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Getbig Main Boards => Gossip & Opinions => Topic started by: unwieldy on September 09, 2025, 09:59:51 AM
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Does calf training really work or is it all genetics?
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/08/48/68/0848681ab128118739cd45f0727306c1.jpg)
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It works if there is some genetic response there. Either way its good to do, even if someone's calves remain skinny at least they will be stronger which is more important than just appearing larger.
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It works if there is some genetic response there. Either way its good to do, even if someone's calves remain skinny at least they will be stronger which is more important than just appearing larger.
Dorian implied that the English have great calf genetics.
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The late Pellius (RIP)built very good calves from nothing. It can be done but rare indeed.
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The late Pellius (RIP)built very good calves from nothing. It can be done but rare indeed.
Any insights to how he did it? Or was it genetic after all?
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Jay Refrigerator Cutler spoke about growing his calves after his sister mocked them.
Some fellow spoke about growing his calves by doing calf raises on a dictionary. I thought I read about him here on Getbig? But maybe it was Bodybuilding.com?
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Jay Refrigerator Cutler spoke about growing his calves after his sister mocked them.
Some fellow spoke about growing his calves by doing calf raises on a dictionary. I thought I read about him here on Getbig? But maybe it was Bodybuilding.com?
I have heard a lot of such stories, but I have only seen evidence of one; Arnold
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Jay Refrigerator Cutler spoke about growing his calves after his sister mocked them.
Some fellow spoke about growing his calves by doing calf raises on a dictionary. I thought I read about him here on Getbig? But maybe it was Bodybuilding.com?
That was Pellius.
He did high rep bodyweight calf raises on each leg.
He posted that on Ironage, maybe on here as well.
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That was Pellius.
He did high rep bodyweight calf raises on each leg.
He posted that on Ironage, maybe on here as well.
MTwain calf thread.
Go to Reply #18
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MTwain calf thread.
Go to Reply #18
https://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=156877.0
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Damn those are some sweet gains. I am going to try this.
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looks like synthol
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Definitely, looks ugly.
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I’ve never trained mine serious for any length of time and they one of my best body parts, have trained them 6 months straight and seen zero difference
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Arnold had pretty good calves before he made his miracle calf gains when he went to Europe.
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Mentzer always said genetics can only properly be gauged in retrospect. So if someone actually got great calves down the line it means he always had the genetics to do it... duh! ::) :D Of course this could be cope on my part since I didn't succeed with my calves, yet guys like Arnold and Pellius did, maybe I'm covering for my substandard lazy effort. Or something...
Nick Walker's genes were in deep hiding at his first show. He made a herculean effort, aided by some pharmaceuticals, and didn't listen to to the naysayers and proved genes can be overcome.
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Dorian Yates.
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Dorian implied that the English have great calf genetics.
"Your Majesty no one has calves like yours."
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My calves suck, almost -aj- esque. I don’t ever train them though, but not sure what came first the chicken or the egg so to speak. I did jump rope for a bit and did notice some better development from it and figured I could just stop since I’ve been walking around at 235-250 for 20 plus years but to no avail. My dad has shitty calves too.
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My wife has great calves, as far as I know she never exercised a day in her life and they are nearly bursting through her jeans. :-\
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I never had good calf genetics but they grew over time, you gotta train them hard, real hard, with both low and high reps, and stretch between sets
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Most people do 20 to 30 sets for their chest, same for back, same for quads. 15 to 20 sets for bi's and tri's. Then do 2 or 3 sets of calf raises and wonder why their calves don't grow.
Same for abs. 15 to 30 sets for every other body part but 2 sets of sit ups and wonder why they don't have great abs, of course abs require diet more than anything but still. If you want those muscles to respond the same way chest, back, arms, thighs then you have to train them with the same sets, reps and intensity- if not more for calves.
I think mentzer also commented that you spend your entire life using your calves when standing, walking, running, playing a sport etc. They get work everyday of your life, they're not going to grow from a few half-hearted sets.
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One thing that Arnold & others of that era did was donkey calf raises. They sweared by them & nowadays not many do them or even know the exercise in today's Gym's
One other exercise I personally like in the gym is using the seated leg press machine for my calf raises..you're basically in a similar position as a donkey calf raise but seated.
