Some people are blessed with naturally big calf muscles. I know a few people who don’t lift weights at all, yet their calf muscles stick out a mile. Most people, though, have weak small, calf muscles – and because they don’t understand this particular muscle and how it needs to be trained, they usually get minimal results.
Training the calf muscle needn’t be hard. You just need to understand that it takes 2 main principles to get the best results:
1: High Reps
Most people use reps of 7 – 10 in bodybuilding. Sometimes, people may use 12 – 15. Well, for the calf muscles, you need to use high reps. that’s because, the calf muscle is so dense in fibres that it takes much more reps for it to fatigue.
It makes sense. The calf muscle is used constantly… every time we walk or stand. It stabilizes the entire weight of the body. It is an extremely high endurance muscle, and it needs to be trained in such a way.
That’s why I always recommend using reps of no less than 15 when building calf muscles.
2: Added Weight
Yes – when you do various calf exercises, you are using the full weight of your body. And, doing one-legged calf exercises places even more stress on the calf muscle. But, don’t be fooled into thinking just because you are using your bodyweight on these muscles that that is enough.
Remember – the calf muscles are extremely dense and resilient. You’ve got to keep adding weight, either by holding dumbbells, using a dipping belt, etc. You’ve got to really overload these muscles and work hard at forcing them to grow. Failure to do so will lead to lacklustre results, or no change at all.