The calves can come to be considered the muscles most dependent on genetics to increase their volume. So if it's too hard for you to gain strength, it may be normal. There are those who have great ease to develop them regardless of the chosen exercise, but others find it hard to sweat and tears. Don't worry, we are here to help you in this battle. The factors that will influence the most are: having a short Achilles heel, a long beak and a high percentage of fast-twitch fibers.
Another factor to take into account is that people move the calves daily with a simple walk, so we have to exercise them with stimuli other than our normal routine.
calf anatomy
Before delving into the ideal type of training for this part of the body, it is interesting that we know what muscles make them up. We are going to meet the triceps surae, soleus and plantar muscles, which have the Achilles tendon in common.
The muscle plantar it measures between 5-10 centimeters, and there is between 7-10% of people who do not have it, but we should not worry because it is not relevant in hypertrophy. The gastrocnemius It is the most visible muscle of the calf and it is what we all include as a single pack. It starts from behind the knee and is attached to the Achilles tendon. Its main function is to raise the heel (plantar flexion) and it has a fundamental role in knee flexion.
El soleus, on the other hand, it is located below the gastrocnemius, it crosses only the ankle and its main function is plantar flexion. Many studies ensure that this muscle is composed of slow twitch fibers and the gastrocnemius by the same proportion of slow and fast twitch fibers.
How to train this part of the body?
As in all the exercises that we perform in order to increase muscle volume, the main thing is to work with a full range of travel. And special emphasis must be placed on the upper part of the repetition, in which we must contract the calf as much as we can.
If we manage to keep them tense while we perform the exercise, we will have a large part of the work done, so you have to be especially focused. By performing contractions for two seconds and stretching for a second at the bottom, we would be fine.
Even so, you cannot forget to do your proper stretching at the end of the training session. In this way we help the recovery of the calf and enlarge the fascia to improve muscle growth.
High reps with low weights or the other way around?
If you think you're genetically gifted, you may have managed to develop calves by doing only basic exercises like squats or deadlifts. But, in the opposite case, you will have to add specific exercises for this area of the leg.
Don't think too much about whether you should do a high number of reps with a low weight, or if a few reps and a higher load is better. Try to include variety in your workouts and play at performing different routines to find new stimuli.
You may be wondering if we can train the gastrocnemius and soleus differently, and yes. The gastrocnemius forms the lateral and medial head of the calf and is usually developed with standing raises with locked knees. Instead, the soleus is put into full operation in those exercises in which we have the knees bent or slightly flexed, such as seated heel raises or donkey repetitions.
The best calf exercises
It is normal that not everyone has time to dedicate a specific training to the calf, unless you have a high priority in it. However, we have selected the best exercises in case you want to add new stimuli to your routines and improve the volume of your calves.
Seated Calf Raises
You will only need a bench or a drawer to sit on. Opt for a barbell or a pair of dumbbells for this exercise. Focus on following a full range of travel and don't sin by choosing too high a weight. You can play with the times, going down slow and going up fast, for example.
Seated Calf Raises with Pause
In this case, the position in the same as in the previous one, only the pause time will vary. The pause must be done at the top, at the bottom, or at both if you can bear it (two seconds will be enough). To complete the number of repetitions, you will have to decrease the load that you are used to in this exercise.
Seated Explosive Calf Raises
We continue with the same position, but now we will emphasize doing them as fast as we can. This technique is interesting to do also after arriving to failure in a set, but only when you have plenty of experience training the calf.
standing unilateral raise
Here you have to pay attention to contracting and stretching the calf to the maximum. If you do it well, you will notice the muscle work. It does not have to be necessary to carry weight, your body weight may be enough. If you want to increase the load, you can help yourself with the fixed squat bar to also gain stability.
Squat to parallel
Even if you are tired of doing squats, they are an ideal exercise to increase the muscle volume of the calves. This part of the body is responsible for keeping the knee joint stable, so it has to evolve to support increasingly higher loads.
Ankle jumps
Everything related with plyometrics is always a good idea. To do these jumps, you can help yourself with an elastic band or a bar that is supported by the cage. In this way you will be able to jump using the calf and the ankle mostly, while keeping the knees straight and without fully supporting the heel.