develop the calves

Animalus horrendus · Jul 4, 2008

Hello Bros!!

I have a great difficulty in developing the calves. My genetic hinders me the job.
I tried some techniques to develop them but nothing

Some of you can help me with your experience and some exercises in order to grow these small calves

?

Thanks!!

brineal · Jul 4, 2008

try DC's calf technique...

15 second stretch as deep as you can go (think about trying to touch your toes to the front of your shin...very painful)

explosive positive to full contraction

slow (5 second) negative

repeat....

all you should need is one set of 12 reps, believe me, this works, my calves have never looked better, and i have the shittiest of shitty calves. by rep7 you should be shaking and in horrible pain, probably cursing me for brining this up.

give it a try, good luck!

Ironmanpits · Jul 4, 2008

DC calf training = PAIN ...but I think if conventional volume training didnt work you should definitely try it for at least a couple of months....you'll surely be allot stronger which should equal some sort of change in size and appearence.

Chrysler · Jul 4, 2008

Some may construe this as bad advice, but it's what has worked for me. I train calves two to three times per week, depending on soreness, and I do calves almost like a cardio session. I'll do sets of 15-20 with as much weight as possible take about 15-20 seconds rest between each set and do that for ten minutes straight. The pump is unreal, the pain is unreal.

I do the DC method some days too. It's good shit. Try it out.

brineal · Jul 4, 2008

i really do agree with DC that the "secret" to calf development is training them in a manner that stresses them outside their normal range of motion. if you think about it, walking around all day, your calves are constantly under the strain of your bodyweight in a short, midrange motion.by utilizing a huge strech and an explosive peak contraction, they are put under stresses outside their usual work parameters, forcing the muscle to grow. plus the huge stretch will cause the muscle bellies themselves to appear fuller...

B~RAD · Jul 4, 2008

I've always wondered about this too. I havent tried dc training yet. But in the last few months, the strength in my calves have blown up

2 months ago-
donkey calf raise 3-3-4 tempo 220X15
standing calf raise 3-3-4 tempo 220X12

Now-
donkey calf raise 3-3-4 tempo 515X20 the stack(400) plus 115 on top
standing- 3-3-4 tempo 425X20 the stack plus 25

my calves are still the same size lol. I dont know whether i should keep doing what im doing and follow the footsteps of arnold (his didnt grow until he was supposedly doing 1000 pounds), or start dc. any advice? (no hijack)

im also thinking about syntherol

brineal · Jul 4, 2008

you dont have to necessarily start training DC, it is a very advance program and is certainly not for everyone...but that doesnt mean you cant incorporate this as your calf workout, its defintely worth a try, i know its helped my calves greatly.

the first go 'round is rough, my calves were sore for about 5 days lol

Animalus horrendus · Jul 5, 2008

well, I will try DC training...

I tried everything...now I only see a solution: that kind of training...I hope see this shit calves grow up

and BRINEAL don't worry....I will not curse you

I only have to thanks all of you

Animalus horrendus · Jul 5, 2008

one more question....

what exercise you recommend to do DC training?

The same exercise every weeks/months?

and every day or every other day?

abadseal · Jul 5, 2008

PRIORITIZE!!!!!!! This is the best principle and so few people use it. If it's lagging make it of the utmost importance in the gym. Hit that shit first and hard.

Fa Seeshus · Jul 5, 2008

abadseal said:
PRIORITIZE!!!!!!! This is the best principle and so few people use it. If it's lagging make it of the utmost importance in the gym. Hit that shit first and hard.

agreed!
best advice on calf training i got, was to do them first on quad or ham day. then they have to work hard when you are squatting and dling.

i used to think i had to do them after the compound movements. when i did this, i never had much steam left anyway.

ScottMcD1 · Jul 5, 2008

Animalus horrendus said:
one more question....

what exercise you recommend to do DC training?

The same exercise every weeks/months?

and every day or every other day?

High load exercises are best, use various leg presses or hack squat, standing machines(slipping can be a problem) or seated calf raises.