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One thing that Arnold & others of that era did was donkey calf raises. They sweared by them & nowadays not many do them or even know the exercise in today's Gym's
One other exercise I personally like in the gym is using the seated leg press machine for my calf raises..you're basically in a similar position as a donkey calf raise but seated.
Honestly, I always thought the Donkey calf was a stupid and highly overrated (for nostalgic reasons lol) exercise. You can move more weight, get a better pump and way better peak contraction with the regular standing calf raise, imo it's superior in every aspect to the Donkey (that's also probably the reason hardly any gym has it anymore)
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What I often ask myself (my calves suck too btw): Has anyone ever actually tried to really train his calves as hard and committed like other body parts, like chest or back? What would happen if you really would have a separate calves day with like 4 exercises à 4 sets to failure every week? ???
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People often lump calves and forearms both into the same category; that is, they say both are highly dependent on genetics. But this makes absolutely no sense. Why would calf and forearm development be based more on genetics than chest or back?
I think it’s more to do with the fact that forearms and calves get trained every day due to ordinary use, so are not trained as thoroughly as other body parts.
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Superstar Billy Graham said walking behind arnold his calves were so big it made his knee look insignificant
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Gear makes all the difference, training less so
Case in point, Calum the Retard
(https://preview.redd.it/gnki0h1jv1531.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=56f3eb88681ae5fa1056c96a4b9db5dddfbfef6e)
(https://i.imgur.com/8LnIW8o.jpeg)
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_xF6nIHYXUM/maxresdefault.jpg)
(https://www.simplyshredded.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2.jpg)
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I have decent calf genetics, but they require some training. They respond best to heavy weights. They grew twice as fast as the quads/hams, with much less workload.
Most guys i know who have crappy calves, rarely work them, maybe a couple of sets at the end of leg day.
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What I often ask myself (my calves suck too btw): Has anyone ever actually tried to really train his calves as hard and committed like other body parts, like chest or back? What would happen if you really would have a separate calves day with like 4 exercises à 4 sets to failure every week? ???
Agree on that.
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Honestly, I always thought the Donkey calf was a stupid and highly overrated (for nostalgic reasons lol) exercise. You can move more weight, get a better pump and way better peak contraction with the regular standing calf raise, imo it's superior in every aspect to the Donkey (that's also probably the reason hardly any gym has it anymore)
I disagree, donkey calf machine is easily the best machine for calf growth, but they are hard to find, and no I'm not going to have some dude sitting on my lower back/ass
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What I often ask myself (my calves suck too btw): Has anyone ever actually tried to really train his calves as hard and committed like other body parts, like chest or back? What would happen if you really would have a separate calves day with like 4 exercises à 4 sets to failure every week? ???
Lol, try it! they actually start to grow! also they respond well to very high reps
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Honestly, I always thought the Donkey calf was a stupid and highly overrated (for nostalgic reasons lol) exercise. You can move more weight, get a better pump and way better peak contraction with the regular standing calf raise, imo it's superior in every aspect to the Donkey that's also probably the reason hardly any gym has it anymore)(
& that´s probably why we see such poor calf development in the Gyms
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My calves balloon up easy enough.
I havent been able to train since April due to illness- back in this Saturday. My calves were up to 20 having had no gear since last year and unable to exercise they are currently sat at 18 and 18.25. When I was training I would hit them once with legs once with abs.
Will do the same.
Have to ease into it but will build up to
calf raise 4x15-20; seated calf raise 4x25- 30 second stretch after each set- this will be after legs. On their own will be Calf raise 5x20-30, seated calf 5 x 30-35, toe press 1 set of 100 taking 5 second breaks if I fail. The second workout is pure pain but the results for me are well worth it.
What I have always found funny is there is never a wait to use the calf machines anywhere. Ever!
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Those pics were when he use esciline.
in my younger years, my calves for years made no great progress, despite training them often. Then, as i got older, they came and ballooned up real nice. Weird how that happened - didn't change the training much at all, so maybe an age/genetic thing.
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The Universal Calf exercise is the one legged calf raise holding a Dumbbell, can do it anywhere
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Lol, try it! they actually start to grow! also they respond well to very high reps
I already have a 5-day-split and a full-time job, I can't f*ing switch so a 6-day-split adding an additional calf day in there like a moron ;D
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My wife has great calves, as far as I know she never exercised a day in her life and they are nearly bursting through her jeans. :-\
Does she wear heels a lot? Women can build great calves just wearing them. Back in the '80's there was some company selling shoes in the muscle mags that were supposed to build the calves up by just wearing the shoes all day at home.
