[quote]Rockscar wrote:
PGA200X wrote:
Masturbating while standing on your tippy toes.
And PGA has already shown us how to do this with this pic…
see I don’t need photoshop![/quote]
Classic you fucker!
Right now I am doing reverse curls, behind the back standing barbell wrist curls and hammer curls, in that order usually 3 sets 0f 8-10. For calves I do 3x12 calf raise on a leg press then seated calf raise 3x8-10. Usually once or twice a week. From the articles I guess I need more volume and frequency. I will have to work up to it. Jumping in will have me too sore to walk! Thanks for the advice.
Move to Iowa and work on a farm.
[quote]Panther1015 wrote:
Move to Iowa and work on a farm.[/quote]
haha I like this one.
However, like me you probably can’t do this so here’s my two cents. Not a big calf guy so I’ll hit the forearms. Check out “old school grip training” in the archives, good stuff in there. Use fat bars if you have them (which I don’t, so I’m trying out wrapping towels around the bar). Pinching plates e.g. two ten pound plates together or whatever you can manage for a certain duration. Towel pull ups. Walk around holding dumbells vertically.
My biggest suggestion, as this has absolutely KILLED my forearms, is to flip tires strongman style. First time I did this I had trouble pouring a glass of milk cause I couldn’t hold the gallon jug.
One last thing, somebody mentioned lose chalk, I wouldn’t do this if sweat and such is getting in the way of your grip. Working with a wet grip isn’t beneficial in my opinion, but who knows.
Good luck.
oh yeah check out some of Defranco’s stuff too, Defrancostraining.com, he’s a big advocate of grip training. Talks about it a lot on his double tap.
[quote]Desideratus15 wrote:
One last thing, somebody mentioned lose chalk, I wouldn’t do this if sweat and such is getting in the way of your grip. Working with a wet grip isn’t beneficial in my opinion, but who knows.
Good luck. [/quote]
Agreed. Almost every powerlifter that I know uses chalk and they have some pretty big forearms.
Dynaflex powerball is another nice way to work forearms throughout the day. I keep one in my office and go at it whenever I can.
For grip, buy yourself an inch thick rope and climb it. Great forearm training.
[quote]ocn2000 wrote:
What are some optimal set/rep/frequency workouts for calves and forearms? Mine are lagging. The rest of my body has taken off (size and strength). But these two parts are not. I train them hard, with specific exercises with mediocre results. What has worked for some of you guys??
I have searched for various progrmas on this site, but they seem to advocate different protocols, etc. Leaving just as confused as before. Thnaks for the advice !![/quote]
I like the tip on forearms about not using straps on deadlifts, shrugs, ect…
As for calves I recall reading an article on here about Calf training. I cant remember who wrote it, but they said since the calf muscle is used so frequently you have to use a heavier load, train frequently, and use explosive movements to really stimulate the muscle. I cant say my calves are huge, but they sure are sore after I incorporate those steps
[quote]ocn2000 wrote:
What are some optimal set/rep/frequency workouts for calves and forearms? Mine are lagging. The rest of my body has taken off (size and strength). But these two parts are not. I train them hard, with specific exercises with mediocre results. What has worked for some of you guys??
I have searched for various progrmas on this site, but they seem to advocate different protocols, etc. Leaving just as confused as before. Thnaks for the advice !![/quote]
I like the tip on forearms about not using straps on deadlifts, shrugs, ect…
As for calves I recall reading an article on here about Calf training. I cant remember who wrote it, but they said since the calf muscle is used so frequently you have to use a heavier load, train frequently, and use explosive movements to really stimulate the muscle. I cant say my calves are huge, but they sure are sore after I incorporate those steps
Train your calves and forearms all at once - do farmers walks on your toes. If you want to be a real T-man, do them barefoot on uneven ground.
I’ve been training for 17 years, and have to admit that I am stumped with this whole calve thing. It is the only body part that I can’t get to grow. This sucks because I am quite happy with the rest of my body. But having 16 inch calves and a big ego means that I wear pants. It just totally shits me that the best calves I see are usually on people who don’t give a flying fuck about training. The is a heroin junky that goes by here and has better calves than most. Most chicks have better calves than men. I’ve done everything but that Alessi routine. I even once made some old sneakers into those special shoes with blocks in the toes and walked around with them until I could no longer… Performed again, and again and again… Right now I’m doing the DC training thing which requires a 15 second pause at the bottom of every rep and a 5 sec negative giving the whole set a 5 min or so time under tension. One week they are trained once, the next twice. So far the mother fuckers aren’t budging! But it’s only been 4 weeks and this routine takes a while to get your weights adjusted accodingly to what is best for you…
I plan on getting a bicycle to try to give them some extra stimulation. Some see this as a solution because some bikers have big calves, however many don’t. I kinda think the guys who get the growth from biking and only biking were predisposed to the growth. But still I don’t know. One one hand I refuse to be dennied big calves. However 17 years of training, 13 being serious, having a conscious about them and training them with top priority leaves me a little discouraged. I always try to stay positive thinking that next summer I can walk around with some decent calves, spend another year blasting them to always be dissapointed, and believe me I give them all I got. The bigger I get the smaller they look. I would even be willing to juice for a long time to be able to train them harder, more often, but them the whole symetry issure comes into play. Last November I injured my right foot by holding a static contraction for 90 seconds on the seated calve raise. Right now my foot is 95%. This is not some bullshit here, my chiro can tell something is still healing. This really bothers me to put so much effort in something with minimal results. I think I will opt for implants in the next couple of years. Sorry for the rant, but man this is frustrating. If anyone has a routine they heard of, I’m open to suggestions.
