to be honest. Having big calves will not lead to much increase in athleticism. There aren’t too many sports where having big calves will increase your performance. They can look nice though!

Now in body building they separate the ladies from the girls. I must be careful and not say men from the boys - people are way too sensitive these days!

Arnold's calve implant myth

There is an old myth that I don’t give any credit to. It says that after Arnold lost one of his first pro bodybuilding events in the states, he had calf implants put in.

I think that this rumor of course is very silly, but it does show how much people care about calves in the bodybuilding world if they are going to make such outrageous claims.

The two main calve muscles

1. Soleus

2. Gastrocnemius

Let’s talk about what the calves are.

The calf muscles are two muscles located inferior to the knee (below the knee) on the posterior side (back) of the lower leg.

The soleus is the deeper of the two muscles. The gastrocnemius is the superficial (closer to the surface) of the calf muscles. Both need to be worked to have “big calves”.

Both muscles function in the same way essentially. They plantar flex the ankle. This means to push the toes down towards the floor.

The difference between the two is that the gastrocnemius plantar flexes the ankle while in the standing position and the soleus plantar flexes the ankle while in the seated position.

The calf muscles are responsible for moving the foot bones.

Here is a little kinesiology lesson

Muscles always move the bones below the joint that is bending. For example the quads move the tibia and fibula below the knee.

If you have ankle issues, it is important to have strong posterior calf muscles along with the anterior muscle of the lower leg which is the anterior tibialis (front calve muscles).

It is always important to strengthen muscles below and above a joint to help prevent injury.

As far as other athletic benefits of calve muscles go, there aren't too many. Calves do help a jumper jump higher - but still most of the jumping power will come from the upper thigh muscles.

Calves are made in the womb

If you hung around the gyms a lot - especially when I was coming up and the gyms were primarily bodybuilding places - you'd often hear that “calves are genetic”.

That's true, but calves aren't any different from any other muscle group. All muscles growth is dependent on your genetics.

Primarily what I’m talking about here is muscle belly length. We are born with predetermined muscle belly size. Every muscle and tendon attachment has a particular length.

If you have more long muscle bellies and short tendons, the muscle has the capacity to grow bigger. Think about it. It’s like a longer balloon with more space to fill up. If you have longer tendon attachments and shorter muscle bellies, that muscle will not grow too big in size.

Why are calves harder to grow?

So why do calves get that bad rap? That's because we use them all the time. The same thing would be said of the biceps if we walked on our straight arms all day and stimulated them so often.

In other words, all muscle size is genetic. The difference with the calves is that they get stimulated from us walking around all the time. We are working our calves out all the time! The bigger a person is the more calf work they get.

Is there more to it? Of course there is. I’ll get into that in a bit but I’m making the case as to why you always hear that calves are genetic. They are - as are all muscles.

Having great muscle genetics is the first step to get bigger and cut calves.

I would be shortchanging top physique athletes that get their calves looking perfectly symmetrical by leaving it at that.

Let’s have a look at how we can increase calve size.

How to increase calve size

First, we must make sure we are training both the gastrocnemius and the soleus muscles.

Many people make the mistake of only training calves by doing standing calf raises. If this is you, you are only training the gastrocnemius and not the deep soleus muscles that will give calves more size.

The soleus calve muscles is called the second heart

Here is another fun fact about the soleus muscle: It’s called the second heart.

When the soleus is more developed, it helps with circulation by pumping more blood back to the heart. Remember that it's the calf muscles that do that.

When we have clients with any cardiac risks (or really anybody), we encourage them to do calf exercises to help with blood circulation.

Do various calve exercises for maximum calve growth

Once you know to do both standing and seated calf raises, understand that you should change toe position when you do your lifts.

When you point your toes in and heels out, you are working more of the lateral (outer) calf. When you point your toes out and heels in, you are working the medial (inner) calf muscles more.

Calves workout plan (6 sets, twice a week)

1. Standing calves raise (Toes pointed out) for 8-12 reps

2. Standing calves raise (Toes pointed in) for 8-12 reps

3. Standing calves raise (Toes pointed straight) for 8-12 reps

4. Seated calves raise (Toes pointed out) for 8-12 reps

5. Seated calves raise (Toes pointed in) for 8-12 reps

6. Seated calves raise (Toes pointed straight) for 8-12 reps

I typically tell people to work 3 sets of standing calf muscles and 3 sets of seated calf muscles for a total of 6 sets for calves.

I’ll have my clients do one set for medial, one set for lateral, and one set neutral (toes pointed straight) for both seated and standing calves.