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Superstar Billy Graham said walking behind arnold his calves were so big it made his knee look insignificant
When I trained in the same gyms as Jeff King his calves would kind of vibrate with striations when he walked.......they looked fucking unreal.
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Does she wear heels a lot? Women can build great calves just wearing them. Back in the '80's there was some company selling shoes in the muscle mags that were supposed to build the calves up by just wearing the shoes all day at home.
had an advert with boyer coe and his majestic wig/calves in it
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Does she wear heels a lot? Women can build great calves just wearing them. Back in the '80's there was some company selling shoes in the muscle mags that were supposed to build the calves up by just wearing the shoes all day at home.
(https://preview.redd.it/who-bought-these-v0-ccg04ddlt4cb1.jpg?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=7ef16d542439ee0912a126bd10415d089881cbe1)
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had an advert with boyer coe and his majestic wig/calves in it
I looked for "Boyer Coe Legg Shoe" but all I could find was the above pic which is a similar type of shoe.
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(https://preview.redd.it/who-bought-these-v0-ccg04ddlt4cb1.jpg?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=7ef16d542439ee0912a126bd10415d089881cbe1)
I think they were a training tool for basketballers or smth, saw some guys wearing them in the gym a decade+ ago (never again though).
We also have a guy in the gym with humungous calves, I never saw him training em but he walks like a complete retard (as he was having a limp), like he'd be touching the floor first with his toetips, very hard to explain if you don't see it with your own eyes (I'm not kidding you). But with every single step he takes throughout the day it looks like he's basically doing a rep of calf raises, must be working too I guess ;D
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(https://preview.redd.it/who-bought-these-v0-ccg04ddlt4cb1.jpg?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=7ef16d542439ee0912a126bd10415d089881cbe1)
That's it. You'd have to just wear those alone at home or people would think you were a retard.
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That's it. You'd have to just wear those alone at home or people would think you were a retard.
I see nothing wrong with wearing them while getting laid. :D
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nobody wearing them is getting laid.
not even dj's mother
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:D
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What I often ask myself (my calves suck too btw): Has anyone ever actually tried to really train his calves as hard and committed like other body parts, like chest or back? What would happen if you really would have a separate calves day with like 4 exercises à 4 sets to failure every week? ???
I may experiment with training only calves for a year, nothing else. Any suggestions on frequency?
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(https://preview.redd.it/who-bought-these-v0-ccg04ddlt4cb1.jpg?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=7ef16d542439ee0912a126bd10415d089881cbe1)
George Costanza wore those.
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I may experiment with training only calves for a year, nothing else. Any suggestions on frequency?
Once a year should be adequate.
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What I often ask myself (my calves suck too btw): Has anyone ever actually tried to really train his calves as hard and committed like other body parts, like chest or back? What would happen if you really would have a separate calves day with like 4 exercises à 4 sets to failure every week? ???
Good idea. I'd suggest twice a week though.
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I may experiment with training only calves for a year, nothing else. Any suggestions on frequency?
You must be doing Sisco/Little Static Contraction Training.
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That's it. You'd have to just wear those alone at home or people would think you were a retard.
Can confirm. Mom bought me what looked like hospital shoes as a kid
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I have a theory about Marc Lobliner. I think his wigger persona is all an ellaborate cope for his terrible calves. Plausible ???
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It's genetic but in my case I made an interesting finding that calves can grow on people without training who have back problems resulting in constant tense muscle tissue(this "growth protocol" can be "aided" by wrong movement patterns).
Obvious in retrospect but I never would have made the connection back then.
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It doesn't help that calf training is intensely unsatisfying
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What I often ask myself (my calves suck too btw): Has anyone ever actually tried to really train his calves as hard and committed like other body parts, like chest or back? What would happen if you really would have a separate calves day with like 4 exercises à 4 sets to failure every week? ???
I had and still do have dedicated calf days. Posted a long-ass post on the training thread about it. Had some 2.5 hour calf sessions recently. Same with forearms and traps. 75 minutes on forearms at 1AM last night.
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I get a good pump in my calves with just one set to failure of for example standing calf raises.
Every set after that one seems to do nothing, maybe even dissipate the pump.
So, just one good set, done a few times a week might be enough.
Gironda said once you get a good pump in a muscle, stop.
