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What do you think of this calf program?

http://www.angelfire.com/anime/dbajoin/ ... ertsh.html

It's not written well, but you get the general idea of it. As a bodyweight calf program, is it worth it to do it?

sounds good. In my experience, calfs respond best to high reps so give a try.

Post your results in a few weeks and let us know how its going.

I'd much rather increase the resistance than just keep endlessly adding reps. Also, this program doesn't include any form of seated calf raise for the soleus.

15-20 reps per set works well for me. Much more than that and your pretty much doing cardio.

I am really convinced this high reps for calf and abs thing is a myth. I've gone over 15. I can count on 1 hand how many times in my life I've gone over 12.

By the way squating is all you need for soleus. Or in this case pistols.

Maybe you could find stairs with a low ceiling and push on it for more resistence. Or put a kid on your shoulders. Just don't drop him down the stairs. :)

It's not really feasible because this is a bodyweight-only program.



Heh, both of those options are not really possible for me.

In addition, it is pretty hard to add weight to one-legged calf raises, especially when you are doing them on stairs. It throws off your balance a lot and you find yourself grasping the railing much more.


I've actually been doing this program for about 4 weeks now. It is a killer workout for your calves and you'll hobble around like an old man for a few minutes after you finish.
So far, I haven't seen anything drastic in my calves. But my endurance (40 single legged calf raises) has shot up quite dramatically. The least I can say is that I predict fewer calf cramps in the future.

Why would you train your calves any different from any other muscle? You wouldn't do a set of 40 for bench press, would you? Just a thought, not trying to be critical.

Well, I think because calves are primarly red fiber because we are walking on them all the time and they have adapted to allow this, more reps and extreme weight might be the ticket.

I am not sure so someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Ryan, I have read severl articles by Ian King and Charles Polliquin who back up your theory. It has to do with the fact that some of the calf is primarily type I fibers, which if you are going to hypertrophy them, it will take higher reps. The paradox is that another part is one of the type II's, and requires heavy weight, low rep.
Tim

yea, that's right for the gastroc for sure. If I can do it more then once, I can do it several times. I still never go past 12. A lot of times I would shoot for 8 on calf raises but end up with 9 or 10. The soleus seems to wear out more quickly. I don't really isolate it though because it seems pretty much done after squats.

I've had very good results training both the gastrioc and soleus muscles in the 15-20 rep range, so I've never had to try anything else. However, I didn't mean to be a one-size-fits-all program.

The only potential problem I can see with lower rep calf trainging, is that for someone like me it would require extremely heavy weight, which might place strain on the feet, ankles or knees.

Yea, you got that right. I use 270 lbs for 8 reps. And I am the weak bodybuilder sterotype everyone makes fun of.

I went up to 300 lbs for 15 reps on Standing Calf Raises this morning using a Hack Squat Machine (the sled kind). Probably try 350 or 400 for 15 next time.

I've also done 495 lbs for 15 or 20 reps on Leg Press Calf Raises and well over 200 lbs for 15 reps on Seated.

In high school I used to use a standing calf raise machine with the whole stack. Not sure exactly how much that was.

I think it is 315. You are up there pretty high. So I can see not wanting to go too heavy on it.