For the past four weeks, I have been training calves 4-5 times a week, and I gotta say I’m amazed with the results. I have put on 1 1/2 inches on each. This is the first time I have trained them more than once a week. Has anyone else experienced this?
Oh, also would you think to lay off the high frequency for a while?
I did the same thing, starting about a year ago, I trained them 4 times a week, alternating heavy days and high-rep days.
As I had terrible calf development to start with, (and still do) I found that once or twice a week just wasn’t cutting it.
As far as continuing the high frequency - if it still works, keep doing it. I still do and am pleased with the results.
One thing I have done however is changed the exercises around a bit more, instead of just standing BB raises my squat rack at the time.
Ive cut them back to twice a week now, and now I’m gonna try it with forearms… I’m currently doing 4-6 sets of barbell wrist curls from just the bar all the way up to 135 and back down at the end of every workout. Strange thing is… theyre not staying sore so far… =-o
Funnily enough, I was watching a training video this weekend of the guy who runs my martial arts association, Peter Consterdine; and was amazed by how developed his calves were.
As he explained in the dvd he placed a lot of importance on ankle strength/integrity for competitive martial artists, and thus worked his calves a whole lot. This included lots of weighted work, along with straddle jumps, lots of skipping and various work on one’s toes.
In the spirit of this, I am trying to up my calf work even more; just to see how it works out.
Again, I am coming from about the worst calf development/genetics/whatever, so it should be interesting to see the results.
yah, i hear that martial arts guy.
i also hear your calf genetics.
I really think i found a way to bypass them for me tho, as training them every training session at the end has made a real visible difference. I will try to post pictures soon.
Also, at the end of every workout, I would do like 3 or 4 sets of seated calf raises only, then next day standing, back and forth… Not enough to get that crazy burn going, but just enough to singe em a bit.
I challenge you to try it for two weeks…
This may sound weird but keep in mind I have a touch of OCD. I do 200 just body weight calf raises every morning while brushing my teeth. I also do a workout of weighted calf work on leg days.
Let’s see if this pic works.