Cataranzo Calves


So Mr. Cataranzo has promised an inch on my calves in one month as long as I’m consistent with his 100-rep daily routine: The Answer for Massive Calves

I accept.

The odds are stacked in his (my) favor. My calves are not at their biggest, only measuring 15" ATM. On the other hand, the best they’ve ever measured was 15.5. It took a ridiculous amount of work to get them that far, and it was taking up too much gym time, so I started training them as I had always done, and lost half an inch.

Think they’re small now? They started at 13"!

Day 1: 61 reps, and I couldn’t keep my balance anymore.
Day 2: 34. Had to throw out the first dozen or so reps because the inner heads were trying to cramp until they got warmed up.
Day 3: 58. Still pretty sore. Balance gave out again.
Day 4: 42 after a pretty grueling leg day.
Day 5: 65. Ha! finally got more than day 1. Almost fell on my face, though.
Day 6: 70.
Day 7: 73. Good feel in my inner heads today. Toes slightly wider than shoulders, not heels

I’m in as well. Mine are horrible, so I kind of gave up on them. lol

Did my first set today, surprised I got 100 reps straight. Was definitely feeling it in the end.

Will you still be hitting your calves during workouts as well, JP?

You’re doing the six-second reps, as prescribed, right? I even broke out the stopwatch so I wouldn’t count it too fast.

This will be the only thing I do for calves for the entire month.

I started doing calve raises everyday about 8 weeks ago after noticing the cyclists round my way all having massive calves on bean pole frames! So i do probably 100-200 calves raises a day on a step, squeezing hard at the top. Normally i’ll split it up to about 2-4 sets of 50, spread throughout the day.

The result?

Very sore ankle on my left foot after about 3 weeks which hasn’t gone away. They recover very quickly after being trained with weights and the amount i can standing and seated calve raise has gone up. Yet i doubt they’ve grown 1/8 inch! Annoying as hell!

Hopefully you guys will have more luck!

[quote]JayPierce wrote:
You’re doing the six-second reps, as prescribed, right? I even broke out the stopwatch so I wouldn’t count it too fast.

This will be the only thing I do for calves for the entire month.[/quote]

Yes sir. It took about 10 minutes like he said, though it took me a little longer because sometimes I’d have to scratch a rep due to calves just dying on the eccentric. lol

I made 43 before I failed utterly. I just want to do this for shits and giggles. My calves are already 18" or so around (bigger than my biceps) and pretty solid, but they just look like tapered cylinders. You can’t tell there is any muscle there.

[quote]paulwhite959 wrote:
I just want to do this for shits and giggles. My calves are already 18" or so.[/quote]

Hey, I lugged around 300+ lbs for 2-3 years (lots of it fat). My calves and thighs still have tons of muscle from me being a lard-ass.

not that I think you should become a lard ass for the sake of strong legs. But I’ve kept active to work off the weight, which means I’m on my feet and hiking alot, which (particularly at first) mean I was pushing 320-330 lbs up and down hills in the canyons near here. FWIW, my calves a are strong, my bench press is apparently pathetic, my squats are a joke (still have a lot of body weight to move, and some mobility/stability issues I’m working on) so you don’t need to be anything approaching jealous of my physique :slight_smile:

So do you halfta do all hundred at once I’m gonna try to eventually do that but I broke mine up in sets of 25

[quote]paulwhite959 wrote:
Hey, I lugged around 300+ lbs for 2-3 years (lots of it fat). My calves and thighs still have tons of muscle from me being a lard-ass.

not that I think you should become a lard ass for the sake of strong legs. But I’ve kept active to work off the weight, which means I’m on my feet and hiking alot, which (particularly at first) mean I was pushing 320-330 lbs up and down hills in the canyons near here. FWIW, my calves a are strong, my bench press is apparently pathetic, my squats are a joke (still have a lot of body weight to move, and some mobility/stability issues I’m working on) so you don’t need to be anything approaching jealous of my physique :slight_smile: [/quote]
I have an 85lb vest I go walking with. Hilly terrain. That and seated calf raises (465x8 max) have kept them up to 15".

[quote]bdocksaints75 wrote:
So do you halfta do all hundred at once I’m gonna try to eventually do that but I broke mine up in sets of 25[/quote]
In the Livespill comments, he said ONE SET, up to 100 reps. After a month you can add weight.

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]paulwhite959 wrote:
I just want to do this for shits and giggles. My calves are already 18" or so.[/quote]
HAHA

you son of a bitch[/quote]
No shit, right?

This is sweet, I love these experimentation threads.

holy shit. I don’t think I could do that once so you’ve got me on strength.

I know in the livespill he said do them all at once, but if I hit failure at 40-odd, I figured doing a second set wouldn’t actually hurt to. and a third set to get to 100. I want calves that look like muscles, not hairy oversized potatoes. I wouldn’t be doing these if I thought it’d interfere with more serious stuff but hey, why not? and it’s shorts season here in the TX panhandle. Besides if I slip off my shoes I can do these in my office during conference calls which, well, ANYTHING to keep myself awake during those.

[quote]paulwhite959 wrote:

holy shit. I don’t think I could do that once so you’ve got me on strength.

I know in the livespill he said do them all at once, but if I hit failure at 40-odd, I figured doing a second set wouldn’t actually hurt to. and a third set to get to 100. I want calves that look like muscles, not hairy oversized potatoes. I wouldn’t be doing these if I thought it’d interfere with more serious stuff but hey, why not? and it’s shorts season here in the TX panhandle. Besides if I slip off my shoes I can do these in my office during conference calls which, well, ANYTHING to keep myself awake during those.[/quote]

He said just attempt 50, then the next day try and add 5-10 more reps. Do thta every day until you can do 100 in one set. So if you got 41 or whatever, just shoot for at least 46 today

[quote]paulwhite959 wrote:

holy shit. I don’t think I could do that once so you’ve got me on strength.
[/quote]
Keep in mind; that’s with the weight sitting directly on my legs. I don’t have a seated calf machine, so I made a plywood cradle for the bar and padded it. I have no idea what that equates to on a machine.

I started yesterday. Got 60 so far! Really squeezing at the top of the rep.

Just so everyone understands, my calves have always been pretty endurance based. lol. After 3 months of running for track (as in just going out and running lightly, no specific drill or workouts), I was able to get my mile sub-5 minutes. So I’m slow-twitch to the max in the lower leg department. lol

I just noticed nobody else was getting 100 reps on their first try, just saying I’m probably an outlier. lol. Hope that doesn’t mean the program won’t work as well :frowning:

I did a 5 mile hike tonight after doing these today. Oh god jesus ow. I think I may have discovered new muscles to hurt. It wasn’t bad until about the 2-3 mile mark and then this dull throbbing started and by the time I crested the last hill it was just god-awful–very similar in feeling to how I feel after finshing dead lifts, but in my calves instead of everywhere.

Least I saw some cool wildlife.