[quote]Tin Can wrote:
I’ve been training for 17 years, and have to admit that I am stumped with this whole calve thing. It is the only body part that I can’t get to grow. This sucks because I am quite happy with the rest of my body. But having 16 inch calves and a big ego means that I wear pants. It just totally shits me that the best calves I see are usually on people who don’t give a flying fuck about training. [/quote]
I was the same way. My calves measured about 16" for the longest time. I trulyu considered them my worst body part. They didn’t grow until I got my body weight over 250-260lbs. I truly think carrying my body weight around helped them more than anything. I measured them a few nights ago at about 19" (like less than a 1/4inch under that). I train them everyday or almost everyday (some days I just feel drained) and have for about a year now. They have grown about an inch or more in the past year. One thing that finally helped me focus on them was wearing shorts all of the time when I train. You can’t ignore them if you see them in the mirror everyday. They still aren’t shaped like diamonds but at least I don’t stress about wearing shorts.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Tin Can wrote:
I’ve been training for 17 years, and have to admit that I am stumped with this whole calve thing. It is the only body part that I can’t get to grow. This sucks because I am quite happy with the rest of my body. But having 16 inch calves and a big ego means that I wear pants. It just totally shits me that the best calves I see are usually on people who don’t give a flying fuck about training.
I was the same way. My calves measured about 16" for the longest time. I trulyu considered them my worst body part. They didn’t grow until I got my body weight over 250-260lbs. I truly think carrying my body weight around helped them more than anything. I measured them a few nights ago at about 19" (like less than a 1/4inch under that). I train them everyday or almost everyday (some days I just feel drained) and have for about a year now. They have grown about an inch or more in the past year. One thing that finally helped me focus on them was wearing shorts all of the time when I train. You can’t ignore them if you see them in the mirror everyday. They still aren’t shaped like diamonds but at least I don’t stress about wearing shorts.
[/quote]
I started wearing shorts when I train as well for this reason… and not only when I train but everyday pretty much if its nice enough outside.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Tin Can wrote:
I’ve been training for 17 years, and have to admit that I am stumped with this whole calve thing. It is the only body part that I can’t get to grow. This sucks because I am quite happy with the rest of my body. But having 16 inch calves and a big ego means that I wear pants. It just totally shits me that the best calves I see are usually on people who don’t give a flying fuck about training.
I was the same way. My calves measured about 16" for the longest time. I trulyu considered them my worst body part. They didn’t grow until I got my body weight over 250-260lbs. I truly think carrying my body weight around helped them more than anything. I measured them a few nights ago at about 19" (like less than a 1/4inch under that). I train them everyday or almost everyday (some days I just feel drained) and have for about a year now. They have grown about an inch or more in the past year. One thing that finally helped me focus on them was wearing shorts all of the time when I train. You can’t ignore them if you see them in the mirror everyday. They still aren’t shaped like diamonds but at least I don’t stress about wearing shorts.
[/quote]
I think your approach is good. This is what I am aiming to do. It only makes sense when you look at all the fat guys with big calves… I actually began bulking up with a much more “at any cost waiste line wise…” This is tough when I need at least 600 grams of carbs per day, about 40-40 grams of protein per meal and tons of healthy fats to bring me up to 220 lbs. But totally attainable. I plan to take this further when summer is over. Not to make exuses, but with the summer heat, I find it very tough to eat big. That’s why I am going to reduce my cals and cut for the time being.
It’s great though to hear that your situation is similar to mine, you laid out a plan and it worked. I am going to aim 230-240 by next Christmas or so and keep at it. Besides, I’m way to broke to buy myself implants!!! Are they available in payments? I wonder…
I actually found a good tip in one of the muscle rags for calves:
Do your regular set (standing, seated, toe press, wwhatever) to failure.
Then, immdiately get on block of wood or one of those metal calf stands and hamme out as many bodyweight raises as you can.
Notice I say “as you can”. Not as you can stand. Your calves will continue to rep long after it begins to hurt reeeeeeeeally bad.
For everyone who says calves are genetics, just go back an look at Arnold.
calves: sprint training with spiked sprint shoes, bent leg calve presses, straight leg barbell calve presses (good to use smith machine) off of 2 to 3 inch elevation. who ever says their calves can’t grow or any other body part for that matter is not training it properly either with proper motion, intensity, volume, or density.
forearms: damn things get hit hard almost every workout from the various pulling and gripping of weight. I guess leaving the straps for high intensity sets where the forearms are warped would be a wise decision. adding wrist curls and extensions would probably be a good idea for wrist health. (who has time for those, i don’t) laters pk
[quote]pkradgreek wrote:
calves: sprint training with spiked sprint shoes, bent leg calve presses, straight leg barbell calve presses (good to use smith machine) off of 2 to 3 inch elevation. who ever says their calves can’t grow or any other body part for that matter is not training it properly either with proper motion, intensity, volume, or density.
Your idea of sprint training with spiked shoes seems good. However what you say about people not being able to make their calves grow are not putting enough hard work is just plain whack. This is the weakest part on many bodybuilers. Do you think we have this weakness by choice? Of course not. Sure many give up too soon, but not all. Many pro’s have weak calves and it’s their job to make them grow, but still, the stubordness is still there. So you still think that people with weak calves are not putting in the work? Ah fuck it, I’ll just get some pump n’ pose and fill those suckers with oil!!!
[quote]Professor X wrote:
One thing that finally helped me focus on them was wearing shorts all of the time when I train. You can’t ignore them if you see them in the mirror everyday.
[/quote]
very good advice…
it was 90 degrees the other day in the gym and you can tell who all the guys with no calves are because they’re all wearing long pants…hahahaha…
my calves suck too by the way (although I always wear shorts working out)…I’ve found that simple walking around at a heavier weight has helped far more than all the calf work I did when I was only 200 lbs…