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It seemed funny how even when arnold lost weight, he kept his calves.
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It seemed funny how even when arnold lost weight, he kept his calves.
That early pic shows he had good calf potential.
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Recently I've been doing dumbbell calf raises on a flat surface for high reps, 200-300, feeling the calves burn and then pushing through that, and seems like I'm getting decent results. Will just keep increasing the reps.
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Recently I've been doing dumbbell calf raises on a flat surface for high reps, 200-300, feeling the calves burn and then pushing through that, and seems like I'm getting decent results. Will just keep increasing the reps.
The tape measure is a good tool :D
Watch out for 'false' gains that are due to temporary swelling and inflammation.
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That early pic shows he had good calf potential.
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(https://preview.redd.it/who-bought-these-v0-ccg04ddlt4cb1.jpg?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=7ef16d542439ee0912a126bd10415d089881cbe1)
I have seen high school kids wearing home made ones with a block of 2x4 superglued to the bottom of the shoe. The ones in the magazines back then were about $100. I don't know if they are even sold anymore.
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Donkey calf raises are the best because it is easier to keep your knee locked and the legs straight. On standing calf raises, everyone always seems to have a bit of bend in the knees.
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Donkey calf raises are the best because it is easier to keep your knee locked and the legs straight. On standing calf raises, everyone always seems to have a bit of bend in the knees.
You're not supposed to have your knees fully "locked" on calf raises unless you're keen on f*ing up your knees.
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respect to these women.. :)
https://www.tiktok.com/@jimnowakowski/video/6903207139548990726
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respect to these women.. :)
https://www.tiktok.com/@jimnowakowski/video/6903207139548990726
FEET!!!
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I have seen high school kids wearing home made ones with a block of 2x4 superglued to the bottom of the shoe. The ones in the magazines back then were about $100. I don't know if they are even sold anymore.
they didn't do George much good.
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It seemed funny how even when arnold lost weight, he kept his calves.
Arnold’s calves in Twins (late ‘80s)
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Donkey calf raises are the best because it is easier to keep your knee locked and the legs straight. On standing calf raises, everyone always seems to have a bit of bend in the knees.
I've been consistent doing donkey raises for maybe 8 months. Just yesterday I decided to do the standing and it had a different feel and got a little more sore. I also did seated, one leg at a time LOL. I try everything :D
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I've been consistent doing donkey raises for maybe 8 months. Just yesterday I decided to do the standing and it had a different feel and got a little more sore. I also did seated, one leg at a time LOL. I try everything :D
If training at home i´ll do old school seated Barbell calf raises, work well. I wouldn´t buy a machine for calfs in a home gym & most have a power rack & can do standing Barbell calf raises too.
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I've been consistent doing donkey raises for maybe 8 months. Just yesterday I decided to do the standing and it had a different feel and got a little more sore. I also did seated, one leg at a time LOL. I try everything :D
As I said, imo you can move more weight and get a way better peak-contraction with regular standing calf raises. Donkey raises are just a stupid and overrated exercise constantly being glorified solely for nostalgic reasons ("Arnold did em in the 70s; remember the picture of Arnold with 3 girls on his back doing Donkeys;...." ::))
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Jay Refrigerator Cutler spoke about growing his calves after his sister mocked them.
Some fellow spoke about growing his calves by doing calf raises on a dictionary. I thought I read about him here on Getbig? But maybe it was Bodybuilding.com?
I have pretty good calves and only do one legged raises with bodyweight. Ive trained them heavy at the gym and they grow better just using my bodyweight.
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As I said, imo you can move more weight and get a way better peak-contraction with regular standing calf raises. Donkey raises are just a stupid and overrated exercise constantly being glorified solely for nostalgic reasons ("Arnold did em in the 70s; remember the picture of Arnold with 3 girls on his back doing Donkeys;...." ::))
I wouldn't say you get better anything with standing vs donkey. It's essentially the same exercise, the donkey has the advantage of not loading the spine the same way, which is a consideration in programming. As someone said it might be easier to keep legs straight on the donkeys biasing the gastrocs more. That said, I enjoyed the standing again the last few workouts but I don't expect it will really add any extra size. You do know there are donkey machines now? You tried them?
If training at home i´ll do old school seated Barbell calf raises, work well. I wouldn´t buy a machine for calfs in a home gym & most have a power rack & can do standing Barbell calf raises too.