Just like with all muscles, you want to use moderate rep ranges of 8-12 reps to get bigger.

Use a heavy enough load to where you can’t do more than 12 reps with good form per set. Like with every exercise, focus more on form than load.

If you are doing them correctly - which means full range of motion, lower slow, and really pause at the top - you probably don't need to go as heavy as you think.

A mistake that I often see rookies make in the gym is cutting their range of motion very short so that they can use more weight. Hello, ego, check yourself at the door please!

Believe it or not, the calves are a small muscle group. You must guard against overtraining. Don’t do too many sets or overwork them with frequency. They already get worked every day!

I advise my clients that want bigger calves to train them two times per week.

Here's to bigger calves!

I think that bigger, cut calves look good on both men and women. So what if calf muscles are primarily cosmetic? What’s wrong with feeling good about how our muscles look?

I like training my calves. I believe that I have average calves. It’s not due to effort! I train them hard and smart. As I said above, we got what we got!

Genetically I can get very big quads and genetically I can have average calves. I work them both the same. I guess I will have to call Arnold and get the number of the calf implant guy!

Be well!

This article is written by Rob Maxwell, M.A. Exercise Physiology, CSCS and ACSM CPT from www.fittothemax.net. Follow him on Twitter.

Get Bigger Calve Muscles Right Now - You're Doing it Wrong

Calves are what I call a 'gene-muscle'. Some people can grow their calves into mini boulders while others can't, even though both could be working just as hard on them every week. Unfortunately, the size that your calves can grow in proportion to the rest of your body is largely predetermined to luck-of-the-draw genetics. Don't lose hope though, there are still ways to get them show-ready and larger than life with smart lifting and a few changes to your work-out routine. Check out these smart tips that will turn your puppies into bull dogs.

How to get bigger calf muscles

Treat your calves like any other muscle group

Firstly, the calves should be treated like any other muscle group. They differ from the other muscle groups in a variety of ways. They were made to take more heat before failing. In the wild, you died if your calves gave out when running away from Mr. Lion (not Luscious) and other tribes. They are made up of more slow-twitch muscle fibers and less fast-twitch muscle fibers. The abdominal muscles are another example of muscle types that are mainly composed of slow twitch muscle fibers.

This is why most people think that you should train them differently. You should, however, train them the same as other muscle groups. If you train them using higher reps (but lower weights) and at higher frequencies (more times a week than other muscle groups), you are appealing to their slow-twitch nature. By doing this, their slow twitch nature will be stimulated, instead of the few fast twitch fibers that have the most potential for massive size.

Instead, you want to increase the fast-twitch part of the muscle (therefore increasing the potential for increased size). You do this by appealing to the fast twitch part of the calf muscles. By training them according to their slow twitch nature, you are enforcing the fact that they don't grow like the other muscles. If your calves are trained like they are just as fast-twitched as other muscles, they will adapt and change.

Lower the rep range

Would you train your chest at 20 reps for 4 sets? Decrease your rep range and increase the intensity by raising the amount of weight that you put on them. This will appeal to their fast twitch fibers and you calves will grow bigger.

Work to failure

Your calves burn because they would rather work with oxygen energy instead of glycogen energy (lactic acid is released when we exercise at energetic rates higher than what oxygen can replenish). Work them to failure in the same way that you would push your bicep muscles. The burn is their way of telling you that they are uncomfortable. Let them get so uncomfortable that they are forced to change.

Rest times

If you are working on your calves every day, you are not working them hard enough per session (not enough to cause delayed onset muscle soreness). You might not be giving them enough rest to grow and improve for the next workout. You should try to grow the size of your calves in the same way that you do with chest and back muscles, even though they will give you more resistance when you try to do so. Your body prioritizes calf function over other muscles, since they are so important for you to escape danger. If they don't have enough rest, they would rather decrease size in order to be ready for the next time you need to run away. Just like how training chest muscles too often won't give it them the time that they need to recover, training the calf muscles too often won't give the fast twitch muscles enough time to recover and grow. 

For those who don't know the difference between fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers

Fast twitch muscle fibers are the fibers in the muscle that are used for short periods, but at higher intensities. They rely on glucose instead of oxygen for energy because oxygen will take too long to add up in the fiber for the amount of power that the muscle needs right now. They grow a lot bigger than slow twitch muscle fibers.

Slow twitch muscle fibers are the muscle fibers that are used at low intensities for longer periods of time. They reply on oxygen for energy. Since they don't need to store glycogen, they grow a lot smaller than fast twitch muscle fibers.

