Study: Big Calves Associated With Lower Stroke Risk

[danieltx]

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mens-calf-size-says-health-142428630.html

Scientists believe that calf size is largely determined by genetics, but that hasn’t stopped men from doubling down on leg day and fretting about their superankle swells. Calf implants are reportedly an increasingly common solution for insecure guys prepping for shorts season. And it’s not the first time this has happened. The calf craze comes and goes. During the American Colonial period, the founding fathers were comically obsessed with the shapeliness of their calves, which were easily assessed, thanks to their short pants. The modern-day heirs of their anxiety — Tiger Woods allegedly has extreme hang-ups about his skinny stems — should probably calm down. But maybe not entirely. Health experts know a lot more about calves than they did 250 years ago and most of the news isn’t great for the chicken-legged .

As it turns out, the decision to skip leg day might be, if not fatal, poorly considered.

Big Calves Lower Stroke Risk

The bigger the calves, the smaller the stroke risk, a study (https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/strokeaha.108.520106) of 6,265 people found. Regardless of age, gender, body mass index, and other vascular risk factors, the bigger people’s calves were the fewer fatty deposits known as plaques they built up in their arteries, lowering their risk for stenosis, carotid artery disease, and strokes. Researchers suspect that this may be because big calves give the body another place to store fat that could cause problems hanging out in the bloodstream. It’s not just muscle back there.

Small Calves Mean a Higher Resting Heart Rate

The smaller a person’s calves are, the higher their resting heart rates might be, according to one study. High resting heart rates, or anything above 100 beats per minute, have been linked to an increased risk of death regardless of physical fitness. Long-distance runners and other athletes typically have lower resting heart rates, so it makes some sense that they would have bulkier calves. However, if resting heart rates get too low, it can cause people to faint. Then even the sturdiest legs can’t keep you from falling.

Calves Are Correlated With Overall Musculature

Calf size is an indicator of muscle mass throughout the entire body as well as adequate nutrition, research shows. Again, the larger the calf circumference, the more appendicular muscle and skeletal muscle people had, another study found. Strong calves might help with standing but unless they’re implants they don’t stand alone and are symptoms of a generally buffer body.

Big Calves Are Correlated With Liver Problems

Bulky calves may lower some health risks, but they could act as a trojan horse for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or excessive liver lipid accumulation in people that’s not a result of alcohol abuse. Since calves act as a proxy for fat deposits, scientists found that larger calf circumferences were linked with more lipid build up and that calves could be used to screen for this liver condition. Ultimately, big calves are fickle beasts but at least people with skinny calves have one thing going for them.

Calves Deflate Over Time

Skeletal muscles wear down with age and calves are no exception, studies suggest. The process, known as sarcopenia, can start as early as age 40 and pick up from there, but issues are more common among seniors. Most studies on calf circumference have the same caveat in common — they focus on the elderly populations, perhaps because they experience the most shrinkage. But it’s important for dads to pay attention to their calves early on because exercise can help offset age-related muscle loss and the health problems that follow it. And if they look better in cargo shorts while doing it, so be it.

 

[FrancisK]

Guess I'll be dying of a massive stroke any day now.....

 

[g0ttequila]

See you on the other side boys



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dsteelo455]

New marketing plan for synthol?

 

[Biggerp73]

On the topic of calves, I think some guys just don't go heavy enough. The calf is an extremely strong muscle. Most guys should easily be able to do 4-5 plates on the seated calf raise and fill it up all the way for several sets of high reps.

 

[USMuscle9403]

Heavy ass weight plus slow, painful negatives! Let them fully stretch at the bottom of each rep for at least a good ten count. Keep reps in the fifteen range. Come back in six months and tell me you didn't see huge improvements.

 

[danieltx]

On the topic of calves, I think some guys just don't go heavy enough. The calf is an extremely strong muscle. Most guys should easily be able to do 4-5 plates on the seated calf raise and fill it up all the way for several sets of high reps.