Calf machines wouldn't be the first machines I would buy for a home gym either.
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Recently I've been doing dumbbell calf raises on a flat surface for high reps, 200-300, feeling the calves burn and then pushing through that, and seems like I'm getting decent results. Will just keep increasing the reps.
This works. I did that for a while with only bodyweight on a flat surface. But not as many reps. My calves were burning after 100-150 reps. It takes a lot of discipline to keep that up over a long period. It's also tough on your feet. I did it almost daily. Got my calves up to 19.5" pumped.
If my feet hold up I'll try this again one day.
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I wouldn't say you get better anything with standing vs donkey. It's essentially the same exercise, the donkey has the advantage of not loading the spine the same way, which is a consideration in programming. As someone said it might be easier to keep legs straight on the donkeys biasing the gastrocs more. That said, I enjoyed the standing again the last few workouts but I don't expect it will really add any extra size. You do know there are donkey machines now? You tried them?
Calf machines wouldn't be the first machines I would buy for a home gym either.
Toe presses on a leg press machine are similar to donkey raises. In my 20s I did donkey raises like Arnold, with a training partner on the back. So gay. It did burn my calves though. I haven't trained calves in more than a year, but when I start again I'll stick to the leg press and standing calf machine.
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Toe presses on a leg press machine are similar to donkey raises. In my 20s I did donkey raises like Arnold, with a training partner on the back. So gay. It did burn my calves though. I haven't trained calves in more than a year, but when I start again I'll stick to the leg press and standing calf machine.
Toe presses on the leg press are sort of a lazy option to me. Hopefully someone left a stack of plates on it so you don't even have to load it up, then you sneak off, "I didn't load it up, why should I unrack the plates?" :D I think I'll just go to a bare minimum, which might be the best option LOL, of just doing 2 hard sets for calves, that's it. I like the seated calf machine for just as a therapeutic stretching device, just sitting there stretching for a while :D
2nd exercise here, before starting with your routine :D
https://www.instagram.com/p/DOOWcNbDaK6/
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I did single leg bodyweight calf raises at home yesterday on a wooden board. I feel it today. Cant wait for the gains :)
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always start leg workouts with calfs
Training the calfs first helps all the other muscles in the quads hams and glutes to start firing
Same way you should do grip excercises before arms and upper body
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always start leg workouts with calfs
Training the calfs first helps all the other muscles in the quads hams and glutes to start firing
Same way you should do grip excercises before arms and upper body
For now I am only going to train calves, nothing else until they improve. And if they don't, which they very well may never, then I don't even want to have big arms and such. Without calves it is all meaningless.
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For now I am only going to train calves, nothing else until they improve. And if they don't, which they very well may never, then I don't even want to have big arms and such. Without calves it is all meaningless.
??? Do you wear shorts everyday?
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always start leg workouts with calfs
Training the calfs first helps all the other muscles in the quads hams and glutes to start firing
Same way you should do grip excercises before arms and upper body
That goes against everything Joe Weider said :D
I can´t see that grip training before BB Rows or Deadlifts is sensible...i take it you´re Trolling :D
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always start leg workouts with calfs
Training the calfs first helps all the other muscles in the quads hams and glutes to start firing
Same way you should do grip excercises before arms and upper body
No way I could do grip training before rows, deadlifts or shrugs.
Unless the meaning is we're supposed to use much less weight instead.
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If people really want to specialise on calfs then i would train them on their own such as morning legs & later that evening calfs ( time permitting )
can even do a set of calfs inbetween sets of other exercises for other bodyparts, before you know it inbetween say sets of chest training you´ve done 5 sets of calfs
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No way I could do grip training before rows, deadlifts or shrugs.
Unless the meaning is we're supposed to use much less weight instead.
squeeze a tennis ball to get the forearm and wrists warmed up and firing
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That goes against everything Joe Weider said :D
I can´t see that grip training before BB Rows or Deadlifts is sensible...i take it you´re Trolling :D
A heavy compound movement before testing grip strength can surprisingly increase it. I read it somewhere and tested and for me it was true. Low rep deads didn't really tax my grip so those worked for me but I imagine a heavy squat would work too 8)
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squeeze a tennis ball to get the forearm and wrists warmed up and firing
Same way you should do grip excercises before arms and upper body
what other exercises are U talking about? other than squeezing a Tennis ball