I need calves!
 

Ok, so I finally broke down and purchased a gym membership today. I always used to workout at home and I already know I made the right decision. My friend and I plan on going everyday and we both are really motivated. The thing is, I have no calves. I can build muscle in my upper body very quickly but I am a "hard gainer" when it comes to calves. I am really embarassed about my chicken legs. I really need a good calf workout or any tips or suggestions that can help me win this battle. I have always had small calves and I finally have the motivation and equipment at my disposal to improve them. Has anyone had this problem before? How much can you actually enlarge your calves? Or should I just deal?

Thanks

I don't know about gym exercises, but there's one I do at home that I like.

Stand on your toes on the edge of a stair and lift yourself up and down with your toes. This flexes your calves. I have well defined calves and this is the only calve specific exercise I do - although I do ride my bike a lot.

I like this exercise because you get to stretch the calve muscles out, since when you go down your heels are going below your toes.

If you try this exercise I suggest doing it in a stairwall where you can balance yourself on the walls until your balance improves enough that you can do it no-hands. :)

-Tamerlain

They have machines that allow you to do this with weights.

As for exercises, when my legs were big, they were because I ran, did squats, lunges and jumped a lot. Didn't even really need weights.

Any one of these should help:

Single Leg Calf Raises
Barbell Standing Leg Calf Raise
Calf Press
Standing Calf Raise (be careful with this one)

Doing calf execises stretches your Achillies tendon, so don't forget to always stretch/warm-up properly before starting any weight training lest you pull/tear something.

Squats are also a great exercise for your legs, as a whole.

Also, make a bet with your friend. If one of you misses a workout session, they have to pay the other a sizeable amount of money. Its good you workout with a friend because it makes your workout something to be enjoyable, meaning you're more likely to do it again.

Hope that helps. Goodluck.

You can have some of mine! I have larger calves...atleast I believe than most women, trying to tone mine down!

You know I do too! I have lage muscular calves. I have noticed that a lot of women do, as compared to a lot of guys who dont. Has anyone else noticed this? And if so, why do you think it is? Could it be do to weight distribution, like females having large hips and things? Sorry for the thread jack:)

Calves
 

I've actually noticed the opposite, seems like every girl around here has no calves at all! Makes me feel weird and manly, but I did swim forever and I've heard swimmers tend to have more defined quads and calves than most, biking has helped thin them down a little. I have no idea why its this way. Also my family has a some Celtic blood which leads to thicker calves however I do have ankles, so I got my mother's side moreso than my dad, leaving me with leaner legs than my sister. Used to make fun of her calling her kankles..ohh not a nice thing to do. I don't care for dating guys with like no calves. It's kind of weird, but I don't want to date someone with thinner legs than me :rolleyes:
Maybe its just crapshoot. Who knows?
I've learned to appreciate having muscular legs, I've talked to several girls who say they have "chicken legs" and would kill for some meat. I guess it's all once again relative to your situation. I do believe if you look proportional it shouldn't matter. Good luck!

For years I tried to develop my calves with limited success - high reps, low reps, a whole variety of exercises with only moderate results compared to the rest of my body.

Then I started playing soccer and running more, and my calves grew significantly. The running and turning just seem to do it for me.

ride your bike uphill,

stairs -- stand on the edge of the stair and lift yourself

go to a basket ball court-- keep tapping the board or keep jumping to reach the rim

And sometimes it just comes down to genetics.

Calves are a hard muscle to build because they are designed to work hard with very little rest, so can take lots of punishment.

Arnie said that he never got his calves right until he started doing calf raises with 4 times his bodyweight (aroudn 1000lb). It does come down to your genetics at the end of the day, but if you push them hard then they will grow.

My calves stay at a reasonable size for my weight simply because i wear steel toe cap boots everywhere (they give the best support for my ankles whilst still being flexible, medical issues), but they could probably do with some specific training.

Okay, I'm a total hard gainer myself. I have always had chicken legs, but for a while I was getting a pretty good set of legs, calves especially (I've since slothed down a bit). I used to do calf raises, but I've always hated them... so I stopped doing them.

