Calf Workouts
You’ve certainly seen very developed calves on somebody who’s never touched a weight in their lives. It’s also common to see an avid gym goer with no lower leg development to speak of. The calves are probably the most genetic dependent muscle group. It comes down to the length of the calf muscles. This being said, if you put the work in you can build your calves bigger. Here are my favorite calf workouts to turn them into cows. Now let’s get moo-ving. Okay that was bad.
Calf Workout #1
Seated Calf Raise – This is going to be one long set that incorporates multiple high-intensity techniques. I start with a weight I can do for about 20 reps and go to failure. Then I take 10 seconds to pause before getting more reps. After this, the weight is dropped and this is repeated with the pause after failure. One last drop in weight happens next. After the pause here I do bouncing reps to burn the calves out.
Slanted Calf Raises – The gym I go to has one of these machines to work the calves. It’s like a standing calf raises machine but I like the way it slants back. Honestly, it doesn’t hurt that it’s also right by the seated calf raise machine at my gym and I can easily use the same weights on it. I do the exact same thing here as I do on seated calf raises.
Seated Toe Raises – I don’t see this machine in every gym, but I have the opportunity to use it these days. It also allows me to train the anterior tibialis muscle – basically the shin muscle. I do this one leg at a time, switching limbs after failure. I go for 3 or 4 alternating rounds on this superset.
Calf Workout #2
Donkey Calf Raise – I do the same combo of short rests and dropping the weight as in the workout above to really hit the calves hard.
One Leg Calf Raise Machine – The calf machine I like to use has you seated with your legs out in front of you and your feet on a small platform. This emulates a standing calf raise. What I do here is to do calf raises one leg at a time, alternating after failure. Go back and forth a few times with the same weight then drop the weight for one last bunch of reps.
Toe Raises – I just stand with my heels elevated on a raised surface of some sort to start this exercise. Then I raise my toes to work the fronts of my lower legs. This is a very high rep set with some pauses to keep going.