We rotate through 3 exercises per bodypart to allow time between "repeats"

If you can do them ED or EOD this way you are a better man than me lol. Give it a shot with 3-4 days rest in between sessions.

brineal · Jul 5, 2008

Animalus horrendus said:
well, I will try DC training...

I tried everything...now I only see a solution: that kind of training...I hope see this shit calves grow up

and BRINEAL don't worry....I will not curse you

I only have to thanks all of you

good luck bro, be sure to let us know how it works out for ya...

buselmo · Jul 5, 2008

My calves have high insertion points... so even if they turned out to be 20", they'd still look like crap... but i've tried all the training methods you can think of... and to be honest, none of them made a difference... BUT... there's one thing that i do... and every time i add it to my routine, i can literally see my calves growing every week... and it's not just me... even my wife notices (without me annoying her by asking "are my calves bigger?????" about 300 times a day

)

walk fast on a steep incline for an hour a day... something like 3.2-3.5 mph on 9-12% incline... and watch them grow... i don't care how i train them these days, cuz i know if i want them to get bigger, i just walk more on a steep incline.

or you can always save up and get calf implants

Animalus horrendus · Jul 5, 2008

ScottMcD1 said:
High load exercises are best, use various leg presses or hack squat, standing machines(slipping can be a problem) or seated calf raises.

We rotate through 3 exercises per bodypart to allow time between "repeats"

If you can do them ED or EOD this way you are a better man than me lol. Give it a shot with 3-4 days rest in between sessions.

so, you make 1 serie between 3 exercises? 4-5 series in a day?
well, I will try EOD...

Animalus horrendus · Jul 5, 2008

buselmo said:
My calves have high insertion points... so even if they turned out to be 20", they'd still look like crap... but i've tried all the training methods you can think of... and to be honest, none of them made a difference... BUT... there's one thing that i do... and every time i add it to my routine, i can literally see my calves growing every week... and it's not just me... even my wife notices (without me annoying her by asking "are my calves bigger?????" about 300 times a day )

walk fast on a steep incline for an hour a day... something like 3.2-3.5 mph on 9-12% incline... and watch them grow... i don't care how i train them these days, cuz i know if i want them to get bigger, i just walk more on a steep incline.

or you can always save up and get calf implants

walk fast on a steep incline for an hour a day is a good option!
but now I will try DC training and......see what happens

Bro, I already thought in calf implants

buselmo · Jul 5, 2008

Animalus horrendus said:
walk fast on a steep incline for an hour a day is a good option!
but now I will try DC training and......see what happens

Bro, I already thought in calf implants

calf implants, bicep implants, pec implants... hell, if you save up for a year instead of the "cell tech" we use, it would be cheaper

... but it'll probably look like cancer cell growth instead of muscle

ScottMcD1 · Jul 5, 2008

Animalus horrendus said:
so, you make 1 serie between 3 exercises? 4-5 series in a day?
well, I will try EOD...

I'm confused lol

In the DC protcol we pick 1 exercise per leg session. We train it as describe 10-12 reps with the extended stretch and negative. Next leg session(3-4 days later) we use another calf exercise same fashion. Then one more leg session with another calf exercise, same thing as before. After 3 exercises are done we go back to the first one and best it by weight and or reps and the process continues trying to get as strong as possible on our 3 exercises we've chosen. If you stall on one you swap it out for another and continue on.

If you do these correctly you will honestly be too sore to do them EOD and you'll never be able to progress fast enough/long term enough. I have 14 days between the time I do calves on the leg press and have to repeat that performance and it takes good will power and mental strength to do it every time. If I did EOD it would require me to repeat in 8 days, no way in hell haha.

Animalus horrendus · Jul 5, 2008

ok, now I understand!!

I will try...thanks bro!!

Sesshomaru · Jul 5, 2008

You ever see fat people with small calves? Thats because they have to move a heavy weight for a lot of volume.

Other than getting fat to recreate this effect, someone mentioned walking up an incline, I agree with that. Id also consider putting on a weighted vest and just walk it for an hour or so.

Your calves are endurance muscles so for most, they need endurance work to actually get them to grow. For me, I have high insertions and rarely needed to do calf work because I squatted so much that they developed naturally.