EDT refined

Hey guys,
I was reading Staley’s latest newsletter article regarding an EDT Calves/Abs program. It looks pretty good, but I was wondering if I might just drop abs and focus solely on calves during the two fifteen-minute segments.
For instance, instead of training abs as the antagonist muscle, why not just rest during the time it would take to train them? That way, I could conserve the energy necessary to hit the calves with absolute intensity and focus.
Any thoughts?

Not a bad idea. However, how does doing abs take away from intensity on calves? Maybe it is in your mind, but I don’t see how abs affect calves. Or try shorter session of abs?

It’s not that training abs directly detracts from the intensity of the calf training. It’s just that it would seem to me that the 120 or so reps of ab work I perform at each session would use up energy that could very well be channeled elsewhere.
My question was could EDT be performed for a SINGLE bodypart, without an antagonist (or whatever) muscle being involved? This way the conserved energy could be spent on recovery of a muscle that has been trained with absolute focus.

You can use EDT on a single bodypart, but I’d still use two different exercises. I’ve done EDT cycles using, for instance, flyes and bench, but it’s a hell of a beating. In the case of calves it’d probably work better if you did a seated and a standing version, which would hit the gastroc and the soleus (primarily; of course there would be some carry-over).

If you only did one exercise with rests in-between, it would basically not be EDT at all, just a slightly modified version of a regular workout.

Why not do calf raises and reverse toe raises? When I train calves I always superset the ankle extension with ankle flexion as I’ve had problems with shin splints and this seems to remedy it. You can do reverse toe raises on a leg curl machine or check out another dumbell version in Chad Waterbury’s most recent article.

Yeah Kelly, I’ve noticed that as well. I’ve been on Chad’s OSC for 4 weeks now, and those db dorsi flexions have totally helped my splints.

I bought new shoes about 2 months ago and that definately helped, but it didn’t get rid of them. Now that I’m doing those dorsi’s, man I can’t believe how much better they feel.

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I’ve got some good ideas to work with…

I’ve already tried an EDT workout with calves, I can offer my observations.

I did a 15 minute window, alternating between standing and seated calves. I started with a 10-rep workable weight in both movements.

What I discovered was rather interesting. First of all, my reps never got below 8. Appearantly the walk between the two machines was sufficient for the calves to recover. Secondly, and I thought this was very strange, was that I didn’t get sore from this block at all. Yes, I know that soreness isn’t a measurement or requirement for progress, but I was certainly expecting it. That workout didn’t brutalize me nearly as much as the Poliquin calf program.

Some slow twitch calves?

Definately may be the case, T.