For a good example of the size potential differences between fast and slow twitch muscle fibers, think about the muscle differences between sprinters and marathon runners. Sprinters use fast twitch muscle fibers, since they need a lot of energy in a short space of time. Conversely, marathon runners rely on slow twitch muscles because they use less energy, but for longer periods of time. 

Are you working them hard enough?

If you train your chest to failure, why are you not training your calves to failure? Calves are harder to train to failure because you will initially have a larger portion of slow twitch muscle fibers. Their slow twitch nature is reinforced by being repetitively used in low-intensity, high endurance movements like walking and running - which we all do a lot of in life.

This means that when you do exercises that recruit fast twitch fibers like calve raises, your higher percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibers release more lactic acid as a response (you feel a burn in your calves before you reach failure). Every time you work your calves, work past the burn until they start to fail and you can't move the weight anymore. Once you are failing to execute full reps on them, you are reaching failure. In order to start increasing the fast twitch fibers in your calves, you need to get used to working your calves to failure every time you work on them. This will take some time to get used to, because your calves are naturally inclined to burn and make you stop BEFORE they fail as a survival mechanism. As a rule in survival, your calves are programmed to never fail, because reaching failure means that you would not be able to get away from dangers (like animals in the wild).

Once you have reached failure, try to do a few forced reps (with as much of the full rep movement as you can) because calve muscles are also programmed to recover as quickly as possible to ensure your natural mobility and survival.

From the beginning of your movement, make sure that you complete the full movement of each rep. Start with your heels as low as what feels naturally possible and lift them as high as you can. You should be struggling to get your heels as high up as possible with each rep, meaning that you almost pause for a second at the top of each movement by trying to reach the highest point possible. Pause here and let those puppies suffer.

Don't rush through your movements. This would be your natural instinct to recruit slow twitch fibers by turning it into a semi-cardio activity. Yes, doing this will burn. The burn is a good indication that you are challenging them more than what is naturally expected.

But just like when you work your other muscle groups; it is about increasing strength and size, not speed. The slower you go, the more it should burn. The more you work through the burn, the closer you get to failure. The more you cause your calves to fail, the more that they are forced to grow those fast twitch muscle fibers.

Use a lower rep range

You bench at a range of 8-12 reps, right? Then why are you doing calf raises in the 15-20 rep range? It is easier to use the fast twitch muscles in our chest but easier to use the slow twitch fibers on your calves. Using heavier weight and failing on lower reps just feels wrong on your calves because they are not designed to do so - but the whole point of this is to grow your calves past what they are naturally inclined to grow and have their size proportional to the rest of your muscle profile.

 To do this, put them on the same regimen as the rest of your body, whether if feels 'comfortable' or not. Make sure to reach a point of failure and do a few forced reps. Get used to using a lower rep range, and then alternate between rep ranges every few weeks to keep them on their toes (pun intended). Switching to high reps every now and then benefits muscle growth in all muscle types.

Muscle confusion

Your calves will get used to their exercises very quickly, because they are naturally essential to our primal survival. Do you need a good counter measure? Use calve exercises until they reach a plateau and then change the exercise to keep them growing. The change could be something as simple as swapping the standard standing calve raise machine for standing dumbbell raises on a step, or using a barbell on your shoulders, or doing raises on the flat ground, or changing rep ranges (and rest times in between sets). You should be changing your calf exercises more regularly then other muscle groups because of the fact that they adapt so quickly.

Different exercises for different goals

Different calf exercises will affect the calf muscles differently, so be sure to do a mixture of exercises to grow the different parts of the calf evenly.

Standing calve exercises (on a straightened knee) will stimulate the gastrocnemius more. This is the part of the calve that looks like a tennis ball at the back of your calve and gives the calve the shape and definition which looks very aesthetic.

Seated calve exercises (bent knee) help to widen your calves and add bulk, which is important to keep your calves in proportion with the rest of your body.

Lifting you toes while keeping your heels on the ground under a weight will increase the size and strength of the front part of the lower leg. These are the muscles that are the closest to your shin. You can do this by holding a dumbbell or kettlebell on your toes and balancing them with your hands. Lift your toes while balancing your heels on the ground. You can pivot your heels on a step for a greater range of motion.

The usual stuff

Your calves need nutrition just like all the other muscle groups

They require a good bulking diet to grow in size. Make sure that your diet includes enough natural food to keep your immune system strong. Supplements are a great way to make sure that you reach your daily macro nutrient targets. An energizing pre workout can increase calf performance and recovery.

Avoid catabolism

Make sure to follow these tips to make sure that your muscles are not breaking down and undoing all of your hard work.

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