That's a stretch to say most guys should easily be able to do 4-5 plates on a seated calf raise. In real life I've never seen anyone besides myself do 4-5 plates and get a full stretch plus full contraction. If you're 220+ and very lean then yeah you should be able to, but most guys don't ever get there. I think most just don't train their calves as hard as they should.

With that said, my calves are good enough to get comments from random gym people, and going really heavy in the 6-10 range on seated and pressing is what built them. And I train them every day, alternating with pressing one day and seated the next.

 

[nihilixm]

So people that walk more have bigger calves from walking and better cardiovascular health also from walking.

Think we figured out the third variable problem. Walking improves health.

 

[LK3]

i kinda think using very heavy weight on calves leads to bad form. ppl rarely get down n dirty with the movements.

i did dc style for many years, did a few years of higher rep stuff.
i feel like the dc way with stretching helped get a good base.

i also feel like they looked best when i rode a bike often.

i always felt they were small but the last few years have gotten a lot of compliments on them. i like calf compliments more then any other... well maybe there one that better...:headbang:

 

[MyNameIsJeff]

So people that walk more have bigger calves from walking and better cardiovascular health also from walking.

Think we figured out the third variable problem. Walking improves health.

Just another useless, trash-tier observational study used to generate retarded click-bait news articles...

 

[Fit2Serve]

my calves were 20 inches at my biggest. larger than my arms and equal with my neck.
i'm gonna live forever!!!!
(what a dumb ass study, i see zero correlation from a logical stand point)
-F2S

 

[Elvia1023]

Just another useless, trash-tier observational study used to generate retarded click-bait news articles...

That's good to know as I feared for my life when I read the thread title

Heavy ass weight plus slow, painful negatives! Let them fully stretch at the bottom of each rep for at least a good ten count. Keep reps in the fifteen range. Come back in six months and tell me you didn't see huge improvements.

Been doing that for at least 5 years now and no huge improvements Improvements are gradual though as in 1/2 inch every 2 years so I am getting there

That's a stretch to say most guys should easily be able to do 4-5 plates on a seated calf raise. In real life I've never seen anyone besides myself do 4-5 plates and get a full stretch plus full contraction. If you're 220+ and very lean then yeah you should be able to, but most guys don't ever get there. I think most just don't train their calves as hard as they should.

With that said, my calves are good enough to get comments from random gym people, and going really heavy in the 6-10 range on seated and pressing is what built them. And I train them every day, alternating with pressing one day and seated the next.

5 plates per side? Yes I have done that. Although full stretch like you can do with 1 pps is not possible with 10 plates but still effective. I used to do crazy drop sets of approx 100 reps starting at 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Although some calf machines are definitely not the same. 2 plates per side on my current one is super heavy. I get best results using a moderate weight (1-3pps for example) with perfect form and slow reps and just abusing them.

My calf training is going good now. I also tend to rotate from a straight leg to a bent leg movements each day but sometimes do both in the same session. Training them approx 3 days per week now but tried everything. So right now usually one stanbding calf raise day, one seated calr raise day and one day were I use a combination of movements.

My gf's dad has decent calves and his reasoning was playing football/soccer. He literally plays 5-10 times per year now and has never been to the gym once in his life :banghead:

 

[Elvia1023]

These videos are great for explaining effective calf training. They are simple but also go over the science behind why he recommends what he does. Science his important but I am a practical guy 100% but these vids cover both.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qsRtp_PbVM&app=desktop"]How To FORCE YOUR CALVES To Grow With Smarter Training Methods - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21inrjhoFkQ&app=desktop"]The Most Scientific Way to Train CALVES (Science Explained) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Dens228]

Well I guess I'm pretty much guaranteed to have a stroke then........

 

[XstarchildX]

I wonder if a big wee wee correlates to a higher stroke risk due to all the blood flowing to the ol skin flute. If so, I'm going to live till at least 100 guys :headbang:

 

[Black Beard]

Lmao, more reason to train the calves.