How to Train the Calves

First, let’s sum up what I’ve covered:

■The gastroc is primarily a fast-twitch muscle
■The soleus is primarily a slow-twitch muscle
■If you do calf work with straight legs, you work both the gastroc and soleus
■If you do calf work with bent legs, you work only the soleus
■When you bounce, the achilles tendon does much, if not most of the work and the calf does little
I didn’t mention the androgen receptor density thing because, short of taking steroids year round, there’s nothing you can do to control that. But with proper training, we can take all of the above into account.

First, here’s my standard go-to calf routine.

A straight legged calf exercise: 5 sets of 5 done in the following fashion.

From a dead 2 second pause, explode up, squeeze for 1 second at the top, 3 second eccentric (for tempo freaks, this would be written X/1/3/2: explosive concentric, 1 second squeeze at the top, 3 second negative, 2 second pause at the bottom). Take 3 minutes between sets and GO HEAVY. When you get all 5 sets of 5, add weight at the next workout. The gastroc is fast twitch, it responds to heavy loads. The explosive concentric out of the pause will maximize tension, the squeeze makes sure that you’re controlling the weight, the slow eccentric is critical for growth. Note: be careful on the pause, don’t overstretch the calves or you can give yourself plantar fascitis. But don’t cut range of motion either. You want some stretch on the calves, don’t try to drop your heels as far as possible.

Follow that up with:

A bent-knee calf raise: 3-4 sets of 8-10 done in the following fashion.

From a 2 second pause, take 2 seconds to squeeze the weight up, brief pause at the top, 2 second eccentric (so 2/1/2/2). 60-90 seconds rest and use as much weight as you can in good form, you may have to drop weight after each set due to fatigue. Being slow-twitch, the soleus will respond to longer sets and more of a fatigue stimulus. This should hurt like hell.

Putting it a little more clearly:

■Straight leg calf raise: 5X5/3′ rest on a X/1/3/2 tempo
■Bent knee calf raise: 3-4X8-10/60-90″ rest on a 2/1/2/2 tempo.
That’s it, do the above twice per week (once every 5 days if you have poorer recovery) either as specialization or after legs. Oh yeah, and you need to be gaining weight to grow calves (or any body part). You’re not going to build muscle out of thin air and wishful thinking and if you’re not gaining weight while doing the above, you won’t grow anything.

Do the above for an 8 week cycle, take the first 2 weeks sub-maximally (you won’t be able to walk the first week if this is your first time dead pausing calf work) and then push the weights as much as you can (especially on the heavy sets). After 8 weeks, drop the weight for 2 weeks and either hit it again or move on to something else.

I can’t guarantee that the above will turn your piddle calves into cows but compared to how 99% of people train calves, the above coupled with a slight caloric surplus can only help.