calf development and arch on your feet

[myosaurus]

http://www.professionalmuscle.com/f...8066-those-who-had-do-have-shitty-calves.html

seeing above thread sparked me another question about calf training and didnt want to high jack the thread... so here are my question....

how important is having a good arch on your feet for calf development? does having a flat foot affect your calf development negatively?

when doing negative portion of ,say standing calf raises, do you let the arch flatten out(or stretch) or do you try to maintain your arch throughout the rep?

Alfresco's recommendation of using 1/2 foam roller(from above quoted thread) as a block tells me maintaining arch while doing calf raises is a good thing.

the reason for all these question is that i had a chance to lift while wearing a weightlifting shoes which had an excellent support and I could've sworn my knees felt 100% better while squatting. perhaps there are lot more to arch of foot that we dont know and hardly talk about it...

thanks in advance.

 

[ajdos]

I Have one flat foot and one regular arch.
The leg with the regular arch I have a good calf.
The flat one you can see the outer head is not as developed.
I am going to get an arch support today but it makes a difference from what I can see and I have good genetics in that dept.

 

[Johnny Smiles]

I have VERY flat feet. and calves are my number 1 or 2 best bodypart. but I actually attribute that to the fact my feet are long. size 13-14 shoe. so less leverage to lift my body with so they have to be very strong. that's my theory.... my other theory is: dad had big calves too.
-JS

 

[BigDM]

I have VERY flat feet. and calves are my number 1 or 2 best bodypart. but I actually attribute that to the fact my feet are long. size 13-14 shoe. so less leverage to lift my body with so they have to be very strong. that's my theory.... my other theory is: dad had big calves too.
-JS

I think your 2nd theory is right on the money JS

 

[alfresco]

well . . .

My wife has very flat feet (and not much fat on the bottom) and her calf development is excellent, better than
most men, certainly mine.

I posted a trip report here a few years ago, describing how she solo backpacked the length of California, 1,300
miles in one summer; she lost body fat, lost body weight but actually gained size on her thighs and calves, and
she is a stick vegetarian, on a low protein diet. Figure that one out.

 

[Pumped Up Ya]

I always thought the more flat your feet are the more you have chance of developing better calves

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[chrisrivers]

I have flat feet and i have to work hard on my calf's to make them look proportionate to the rest of my body(not great calfs but just look like they "fit" my body)

My wife has super high arch and her calf's are a bodybuilders dream. All genetics with her, she has nice thighs and her lower half are made for squats.

 

[GS]

My wife has 17-1/4 calves and they have that diamond look to them !It pisses me off cause she does 2 sets of raises and that is it!

Me i have flat feet broken arches and mine suck!:banghead:

 

[Marvin Martian]

My pop has never trained a day in his life and he has incredible calves and they have been super easy to grow for me. Dad has flatter feet than mine and he is about 6 inches taller with bigger feet. I am going with Johnny's number two - because my brother could possibly be the laziest man on Earth and even he has Olympia level calves (the rest of his build is a wreck but be gots calves!)

 

[PitbullTank]

yes..but I think it has more so to do with how your foot and ankle is structured than arch... some peoples feet are structured so that the force is applied more so to the inside of the foot... some peoples are going to naturally roll forward and outward... some peoples are going to contact flat... i tried to figure out why my calves suck and have made an observation... the top of my foot is shaped like this \ (where the big toes is id say 2" up from my pinky toes and it looks slanted) my foot naturally rolls off the pinky toes bc of this to the outside... when i do a calf raise, if i concentrate on pushing up onto the big toes/ball of the big toes, my pinky toe and that side of my foot is actually coming off whatever surface i am pushing on... i have looked at several of my friends feet trying to make comparisons, and the ones w the biggest calves, their toes seem to go straight across...

 

[AshopRep]

My pop has never trained a day in his life and he has incredible calves and they have been super easy to grow for me. Dad has flatter feet than mine and he is about 6 inches taller with bigger feet. I am going with Johnny's number two - because my brother could possibly be the laziest man on Earth and even he has Olympia level calves (the rest of his build is a wreck but be gots calves!)

My little bro has 19' calves without touching a weight.

 

[NOSUPERMODEL]

I have very flat feet. The inside of calves are nice, but I cannot get the outside to develop and I also cannot get the cut and the nice raise to the muscle.

 

[Kaladryn]

GREAT question here, very observant of the OP.

Maintain your arch on the negative portion of the rep, don't go so deep that you have to flatten your foot.

Try calf raises from the floor also, as Phil recommends.

 

[epoxy]

Why dont we all just start wearing 6 inch heels around the house when we aren't in public and we can have great calves like our women do

 

[myosaurus]

GREAT question here, very observant of the OP.

Maintain your arch on the negative portion of the rep, don't go so deep that you have to flatten your foot.

Try calf raises from the floor also, as Phil recommends.

thank you for noticing it. I'm anal about every detail of training and wish we get more of these discussions here.
I did try calf raises while maintaining an arch, and i think its making a difference where gastronc ''roll up'' which i wasnt able to get before.

 

[otg85]

I almost want to give up on calves I been working them for ten plus years with little results.Its frustrating.

 

[NY Muscle]

Why dont we all just start wearing 6 inch heels around the house when we aren't in public and we can have great calves like our women do

There is more truth to this than we know. Every person I knew as a kid who naturally had a tendency to walk sorta on their toes have huge calves, myself included. Now because I'm so self aware I never ever walk like that outside of my house as I've taught myself to naturally just walk "normal" in public. But my calves are silly big and carved out because of genetics and zero calf training.

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[zee-man]

Having flat feet or lacking an arch causes you to place an imbalanced amount of pressure on the inner knee and by association the inner portion of your calf. The maintained arch will help to better hit the outer calf. Most guys with flat feet will note soreness on that inner knee with applied pressure.

Ive found for me hitting higher reps helps to hit the outer head with flat feet. Just been my experience.


Calves are one the most impacted by genetics.I just work to build the best me that I can. 19" calves will never happen but whatever I can manage I know I worked my ass off for.

 

[Bio]

Interesting question. The results really seem to be mixed though with no conclusive answer.

My feet have a really high arch and my calf development is pretty good. I'm lucky because it's one of those areas that have developed on their own...I don't train them very often.

 

[Rome1]

I am getting arch support today. Great post