How to Build Bigger Calves The Only 2 Techniques That Will Work

Best Calf Exercises

Build Bigger Calves

• Overview
• The Srubborn Nature of Calves
• The Best Techniques for Bigger Calves

Overview

Calves are the posterior muscles of the legs that sit between the knee and heel. 

These muscles are incredibly crucial for fulfilling daily routines for everybody (If not handicapped), like walking or jumping and running especially if they are athletes.

Calves are made up of two muscles, one above the other. 

The Portion that can be seen under the skin and form that diamond shape is called the gastrocnemius, which is actually composed of two parts; one is to the outside of the leg and the other to the inner side. 

Together they form what is known as the calf belly.

The second muscle of the calf is named the soleus. 

It is smaller compared to the superficial calf muscle and with a flat shape. The soleus lies underneath the gastrocnemius.

Both bottom ends of the calf muscles - gastrocnemius and soleus - merge with Achilles tendon, which in turn attaches to the heal.

Calf Muscle Anatomy

The Stubborn Nature of Calves

Growing the calves can be a real pain in the neck at times, as these little bastards can be quite stubborn and not responsive to stimulus. 

In fact the nature of these muscles implies that growing them needs a different stimulus from the one they get every day, say, walking.

When walking, the calves’ function is to pull the heel up in order to produce a forward motion of the legs. 

Imagine how many miles a person walks on a single day, even for someone just doing chores at home. 

The calves are used to this kind of stimulus; the motion following the up and down movement of the heel, which is a result of the shortening and lengthening of the calves.

Therefore, doing an exercise that has the same exact motion the calves do on a daily basis is just not enough stimulus, and not the right way to trigger growth anyway. 

I mean, if the motion from walking adds size to the calves, how big they would be in a two-year time! Gigantic, right!. 

This is why approaching the calves’ training from a different angle and with different strategies will definitely make gains happen.

So, are you ready to explore the techniques that best add size to your calves? 

Below, I’ll mention the best exercises for bigger calves along with the right technique.  

The Best Technique for Bigger Calves

Basically, all calf exercises follow the same motion; driving the heel up and down in order to squeeze and stretch the muscles. 

However, it is the poor technique that leaves people short of gains not the exercises itself.

Traditional calf exercises can be performed either standing or seated with weights. 

Other exercises like jumping, sprinting and stairs climbing are more likely to get those calves toned and sculpted rather than stimulating growth.

Let’s, now, go in depth to uncover the right technique to get the most out of the calf exercises. 

If we take the calf raises exercises (Both seated and standing), that extra inch on the stretching phase is a game changer. 

With the idea in mind that stretching the muscles is what actually triggers growth, you would now want to never skip the stretch again or be in a rush to get out of it. 

When you walk, the ground is your limiter; you can’t stretch your calves further once your heel hits the ground. 

This is why you often times get tones skinny calves, especially if you walk a lot.

Now, you need to increase the range of motion by letting your calves stretch further down. Yet, this not all; time under tension is a really crucial factor here too. 

So, take about 3 seconds on the negative phase of the move (On the way down) and then explosively, go up and hold the squeeze at the top for about 2 seconds. 

Do about 3 to 4 sets of 12 reps and between each set, place your calves in a stretching position somewhere between 15 to 20 seconds.

You can do this by placing your toes on a higher platform while sitting on the calves machine.

Mind! The overall size of the calves is not achieved by focusing only on the outer, gastrocnemius, muscles. 

The soleus, when trained properly, gets bigger and pushes the gastrocnemius out making a huge calf belly.

Since calves can handle a lot of weight - your body weight when you walk - and have a high endurance compared to other muscles, training them only once on leg days seems to be insufficient. 

Do them twice a week and try to have both calf raises variations on each calves workout; standing and seated.