Help to gain mass on calves

[Hulking]

I'm doing calve leg press 4xfailure, calve seated 3 failure, last set I drop set. Then I do standing calve raises on the smith changing the foot angles for each set 3 to failure

 

[crispycrown]

If that's your only routine change it up. Train calves 2 times a week and don't only stick to hypertrophy.sometimes shocking the muscle through other forms of training can boost growth.

Try jump roping with double jumps and speed focusing through the calves for drive. Go as long as needed to pre exhaust the calves before your workout. If you aren't heavy enough add a weighted best and your calves will feel it. In the endurance route try explosive sprints.

You can do lunges which a calve push off.add weights and you won't want to walk for weeks.

How's your flexibility for calves? Don't forget to foam roll and stretch afterwards too to help with blood flow and range of motion.

All that being said calves are a genetic muscle
And your growth can be limited by genetics. Still doesn't mean you can't switch up routines and still see good growth though.

Best,
CC

 

[PaulBlack]

Tougher muscle group for sure. Genetics plays a role I know and like the forearms, you can pump them up real quick with lots of reps/sets.

 

[Apnutter]

Read a good article (don't remember where) but it was on Arnold doing calves. Although calves respond best to heavy weight with high reps, you have to be sure to get the full range of motion out of the muscle. Slow and controlled so that your Achilles isn't doing most of the work. Arnold used to attempt to get his toes like a ballerina to finish off any calf exercise.

 

[Young Gotti]

mentioned above a lot of ppl will say genetics play a huge role in calves....also training frequency could play a factor as i believe i read an old bodybuilder turned trainer had bad calves that he ended up working them like 4 days a week for awhile

personally for me, i enjoy going pretty heavy and like you i do drop sets on the calves quite often which really seem to pump and burn them up

 

[Doss]

I'd struggled with calves for a long time, and they're still nothing to brag about, but I've been doing a modified routine I read about on here that has been working for me. The premise was that to force some growth from the gastroc, the soleus needs to be completely exhausted first. The Soleus takes the brunt of the work when the knee is flexed, so my routine goes like this and I'm doing it 2-3x per week.

Seated Calf Raise: 4 plates, 100 reps in as few sets as possible, 1 second concentric/3 second eccentric. After the last set, I do drop sets down to 1 plate.
Leg Press for Calves: 4 sets of 4-6 reps w/ knees not quite locked out. (I get a better squeeze this way.) Use a full ROM
Standing Machine Raise/Bodyweight Raise Superset: 3x 12 reps each, holding and squeezing for a 2 count at the top.

My 2¢. It's been working for me.

 

[R1balla]

genetics play a huge role in this. try doing them DC style for a change

 

[EasyEJL]

as was mentioned, the most important thing for calves is making sure you vary your workouts, whether its varying the exercises or varying the weights/reps/sets.

The Gastrocnemius has approximately a 50% Type I - Slow Twitch muscle fiber and 50% Type II - Fast Twitch muscle fiber. The Soleus is about 80-90% Type I fiber with the remaining being Type II.

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so you need to do both high weight low reps and lower weight high reps to really bring them out

 

[R1balla]

as was mentioned, the most important thing for calves is making sure you vary your workouts, whether its varying the exercises or varying the weights/reps/sets. so you need to do both high weight low reps and lower weight high reps to really bring them out

agreed. i change my routine up constantly throughout the year, but with calves, i do it alot more often.