To keep myself motivated overall, I streamlined my routine to the "ultimate essentials." My leg routine included only two exercises: dumbbell squats and barbell deadlifts. With this focus, in a matter of time, I noticed my calves started to get wicked shapely. The reason is because of the synergistic relationship of all the leg muscles involved in these exercises. Also, by nature of the balancing requirements for these exercises, your calves are working overtime to prevent yourself from falling over. Calf raises are too restrictive since that muscle group isn't designed to work on it's own. I would only use this exercise again if I wanted freakish size and definition, which is too time consuming...

But there's more. I also "power walk" up to an hour a day. I do this by walking to the subway stations to and from work, rather than take the bus to them. I work in Queen West area near Chinatown in Toronto, so the walk there is always entertaining, which helps. This habit this is another reason why my calves are in such great shape... power walk it!

I give you these three keys:
1) massive-movement lifting to failure (1/week),
2) power walking (5 days/week, up to 1 hour/day), and
3) feed your body what it needs.

Two months of this should start building you some nice calves...

Do you have any soft sand where you are at. THe real soft stuff that your feet sink into when you step into it.

I don't know if it'll work for you but I got myself a fixed gear bicycle that I ride to work 3-4 days a week (16.6 miles each way) and in the past two months my legs have gotten all sorts of beefy. Something about the way I exert force through the entire pedal stroke and don't ever rest has really bulked up my calves and thighs.

Irish step dance. That'll do it!

My short-lived Irish dance career ensured that I'll never fit easily into over-the-calf boots again. :(

Climb stairs on the front of your feet.

Walk on the front of your feet.

Every step, you'll support your entire body on your calves.

Thats due in part to the fact that women wear heels more than men. The point where the most strain is put on the calf is with the heel half raised up to maximum lift. If your your foot is always between the 50% to 100% area your calves will get a more intense workout all day long.

To the OP use this knowledge in your workout, while walking/running don't heel-toe just use the ball of your feet and toes keeping your heel raised.

yep wearing heels and crossdressing sounds like the best way to build calf muscles. If thats out of the question for some odd unknown reason bike riding works wonders for calves but... you have to stand up on the bike to really get the full effect. If you really want to do all your workout at the gym because of weather or whatever reasons use one of those leg press machines and just push the weight from off your heel up onto the ball of your foot and back to your heel. lifting all the weight with your calves. But i really think the crossdressing is the best way to do it. Its the best way to get people to notice your legs.

Calf Raises are the best. Just about every gym this side of Mongolia has a machine too so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding one. Be consistent, but one of the most important things with calves is this, dont overwork them or you wont be able to walk. Its very easy to get slight tears in your muscles on those calf raising machines. My calves are huge and well defined, but I have fucked them up several times by pushing to hard or lifting to much.. Also Basketball with ankle weights would help alot too. I did both and like I said I've had solid calves since I was about 16 and I could take a year off from lifting and they would still be solid

Yes. At the end of my last year in HS before the ball & party season began I trained my calves in preparation for dancing in high heels by walking around a lot on the front of my feet. The foot should not be stretched-the heel should just hover maybe an inch above the floor. Every time I went grocery shopping I'd stride like that with the cart for support. Probably looked pretty stupid, but I built some good calf stamina that way.

Walzing in high heels must be the ultimate calf-workout. You know you were having fun last night when you wake up to the calf cramp OF DOOM. :D

Do the thing on the edge of the stairs that a lot of people have mentioned but do 20 with toes forward, 20 with toes out and then 20 with your toes pointed in. Do three sets of these and you will have nice calves in no time.

All good advices, but I think for a large part it's genetics. Some of the pro basketball players have skinny calves, Jordan could fly but his calves are just two sticks. Mike Tyson skipped rope all day in his prime, he still has chicken legs.

well, not to gloat, but I tap my feet excessively while sitting down and I look like a track runner. The truth is though, I sit at home all day and never exercise (I'm a 0stay at home daddy). I'm getting a gym membership with my wife wednesday and I'm really afraid of what my legs will look like when I actually start using them (arrrg, Popeye legs!)