What is your favorite calf exercise?

[wild willie]

I dig seated calf raises!

How about you guys and gals?

[lesaucer]

seated raises superset with standing one leg raises superset with standing raises both legs. 4-5 sets and theyre fried

[JAM]

Using the leg press machine.  Feet positions so the edge of the plate is on the balls of your feet.  Then you can stretch really good.   

[Dr Dutch]

I like the ones Dennis Wolf does......just kidding.

[Hulkotron]

Standing calf raises, one leg at a time, bodyweight or hold a dumbell if you're real big-ass.  I do these twice a week and my calves are...average.

[local hero]

if you find a standing calf machine that suits you, makes a hell of a difference,,, i use a decades old creaky one, hits mine evertime

[JasonH]

Toe presses on the leg press machine is the only exercise that seems to work for me on calves. I trained at a gym once that had a donkey calf raise machine too which seemed to agree with me. My calves suck big time.

[trapz101]

standing calf raises,with barbell or dumbells...i rarely trains them,guess i'm lucky to be blessed with decent calves 

[Dans]

leg press toe press and donkey calf machine are my hands down favorite and then finishing with seated

[Bigger Business]

Toe presses on the leg press machine is the only exercise that seems to work for me on calves.

leg press toe press

Agree with you guys...Try uni-lateral toe press as well; don't need to load the machine up as much.

[njflex]

this,, seated calf raise drop example  say 3 45's and 25 for 10,25 off then 10 more ,,45 off put 25 back on 10 more .rest 4 sets total.
another,stand up calf machine get comfortable weight u could handle for these reps cause there are a lot start just say 200 lbs
do 10 reps rest 5 sec's,then 15 reps rest 10 sec,25 reps rest 10 secs,back to 15 rest 10 ,then finish with 10, 75 reps total less 45 seconds..2x around ,i rest 2 minutes then do second go around,it hurts,it works,and your calves will grow quickly.try it..

[coltrane]

Seated calf raise.

Pause at bottom stretch for 2 seconds, then SLOW reps with a pause for 2 seconds at top.

Sets of 13.

[njflex]

Seated calf raise.

Pause at bottom stretch for 2 seconds, then SLOW reps with a pause for 2 seconds at top.

Sets of 13.

good one do those as well...

[yates fan]

donkey calf raises on a selectorized machine.

[TrapsMcLats]

freeweight, standing calf raisers, toes on a 45 plate.  best calf exercise by far.

[Voland]

I haven't trained calves for years 

[njflex]

I haven't trained calves for years 

do u need to or have them genetically...

[YoungBlood]

Donkey raises!

Haven't found a machine that has enough weight for me in years though.

[TrapsMcLats]

Donkey raises!

Haven't found a machine that has enough weight for me in years though.

I seem to feel this most in my hamstrings...what am I doing wrong?

[YoungBlood]

I seem to feel this most in my hamstrings...what am I doing wrong?

Are you completely locking out your knees?

To me, leg positioning on all standing calf motions should be the same. Slightly unlocked, arched back, sort of squat the weight up and any and all movement from this point till you set the weight down should be from the ankle. Imagine moving your foot on your gas pedal in your car or tapping your foot to the beat of music. Outside of that you should have your legs remain in the same position throughout.

[ecto2meso]

leg press calf raises, works the the calf and soleus muscle in tandem.

[Loc]

Standing calf raises with bodyweight. Key thing is to get a good stretch. My calves respond better to bodyweight than seated calf raises with tons of weights piled on.

[Donny]

Standing calf raises with bodyweight. Key thing is to get a good stretch. My calves respond better to bodyweight than seated calf raises with tons of weights piled on.

i agree..seated is OK but it will never hit the whole muscle(s) ..standing one legged is for me the best...with a Db and then too failure without weight. My calf muscles also get trained well with bike riding and skipping( jumping rope for you yanks ) and yes before the experts want to tell me the calf muscles...soleus...seate d...standing gastrocnemius.

[dfresh]

standing(weighted) here, may try them with just body weight next workout though

[Donny]

standing(weighted) here, may try them with just body weight next workout though

try it .. if monster calfes were just about monster weights then a lot more guys would have big calfes,,,this is not the case. I think the lower legs are better trained with high reps. I once saw an old guy on a bike..he was not into training but you could see from thousands of reps cycling his calfes  were...HUGE. Of course guys like the great Reg Park used massive weights on his calf training and had massive lower legs but he was one of the great men of Britain